Spring barley variety ‘Format’

Abstract

In current breeding, when developing varieties, considerable attention must be paid to their adaptability, i.e. parameters that ensure stable productivity under various growing conditions. Climate contrast is one of the main reasons for the development of adaptable spring barley varieties, expressed in one of the priority areas of breeding at the Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy”. As a result, the purpose of the current study was to develop a new middle-ripen spring barley variety with a high adaptability. There has been given a comprehensive estimation of the economically valuable traits of a new spring barley variety ‘Format’. This spring barley variety was developed by the method of intraspecific hybridization. There has been carried out an individual selection in a hybrid combination of the varieties ‘Astoria’ (France) and ‘Ratnik’ (“ARC “Donskoy”, RF). The study was conducted at the Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy” in 2019–2021. There has been established that the new spring barley variety ‘Format’ has a higher productivity, expressed in a greater number of productive stems per square meter compared to the standard variety. During the years of study, the mean productivity increase was 0.6 t/ha to the standard. The value of 1000-grain weight in the new variety ranged within 38.8–47.3 g, exceeding the standard by 4.8 g. The estimation of ecological adaptability and stability indicators has identified that the variety ‘Format’ with a linear regression coefficient bi = 1.21 responsive to changing growing conditions and is able to form high yields when environmental conditions improve. An analysis of the results of environmental tests has shown the ability of the variety ‘Format’ to form high yields regardless of growing conditions.