4. Grain yield, end-use quality and stress resistance of winter wheat cultivars Aglika and Slaveya

During the recent years wheat breeding has been directed mainly towards combining high productivity, end-use quality and biotic and abiotic stress resistance. This is motivated by the actual demand of this type of products by producers and grain dealers. The research work efforts of DAI – General Toshevo lead to the development of cultivars with good combination of the above traits and properties, which are generally difficult to combine. Representative models of such cultivars are Aglika and Slaveya, varieties already introduced in production. The high yields obtained are matched by good quality, which gives certain advantages to the farmers when selling their produce. The two varieties were developed by the pedigree method after using conventional intervarietal hybridization combining the multiple disease resistant Pliska cultivar with genetic material based on the high-quality cultivar Bezostaya – a variety of good drought tolerance. The suitability of cultivars Aglika and Slaveya for mass production was confirmed by a three-year testing within the system of the Bulgarian state varietal testing during the 1990’s. After the cultivars were officially released (Agiika in 1997 and Slaveya in 2000), their testing continued both in the DAI trial field and in production fields all over the country to confirm the successful combination between yield and end-use quality. This paper presents data on grain quality, disease resistance and stress tolerance from different trials performed during the last 10 years. The focus is on the high adaptability of the cultivars to various soil and climatic conditions during the years of growing adequate to their high yields and end-use quality. The systematic development, accumulation and combining of valuable breeding materials created at DAI – General Toshevo during the 1970’s has lead to the development of such varieties as Aglika and Slaveya; their combinations of biological traits and properties make them competitive to all wheat varieties grown in Bulgaria and in the neighboring countries.