Comparative characteristics of seed quality of soybean cultivars from vir’s collection in the conditions of the southern forest-steppe of the Western Siberia

Cultivars of the different origin are regularly analyzed in the Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture to search for valuable breeding samples of soybean. The results of varietal trials of soybean samples from the collection of the All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Growing by the name of Vavilov N.I. (VIR), released in different years in different regions of Russia and the world, as well as cultivars of SibNIISKh breeding for the period 1994-2014 are presented in the article. The objectives of the research were: to characterize the main traits of seed quality of soybean cultivars from the collection nursery, which was presented by samples of VIR’s collection, and to select valuable samples for breeding on improved seed quality. In spite of cultivar diversity of collection nursery, qualitative traits of seeds in the most of studied cultivars were at the level of or below standard ones. There were selected sources of increased protein content in seeds: Omsk 3, Omsk 4 (SibNIISKh), DG-1 (Belarus), Belotsvetkovaya 4 (Voronezh state agrarian university), Severnaya (Amur agriculture experimental station) and Fiskeby IV (Sweden); and the sources of the increased crude fat content: cultivars Fiskeby V (Sweden), Yaselda (Belarus), Аldana (Poland) and lines 52M (Moscow Agricultural Academy by the name of Timiryazev A.K.), PEP 17 (VIR),OT 87.7 (Canada). Cultivars Altom (Altai Research Institute of Agriculture and SibNIISKh) and Sibniiskhoz 6 (SibNIISKh) are valuable on a combination of the increased protein and oil contents in seeds.