STUDY OF SPRING SOFT WHEAT SOURCE MATERIAL AT THE PRESENT STAGE OF BREEDING

The study of spring soft wheat varieties of various origins was carried out at the Voronezh Federal Scientific Center named after V.V. Dokuchaev in 2021-2024, located in the central part of the Voronezh region. It was revealed that the group of more adapted Russian varieties had a low yield variation coefficient and amounted to 5.4% over the years of study, while the foreign group varieties had a high coefficient (21.3%). In dry conditions, the decrease in productivity of Western European varieties is quite significant: by 23.1 and 45.0% compared to Russian varieties. According to the microdistribution index, the variability of the group of domestic varieties was 11.5%, the stability coefficient was 4.2, while the group of foreign varieties had significantly higher variability - 25.1% and low stability - 1.9, respectively. There is every reason to recognize this indicator as a weak point in the formation of productivity and requiring the greatest attention from breeders in our region. Higher stability coefficient values than those of foreign varieties were noted in the group of Russian varieties in terms of yield, plant height, 1000-grain weight, and productivity and microdistribution indices. Foreign varieties had higher stability in terms of ear length and second leaf area from the top, which must be taken into account when planning breeding selections. The domestic varieties demonstrated a high positive contribution to the overall variability of the entire productivity complex of the ear: length, weight, number and weight of grain - from 4.16 to 4.99 units. The varieties of Western European origin demonstrated the highest contributions for the weight of the whole ear and the weight of grain in the ear: 4.44 and 4.28, with an annual correlation between them and the final yield (r = 0.35-0.71). This group also demonstrated significant correlation coefficients with the yield of the flag leaf and second leaf from the top: r = 0.47 and r = 0.58. The foreign varieties demonstrated high negative contributions for the microdistribution indices and the Mexican index; these indices require increased attention from breeders when including Western European varieties in crossbreeding

variety, weather conditions, yield, productivity elements, variability, stability, correlation