Seed productivity of different Festulolium varieties

• Published in: IOP conference series. Earth and environmental science 2020-01, Vol.422 (1), p.12026
• Main Authors: Obraztsov, V N, Shchedrina, D I, Kadyrov, S V
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cultivation; Festulolium; Field tests; Grasses; Leaf area; Photosynthesis; Plant breeding; Plants (botany); Productivity; Ripening; Seeds; Steppes; Sugar; Vegetation; Weather
• ISSN: 1755-1307; 1755-1315
• DOI: 10.1088/1755-1315/422/1/012026

Festulolium is the first artificially created Poaceae forage culture. The advantages of this crop are good regrow capacity, high content of sugars and good winter hardiness. The authors investigated biological features and seed productivity of new varieties of Festulolium of different morphotypes in the conditions of the forest-steppe of the Central Chernozem Region of Russia. The material for research included 6 Festulolium varieties (the Aelita, VIK-90, Viknel, Debut, Izumrudnyi, and Sinta) bred in the Russian plant breeding centers, included in the State Register of the Russian Federation and admitted for cultivation in the territory of the Central Chernozem Region by the State Commission for Cultivation. Field experiments were carried out according to conventional procedures adopted in seed production of perennial grasses. Due to phenological observations the authors define that the duration of the vegetation period of Festulolium depends on the variety and weather conditions during the vegetation season. According to the results of observations it can be noted that in order to form the yield of seeds, the grass stands of different years of vegetation require an average sum of temperatures of 1283-1816°C and 128-181 mm of total precipitation. The most early-ripening variety was the Sinta followed closely by the Izumrudnyi variety. In the second and subsequent years of vegetation the plants of these varieties began to grow earlier than the plants of other varieties in the spring and were the first to reach the stage of full seed maturation in 83-88 days. Such varieties as the Debut, Viknel, VIK-90 were defined as late-maturing; their seeds ripened in 96-102 days. The most intensive linear growth, the greatest plant leafiness, leaf area, net photosynthetic productivity, photosynthetic potential and subsequent seed yield of 735.5 kg was demonstrated by the Izumrudnyi variety. Seed yield of the Sinta variety was slightly less (695.9 kg) followed by the VIK-90, Viknel and Aelita varieties.