SEED PRODUCTIVITY OF ALFALFA IN NON-CHERNOZEM REGION

The results of selection studies conducted at the Central Experimental Base of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution Federal Williams Research Center of Forage Production and Agroecology in the Non-Chernozem Zone of the Russian Federation are presented. Brief data on promising samples and hybrids of alfalfa created in the department of alfalfa breeding for seed productivity are presented. For a long time, alfalfa breeding was mainly in the direction of obtaining new varieties with high yields of fodder mass and little attention was paid to seed yields, which led to the creation of good varieties for collecting green mass and medium or even poor seed productivity. Therefore, the creation of varieties with high feed and seed productivity is the primary task of alfalfa breeding. For this purpose, the main methods of selection are used — polycross, interspecific and intervariety hybridization and selection. In the obtained populations, a careful selection for early ripeness, pollen fertility, plant flowering friendliness is carried out, the power of hybrids, their foliage and other useful indicators are taken into account. By the nature of flowering and pollination, alfalfa refers to cross-pollinating plants. For agricultural production, it is necessary to have alfalfa varieties not only with high, but also stable seed productivity, which does not depend on the conditions of the growing environment and the presence of pollinators.