The study was carried out on blackearth (chernozem) soils of the southern part of the Rostov region at the FSBSI “Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy”. The current paper has presented the results of the three years’ study (2017–2019) of the effect of sowing dates and various forecrops on the productivity and quality of the winter soft wheat variety “Krasa Dona”. There has been established a high resistance of the variety to lodging in all variants of the trial. There has been presented the dynamics of productiv-ity of the variety “Krasa Dona”, depending on the sowing dates and various forecrops. There has been identified a positive reaction of the variety to sowing in a fallow at the optimum dates (September 20 and 30), where the maximum yield was 7.77–8.62 t/ha.

When sowing at a later date, the yields tended to be lower. There has been identified a high adaptability of the variety “Krasa Dona” to the sowing dates in a non-fallow, where it forms a high yield when sowing at different dates. It was found out that the winter soft wheat variety “Krasa Dona” formed different yields according to the studied variants of forecrops and sowing dates due to the number of productive stems per unit area and due to the head productivity. On average for 2017–2019 the winter soft wheat variety “Krasa Dona” formed the 3rd class grain, when sown in a fallow or after peas and the 4rd class grain, when sown after sunflower.The calculation of the grain production profitability showed that the greatest economic effect was obtained by sowing the winter soft wheat variety “Krasa Dona” after peas, it was 169.2–194.5% depending on the sowing date. The minimum profitability was 136.1-147.2% after sunflower. On average, over the years of research, the maximum conditional net income 52 508–58 887 rubles/ha was obtained when the variety was sown in a weedfree fallow.

The studies were conducted in the years of 2012–2017 in the zone of unstable moisture on leached blackearth (chernozem) in FSBSI FSC ARRIOC (Krasnodar). The object of research is the oilseed flax variety “ARRIOC 620”. In the variants of oilseed flax cultivation technology differing in the amount of fertilizer and the seeding rate, there were identified the biometric indicators and such yield structure elements as “plant height”, “length of a technical part of a stem”, “number of bolls per plant”, “number of plants”, “number of bolls”, “plant and seed weight per area unit”, “1000 seed weight”. There has been established that both fertilizers and seeding rate contributed to the variation of these indicators, which changed oilseed flax productivity. It has been found that productivity depends on moisture supply during the most important period of vegetation. In years with precipitation distribution characteristic for the arid zone of moistening (according to the STC), the productivity has been greatly affected by the moisture supply in May and June which corresponds to the growth stages “cotyledons – flowering”. In years with precipitation distribution characteristic for the humid and slightly arid zone of moistening (according to the STC), the productivity depended on the moisture supply in June, i. e. in the period “bud formation – flowering”.

Among perennial fodder legumes, alfalfa occupies a special place. This crop culture in many southern regions of the country makes it possible to yield full value bulky feeds with an average nutritional value of more than 10 MJ of exchange energy per 1 kg of dry matter and 16–17% or more raw protein content for the introduction of cost-effective livestock production. The purpose of the current study was to isolate new alfalfa varieties with a high productivity of green mass and seeds, good quality of feed highly adapted to various biotic and abiotic stress factors. In the competitive variety testing of alfalfa sown in 2015 the populations “Sin 18/95” (24.6 t/ha), “Sin 28/04” (26.0 t/ha) and “Sin 17/95” (26.4 t/ha) were identified according to green mass productivity. The same population were identified according to dry matter productivity (6.6–8.1 t/ha). The highest dry matter percentage were identified in the populations “Sin 17/95” and “Sin 28/04” (27.3%), “Sin 24/04” (27.6%) and “Sin 23/04” (27.7%). The best populations in raw protein content were “Sin 5/04” (20.45%) and “A-5” (20.48%). The synthetic populations “Sin 18/95” (0.44 t/ha of average yield), “Sin 17/95” (0.45 t/ha of average yield), “Sin 8/95” (0.46 t/ha of average yield) exceeded the standard variety in seed productivity throughout the years. The synthetic populations “Sin 28/04”, “Sin 18/95”, “Sin 17/95” and “Sin 8/95”, identified among the others due to many traits are going to be studied in further breeding work with the prospect to be sent to State Variety Testing. The identified populations will be introduced into the breeding process as the sources of economically valuable traits.

