Bulgarian Bread Wheat Cultivars as the Result of 100 Years Activity*

I. PANAYOTOV

Institute for Wheat and Sunflower “Dobroudja”, BG-9520 General Toshevo, Bulgaria

Abstract

PANAYOTOV, I., 2000. Bulgarian bread wheat cultivars as the result of 100 years activity. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., 6: 387-398

The active work for improvement of wheat in Bulgaria started at the beginning of the 20th century. The first researches revealed a great variability of endemic wheats, their productive potential being up to 2300 kg/ha. These wheats possessed all characters of the wheat plant prior to intensive breeding work worldwide and in Bulgaria. These characters were high stem, high tillering capacity, low productive spike, long vegetation period, disease susceptibility and good quality grain.
The first wheat varieties obtained through hybridization were registered in the period of 1927-1935. In practice, the actual large-scale breeding work began in 1962. Over 80 wheat varieties were licensed and distributed in the country as a result, till the year 2000. The new series of varieties has a potential grain productivity of 9.5 t/ha, comparatively low stem which is the most suitable for the conditions in Bulgaria, and resistance/tolerance to stress factors. These varieties have entirely met the needs of our country for bread grain and made it possible to export annually from 0.5 to 1.2 millions of tons according to the production of the year.

Key words: Bulgarian bread wheat cultivars, endemic wheats, 100 years activity, productivity, quality, stress tolerance