Formation of spring barley yields in the arid part of the South of Russia
In the Russian Federation, barley occupy about 7.0 million hectares with an average yield of 12.0 hwt/ha. However, the main produc­tion of barley grain (52.0%) is located in the arid regions of the country, namely in the Southern and Privolzhsky Districts (Alabushev et al., 2009; Porturovskaya et al., 2002). This article presents the results of long-term research of spring barley varieties developed by different breeding institutions in the experimental field of the Kalmyk Research Institute of Agriculture named after M. B. Narmaev, the purpose of which is to select highly productive and the most adapted to local climatic conditions varieties for the arid central territory of the Republic. The soil of the experimental area is light chestnut with various degrees of alkalinity and with different mechanical composition. In the com­petitive testing the spring barley varieties of various breeding and experimental institutions were compared with each other and with the standard and zoned varieties. The main factor in the selection of spring barley varieties in 2008–2017 was their ability to form grain yield under difficult hydrothermal conditions. The varieties which successfully passed the competitive tests and showed indisputable advantages in comparison with the standard, were recommended in production as the most valuable for the area. During the study, it was established that spring barley in the central zone of Kalmykia formed a crop from 0.50 to 5.01 t/ha depending on the hydrothermal conditions of the vegetation period in 2008–2017. It has been revealed that in order to obtain stable high grain yields in the central arid zone of Kalmykia, the varieties with a short period of “sowing – earing” (45–55 days) and a vegetation period of 75–85 days or less are of great need.