The current paper has considered the effect of various growing conditions (insufficient and optimal moisture) on the leaf area of winter wheat plants, photosynthetic potential, net photosynthesis productivity and dry mass of plants. The objects of the study were the winter soft wheat samples (12 genotypes) developed by the FSBSI “Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy”. The study of the samples was carried out by the V. V. Maimistov method (1988), namely a testing of varieties for drought tolerance in the conditions of model drought “zasushnik”; by the A. Nichiporovich method (1955), namely a determination of leaf area, photosynthetic potential and net productivity of photosynthesis; by the B. Yagodin method (1987), namely a determination of dry matter of plants. Mathematical data processing was carried out according to the B. A. Dospekhov method using the program Statistica 10. The purpose of the study was to establish the winter soft wheat genotypes with high resistance of the leaf system of plants to unfavorable environmental factors. According to the study results, there have been identified the winter soft wheat samples “Yubiley Dona”, “Zodiak” and “586/13” which, under conditions of insufficient moisture supply during the growing season (“head formation - waxy ripeness of kernels”), had the maximum values of the following indicators: leaf area (202.0 cm², 193.3 cm² and 174.5 cm²), photosynthetic potential (0.528 million m²/day, 0.559 million m2/day and 0.560 million m²/day) and dry mass of plant leaves (1315.0 g, 1329.0 g and 1280.4 g). Due to the net productivity of photosynthesis (under insufficient moisture supply), the highest values of this indicator were identified in the winter soft wheat samples “1074/11” (20.16 g/m² per day), “Univer” (19.43 g/m² per day) and “Ambar” (19.33 g/m² per day).

The technological and baking properties of triticale were determined in the laboratory of the technological and analytical service of the Samarsky Research Institute of Agriculture named after N. M. Tulaykov according to standard methods accepted in science. The study has established that protein percentage in the triticale varieties exceeds winter wheat varieties on 0.7-1.2, and rye on 3.0-4.4 absolute percent. On average over 5 years, the WAC content (water-soluble anti-nutritional components of arabinose and xylose) in the triticale varieties was 1.01-1.37 mpS. Over the years, the indicator, due to the weather conditions, varied within the norm, from 0.90-1, 13 mpS in 2016 to 1.01-1.59 mpS in 2018. It was identified that the triticale varieties turned out to be better than rye and wheat varieties according to fiber content on 25.8%, and according to the amount of ash they exceeded the rye varieties on 0.37-0.39% and the wheat varieties on 0.28-0.48%. The “falling number” (FN) of the new triticale varieties “Arktur” (179 c) and “Spika” (241 c) were at the same level as the winter rye varieties (188-239 c). According to the traits “porosity” (3.0-4.2 points), “taste” (4.0-4.5 points) and “bread elasticity” (3-4 points), the triticale varieties were almost at the level of wheat (respectively 4.0; 4.4; 4.0) and at the level of rye (3.9-4.1; 4.5; 3.8-3.9 points). The volume of bread obtained from triticale flour as a whole was lower than that from wheat flour. However, the volume of bread (424-427 cm3) obtained from flour made from the grain of the variety “Arktur” and the line “97-67 T6 P 20” was at the level of the winter rye variety “Antares” (426 cm³). The study has determined that the winter triticale varieties are at the same level as the winter rye varieties (1.76%) in terms of oil amount in kernels (1.60-1.90%) and exceed rye in terms of starch content in kernels on 1.7-2.0 absolute percent. In winter wheat kernels, unlike triticale, there is formed much more starch (62.15%) than oil (1.67%). There has been identified that, on average, raw protein percentage in the winter triticale varieties exceeds the wheat variety “Malakhit” on 0.7-1.2, and the rye varieties on 3.0-4.4%. At the same time, the winter wheat varieties zoned in the Samara Region contain 65-70% of starch, 13-14% of raw protein, and 1.5-1.8% of oil in kernels; the winter rye varieties contain 60-65%, 11-13%, 1.7-2.0% respectively; the winter triticale varieties contain 60-69%, 14-16% and 1.6-2.0% respectively. The new winter triticale varieties are distinguished with higher grain yields (up to 5 t/ha) in comparison with the standard variety “Krokha” (4.0 t/ha). 

