Abstract only

Armenia consumes grain three times as much as it produces. Therefore, increase of grain production is one of the priority tasks in Armenia. We greatly appreciate the assistance rendered by CIMMYT and ICARDA in this regards. Within the framework of collaboration with CIMMYT and ICARDA during the 1996-2003 years, about 4000 entries of winter and facultative wheat have been tested at the Research Center of Agriculture and Plant Protection. As a result, variety Armcim (1 DI3.1/MLT, #29, 7th FA WWON) was submitted to the state commission, while two other entries have been sown for multiplication (Vorona, #55 from 1 st WWEERYT and SN;.64/SKE, #57 from Th FAWWON). In Armenia, grain production can be increased only at the expense of increasing winter wheat yie[d, which is the most important crop in the country and because of impossibility to increase areas planted to grain crops. Therefore, the major objective of wheat breeding is to alter architectonics ofthe wheat plant, to find the latent possibilities of increasing grain yield. The latter is conditioned by such traits as spike size, number of spikelets per spike and multi-floweriness of spikelets. Under the same environments, these varieties provide for higher yield of grain per unit of area, which results from their high adaptability and genotypic traits. To develop improved varieties we have employed transgression breeding technique which allowed for involving new sources of variability - large-spiked mutants. As we see it, germplasm improvement first of all implies the revealing of the latent yield potential of a genotype, and accumulation of the genes determining yield components and increased nutrient and water-use efficiency. In this respect, new varieties Ani, Artsakh, Amaras, Vagarshapat, Khaki and a number of lines deserve special attention. In 2002-2003, these varieties showed the following values for the important agronomic traits such as number of grains per spike -53-58, and grain weight per spike- 2.1- 2.8 g, while for the check Bezostaya-1 42 grains and 1.6 9 were recorded for the same traits, respectively. Average grain yield under rainfed conditions was equal to 3.7-5.0t/haand4.3-5.5 t/ha in 2002 and 2003 respectively. In the same years, Bezostaya-1 produced 2.3 t/ha and 3.5 t/ha, respectively. In 2004, the area sawn to varieties Ani and Artsakh increase to 42 and 44 ha, respectively. Other varieties undergo testing and multiplication on 0.1 ha plots. Primary seed-production nurseries have established for varieties Ani, Artsakh and Amaras.

English

0408|AGRIS 0401|AL-Wheat Program

Juan Carlos Mendieta

CIMMYT Publications Collection