VARIETY OF AWNLESS BROME 'VORONEZHSKIY 17' FOR THE CONDI-TIONS OF CENTRAL BLACK EARTH REGION

Agricultural lands of the Central Chernozem (Black Earth) region are strongly affected by erosion processes. One of the ways to solve this problem is to expand the crops of perennial grasses, improve the work on the creation of their varieties and seed production. The main purpose of breeding and seed-growing work of the station is the breeding and reproduction of intensive varieties of perennial grasses of the new generation, characterized by high productivity and increased environmental function. The bioc-limatic potential of the Central Chernozem region is suitable for growing various types of perennial forage grasses for seeds and fodder purposes, among which the awnless brome occupies a leading place. The article presents the main results and achievements of breeding work on the breeding of the variety of awnless brome (Bromopsis inermis (Leys). Holub) 'Voronezhskiy 17'. The variety is a complex hybrid population of samples obtained from interspecific crossbreeding of Bromopsis erecta with Bromopsis in-ermis local forms and introduced foreign and domestic source material, on the basis of long-term biotypic selection followed by polycross of promising genotypes. The variety has a range of advantages over the standard ('Pavlovskiy 22/05') on economic characteristics. The yield of green mass for the first and second test cycles in the standard was 19.5 and 16.0 t/ha, in the new variety 21.2 and 17.6 t/ha; the collection of dry matter respectively 6.0–5.1 and 6.9–5.7 t/ha. The yield of seeds of the 'Voronezhskiy 17' variety is 0.43–0.52 t/ha, in some years it reached 0.8 t/ha, against 0.46 t/ha at the standard.