The current paper has presented the study results of the estimation of the adaptability of plant productivity of 131 collection pea samples in the southern zone of the Rostov region, carried out according to the method proposed by V. V. Khangildin (1984).

The most agroecological methodologies of estimation have significant drawbacks. Firstly, these are calculations, which are difficult to be done. Secondly, it is the effect of the indicators of other samples on the final index of homeostaticity for the selected sample. The fact is essential when working with a large number of samples, i. e. collection, which has defective and annually updated material and if the composition of the collection changes, it is not necessary to recalculate homeostatic parameters according to the method proposed by V. V. Khangildin. Meteorological conditions during the years of research were characterized with unstable weather conditions, which made it possible to objectively evaluate samples under different vegetation conditions. According to the 2017– 2019 studies there were identified the samples “Tatyana” (Russia), “Damir” (Denmark), “19/91 C” (Portugal), “Mutant 561” (Russia), “Kudesnik” (Belarus) with a large “seed weight per plant”. The indicators of stress resistance and homeostaticity of these varieties’ productivity were average for the collection. The greatest homeostaticity of this indicator was identified in the samples “193/73” (Ukraine), “6995x6575” (Russia) with the average “seed weight per plant” for the collection. The study results of the homeostaticity of the collection pea plants productivity will be used as initial material in further breeding work.

Implementing the provisions of the State Program for the Development of Agriculture and the regulation of agricultural products, raw materials and food markets, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation annually monitors the gross collection and evaluation of commodity and consumer quality of grain harvested in the current year. In the current paper there has been carried out an estimation of the gross yield and productivity of winter rye; there has been characterized a ratio of the volumes of the produced food grain and non-food (feed) grain. There has been given an information on grain according to their classes and quality indicators, which allows quickly generating batches of grain balances, in order to make a balanced decision on the volume of grain export or import, on introducing grain into the state intervention fund, on a rational use of grain resources, both inside Bryansk region, and the country as a whole. It is possible to build a reliable grain balance on the basis of the monitoring results of the grain quality of the new yield in the scope of studies of composite samples taken from at least 50% of the gross yield.

The current paper has presented the study results of winter soft wheat samples according to the adaptive properties of the trait “mass fraction of protein in kernels”. The purpose of the research was to identify the winter soft wheat genotypes with high productivity, mass fraction of protein and adaptive properties to growing conditions. The objects of research were winter soft wheat varieties of various ecological and geographical origin. The field trials were carried out in 2016–2018 on the fields of the department for winter wheat breeding and seed production of the FSBSI “Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy”. Protein percentage in kernels was determined by a “SpektraStar 2200” infrared analyzer. On average, over the years of research, the protein percentage in the grain ranged from 12.7% (“Webster”) to 14.8% (“L 19578”). It was determined that the sample “L 19578” (14.8%) belonged to the1st class, 22 wheat samples corresponded to the 2nd class and 8 samples corresponded to the 3rd class according to the “mass fraction of protein in kernels”. It was found that the weather conditions of the year had a decisive effect on protein formation (90.7%).

The factor “variety” affects the manifestation of the trait by 6.4%. The interaction between the factors is significantly 2.9%. There have been identified the genotypes responsive to the improvement of growing conditions, in which b_i is significantly more than 1, i. e. “Vinnichanka” (b_i = 2.82), “Slavna” (b_i = 1.88), “Zlatka” (b_i = 1.87) and others. There have been identified the genotypes with negative bi values “Ermak” (b_i = –0.70), “L 19578” (b_i = –1.41), “No. 42 CIMMYT” (b_i = –1.99) and others, which indicates their high adaptability to growing conditions. There has been determined a group of varieties for which the bi values did not significantly deviate from 1, they are “Shestopalivka” (b_i = 0.54), “Chornyava” (b_i = 0.73), “KS 96 WGRC 37” (b_i = 1.38), etc. This shows that a change of the trait of these varieties will exactly follow a change in environmental conditions. There has been established that the most stable varieties of environmental conditions were the varieties “Ermak” (Cv = 1.1%; Hom = 11 637.6), “Shestopalivka” (Cv = 1.4%; Hom = 2580.2), “MV 15-09” (Cv = 1.7%; Hom = 1784.9) and others, as evidenced by the combination of the lowest values of the coefficient of variation and high homeostaticity. The calculation of the interaction showed a high correlation between Cv and S²_i (r = 0.91), with b_i (r = 0.55) and with Hom (r = –0.56), which significantly allows using Cv for preliminary estimation of varieties on homeostatic, ecological adaptability and stability.

