Cogent Food & Agriculture (Oct 2024)
Adaptation of spring soft wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) to steppe and dry steppe growing conditions
Abstract
Adapting a crop to a cultivation environment is one of its most essential properties, characterizing its suitability to the climatic zone and its ability to respond to new elements of agrotechnology. Two field experiments were carried out in 2021 and 2022 in two different climatic zones (dry steppe and steppe) of Kazakhstan to study the adaptive traits of the spring wheat variety ‘Shortandinskaya 2012’ based on the different management practices. Each experiment included 18 treatments (three sowing dates, three seeding rates, and two fertilizer application levels). In the dry steppe zone, the variety showed adaptive properties by increasing yields up to 332–397 kg/ha or 17–21% compared to the average of 1913 kg/ha in the fertilized treatments with sowing on May 15 and May 20 dates. The seeding rate effect was insignificant. The leading components in yield formation were productive tillering, thousand kernel weight, and grain weight. A very high correlation existed between yield and grain weight per ear (r = 0.86–0.93). In the steppe zone, yield improvements of up to 539–716 kg/ha or 16–21% compared to an average for all treatments of 3391 kg/ha were observed for the fertilized treatments with sowing on May 20 and May 25 dates, and with higher seeding rates at 350 or 400 seeds/m2. With the predominance of the development of the thousand kernel weight, its correlation with yield was between 0.91 and 0.99. The yield was also highly correlated with grain weight per ear (r = 0.83–0.94) and productive tillering per plant (r = 0.86–0.97). The results indicate that implementing the adaptation methods, such as adjusting the sowing date, seeding rate, and fertilization, significantly enhanced the expression of the genetic potential in the soft wheat variety ‘Shortandinskaya 2012’ across two distinct agroclimatic zones.
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