Characteristics of Russian winter barley varieties in Southeast Bulgaria conditions

Darina Dimova, Boryana Dyulgerova

Abstract: The aim of this investigation was to study the characteristics of Russian winter barley varieties under the conditions of Southeast Bulgaria and to evaluate the possibility of their use in breeding work. For this purpose 10 feed barley varieties developed at the Krasnodar Lukyanenko Research Institute of Agriculture and Bulgarian national standard varieties Veslets and Izgrev were tested in complete block design with four replications. The study was conducted in the Institute of Agriculture - Karnobat, during the period 2010 - 2012. The traits spike length, spikelet number per spike, grain number per spike, grain weight per spike, 1000 grains weight, hectoliter weight, protein content, starch content and grain yield were studied. Significant differences between Bulgarian and Russian varieties for all studied traits, except starch content, were found. Varieties Platon and Mihailo showed a significantly higher grain yield than Veslets. Under the conditions of Southeast Bulgaria the highest yield was obtained in varieties Mihailo and Platon. The studied varieties were characterized with a high productivity combined with other valuable agronomic traits and they can be used in breeding programs for developing high-yielding winter feed barley varieties.

Keywords: agronomic traits; breeding; grain yield; winter barley

Date published: 2017-06-21