It was established that the question of the grain quality of spring durum wheat is the main one when developing new varieties.

First of all, it is important for manufacturers of food products (pasta, cereals) and the grain market as a whole. To create popular varieties, the breeders need methods for evaluating grain material at the early stages of selecting experimental material. One of such express-methods is the method of assessment of the rheological properties of dough made from durum wheat flour (semolina) according to the rating scale of the mixographic curve. It has been found out that the stronger and more elastic gluten is, the more resistant to be overboiled pasta is, and therefore better their nutritional and culinary properties are. This is especially important for the production of thin spaghetti. It has been determined that the rheological indices of the new spring durum wheat variety “Pamyati Vasilchuka” during dough kneading do not correspond to any of the nine points on the rating scale of mixographic curves. There has been considered the possibility to increase the mixogram rating scale to 10 points.

The current paper presents the study results of the upland rice collection in the laboratory of rice breeding and seed pro-duction of the FSBSI “ARC “Donskoy”, on the basis of the JV “Proletarskoye” in the Rostov region. The samples were grown on dry and conventional irrigation backgrounds. The purpose of the study is to use the collection sources of rice drought tolerance to develop productive, early-ripening varieties requiring little water and resistant to a long-term soil and air drought. The col-lection rice samples were studied under intermittent-flow irrigation. There have been identified the samples “Zolotye vskhody” (Russia), “Malovodotrebovatelny” (Uzbekistan), “An-Yun-Ho”, “Ding-Xiang”, “Kontro”, “Khun-Mo”, “Chan-Chun-Man” (China) and others with increased drought tolerance. There have been identified absolute and relative differences in the manifestation of quantitative traits in seven upland samples, among which the samples “Hong-Mo”, “Ding-Xiang”, and “Chan-Chun-Man” turned to be especially prominent. The maximum integral index of stability was identified in the sample “Hong-Mo” (69.1%), and the minimum one was identified in the sample “An-Yun-Ho” (53.6%). The largest ratio of the value of the trait in dry and conventional conditions on average for all varieties was 1000 kernels (97.1%), then in descending order there were “plant height” (81.7%), “panicle length” (76.8%), “productivity” (63.4%), “kernel weight per panicle’ (42.3%), “number of full kernels per panicle” (38.1%) and “empty spikelets per panicle” (21.6%). Thus, “kernels weight” decreases to the least extent, and “number of spikelets per panicle” reduces to the largest extent. There were carried out the crossings of upland samples with the best varieties in four combinations. The rice samples were propagated for further study under intermittent-flow irrigation. The identified rice samples have been included in the breeding program to develop rice varieties which require little water for the conditions of the Rostov region.

The widespread violation of scientifically based crop rotation and their saturation with sunflower caused an accelerated emergence of more aggressive races of broomrape and powdery mildew. Currently, the researchers from different countries have identified 8 races of broomrape A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H. The sunflower varieties and hybrids previously developed at the station and introduced into the State List of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation that are resistant to the broomrape races A, B, C, D, E were greatly affected. Monitoring of the races of broomrape and false powdery mildew, conducted by the ARRIOC researchers, showed the presence of more aggressive broomrape races (F, G, H) and false powdery mildew (330, 710, 730) in the fields of the Rostov Region. The current situation necessitated the development of sunflower hybrids resistant to the new aggressive races of these pathogens. To identify such hybrids, the corresponding initial breeding material has been required. It was important to combine resistance to broomrape and false powdery mildew with other breeding-valuable traits in one genotype. The current paper presents the results of the sunflower initial breeding material on resistance to broomrape and false powdery mildew. The work was carried out in the fields and in the laboratories of DOS, an affiliate of the FSBSI FSC ARRIOC. The breeding material developed at the station was used as the initial material. Using hybridization methods, multiple self-pollination, and reliable estimation of pathogen resistance at all stages of the breeding process, there was selected a promising linear material (I-4/4640, I-4/4764, I-5/2450, I-5/2465 and etc.), which was included into the search for high heterosis hybrid combinations. The hybrid combinations developed with its participation (MLG 45/4640, MLG 121/4764, MLG 65/2444, etc.), when estimated on the fields infected by sunflower broomrape, showed a higher resistance to highly virulent races of the pathogen in comparison with the best foreign hybrids.

