The article presents the study results of winter soft wheat lines in competitive variety testing according to productivity and grain quality indicators. The study was conducted at the experimental plot of the laboratory of the breeding and seed-growing of winter soft wheat of intensive type in the FSBSI “Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy” in 2016–2018. 47 winter soft wheat samples of competitive variety testing were used as the studied material. The winter soft wheat variety “Ermak” was used as a standard. Over the years of study 23 lines exceeded productivity of the standard variety “Ermak”, the increase ranged from 0.49 to 1.66 t / ha on average. The maximum protein percentage in grain was formed by the samples “1992/16” (13.5%), “1221/16” (13.5%), “1914/16” (13.6%), “1788/16” (13.9%), “2030/16” (14.0%). The lines “1854/16” and “1990/16” combining high yields (11.17–11.30 t/ha) with protein percentage of 12.9–13.2% are of great interest for breeding. The highest content of gluten in the grain (29.3–30.0%) was identified in the samples “1992/16”, “1914/16”, “2030/16”, “1221/16” and “1093/16”. There were identified the lines “1385/16”, “1533/16” and “1862/16”, combining high yields (11.20–11.59 t/ha) and 27.9–29.1% of gluten in grain. The highest value of SDS-sedimentation (66–70 ml) was found in the samples “1093/16”, “1990/16”, “2079/16”, “1533/16” and “1987/16”. The lines “1547/16”, “1385/16”, “1854/16” combined high yields (11.10–11.31 t/ha) with high value of SDS-sedimentation (62–65 ml). The breeding material identified during the research was used for further study and has been involved in hybridization to increase productivity and grain quality.

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To successfully increase grain production and improve its quality, the development and introduction of new winter wheat varieties is of great importance. The winter soft wheat varieties developed by the FSBSI “Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy” and included into the State List of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation are able to form grain with 30.0% gluten and more, and are suitable for the first, second and third class of baking. A comparative characteristic of the grain quality of winter wheat varieties of the intensive type included in the State List and their ability to form food grain suitable for baking is currently of practical interest. There have been studied 6 varieties in the conditions of drought in 2013 and 2014 (the amount of precipitation during the growing season was 190.0–191.5 mm, the average daily air temperature was 20.3–20.9 °C), and in the conditions of excess moisture in 2016, 2017 (the amount of precipitation was 274.2–292.8 mm, the average daily air temperature was 19.5–20.4 °C). The studied varieties formed the highest productivity from 8.70 to 9.01 t/ha under conditions of excessive moisture. Under drought conditions, productivity of the varieties decreased significantly and ranged from 6.50 to 7.69 t/ha. Better grain quality of the studied varieties was formed in the conditions of the drought of 2013, 2014 with 14.9 to 15.9% of protein and 27.9 to 31.0% of gluten. Food grain close to the first class (from 30.0 to 31.0% of gluten) were formed by the varieties “Aksiniya”, “Tanais” and “Nakhodka”; the second class (more than 28.0% of gluten) was obtained from the varieties “Shef” and “Etuyd”. The ranking method according to grain quality indicators allowed establishing an average rank and identifying the varieties “Aksiniya”, “Tanais”, “Nakhodka” and “Shef” with the best baking traits.

The systematic study on winter wheat breeding began in 1955 in the former Zernograd experimental station, and now the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “ARC “Donskoy”. Under these conditions, the development of the most suitable for local conditions varieties of intensive type with increased frost resistance determined the main direction of winter wheat breeding in those years. In the early 1980s, the area of black fallow increased in the Rostov region, much attention was paid to irrigated agriculture. There was planned to increase the area under irrigation in the North Caucasus to 1 million hectares. Therefore, there was set a goal to develop highly productive, low-stemmed, resistant to lodging varieties, responsive to mineral fertilizing with complex immunity to diseases. The breeding work of the laboratory for the breeding and seed production of winter bread wheat of an intensive type over the past forty years resulted in the development of 22 varieties of intensive type with good adaptability to the conditions of the Rostov region. In 2020, 17 winter bread wheat varieties of an intensive type were included into the State List of Breeding Achievements, five varieties ‘Yubiley Dona’, ‘Zodiak’, ‘Univer’, ‘Razdolye’, ‘Rubin Dona’ are currently undergoing the State Variety Testing at the SVTs of the Russian Federation. A stable productivity improvement is possible only with the emphasis on the development of varieties with broad adaptive properties, providing sufficiently high yields under various cultivation conditions. Among the breeding traits that affect productivity stability, the most significant in the conditions of the Don are winter and frost resistance, disease resistance, drought resistance, early ripeness, and grain quality. Therefore, the adaptive potential increase is the most important task for the future breeding. In order to solve this problem, intraspecific and interspecific hybridization, followed by targeted selection, remains the main breeding method of winter bread wheat of an intensive type.

The problem of resistance to lodging during winter wheat cultivation is of great relevance in modern conditions. This trait largely correlates to plant height. The purpose of the current study was to characterize and identify the general patterns of manifestation of the trait “plant height” in the conditions of the south of the Rostov region. The study was conducted in 2013–2018 in the department of the breeding and seed production of winter bread wheat in the FSBSI Agricultural Research Center “Donskoy”. The objects of the study were the collection wheat samples of various ecological and geographical origin. There has been established that the variability of the trait “plant height” was of a medium size (10% < CV < 20%) through all the years of study, excepting the year of 2015 (CV = 9.8%). This result has indicated a high degree of genotypic influence. There has been established that the maximum average yields for 6 years were produced by the samples with 81–90 and 91–100 cm of height. There has been identified a correlation between “plant height” and “productivity”, between “resistance to lodging” and “phase of head formation”. There have been identified such semi-dwarf samples with high resistance to lodging, characterized by a stable manifestation of plant height in various weather conditions as “Ling xing 99”, “Fuimai 5” (China); “Orienta” (USA); “Zlatka” (Serbia); “Minstrel”, “СО1044” (France).