Productivity of soft winter wheat varieties of various ecological groups in the Middle Volga region

Relevance. Creation and introduction of high-yield varieties of soft winter wheat into production is one of the important ways to increase the production of wheat grain and increase its export potential.Materials and methods. The research was conducted in 2017–2019. according to the methodology of the State Commission for variety testing of agricultural crops. Statistical data processing was performed by the method of one-factor analysis of variance according to B.A. Dospekhov (1985) in Excel. In 2017 55 varieties were evaluated, in 2018 – 98 varieties, in 2019 – 150 varieties of north caucasian, forest-steppe southern (Ukrainian), steppe southern (Ukrainian), Volga forest-steppe, north russian, central european, north european, north american ecological groups of soft winter wheat.Results. Phenological observations made it possible to establish ecogroups with the minimum duration of the spring vegetation renewal – earing period in the experiments – the north caucasian – 47 days and the maximum – the north russian – 57 days. Under favorable conditions of humidification, the yield of varieties of the north caucasian, southern steppe (Ukrainian), Volga forest-steppe, and north Russian ecological groups was: 7.06; 7.43; 7.24; and 7.08 t/ha, respectively. In the conditions of drought, the varieties of north caucasian, southern forest-steppe (Ukrainian), southern steppe (Ukrainian), and Volga forest-steppe were distinguished by yield: 3.03–3.27 t/ha. Sharply reduced the yield of varieties of the north russian ecogroup – 0.0–1.18 t/ha.