Productivity of various barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars under semi-arid conditions in southern Russia.

Drought is a significant factor limiting crop production in arid conditions. In the dry climatic weather situation of southern Russia, ten-year laboratory trials and subsequent field experiments were laid out on various barley varieties collected across the globe during 2007 2017 period. This study was conducted to ascertain from the collection of barley cultivars of the entire world which one is best suited to stressful climatic conditions by being tolerant to drought, heat and salinity which can be adopted for barley breeding. According to the results obtained, the varieties that are tolerant to dry climatic conditions are as follows: Alga (Lithuania), Brenda, 5 (Syria), Vakula (Ukraine), Ataman (Belarus) and Vladimir (Russia); heat resistant varieties are: Brenda (Germany), Alga (Lithuania), Furat 5 (Syria), Ataman (Belarus), Vladimir and Ratnik (Russia); Salt-resistant varieties: Alga (Lithuania), Henni (Germany) and Vladimir (Russia). The selected varieties did not show any sign of adverse weather effect resulting in stable grain productivity throughout the entire duration of this research over the years, they had large grain size and stable 1,000 grains weight. However, the yield of selected cultivars varied over the years which was about 1.1 1.4 t ha-1.