In wheat cultivation by usual autumn-seeding cultivation in Iwate Prefecture, the work for wheat sowing overlaps with the harvesting of the summer crop such as rice, and this is a big problem for the farmers. In the drained paddy field after rice cultivation, it is not possible to seed wheat at the proper time because the plowing work is difficult due to rain in autumn and the insufficient drain measures. In this study, the technology of winter-seeding cultivation, seeding winter wheat before the continuous snow cover, was developed to solve these problems. The overwintering ability of winter wheat seeded before the continuous snow cover was investigated, and a suitable variety and the best seeding method for winter-seeding cultivation were determined. Then, I developed a suitable method of nitrogen fertilizer application to obtain a high grain yield and high grain quality, and a disease and weed control system for winter-seeding cultivation. Moreover, I found that the winter-seeding cultivation was effective in reducing the disease incidence of wheat yellow mosaic. I found that the processing quality in winter-seeding cultivation was the same or better than that in standard autumn-seeding cultivation.

Burn/low-till management of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum) is being practiced by some growers in the higher rainfall areas of the Pacific Northwestern Winter Wheat Region of the US. Residue burning eliminates the numerous seedbed tillage operations that are normally required to reduce residues and control weeds and diseases in continuous winter wheat production. The detrimental effects of burn and till systems on soil erosion are well documented. However, there is little or no data on the effects of burning with no-till or low-till annual cropping on either erosion or soil quality. A 3-year field study comparing winter season erosion resulting from burn/low-till (BLT) seeded winter wheat following winter wheat and conventionally managed (CM) winter wheat following various crops was completed in 1997. Results indicate soil loss from the BLT fields was not significantly different from that of the CM fields with various crops preceding winter wheat. For the BLT fields, soil loss was as closely related to soil disturbance (number of tillage operations) as to the amount of surface residue. When residue and crop cover did not differ with the number of tillage operations, an increased number of tillage operations after burning loosened the soil and resulted in greater soil loss. No adverse effects on soil loss or soil quality from using the BLT with one or two-pass seeding of winter wheat following winter wheat were found in this study. The results have implications for harvesting wheat stubble as a source of biomass, or as an alternative technique for initiating conversion from a conventional tillage to a no-till seeding system, without high initial investment in new seeding equipment.

The first records of winter damages to winter wheat presumably caused by snow molds in Southern Sakhalin was 1908 or 1909, and for red clover, winter wheat and winter ray on Kunashiri and Etorofu islands (Kurile Islands) were 1940 and 1941, respectively. The first report of snow molds (Monographella nivalis var. nivalis, Myriosclerotinia borealis and Typhula incarnata) on winter wheat in Southern Sakhalin was 1936, and fungal specimens of snow molds (Typhula ishikariensis, M. borealis and Sclerotinia trifoliorum) in Southern Sakhalin were collected in 1932 and 1940. Those specimens have been kept in The Hokkaido University Museum (SAPA).

A two-factor field experiment was carried out at the Lithuanian Institute of Agriculture during the period 2005-2008. The influence of different tillage and fertilization practices on wheat grain fungal contamination was evaluated. Grain surface contamination and internal grain infection with fungi were quantified using agar tests. Purified colonies were identified using different manuals. A total of 16 fungal genera were identified in spring and winter wheat grains. Alternaria infected 46.3% - 99.9%, Cladosporium 26.9% - 77.8%, Fusarium 0.9% - 37.1%, Penicillium 1.3% - 2.5% of grains tested. Winter wheat grain surface contamination by fungi ranged from 7.2 × 103 to 24.8 × 103 of colony forming units per g of grain (cfu g-1), spring wheat from 14.8 × 103 to 80.3 × 103 cfu g-1. No-tillage increased winter wheat grain infection by Alternaria, Aspergillus and Cladosporium species and total count of cfu g-1 on spring wheat grain surface. High fertilizer rates resulted in an increase in spring wheat grain infection by Fusarium and Penicillium species and total count of cfu g-1 on both spring and winter wheat grain surface.;

