Donets

Donets — a high-yielding fodder crop variety of triticale, intended for fodder and technical use. This variety was developed by the Institute of Plant Physiology named after V.Ya. Yuryev, NAAN, and registered in 2018. It is recommended for cultivation in steppe, forest-steppe, and Polissia zones. Donets is a medium-maturing variety with plant height ranging from 140 to 175 cm, characterized by high resistance to lodging, winter hardiness, drought tolerance, and disease resistance rated at 8–9 points. The grain is oval-shaped and well-filled, with a 1000-grain weight of 40–45 g. The potential grain yield of the Donets variety exceeds 10 t/ha, and green mass yield reaches 55–65 t/ha. The quality of both grain and green mass is high: grain protein content reaches 13.5–14.8%, starch content — 65–67%. From 1 ton of meal, up to 458 liters of alcohol can be produced. For sowing, recommended seeding rates are 3.5 million seeds/ha for green feed and 4.5–5.5 million seeds/ha for grain, with optimal sowing dates corresponding to the climatic conditions of the cultivation zone. The variety is well-suited for sowing after non-leguminous predecessors. Triticale, to which the Donets variety belongs, is an artificially created cereal and fodder crop obtained by crossing wheat and rye. This crop combines the best agronomic and biological traits of its parents: high yield potential, enhanced adaptability, resistance to fungal diseases, and increased protein and lysine content in grain, as well as elevated levels of key nutrients in green mass. Triticale is recognized as one of the most adaptable crops for the biological intensification of agricultural production. Modern triticale cultivation technologies, applied under unstable moisture conditions in southern Ukraine’s steppe region, allow reducing production costs by 20% and ensuring high profitability — 77% for grain and 127% for green mass production.