THE VARIABILITY OF SOME CHARACTERS AND THEIR CORRELATIONS WITH THE YIELD OF AN EXTENSIVE ASSORTMENT OF AUTUMN WHEAT VARIETIES, TESTED ON THE CHERNOZEM FROM ARDS CARACAL

In 2021 year, 120 cultivars of winter wheat were tested on the Caracal chernozem in microplots. The following traits were determined: yield, thousand kernel weight, test weight, days from 01.01 to heading date. The variability of the characters was studied by the method of boxplots and variability coefficients. The obtained yield registered values between 12306 kg / ha for the Romanian cultivar Ursita and 5803 kg / ha for the KWS Marvel cultivar. The plant height had values between 110 cm for the Kapitol cultivar and 69 cm for the Avenue cultivar. The test weight showed values in the range 78 kg / hl (Apexus) - 64.2 kg / hl (Atuan). The thousand kernel weight recorded values between 47.2 g for the SY Starlord cultivar and 29.29 g for the Amburgo cultivar. The period from 01.01 to heading date lasted between 143 days (Sophie and Lennox) and 123 days (Tata Mata and Felix). The highest coefficient of variability was presented by the yield, this being over 10%. The lowest variability was registered by the test weight and the period from 01.01 to heading date, the values being around 3%. The analysis of the variability of the yield by the boxplot method highlighted a negative outlier (KWS Marvel cultivar). From the point of view of plant height, by the same method, three positive outliers were observed - Kapitol, Bezostaia and Exotic. Their height - 110, 109, and 108 cm, respectively, is significantly larger than that of all other cultivars. The values of the calculated correlation coefficients suggested that in the climatic conditions of 2020-2021 agricultural year, the yield was not correlated with any of the studied characters, the coefficients being below Analele Universităţii din Craiova, seria Agricultură – Montanologie – Cadastru (Annals of the University of Craiova - Agriculture, Montanology, Cadastre Series) Vol. 51/1/2021 245 0.21 (the value from which the correlation could be considered significant at P = 5%).