The use of the method of adaptability estimation, genotype stability and differential ability of the environment in spring barley breeding to improve grain quality

Despite the great achievements in the breeding of wheat, corn, soybeans and other crops, spring barley is still the most important grain crop in the Russian Federation. It is proved by the growth of its acreage, which reached 8.4 million hectares in 2016 against 7.2 million in 2010. The long-term agricultural practice has shown that barley is one of the most drought-resistant, salt-resistant, unpretentious and early ripening grain crops. Due to such traits, in the conditions of risky farming of the Non-Blackearth (non-chernozem) zone, barley acquires great national economic significance. High demand determines the importance of breeding work with barley. There was studied genotypic variability of the protein percentage in kernels of 12 varieties of various technological directions grown in two locations of the Central Non-Blackearth region. To obtain ecological-genetic information, focused on the selection of plastic forms, there was used the method of estimation of the adaptive ability and stability of genotypes, the differentiating ability of the environment which takes into account the effects of compensation-destabilization, the biological essence of correlation between genotype and environment. The differentiation of varieties according to their ability to accumulate protein in kernels has been established. The highest percentage of protein was produced by grain grown in the Moscow region. Vegetation conditions had a significant impact on the indicator. The differences among the varieties are quite clearly seen through content of protein in kernels. At the same time, the group of brewing varieties was characterized on average by a lower percentage of protein in comparison with the group of feed varieties. There was a significant differentiation of varieties in terms of stability. It has been established that productivity increase results in a significant stability decrease of protein percentage in the new varieties. According to the differentiating ability of the environment, the most valuable breeding backgrounds have been identified for selecting a new breeding material for brewing and feeding purposes. The obtained results are proposed for practical use in plant-breeding to improve the stability of the qualitative parameters of barley.