Formation of economically useful characters of wild and cultivated crested wheat-grass in the East Kazakhstan Region

Abstract

As a source of new cultivated forage plants, the plant family should be to put in first place as the largest and dominant family with great plasticity of species when adapting to new growing conditions. The family Poaceae Barnhart is the largest family of herbaceous plants with great plasticity in adaptation. Depleted cultivated pastures may be restored with the use of wild cereals after selecting and evaluating accessions for the most valuable economic and morphological characters. Based on long-term selection from the family Poaceae Barnhart, a promising species crested wheat-grass was identified. The main methods used for selecting were those by B.A. Dospekhov, B.A. Bykov, N.S. Konyushkov, L.G. Ramenskiy, and S.P. Zaytsev. This paper briefly describes the morphometric indices of the selected ecotypes of crested wheat-grass in the East Kazakhstan. Under natural growing conditions of the East Kazakhstan, the following 5 ecotypes of crested wheat-grass were identified: mountain - shrub - steppe, feather-grass - wormwood - steppe, shrub - steppe, roadside - steppe, pea shrub - wheat-grass - meadow ecotypes. The amplitude of intraspecific variability of morphological characters in natural populations is presented. Long-term observations were carried out on experimental plots over the seasonal development of introduced species. The accessions introduced into experimental plots of the Altai Botanical Garden are characterized by accelerated passage of phenological stages. The agronomic practices carried out made it possible to increase the yield of green mass 6.5 times; thousand-seed weight increased by 17% for the feather-grass - wormwood - steppe ecotype; by 9% for the roadside - steppe ecotype; and by 18% for the pea shrub - wheat-grass - meadow ecotype. Based on the conducted research and observations, the most valuable form of crested wheat-grass from the pea shrub - wheat-grass - meadow ecotype with high indices of economic characters is advised for further introduction into culture.