Nyska I. Breeding Value of the Spring Barley Gene Pool Accessions by Complex Resistance to Biotic and Abiotic Factors in the Eastern Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

Object: Complex resistance of spring barley accessions of the global genetic pool from the NCPGRU to diseases, pests and drought to create cultivars with high adaptive potential to stress factors, peculiarities of the variability of harmful species composition, sources of resistance to diseases and pests combined with drought resistance and valuable economic characteristics. Objective: To assess the breeding value of spring barley accessions for resistance to a complex of bio- and abiotic factors by identifying sources with individual, group and complex resistance to harmful organisms and drought on infectious and provocative backgrounds and involving them into breeding practice. Methods: General-scientific, field, laboratory and statistical. Novelty: For the first time in the eastern forest-steppe of Ukraine, the patterns of formation of a trait collection of spring barley accessions characterized by combination of resistance to harmful organisms and drought with a set of economic features were established. Morphological markers of resistance to cereal flies were found by revealing the characteristics of the accessions’ response to damage, which are manifested as their regenerative capacity to recuperate shoots, mechanical and linear density of the stem and plant height. The peculiarities of dependence of resistance and valuable economic characteristics on the ecological origin of the accessions, namely, Europe (Western, Eastern, Northern), North America and Asia, were established. Five crossing combinations uniting valuable traits were identified, which will facilitate further selection of resistant and productive genotypes on a provocative background and creation of starting material for spring barley breeding on this basis. The use of the method designed for forming spring barley collections according to resistance to biotic factors, which includes a scheme of creating starting material based on determining the breeding value of the crop gene pool accessions in terms of resistance to pathogens and cereal flies, was further developed. Results: Fourteen spring barley accessions combining complex resistance to bio-and abiotic factors with valuable economic characteristics and high biochemical parameters were identified; of them 5 accessions were registered with the NCPGRU. The trait database was enriched by the distinguished (8) accessions with morphological markers of resistance to cereal flies. Two methods aimed at forming collections of field crops according to resistance to biotic factors and determining the resistance of spring spiked cereals to a set of intrastem pests were developed. A catalog of starting material was compiled for spring barley breeding for resistance to major diseases and pests in the eastern forest-steppe of Ukraine. "Method for determining contamination of spring barley seeds by pathogens Helminthosporium spp." was developed. Ten spring barley cultivars were created with the applicant’s participation and submitted to the state variety trial. Degree of Implementation: The developed methods were tested in the Department of Phytopathology and Entomology of the PBGI - NCSCI, the Laboratories of Spring Barley Breeding and Genetics and of Spring Wheat Breeding of the PPI. Scope of Implementation: scientific institutions of NAAS, NAS and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, educational establishments, agrarian enterprises of Ukraine.