Published in Scientific Papers. Series A. Agronomy, Vol. LXIV, Issue 2
Written by Raisa VOZHEHOVA, Andrii TYSHCHENKO, Olena TYSHCHENKO, Oleksandr DYMOV, Olena PILIARSKA, Pavlo LYKHOVYD
The goal of the study is to find out the best indices for drought tolerance evaluation in alfalfa genotypes to distinguish the best ones for further use in the plant breeding process for drought resistance. The study was carried out during 2017-2020 at the experimental field of the Institute of Irrigated Agriculture of NAAS (Kherson, Ukraine) with accordance to modern standards of scientific work in agronomy. We studied 24 varieties and populations of alfalfa in the conditions of optimal (irrigation) and stress (rainfed) humidification in the South of Ukraine, which is characterized as a semi-arid climatic zone. To evaluate the resistance of the studied genotypes of the crop to drought, 14 different indices were applied. Based on the results of the study, new index for drought tolerance evaluation in alfalfa, named stress resistance index (ISR), was introduced. We selected five genotypes: M.g./P.p., LR/H, Ram.d., M.g./CP-11 and M.agr./C., which had the highest yield of 8.30-8.47 kg/m2 under the moisture stress as the most prospective for their further use in the plant breeding process. Four indices, namely, yield index (YI), mean geometric productivity (GMP), harmonic mean productivity (HMP), stress sensitivity index (SSI) and the developed stress resistance index (ISR) were selected as the best ones for characterization of alfalfa varieties by drought resistance as they do not only characterize the genotype in terms of its drought resistance, but also in terms of productivity under the stress conditions.
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