Wheat breeding in Bulgaria was started in 1902 as a part of The First Program of the Agricultural experimental station in Sadovo, nowadays Institute for Plant Genetic Resources. At the beginning of the previous century, on the level of biological sciences, wheat breeding in our country was turned into the right direction by the great scientist Konstantin Malkov, who was the founder of our research work. Wheat breeding has been presented in the overall development of agricultural science in Sadovo for its 115 year old history. It has been worked on all famous classical methods, a series of cultivars have been created and introduced into practice, as well as new genetic plasma which serves for an initial wheat breeding material.
The main purpose of the Breeding Program of Common Winter Wheat at the Institute of Plant Genetic Resources Institute – Sadovo is: Creation of high-yielding common wheat cultivars with ecological flexibility, suitable for dry regions of Bulgaria.
The biggest achievements are the 40 varieties realized in the Program. They are included in the production system of Bulgaria.
The tasks of priority:
COMMON WINTER WHEAT
1. Breeding for drought resistance in common winter wheat:
– Development of selection strategy for drought resistance and creation of breeding lines and varieties with stable yield at different stages of plant growth period.
– Investigations of relationships between drought resistance of wheat and their productivity and grain quality.
2. Breeding of strong varieties – with high quality of grain, and varieties suitable for low inputs.
3. Breeding for Fusarium resistance:
– Methods of evaluation for resistance in field conditions and artificial inoculation – development and uniform.
– Identification of new sources for resistance against Fusarium pathogens in spike and including in breeding program.
4. Evaluation of wheat breeding materials for uptake and redistribution of nutrition’s in organs in relation with resistance to abiotic stress factors and their ability to low input practices.
