Kazakhstan cultivates over 12 million hectares of wheat, primarily spring wheat in the northern region. Spring wheat yields are low, ranging from 1.2 to 1.7 t/ha depending on weather conditions. Northern Kazakhstan is served by five spring wheat breeding programs: A.I. Barayev Research and Production Centre for Grain Farming and Agricultural Experimental Stations located in the Aktobe, Karagandy, Kostanay, and North Kazakhstan regions. In 2022, a germplasm set was assembled, including cultivars and breeding lines from the five breeding programs, totaling 84 genotypes. This set was evaluated in field trials during 2022 and 2023 at the breeding programs that contributed to the germplasm (except Aktobe). The material was also screened for molecular markers associated with genes for agronomic traits. The study objective was to compare the diversity and performance of germplasm originating from different breeding programs and identify potential underlying drivers. Breeding sites grouped based on variations in air temperature, precipitation, and grain yield demonstrated both similarities and differences among sites. However, these similarities were not reflected in the agronomic performance of materials originating from different locations. The expectation that germplasm would perform best for grain yield at its “home” location was not always confirmed. Grouping of germplasm based on genetic diversity of 20 molecular markers was not related to similarities in environmental conditions at the places of origin. The performance and diversity of germplasm from each of the five breeding programs is apparently driven by factors beyond environment, including breeding strategy and methodology, parental pool, and, in the absence of modern tools, breeders’ intuition and selection robustness. Kazakh spring wheat breeding programs require improvement to remain competitive in the face of increasing pressure from introduced foreign cultivars.
Savin et al. (Wed,) studied this question.