Abstract:

To further understand the evolution of yield and main agronomic characters of winter wheat in Jiangsu Province and to provide reference for variety breeding and wheat production, we analyzed the yield, quality and disease resistance of 109 wheat varieties approved by Jiangsu Province from 2005 to 2019. The results showed that the average yield of the wheat varieties approved by Jiangsu Province increased year by year, with an annual yield increase of 134.43 kg/hm². The spike number, grain number per spike and thousand-grain weight showed an increasing trend year by year, but the increase rate was relatively small. The correlation degree between main agronomic characters and yield was: the spike number > thousand-grain weight, and the correlation was positive; plant height > grain number per spike, and the correlation was negative; the partial correlation among the three yield factors was positive, and the degree of partial correlation was: the spike number > grain number per spike > thousand-grain weight. Among the approved varieties, the bulk density, and protein and wet gluten content of 27 varieties reached the quality standard of medium gluten wheat, and those of 15 wheat varieties reached the strong gluten standard, and the wet gluten content of 54.12% of the wheat varieties was lower than the quality standard of medium gluten wheat. Therefore, increasing the content of wet gluten content should be the main direction of improving wheat quality in variety breeding. Among the approved wheat varieties, there was no one that could resist scab, sheath blight and powdery mildew at the same time. The varieties resistant to scab and powdery mildew were ‘Huaimai 21’, ‘Ningmai 17’, ‘Zhenmai 9’, ‘Ningmai 18’, ‘Yangmai 21’ and ‘Yangjiangmai 586’. In summary, the wheat yield increase in Jiangsu Province should be based on maintaining appropriate grain number per spike and increasing the spike number and thousand-grain weight, meanwhile introducing new germplasm resources to breed high-quality and high-yield varieties with multiple disease resistance.

Key words: Jiangsu, wheat, yield, comprehensive characters, correlation analysis