WINTER BARLEY - The cropping season of 1994 - 95 was not favorable for winter barley. The average yield in the Krasnodar Territory was 3400 kg/ha. Its variation was very drastic from 1500 kg/ha in some agrofirms and districts of the foot-hill zone up to 5000-6000 kg/ha in the eastern zone. Our experimental farm in the central zone harvested 7100 kg/ha.

The main constraint factors consisted of rather dry weather in autumn that conditioned very late seedlings in some zones. Undeveloped barley plants in the stage of one-two leaves were more vulnarable to frosts in November and February. But generally in many zones, winter barley fields had normal plant stands and promised a bumper crop. However, wide spread net blotch and especially very high air temperature 35-38 C in the end of May just at the beginning of grain filling stage caused considerable yield losses.

Concerning the last five year period, one can see a steady trend in yield reduction due to a significant soil fertility fall, a decrease in plant protection, and changing for the worse of all material basis of agriculture. That's why we are facing to an urgent task to make correcitons in highlights, approaches, and methods on barley breeding.

As for more suitable agro - morphotype, it was shown that the two-rowed type had evident advantages when yield was on the level of 3000 kg/ha (Ceccarelli and Grando, 1992). Under more favorable conditions, the six-rowed type was more productive. Earlier we proved that the compact-headed winter barley model with stiff straw and good cold tolerance was more promising for the North Caucasus (Shevtsov, 1984). A wide cultivation of released varieties Zavet, Novator, Cyclon, Radical, Vavilon, and Bastion, developed at our institute, testified convincingly to the correctness of that trend. All of them had some superiority in resistance to lodging in comparison with lax-headed six-rowed cultivars when yields were more than 5000 kg/ha.

Nowdays, we have to make a very sharp shift in favor of two-rowed and lax six-rowed genotypes because in the near future, yields of 2000 - 4000 kg/ha will be more typical in the majority of agrofirms and private farms. Fortunately, there is a very rich germplasm of such genotypes, including many outstanding varieities from westeuropean countries, the United States, Canada, and as well as from ICARDA. That opens good perspectives to success in the years to come. But now, the old dense-headed morphotype is still dominant and serves perfectly because some commercial varieties of intensive type with yield potential of 9 - 10 t/ha combine this character with a high degree of adaptation. Especially, that concerns the newly released winter barley varieties Secret and Kozir. They have performed well over a wide agroecological region and have yielded very well particularly in the eastern, central,

and southern zones. During six years, Kozir outyielded the checks Vavilon and Bastion by 1340 kg/ha and 600 kg/ha, respectively (Table 1).

Table 1. Performance of winter barley Secret and Kozir in advanced trials, Krasnodar, 1990 -

1995.

	Cold*	Head	Disease**
Variety	resistance	date	resistance score	Yield
	%		(1-9)	kg/ha
Vavilon-check	50.2	7.05	5	6200
Bastion-check	95.7	8.05	6	6640
Secret	65.4	30.04	6-7	6870
Kozir	72.8	9.05	8-9	7540
LSD (0.05)	8-10			380-420

 
 
 

* Percent of survived plants

**Score: 1 - low, 5 - moderate, 9 - high resistant

The facultative variety Secret has a mutation origin. The original plant from the class of macromutants has been isolated from the M 2 population after artificial freezing about 120 thousand seedlings and selection of survived plants. The initial form was a variety Monolit, which seeds were trated with chemical mutagene Nitroso - Ethyl - Urea 1:4000 - 12 hours. Secret is six-rowed and compact-headed with 1000 Kernel weight of 34-40 g. The head emergence is a week earlier than Vavilon, and 12 days earlier than the facultative check Novator.

Among the latest achievements in winter barley breeding, Kozir is the best released variety. It was derived from the F4 of a hybrid combination K - 307 = Radical/K - 253. The parentage of the initial forms includes mutant line 52 M 1 and variety Novator, Paoly, Zavet, Odessa 31 of geographically and ecologically distant origin. Kozir has some tolerance to powdery mildew (Erysiphe graminis) and high resistance to net blotch (Pyrenophora teres), which is one of the most economically important diseases of winter barley on the North Caucasus. The new variety has performed very well in different ecological zones, in the experimental trials, on-farm verification tests, and in official state trials. The most remarkable feature of the new variety is its high plasticity. Kozir outyielded checks in favorable conditions (Krasnogvardeysk experimental station, Kozir - 8100 kg/ha, Vavilon - 6200 kg/ha), as well as in a low soil fertility zone (Novopokrovsk experimental station, Kozir 2970 kg/ha, Vavilon - 2600 kg/ha). On average, Kozir outyielded 1050 kg/ha more than the check Vavilon.

The newly released varieties Kozir and Secret have been registered for sale in the Krasnodar Territory from 1996, but they have already been introduced on the area about 125000 ha.

SPRING BARLEY - A two-rowed feed barley variety Piket, developed at our Institute, has been released for the Krasnodar Territory. The variety was selected from the F4 hybrid population of the cross Pervenets/Kaskad//Nadya/K-137. Piket has a good combination of high yield potential, earlier maturity, resistance to lodging, and excellent grain quality. It has relatively short straw (60-65 cm), good field tolerance to all leaf diseases, and moderate resistance to loose smut. It has large plump grain with good test weight, and 1000 kernel weight is 42-48 g. The prostrate plant habitus in the beginning of the initial growth gives some advantage to compete more successfully with weeds.

During four years Piket outyielded 350 - 370 kg/ha more than check vareity Kaskad (Table 2).

Table 2. Results of spring barley trials. Krasnodar, 1992-1995.

				Yield
	Head	Plant	Disease		Official *
Variety	date	height,	resist.,	Institute	trials
		cm	score (1-9)		kg/ha
Kaskad - check	30.05	70	7	4330	4380
Mamluk - check	25.05	85	7	4440	4450
Piket	29.05	65	7-8	4680	4750
LSD (0. 05)				280-340	300-350

 
 
 

* Average yield on 5 experimental stations

Piket has been released to central and eastern zones of the Krasnodar Territory for the cultivation on highly fertile soils and after late harvested preceding crops like sugar beets, soybeans, and others. Certified seed are produced by the originator in Krasnodar.

References:

Ceccarelli S., Grando S. Are two - row barleys better adapted to stress than six - row? ICARDA Cereal Program. Annual Report for 1992. Pp. 12 - 14.

Shevtsov V. Substantiation of the optimal agroecotype of winter barley for Krasnodar area. 1984. Agricultural Biology. 22, pp 21-26. 

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