PRODUCTIVITY OF BARLEY VARIETIES OF VARIOUS MATURITY GROUPS DEPENDING ON HEAT AND MOISTURE AVAILABILITY

Abstract

Results are given from 17-year field experiment of the Krasnoyarsk Research Institute of Agriculture, Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, carried out on barley after fallow predecessor in a competitive variety trial. The yield formation in spring barley cultivars Agul 2 and Krasnoyarsky 80 differing in early ripeness has been found to depend on available moisture reserves in the 1 m soil layer, rainfall distribution and daily mean temperatures with respect to the plant development stages. In years with high available moisture reserves in soil (more than 150 mm in the 1 m layer), barley productivity was observed to considerably depend on daily mean temperatures during sprouting (r = 0.963), tillering (r = 0.643) and kernel forming - wax ripeness (r = 0.930). The results obtained show that the early-ripening cultivar Agul 2 more effectively utilizes bioclimatic resources of the forest-steppe zone of Krasnoyarsk Territory, although it yields to the Krasnoyarsky 80 cultivar in productivity. Distinct correlation between productivity and available moisture reserves in the 1 m soil layer (r = 0.546-0.876) was established. Available moisture reserves in soil can be a significant indicator in predicting productivity of both barley and other grain crops.