Selection evaluation of soft spring wheat input material by productivity and its elements

The aim of research was to study collection samples of spring soft wheat with different genotypes and ecological-geographical origin in terms of productivity and its constituent elements and to select a valuable input material for the selection process in the conditions of the Middle Volga Region. The study was carried out in the forest-steppe zone of the Samara Region in 2019-2020. The object of the study was 120 samples of spring soft wheat from the collection nursery. The counts and observations were carried out according to the method of state variety testing of agricultural crops. The growing season of spring wheat took place in arid conditions contrasted in the precipitation amount and distribution: 2019 - drought before heading, 2020 - drought after heading. The greatest variability over the years was observed in productive tillering (V = 32.1 %) and grain yield of samples (V = 22.4 %). The signs of the number of grains per ear (V = 2.6 %) and the length of the ear (V = 4.0 %) are the least represented, which indicates a greater influence of the genotype of the variety on them and a lesser influence of the growing conditions. Correlation relationships of grain yield with the basic productivity elements were reliable and comprised: with productive tillering r = 0.22, with the number of grains in the ear r = 0.24, with the mass of grain from the ear r = 0.43, with the mass of 1000 grains r = 0.42. Among the variety of collection samples, valuable sources were identified for a number of productivity elements. Highly productive samples with a complex of valuable features were noted: Kinel'skaya zarya, Kinel'skaya 2020, Eritrospermum 6517/24-1, Eritrospermum 6310/10-63, Lyutescens 6102/1-34 (Kinel’), Tulajkovskaya nadezhda, Tulajkovskaya 116 (Bezenchuk), Burlak, Ul'yanovskaya 100 (Ul'yanovsk), Saratovskaya 73 (Saratov). The samples selected for a complex of features and individual elements of productivity are recommended for use in selection programs of the Middle Volga Region as a new input material for creating highly productive varieties.