The current paper presents the estimation efficiency results of in vitro fabric culture methods used to develop the initial material for triticale breeding in the Povolzhie. A culture of immature embryos (embryo rescue) was used to obtain wheatrye amphigaploids when cross breeding durum wheat with rye. The hybrid kernels formation varied from 10.4 to 47.7%. When polluting 2223 flowers of durum wheat there were formed 768 kernels, 604 of which had embryos with different degrees of differentiation. The largest frequency of hybrid kernels formation was found in the hybrids where the mother forms were the durum wheat varieties “Amazonka” (47.7%), “Diona” (37.5%), and “Aksinit” (37.6%). Fertile amphidiploids (primary hexaploid triticale) were obtained after doubling the number of chromosomes. In vitro immature embryo cultivation was also used to obtain triticale hybrids with soft wheat in those cases when it served as the maternal parent in cross breeding. The efficiency of haploid production in the triticale anthers depended on the genotype. The frequency of embryogenic anthers formation varied from 6.7 to 17.4%, plant regeneration from the new forms was 11.4–31.4%. The 68 obtained of the 338 plants were green and 270 were albinos. In vitro microclonal propagation using segments of young heads as explants allowed preserving and propagating sterile plants for further work to restore their fertility.

There has been carried out an estimation of stability of DNA-containing plant samples stored under the conditions that model accelerated DNA degradation. The research material were the lines H. annuus (“VIR 114”, “VIR 116”) and wild-growing forms of sunflower H. decapetalus, H. petiolaris, H. rigidus taken from the collection of the N. I. Vavilov All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources. On average, the stability level of long DNA fragments for the nuclear, mitochondrial, and chloroplast genomes was 76.9%, 87.5%, and 98.3% respectively compared with the control. When assessing the stability of short DNA fragments, it was shown that on average, the number of nuclear, mitochondrial, and chloroplast DNA was 89.5%, 96.0%, and 97.7% respectively compared with the control.

In the conditions of insufficient and unstable moisture in the Rostov Region, unilateral application of mineral fertilizers for winter wheat is not always justified due to a lack of moisture in the soil. In this regard, at present, one of the promising directions is the additional use of water-soluble biological products to mineral fertilizers for the treatment of seeds and vegetative plants. Therefore, in 2016–2017 there were conducted the special experiments to study the effect of various biological products on the productivity and grain quality of the new winter wheat variety “Niva Stavropoliya” sown in a weedfree fallow and the variety “Victoriya 11” sown after oilseed flax. In the field trials there were studied such promising biological products for the southern agricultural area of the Rostov Region as “Extrasol”, “Rostok”, “Aquamix”, “Aquarin 5” and “Aquarin 9”. The effect of the mentioned products was evaluated on the mineral nutrition backgrounds optimal for winter wheat. When the grain crop was sown in weedfree fallow, there were used P60K40 before sowing, + N30 in the tillering phase, + N30 in the phase of head formation. When the grain crop was sown after oilseed flax, nitro-gen was additionally added at a dose of N60 to this fertilizer rate in the period of main tillage. It was established that the most effective results were under the compound use of biological products “Aquamix” (0.1 kg/t) in seed treatment + “Aquarin 5” (2 kg/ha) + “Aquarin 9” (2 kg/ha) in the treatment of plants in the tillering phase and the phase of head formation. At the same time, the yield increase to the background variant was 22.7% for the variety “Niva Stavropoliya” and 21.5% for the variety “Victoriya 11”.