Breeding value of shallot cultivars and local forms in terms of economic characters for the RightBank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine

Abstract

To indentify the best shallot cultivars and local forms by growing period length, bulb yield, leaf productivity, and bulb weight and number per clump in the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. Methods. Statistical processing, field assessments, computational and analytical methods. Results. Collection shallot accessions were evaluated for growing period lengthand, bulb weight, number and performance. Earlyripening accession ‘Sh-8’ with a vegetation period of 74 days was selected. Local form ‘Sh-1’ from the Kyivska Oblast region turned out to be the best in terms of the mean bulb weight per clump (26.7 g). Accessions from Kyivska (‘Sh-1’, ‘Sh-2’), Dnipropetrovska (‘Sh-6’, ‘Sh-9’), and Chernihivska (‘Sh-10’) Oblasts yielded the most (30.5, 25.4, 18.9, 18.1, and 19.4 t/ha, respectively). The check cultivar, ‘Lira’, yielded 15.5 t/ha. The smallest yields were harvested from the following accessions: ‘Sh-4’ (12.2 t/ha), ‘Sh-7’ (12.0 t/ha), ‘Sh-11’ (11.9 t/ha), ‘Sh-12’ (13.8 t/ha ha), ‘Sh-13 (13.2 t/ha), and ‘Sh-14’ (13.0 t/ha). Two accessions, which came from the Kyivska (‘Sh-3)’ and Dnipropetrovska (‘Sh-6’) Oblasts were found to be best adapted to the environmental conditions of the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. Their Lewis’s phenotypic stability factors were close to 1. A local form from the Dnipropetrovska Oblast, ‘Sh 9’ was the worst adapted accessions, as its Lewis’s phenotypic stability factor was as high as 1.2. The maximum leaf length was recorded for accessions from the Kyivska (‘Sh-1’, ‘Sh-2’; 38.0 and 35.8 cm, respectively) and Chernihivska (‘Sh-10’; 36.2 cm) Oblasts. Conclusions. Due to this study, shallot accessions with short growing periods, great weights and numbers of bulbs and yield were selected for the conditions in the Right-Bank Forest-Steppe of Ukraine. ‘Sh-1’ sample originating from the Kyivska Oblast showed the best results in terms of the bulb weight (26.7 g) and yield (30.5 t/ha). However, it turned out to be late-ripening (86 days), and only formed on average 4 bulbs per clump. The maximum leaf length was 38 cm was. ‘Sh-8’, a local form from the Dnipropetrovska Oblast, was the most early-ripening (74 days).