Targets in the breeding of spring wheat

Authors

• Tapio Juuti Hankkija Plant Breeding Institute SF-04300 Hyrylä, Finland

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.72288

Abstract

Growing conditions in Finland determine the earliness, protein content and reliability of the falling number as the targets for breeding spring wheat. It has not been possible to increase the earliness of spring wheat varieties from that of the local varieties cultivated before breeded varieties. On the other hand, breeding has improved the earliness to yielding capacity ratio successfully, and the ratio will be improved further in the near future. The declining trend of the average protein content in the spring wheat yields, which has caused problems in the last decade, now seems to have been corrected. The breeding material includes cultivars with a high protein content and a better ratio of protein content to yielding capacity than the varieties now cultivated. As far as the falling number is concerned, some upcoming cultivars are better adaptable to the Finnish growing conditions than the present varieties.