PRODUCTIVITY AND GRAIN QUALITY OF BARLEY UNDER CONDITIONS OF THE SOUTHERN FOREST STEPPE IN WESTERN SIBERIA

Abstract

Results are given from field and laboratory studies on 15 barley varieties in terms of their main productivity and grain quality indices, conducted under conditions of the southern forest steppe of Western Siberia for the period of 2011-2015. Barley varieties included on the State Register of the Russian Federation and new promising ones developed at the barley breeding laboratory of the Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture (Omsk) were used as the object of study. It was found that the formation of main grain quality (protein, starch, and crude fat content, and husk content) and productivity (thousand-kernel weight and yielding capacity) indices were mainly influenced by growing conditions of a year. The correlation between grain quality and productivity elements was found to be negative and varied from moderate to strong depending on growing conditions. On the contrary, there was a strong positive contingency between grain quality indices. Hulless barley varieties were superior to chaffy ones in quality but yielded to them in productivity. At the same time, two-row forms exceeded multi-row ones in grain quality in each group. Certain varieties showed high response to improved environmental conditions and stability of environmental response as to a number of indices: Sibirskiy Avangard (protein content, productivity), Sasha (productivity), Omskiy 90 (protein content), Omskiy 95 and Omskiy 99 (protein, starch, and crude fat content), Omskiy 96 (crude fat content, husk content), Omskiy 100 (crude fat content, productivity), Podarok Sibiri and Omskiy Golozerny 2 (crude fat content), Omskiy Golozerny 1 (protein and crude fat content). These results could be successfully used in further breeding work.