ASSESSMENT OF COLLECTION OF GRAIN SORGHUM ON PREMATURENESS (EARLINESS)

We consider a comprehensive study of initial material and finding of the best samples with a complex of economic valuable traits for definite soil-climatic conditions has a great theoretical and practical significance. Thus we have studied and assessed collection samples of grain sorghum on prematureness (earliness).  The studied samples possess significant differences in the duration of vegetation period (from 80 till 132 days) covering all groups of maturity.  A great part of the collection (79% or 209 samples) belongs to a group of early maturity with a vegetation period of 100 days. We allocated the samples of the earliest maturity (‘Orlovskoe’, ‘SPZS-16’, ‘ZSK-148’, ‘Luch 1’, ‘KU-3’, ‘M-61134’, ‘Kremovoe’, ‘Volzhskoe 4’, ‘Pishchevoe 35’, ‘Volzhskoe 44’, ‘Volzhskoe 615’ and ’06-2162’) with a combination of other economic valuable traits, which can be used in the selection on prematureness.  Use of the studied initial material in the selection process resulted in breeding of new early maturing varieties of grain sorghum, which successfully passed the State Variety Testing.  A new early maturing variety of grain sorghum ‘Velikan’ possessing a period of vegetation “germination–complete maturity” of 95-98 days was added to the State Register of breeding achievements in 2012. In 2013 a new early maturing, low-growing (dwarf), white-kerneled variety of grain sorghum ‘Zernogradskoe 88’ with a period of vegetation “germination–complete maturity” of 92-95 days and high productivity and grain quality, was added to the State Register of breeding achievements in the North-Caucasus Region of Russia. The variety of grain sorghum ‘Zernogradskoe 88’ was awarded with a silver medal for a complex of the advantages on the XVI-th Russian AgroIndustrial Exhibition ‘Golden Autumn – 2014’.