Purpose. Defining marker-trait associations of microsatellite markers with specific regions of the genome that control important agronomical traits in the investigated varieties originated in the Plant Breeding and Genetics Institute – National Center of Seed and Cultivar Investigations and entered into the State register of plant varieties suitable for dissemination in Ukraine during different years. Methods. Molecular genetic methods (extraction of genomic DNA, polymerase chain reactions (PCR), electrophoresis of amplification products in polyacrylamide gel), field methods (phenological observations of heading date and analysis of plant height, visual assessment of the colour and length of wheat ear and awns), statistical methods (evaluation of trait means by descriptive statistic instruments of EXCEL package, ANOVA method performed by GLM instrument from AGROBASE 21 package). Results. During four gro­wing years (2010/11, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2013/14), 47 bread winter wheat varieties were phenotypically measured and analyzed with 17 microsatellite loci. 35 marker-trait associations (MTA) for heading date, 39 for plant height, 33 for awn size, 20 for ear colour and 8 for ear size were found to be stable and significant during two–four different gro­wing years. Conclusions. Microsatellite markers that showed substantial and stable during different growing years associations with agronomical traits can be useful and suitable for marker-assisted selection (MAS) in Ukrainian wheat breeding programs.

Purpose. To establish biological features of plants growth and development and the formation of Miscanthus giganteus planting material depending on the cultivation technology elements. Methods. Field, laboratory, visual, weight measu­ring, mathematical and statistical ones. Results. The features of the growth and development of the miscanthus bioenergy crop were investigated including the formation of planting material depending on the combined technology elements application during the planting time, namely: planting time, rhizome mass, the granules and the MaxiMarin absorbent gel. It was established that the increase in plant height and leaf area as well as the miscanthus stems formation was depended on both the rhizome planting time, their size, and the use of the absorbent. During three-year period, increase in plant height was more intensive and leaf area was largest in case of the absorbent application, as compared to the control during all phases of the development for the first and the second planting time regardless of rhizome mass. On the average, the largest leaf area – 1905,9 cm3 – was in the final stage of vegetation in the context of the second planting time for large rhizomes and application of granules and absorbent gel jointly. Increasing the ground mass due to plant height, leaf area and the number of stems benefited the photosynthesis productivity intensity, that influenced the root system increase, and consequently the output of the miscanthus planting material. It was found that there are direct strong correlation between these indices and the rhizome mass. Ground mass growing is contributed to the increase in the rhizome mass, and accordingly the output of the planting material – rhizome. In case of application of granules and absorbent gel jointly, the ground mass of the miscanthus was growing most intensively and accordingly the rhizome mass was the largest, which in the first year of small rhizomes planting was twice as much as compared to the control and was equal to 1090.5 g, for large rhizomes planting this index was respectively 2.4 times more and equal to 1763.9 g. During the second planting time, the application of granules and absorbent gel jointly resulted in the rhizomes mass increase for small rhizomes planting 1.9, large rhizomes – 2.1 times more as compared to the control. Conclusions. Direct strong correlations were established bet­ween the intensity of the ground mass growth – the height of plants, the number of leaves, leaf area, the number of buds and the rhizome mass. The growth of the ground mass of plants was contributed to the increase of the root system, and consequenly the output of planting material. In all sta­ges of plant development, the increase of the rhizome mass was more intensive in case of the absorbent application regardless the time of rhizome planting, as compared to the control. The application of granules and absorbent jointly allowed to form the largest rhizome mass.