Development of new winter rye source material with high yield potential, adaptability, and other valuable agronomic traits

Abstract

Aim. To identify new winter rye source material valuable for grain yield, winter hardiness, resistance to major diseases, yield components, and grain quality traits for further use in breeding programmes. Methods. Cultivars and breeding lines were studied during 2022–2025 in the breeding crop rotation of the NSC “Institute of Agriculture of NAAS” (Kyiv Oblast). Field assessments of winter hardiness, resistance to diseases and lodging, yield recording, and structural analysis of plants were performed using generally accepted methods. The protein and starch contents of grain were determined by near-infrared spectroscopy using an Infratek 1240 analyser, while the falling number was measured using a PChP-2 instrument. Results. All the studied genotypes demonstrated high winter hardiness (9 points) and produced higher grain yields than the standard cultivar ‘Siverske’ (5.31 t/ha). The highest yield was re-corded in the cultivar ‘Navara’ at 8.09 t/ha, exceeding the standard by 2.78 t/ha. The yields of the breeding lines KVV-28-15, LKD-19-13, and IZCh-521-17 were 7.27, 6.95, and 6.60 t/ha, respectively. The cultivar ‘Navara’ and the lines KVV-28-15 and LKD-19-13 combined high grain yield with multiple resistance to major diseases. Considerable variation was observed in yield components: plant height ranged from 93.5 to 101.2 cm, productive tillering from 8.7 to 11.0 stems per plant, grain weight per spike from 2.50 to 2.78 g, and thousand-grain weight from 27 to 46 g. The cultivar ‘Navara’ had the highest thousand-grain weight (46 g), starch content (69.5%), and falling number (199 s), whereas the line KVV-28-15 had the highest protein content (14.3%). Conclusions. The cultivar ‘Navara’ and the breeding line KVV-28-15 were the most valuable in terms of the combination of the studied agronomic traits and can be used as source material for breeding high-yielding winter rye cultivars with improved grain quality. The lines LKD-19-13 and IZCh-521-17 are also of interest as sources of individual productivity and resistance traits.