MOSCOW, July 8. /TASS/. Biologists from Tyumen State University (TyumSU) have created hydrides of spring soft wheat possessing extremely high ecological flexibility, e.g. the ability to adapt to different conditions, the TyumSU press service said.
"When facing the global climate change, one of the most challenging tasks is the problem of creation, study, and separation of genetic material having high ecological flexibility and stability in demonstrating the features which influence the productivity of plants," said Nina Bome, head of the university’s department of botanic, biotechnology and landscape architecture.
The new types of wheat have been created using the hybridization technique at the TyumSU Institute of Biology. First, the new hydrides bred from the sorts appropriate for the West Siberia and Germany, have been tested in the Lake Kuchak biological center near Tyumen. Then, the scientists have examined the new wheat on the three fields situated in the Tyumen region, Baden-W·rtenberg, and Lower Saxony in Germany in order to find out in which extent the hybrids are able to adapt to various conditions.
The tests in Germany and Russia have taken two years. The researchers have ranged the plants according to their productivity and persistence to diseases and come to the conclusion that the hydrides have demonstrated good results both in Russia and in Germany. Moreover, the scientists have tracked the relation between lodging (displacement of stems or roots from their vertical and proper placement) and the height of a plant. The lodging occurs when the stem does not withstand the load, therefore the plants lean to the ground which influences the formation of grain in a highly unfavorable way.
The lodging is a common case for cereals, and therefore, it is an important issue for their selection. In West Siberia, the climate is more continental if compared to Germany, implying that the summer is drier. The researchers have elucidated that the lack of moisture determines the plants in Siberia to sprout out on the average lower than in Germany, but this has no impact on the lodging resistance.
The ecological tests have been held as a part of the international project SASCHA intended to adapt the agriculture of West Siberia to the global changes of climate. The project is also supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Germany.