The development of highly productive short-stemmed winter rye varieties that do not lodge under intensive cultivation technologies is one of the main breeding tasks. The current paper has presented the study results of a new winter rye variety ‘Evrika’ according to the main economically valuable traits in the North-West region of the Russian Federation. The variety was developed by the Leningrad Scientific Research Institute of Agriculture «Belogorka» based on complex hybridization of the varieties ‘Bylina’ and ‘Volkhov’ from the North-West region with varieties of Russian and foreign selection, among which the varieties ‘Alfa’, ‘Antares’, ‘Saratovskaya 5’ and ‘Otello’ made the most significant contribution. The breeding feature of the new variety is the use of donors of such types of a short stem trait as dominant-monogenic and recessive-polygenic. The study was carried out for three years (2019–2021) in the nurseries of Competitive Variety Testing on the fields of the institute in the Gatchinsky district of the Leningrad region. The purpose of the study was to identify the biological and economically valuable traits of a new winter rye variety ‘Evrika’. According to the study results, the variety ‘Evrika’ belongs to the group of semi-short-stem varieties with a mean plant height of 125.5 cm. The variety showed good winter tolerance (8–9 points) and high resistance to lodging (8–9 points). The mean grain productivity of the new variety through the years of research was 5.0 t/ha, with the maximum of 7.4 t/ha, which exceeded the productivity of the standard variety ‘Volkhov’ on 0.9 t/ha (19.5 %) and 2.1 t/ha (39.6 %), respectively. The mean green mass productivity was 25.8 t/ha, exceeding the standard’s productivity on 3.5 t/ha (15.7 %). The index of 1000-grain weight of a new variety during the period varied from 34.5 to 39.0 g, depending on the climatic conditions of the year. According to the study results, the variety ‘Evrika’ was highly appreciated, having successfully passed the State Variety Testing. In 2021 the variety was included in the State List of Breeding Achievements in the North-West Region of the Russian Federation.

The article presents the results of studying the effect of autumn application of mineral nitrogen fertilizers on winter hardiness of winter rye plants. The relevance of research is due to the search for opportunities to reduce the anthropogenic load on the environment, in particular by minimizing the use of artificial fertilizers. The studies were carried out for three years in the fields of the North-West region of the Russian Federation, on medium-cultivated sod-podzolic loamy soils. Sowings of winter rye were placed on the predecessor, early potatoes, under which organic fertilizers were applied for the main tillage. Experimental plants of winter rye were fed on seedlings with ammonium nitrate; in the control, autumn fertilizing was not used. The experimental results showed that the autumn application of nitrogen fertilizers practically did not affect the percentage of successfully overwintered plants. This allows us to conclude that the autumn use of nitrogen fertilizers for winter rye is inexpedient and that it is possible to abandon their autumn use in order to reduce environmental pollution.

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The work of breeders of the Leningrad Research Institute of Agriculture Belogorka on the creation of new short-stature varieties of intensive type winter rye, characterized by increased resistance to adverse soil and climatic conditions of northern Europe is briefly described. The methods of selection used in the institute are presented, including the method of directed transpollination of crops “on a flower bed” developed in the winter rye laboratory. The characteristic of new varieties based on economic and useful features and on the main elements of the crop structure is given. It was shown that the new varieties significantly exceeded the standard Volkova variety in winter and lodging resistance, which allows obtaining a stable grain harvest even in unfavorable years. In addition, new varieties are characterized by the size and uniformity of seeds at the weight of 1000 grains 38–42 g, practically not inferior in this indicator to tetraploid and hybrid varieties of winter rye, which are more demanding of cultivation conditions.

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