Abstract:

The new flue-cured tobacco variety ‘Yunyan 121’ has strong growth vigor in the field and is easy to cure, and the yield and leaf quality can be balanced. In order to evaluate the potential of ‘Yunyan 121’ as a reserve variety in Qujing tobacco area, new varieties screening tests were carried out in 9 counties in Qujing from 2018 to 2020. The method was to plant 0.66-1.0 hm² of ‘Yunyan 121’ while the main control variety was planted in adjacent field. In Qujing, the tobacco growing season experienced high temperatures in early stage of 2018 and drought later; in 2019, there was drought in May and the first ten days of June, with less rainfall in August; in 2020, severe drought occurred from May to July. The results of 3-year multi-point test showed that in the planting area of ‘Yunyan 97’, the plant height of ‘Yunyan 121’ was 2 cm higher than that of the control ‘Yunyan 97’, the number of available leaves was 1-2 more than that of the control ‘Yunyan 97’, and the output value of ‘Yunyan 121’ was equivalent to that of ‘Yunyan 97’. In the ‘Yunyan 87’ area, ‘Yunyan 121’ was 4 cm higher in plant height, 4% higher in yield than the control ‘Yunyan 87’. The differences of sugar-nicotine ratios of the upper and middle leaves among varieties were smaller in the same place, and the differences between locations were significantly greater than those between varieties. The differences between locations in ‘Yunyan 97’ planting area were greater than those in ‘Yunyan 87’ planting area. Middle leaf raw tobacco samples were ranked by 4-5 Chinese tobacco industrial companies according to their sensory quality, and the overall ranking of ‘Yunyan 121’ was between ‘Yunyan 87’ and ‘Yunyan 97’. From 2021 to 2023, ‘Yunyan 121’ had a cumulative promotion of 42733 hm² in Qujing. ‘Yunyan 121’ had good promotion value in areas with heavy PVY damage or weak growth of ‘Yunyan 87’ and ‘Yunyan 97’.

Key words: flue-cured tobacco, PVY resistance, ‘Yunyan 121’, Qujing, promotion, output, quality