Adaptability and stability of winter wheat varieties in the south of Russia

The purpose of the current study was to estimate the ecological adaptability and stability of winter wheat varieties in the arid conditions of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. The paper has presented the study results of the response of winter wheat varieties developed at the FSBSO “National Center of Grain named after P.P. Lukyanenko”; to the conditions of the steppe area of Kabardino-Balkarian Republic. The trials were conducted at the FSBSI “Federal Research Center “Kabardino-Balkarian Scientific Center of the RAS” (Tersky district, the v. of Opytnoye) from 2021 to 2024. There have been studied adaptability and stability of 14 winter wheat varieties developed at the National Center of Grain named after P.P. Lukyanenko and one jointly developed variety, ‘Yuzhanka’ according to the traits ‘productivity’ and ‘grain quality’. The adaptability and stability of the varieties were assessed using the Eberhart S.A. and Russell W.A. methodology. There has been found that 2022, with a negative index value of environmental conditions, was unfavorable, while 2023 and 2024, with positive index values (Ij), were optimal for obtaining good yields. There has been established that winter wheat varieties yielded from 43.1 to 50.5 hwt per hectare in the steppe area. The variety ‘Gomer’ gave the largest yield in 2023 with 59.5 hwt per hectare. There has been found that the winter wheat varieties ‘Alekseich’, ‘Akhmat’, ‘Gomer’, ‘Svarog’, and ‘Yuka’ are adaptable to the arid conditions of Kabardino-Balkaria (bi > 1), while the varieties ‘Praskoviya’, ‘Vekha’, and ‘Velena’ are less adaptable (bi < 1). There has been given an estimation of stability (σ2 d) of the varieties in yield, where the varieties ‘Step', ‘Kavalerka’, and ‘Alekseich’ are the best (0.13; 0.26, 0.41). According to bread-making qualities, there have been identified the varieties ‘Bezostaya 100’, ‘Kavalerka’, and ‘Krupinka’ which accumulated the highest mean protein and gluten percentage in grain over three years. Among the genotypes studied over three years, the leaders in the trait ‘nature weight’ were the varieties ‘Svarog’, ‘Alekseich’, and ‘Grom’ (792; 787; 785 g/l); in the trait ‘1000-kernel weight’ the best varieties were ‘Krupinka’, ‘Kavalerka’, and ‘Gomer’ (42.9; 39.9; 38.2 g).