The soft spring wheat variety Voronezh 18 is a mid-season variety developed through intraspecific hybridization followed by individual selection. It was created based on a hybrid population involving the varieties Voronezh 10 and Kreстьянка, as well as using an interspecific hybrid combination with the soft wheat variety Kharkiv 12 and a durum wheat breeding line 89-752. The variety's vegetative period is one day shorter than the standard, and plant height reaches about 90 cm, ensuring medium stature and lodging resistance.
Voronezh 18 is characterized by high drought resistance, resistance to lodging, germination on windrows and roots, as well as resistance to major diseases such as powdery mildew, septoria, and brown rust, at the level of standard indicators. The variety is recommended for cultivation in the Central Black Earth region, especially in the Voronezh region, where average yield is about 39.4 c/ha, and maximum yield reached 85.5 c/ha.
The grain quality of the Voronezh 18 variety is high: 1000 grain mass varies from 29 to 40 g, protein content reaches 17.1%, and gluten content reaches up to 36.3%. Pasta properties indicators are also at a high level, with an evaluation of about 7.9 points, pasta color is 8.7 points, and flour strength is 249 arbitrary units. These characteristics make the variety attractive for the bakery and pasta industries, ensuring good baking qualities and stable yield under various climatic conditions.
