Breeding sugar beet for the resistance to abiotic environmental factors

Relevance. The selection for productivity and stability on different stages in the breeding process includes an assessment of the adaptive capacity and genotypes ecological stability. Therefore breeding for the resistance to abiotic environmental factors is closely connected with the adaptive breeding, which has received special attention in recent years.Methodology. The work was carried out at the “A.L. Mazlumov All-Russian Research Institute of Sugar Beet and Sugar” in 2011-2020. Male-sterile forms of sugar beet were crossed with fertile diploid multi-seeded pollinators (ARRISBS selections) by topcross method. The resulting hybrids were assessed for yield, sugar content and sugar collection according by standard methods used at the “A.L. Mazlumov ARRISBS”. It is carried out the annual work, including selection of the best and rejection of the worst options for the studied characteristics. An assessment was made of lines and hybrid combinations of sugar beet for the resistance to a complex of unfavorable natural and climatic factors based on the characteristics of yield, sugar content and seed productivity.Results. The results of improving selections over ten years show an increase in the weight of the root crop and the sugar content for the original single-seeded and multi-seeded materials. Single-seeded (MS-2113, MS-Perla) and multi-seeded (OP-15465, OP-15676, OP-15202) lines with high combining ability in terms of yield and sugar content of root crops were identified. An increase in the resulting parameter - sugar collection - was noted by 2020 (to 8,8-9,0 t/ha), illustrating the positive dynamics of the breeding process of sugar beet for plants of the first life year. An increase in the weight of 1000 seeds (to 13,4-13,9 g) and separate fruiting (to 98-99%) was shown during the breeding process for plants of the second life year.Conclusion. The studied hybrid combinations have a wide reaction rate to a complex of natural climatic factors: elevated temperatures in combination with high and low humidity.