EVALUATION OF QUANTITATIVE TRAITS OF SPRING SOFT WHEAT VARIETIES AND HYBRIDS OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN BREEDING IN THE DRY STEPPE ZONE OF AKMOLA AND KARAGANDA REGIONS

Abstract

The study assessed spring bread wheat varieties and hybrids grown in the dry-steppe zones of the Akmola and Karaganda regions to identify the most productive and climatically adapted genotypes. The analysis focused on key breeding parameters such as spike length, grains/spike ratio, grain weight per spike, number of spikelets, and overall yield. In the Akmola region, the highest yield among the early-maturing varieties was demonstrated by Line 1617 ae9 (396.6 g/m²). In the medium-maturing group, the variety Xi Chun 911 was the leader with a yield of 357.6 g/m², while in the late-maturing group Long Chun 31 showed the highest productivity, reaching 458.4 g/m². In the Karaganda region, the varieties Lutescens 13-15 and Favorit showed stable yields of 257 g/m², while the most productive variety among the medium-maturing group was Lutescens 2223 (259 g/m²). In addition, several promising hybrid combinations—Silantiy × Favorit, Chelyaba 80 × Karagandinskaya 31, and Karagandinskaya 30 × Novosibirskaya 31—were identified as having strong potential for further breeding. The results confirm the value of the investigated material as a basis for developing high-yielding spring bread wheat varieties.