H. Stoyanov*

Plant Growing Department, Faculty of Marine Sciences and Ecology, Technical University, 1 Studentska, 9010 Varna, Bulgaria

Abstract. For the conditions of Europe the artificially created amphidiploid tritordeum (xTritordeum) could be a promising crop. In order to study its suitability for the conditions of Southern Dobrudzha, Bulgaria, 10 tritordeum accessions were tested for their morphological and physiological characteristics. The winter resistance of plants in two successive crop periods is recorded. The indicators length of spike, length of spike with awns, number of spikelets, weight of spike, weight of grains per spike, number of grains per spike, awness index, number of spikelets along the length of spike, weight distribution along the length of spike, weight of single spikelet, weight of 1000 grains and grain index are reported. The average number of tillers per plant, the time of heading, flowering and full maturity for the economic 2012/2013 is determined. During the same period the attack of pathogens of powdery mildew, brown rust and septoria leaf blight was also recorded. All accessions tested were completely resistant to powdery mildew and septoria leaf blight but susceptible to brown rust. The highest winter resistance in both financial years exhibits accession HT621 (100% survival of plants), and the worst – HTC1324 (40%). Relatively short growing period for accession HT621 was reported, which entered into maturity before the others. With the highest values of yield components (weight of grains per spike, average number of tillers) are HTC1331, HT31-2 and HT119. The accessions with the highest yield potential and the highest winter resistance appear to be promising for future studies on the introduction of the new grain crop into South Dobrudzha.