ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF AGRONOMIC TREAT MENT COMBINATIONS ON THE BREADMAKING QUALITY OF WINTER-WHEAT VARIETIES BY MEANS OF PRINCIPAL COMPONENT ANALYSIS

It is important when cultivating winter wheat with excellent milling a nd breadmaking quality not only to choose the best variety, but also t o select the optimum combination of agronomic treatments. Principal co mponent analysis was used to group sixteen artificial ''microenvironme nts'', formed from the combination of two water supply levels and eigh t nutrient levels, on the basis of six quality traits measured in the 3-year (1990-1992) yield of three wheat varieties with different quali ties. Correlations were calculated between the principal component var iables and the mean values of the quality parameters in order to deter mine the effect of background variables on quality. The Ist principal component variable had a different influence on breadmaking quality in varieties with good and poor quality. Principal component weights and the results of correlations analysis were used to determine the best agronomic treatment combinations for high-quality production.