‘Gvardeets’: a new awnless brome (Bromorsis inermis) cultivar developed in Tyumen Province

Background. Awnless brome   (Bromopsis inermis (Leyss.) Holub) is a perennial herbaceous plant used as feed in animal husbandry, for phytomelioration, and as a component of grass mixtures to make a durable natural cover for landscaping. Studying the genetic diversity of this species and selecting the best accessions will help to develop new cultivars capable of productive longevity.

Materials and methods. In 2017, a new cultivar of B. inermis called ‘Gvardeets’ was submitted to the State Variety Trials. It was developed using chemical mutagenesis followed by multiple selection from cv. ‘Sverdlovsky 38’ at the Research Institute of Agriculture for the Northern Trans-Ural Region, a branch of Tyumen Scientific Center. During the growing seasons of 2012–2020, the cultivar was compared in the field according to the main productivity indicators with the reference cvs. ‘Langepas’ and ‘Sverdlovsky 38’. Observations were performed according to the guidelines for the study of fodder crops.

Results and conclusions. The new cultivar ‘Gvardeets’ is mid-season: it takes 50–60 days for its plants to develop from spring regrowth to the beginning of mowing and 95–110 days to harvesting. The plants are erect, 115–145 cm high; foliage content is 38–50%. Protein content in dry matter is 7.0–12.0%; fiber content, 28.2–34.0%. It has a good yield: the harvest of green mass for 9 years averaged 22.8 t/ha; hay, 7.7 t/ha; seeds, 0.19 t/ha, which is higher the original cv. ‘Sverdlovsky 38’ (♀) by 13, 12 and 16% and the productive cv. ‘Langepas’ by 6, 7 and 5%, respectively. It is winter-hardy, resistant to lodging, technology-friendly, and well adaptable to adverse environmental conditions, which ensures its high value for practical use. It was designed for hayfields and pastures. According to the results of the State Variety Trials, in 2021 it was commercialized for the Volga-Vyatka (4), West Siberian (10), and East Siberian (11) regions of Russia.

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