At the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, chaired by the head of the State Variety Commission, Mikhail Alexandrov, a meeting of the Expert Commission was held, at which the issues of including varieties and hybrids of potatoes and vegetable crops in the State Register of Breeding Achievements, expanding the tolerance zone, as well as removing samples of this group from variety tests were discussed.
The expert community was represented by authorized employees of state organizations, the Russian variety testing network, and representatives of science.
Summing up the results of 2020, Mikhail Alexandrov once again emphasized that the efficiency of decision-making by the State Variety Commission has become an integral part of a new systematic approach to the work of the variety testing network in Russia. This procedure is intended to facilitate the introduction of new selection achievements into production already in the coming agricultural year.
In total, the members of the Commission considered the results of tests for economic usefulness, as well as the results of the analysis of the expert assessment for 860 varieties and hybrids of vegetable crops and potatoes. Participants of the event had the opportunity to express their opinion on the advisability of making a decision for each of the items on the list.
First of all, an assessment was given to the cultures of the borsch set. 44 potato varieties were offered to the attention of the Commission (12 of them for the first inclusion in the State Register); carrots - 15 (8); table beets - 5 (2); white cabbage - 33 (4); onions - 23 (4). Then the experts moved on to lettuce crops such as cucumber - 68 varieties and hybrids; tomato - 273; cabbage of various types from broccoli and Brussels sprouts to cauliflower and Japanese - a total of 32 items; sweet and hot peppers - 29; radishes, onions and garlic - 25; radish and turnip - 27, as well as various types of table greens.
Along with the named, experts have evaluated varieties and hybrids of watermelon, melon and other pumpkin, vegetable root crops, legumes and nightshade crops. In total, the Expert Commission on Vegetables considered 565 varieties and hybrids of this group for the first inclusion in the State Register of Breeding Achievements Admitted to Use.
In addition, decisions were made to remove 204 vegetable varieties and hybrids from state variety trials due to non-delivery of planting material or results that are significantly inferior to standard varieties, as well as the expansion of the tolerance zones relative to several dozen items already included in the Register.