Comprehensive evaluation of economic characters of promising varieties and lines of spring rapeseed under the conditions of the south of West Siberia

Abstract

The development of new modern varieties capable of producing high and stable yields is one of the important tasks in oil-bearing crop breeding. Despite the fact that spring rape is of global economic importance, the existing varieties need to be improved in terms of a number of economic breeding characters. The research goal was to evaluate spring rapeseed varieties and lines in the competitive variety trial (CVT) of the third year. The trial was carried out at the field station of the Altai Scientific Center of Agro-Biotechnologies (Altai Research Institute of Agriculture) from 2022 through 2024. The research targets were 15 spring rape accessions (6 varieties and 9 lines). The standard was the released variety of “00” type - ANIISKh 4. The meteorological conditions during the years of research were quite diverse which made it possible to select more valuable forms well adapted to the conditions of the south of West Siberia. The selected promising rape lines (AK-2, 624-17-7, and 624-17-5) belonging to the mid-early maturity group yielded an average of 2.1 t ha which definitely exceeded the standard variety. The variation coefficient was within the range from 4 (624-17-5) to 14% (AK-2) which characterized a weak and medium degree of variability of the character. Along with high productivity, the genotypes formed seeds of a size (thousand grain weight) corresponding to the standard variety (3.2 g) which ranged from 3.0 (624-17-7, AK-2) to 3.5 g (624-17-5). In terms of grain-unit, these lines did not differ significantly from the ANIISKh 4 variety (646 g). The variation coefficient in seed quality indices in the selected forms was insignificant (< 10%) and average (10-20%). The plant height ranged from 95 (AK-2) to 100 cm (624-17-5, 624-17-7). The resistance to lodging and shedding was at the standard level. Thus, the potential ability of the selected spring rape lines to form a high yield in combination with good seed quality regardless of the conditions of the year was determined. Also, AK-2, 624-17-7, 624-17-5 may be advised to be used for feed and food purposes.