Estimation of leaf and ear blotch resistance of the “FRC “Nemchinovka” winter wheat varieties and lines

The development of winter common wheat varieties resistant to the most harmful diseases characteristic of a specific growing area is considered important for breeding work. Leaf and ear blotch are among the most dangerous and widespread wheat diseases in the Central region of the Russian Federation. The purpose of the current work was to estimate winter common wheat varieties developed by the FSBSI “Federal Research Center “Nemchinovka” according to the degree of damage by leaf and ear blotch (%) in 2019–2024 based on the competitive variety testing and a control nursery. There has been found that by the years of the study, the mean damage degree of the variety samples varied from 13.5 to 47.0 % for leaf blotch, from 0 to 12.3 % for ear blotch. The lowest damage by both diseases was observed in 2022, when the mean temperature in June and July was 1.8 and 2.4 °C higher than the long-term average, respectively, and the amount of precipitation was significantly lower than the long-term average, leaf blotch damage was 13.5 % on average (from 3.2 to 28.4 %), and ear blotch damage was 0 % (from 0 to 0.07 %). Among the varieties, the variety ‘Moskovskaya 28’ was the best in terms of leaf and ear blotch resistance, with damage of 20.10 % (R) and 2.78 % (RR), respectively. In general, all studied varieties were highly resistant to ear blotch (damage degree <11 %), and moderately resistant to leaf blotch (damage degree 21–40 %), excluding the variety ‘Moskovskaya 28’. The variety ‘Moskovskaya 28’ can be used in crossbreeding as an initial material for leaf and ear blotch resistance, as well as in the production of organic wheat grain.