Russian geneticists and breeders have developed a winter wheat variety called "VNIISB-50," which allows for harvesting about 110 centners of grain per hectare. The productivity of the variety has become the best for winter varieties, according to the All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Biotechnology (part of the Kurchatov Genomic Center consortium).
The "VNIISB-50" variety was obtained using marker and genomic selection methods. Their basis involved selecting plants with genes that affect yield and resistance to negative factors.
The director of the institute, Gennady Karlov, said that the peculiarity of winter wheat is that it faces a number of unfavorable factors in winter and spring – cold and diseases caused by dampness. According to the scientist, the new variety is protected from them.
The wheat is also protected from lodging due to a shorter stem. The yield we harvested on the experimental plots was 109.3 centners per hectare. This is the highest figure for winter wheat in the Central Chernozem region. For example, its average yield is 40.9 centners.
The fields of NPO "Betagran Semena" in Orel served as an experimental site for cultivation. The specialist noted that imperfect weather conditions did not prevent a high yield this year.
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