With climate change and global warming, a specific place is necessary for the selection of facultative soft wheat, as this crop has increased plasticity and adaptability to environmental conditions compared with the winter and spring wheat. In facultative wheat breeding, the use of classical methods can be via standard selection and sowing of hybrid populations alternately in autumn and spring. Facultative hybrid populations comprised facultative x facultative genotypes, winter x spring cultivars, and spring x winter cultivars. The duration of ‘germination-earing’ can serve as an additional indicator for selection and types of crossing: facultative x winter cultivars and spring x winter cultivars were the decision in breeding for better productivity. In seed production and to preserve the economically valuable properties of a facultative cultivar, it is necessary to use the ‘halves’ method. Facultative wheat is superior to winter sowing and has low sensitivity to vernalization but highly sensitive to photoperiod. However, few past studies carried out on facultative wheat breeding used modern biological methods and techniques. The production of facultative wheat is mainly a task carried out by the Krasnodar Territory (Russia) and the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2023, in the south and southeast of the Republic, the area sown with facultative wheat of the Kazakhstanskaya 10 variety amounted to 28,953.8 hectares.
Facultative soft wheat, selection, photoperiodism, molecular markers, production
This review article interprets the facts of facultative breeding materials obtained through classical selection and the cultivars developed in Russia, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, New Zealand, and in South-East Kazakhstan, actively involved in production