Seed quality indicators of winter bread wheat accessions depending on the grain size

Purpose and objectives. To evaluate the effect of sorting seeds by size on their quality indicators: germination energy, laboratory germinability and 1000-grain weight. Materials and methods. The experiments were carried out in the experimental field of the Plant Production Institute named after V.Ya. Yuriev of NAAS in accordance with the field experimentation method in 2016–2018; 26 winter bread wheat lines and varieties were studied. The varieties and lines were grown in variety trial experiments; the plot area was 10 m2. Seeds were separated on sieves of a laboratory separator RLU-3; the 1000-grain weight was measured; the laboratory germinability and germination energy were determined. Results and discussion. When winter bread wheat seeds are sorted on sieves, they are separated into fractions with various 1000-grain weights. The separated fractions of winter wheat seeds have different sowing qualities. The 2.5 x 20 mm seeds and 2.8 x 20 mm seeds are of the best quality (germination energy, germinability). It was found that in 2016–2018, the germination energy, laboratory germinability and 1000-gain weight changed depending on the growing conditions. They were the highest in 2017. The varieties with a high 1000-grain weight have been identified: Doskonala, Pryvablyva, Smuhlianka, and Haiok. The highest germination energy and germinability were intrinsic to varieties Yednist, Harmonika and Bunchuk. Yednist (93.3%), Harmonika (94.3%), Metelytsia Kharkivska (94.5%), Bunchuk (94.7%), Alians (93.3%), Podolianka (92.5%), Patriotka (93.6%), Zapashna (93.3%), Dyvo (93.7%), Doskonala (93.6%), Krasa Laniv (94.0%), Smuhlianka (93.1%), and Erythrospermum 408-13 (93.7%) had a high germinability of small seeds (2.2 x 20 mm). To clean these varieties, especially in years with low seed yields, it is recommended to use seeds of the standard size (2.2–2.5 x 20 mm). Conclusions. The relationships between the grain size and sowing qualities of seeds have been established. Separation of seeds is an effective technological method allowing for selection of top-quality seeds