Thus, it was found positive effects of protective measures for major economic indicators. For example, use the first option scheme of the experiments yielded 636.7 thousand rubles per hectare of net income in the profitability of 404.7%. Application the second version of the scheme of experiments provided 724.2 thousand rubles per hectare of net income in the profitability of 453.1%. In the third version of the scheme was received on a net income 648.6 thousand rubles / ha with the profitability of 178%. As a result of the fourth option scheme of the net income amounted to 891 rubles / ha, with the profitability of 182.4%. Approval of data protection systems of winter cereals under production conditions showed that their effectiveness was higher in comparison with the basic variant, but profitability of protective measures decreased at grain yield 51 -58.2 kg /ha. It is due to the fact that in the intensive technology it is more difficult to take into account all the factors that determine the appropriateness of the use of pesticides

Intensity of leaf infestation by selected fungal pathogens and yielding of old winter wheat cultivars (Ostka Kazimierska, Kujawianka Więcławicka, Wysokolitewka Sztywnosłoma) against a background of modern winter wheat cultivars (Kobra, Roma, Korweta, Sukces, Zyta, Mewa) in conditions of organic farming was assessed. The research was based on a special field experiment established in 1994 year on a grey-brown podzolic soil in which different crop production systems are compared. The research was conducted in 2005 and 2006. Average for 2 years grain yield of winter wheat for all cultivars amounted to 3.0 t/ha. In both years the largest yields were noted for modern winter wheat cultivars. Old cultivars of wheat reacted better on water deficiency than modern ones. The yield decrease for all cultivars was mainly affected by low level of resistance on fungal pathogens responsible for leaf diseases. Only in 2005 leaves of old cultivars were more than modern cultivars infested by fungal diseases.

Kernel hardness is mainly conditioned by allelic variations of Pina-D1 and Pinb-D1 genes located on the short arm of chromosome 5D. In this work, the Ecotilling approach was optimized to investigate Pina and Pinb alleles in the micro-core collections of Chinese wheat germplasm, and three Pina and eight Pinb alleles were found. Generally, more Pinb alleles were detected in the accessions coming from the regions that grow winter or a mixture of spring and winter wheats. This was particularly evident for the Southwestern winter wheat, Xinjiang winter-spring wheat and Yellow and Huai River Valley winter wheat regions. A novel variant (designated as Pinb-D1x) was discovered in one of the accessions from the Xinjiang winter-spring wheat region. Compared to wild type (WT) allele Pinb-D1a, two nucleotide substitutions occurred in the coding region of Pinb-D1x, one (at nucleotide position 257) resulting in the replacement of a WT cysteine residue by tyrosine and the other (at nucleotide position 382) creating a premature stop codon. The implications of our data to understanding the diversity of Pina and Pinb alleles in wheat and to future molecular breeding of wheat kernel hardness are discussed.

An experiment was conducted in North China to investigate the effects of deficit irrigation and winter wheat varieties on the photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) capture ration, PAR utilization and grain yield. Field experiments involved Jimai 20 (J; high yield variety) and Lainong 0153 (L; dryland variety) with non-irrigation and irrigated at the jointing stage. The results showed that whether irrigated at jointing stage or not, there was no significant difference between J and L with respect to the amount of PAR intercepted by the winter wheat canopies. However, significant differences were observed between the varieties with respect to the amount of PAR intercepted by plants that were 60-80 cm above the ground surface. This result was mainly caused by the changes in the vertical distributions of leaf area index. As a result, the effects of the varieties and deficit irrigation on the radiation use efficiency (RUE) and grain yield of winter wheat were due to the vertical distribution of PAR in the winter wheat canopies. During the late growing season of winter wheat, irrespective of the irrigation regime, the RUE and grain yield of J were significantly higher than those of L. These results suggest that a combination of deficit irrigation and a suitable winter wheat variety should be applied in North China.