Morpho-physiological parameters of wheat cultivar for cultivation on aluminum-acid soils

Federal Agricultural Research Center of the North-East named N.V. Rudnitsky, Kirov, Russian Federation

^* Corresponding author: edaphic@mail.ru

Abstract

One way to combine the requirement of organic farming and the requirement to increase grain production is to create genotypes with resistance to abiotic stressors. The aim of the work is to adjust the parameters of the existing model of spring wheat cultivar for cultivation on natural aluminum-acid soil. The stress conditions of the aluminum-acid soil led to decrease in the yield of 19 wheat cultivars by an average of 72.5% compared to neutral soil. The yield level was statistically significantly correlated with such elements of the yield structure as the 1000-grain mass (r = 0.76), the mass of grains per main spike (r = 0.92), and per plant (r = 0.88). Resistant cultivars reduced the content of chlorophylls in leaves by 29–43%, sensitive ones - by almost three times. The content of carotenoids in sensitive cultivars decreased by 58%; in resistant cultivars the content of carotenoids was within control, or slightly decreased. Under conditions of aluminum-acid soil, a close relationship (r = 0.62) was revealed between the wheat yield and the proportion of chlorophyll in the light-harvesting complexes of flag leaf chloroplasts. The corrected target morpho-physiological indices of plants of spring soft wheat are given, which are most optimal when growing on aluminum-acid sod-podzolic soils