During the 2023 agricultural season, there was a noticeable increase in the interest of farmers in the services of the August agrolaboratories. Agricultural consulting and, in particular, laboratory diagnostics are playing an increasingly important role in agriculture, as they allow farm agronomists to obtain complete information about what is happening in a specific field and inside plants, and on its basis make accurate decisions regarding crop rotation, selection of varieties and hybrids , protection and feeding of crops, as well as many other aspects of agricultural production, in order to harvest the planned harvest.
As the season has shown, agroanalysis is in demand regardless of how climatic conditions develop. In addition, it turns out to be useful not only in favorable economic conditions for agricultural producers, when the main task is to increase crop productivity, but also in a more complex environment that requires taking measures to optimize costs. Specialists from Augusta agricultural laboratories from different regions of Russia told what challenges farmers faced this year and what services were in high demand among them.
Vyacheslav Krasin, head of the regional group “Agroanalysis-Center”, Gryazi, Lipetsk region
In the 2023 agricultural season, our laboratory has increased the number of orders for soil salinity analysis. First of all, this is due to the active and long-term use of irrigation systems: if for the Astrakhan region the issue of secondary salinization has always been relevant, then in areas under irrigation in the Central Black Earth Region and, in particular, in the Voronezh region, we encountered it for the first time. This problem, as a rule, begins to appear after long-term irrigation of areas under agricultural crops using water of inadequate quality. Even a seemingly insignificant content of easily soluble salts in irrigation waters when irrigated for 10–12 years leads to alkalinization and weak secondary salinization of soils. Also, this season the laboratory has generally increased the number of analyzes carried out regarding fruit crops: this includes phytoexpertise, soil research, and the above-mentioned analysis of water used for irrigation. This reflects both the general trend of increasing the area under gardens and the accumulation of problems in this area.
Anna Karmach, Ph.D., microbiologist at the Augusta partner laboratory - Center for Agricultural Technologies "Agrodoctor", Novosibirsk district, Novosibirsk region
This year, a team of technologists and laboratory specialists had to closely monitor the use of herbicides due to abnormal heat and soil drought: in many areas, the first precipitation fell only in the second ten days of June, and crop emergence was uneven. For example, on flax, separate treatments were carried out: first, farms fought against cereal weeds, but for dicotyledonous plants, treatment was postponed until mass shoots of weeds appeared - until the critical phase of crop development arrived. In oilseed crops, the use of herbicides was adjusted due to the appearance of a second wave of cereal weeds after the onset of rains. In addition, due to the prevailing weather conditions, laboratory specialists had to make decisions regarding the economic feasibility of using fungicides, based primarily on an assessment of field productivity and the intensity of disease development; the planned protection and fertilizing schemes for specific fields were also generally optimized. It is also worth noting that due to the acute situation with the meadow moth, we were faced with the task of controlling the number of the pest and predicting the appearance of the next generation.
Tatyana Ledeneva, head of the regional group “AgroLaboratory-Livny”, Livny, Oryol region
As a result of the laboratory’s participation in training seminars for clients, the demand for our services has increased sharply this year - to the point that there is a need to attract new personnel to the team. In particular, thanks to narrowly focused seminars for potato growers, the number of applications for tuber analysis of potatoes has increased. Since early spring, our specialists have been participating in soil sampling for the purpose of phytosanitary monitoring, and for this year it is noteworthy that the number of studied soil samples prevails over the number of plant samples (and this does not take into account samples to determine the suppressiveness of the soil and the composition of soil organisms carried out for planning crop rotation in autumn). The leaders of the season among the research objects were the seeds of about ten crops intended for sowing - mainly wheat, barley, soybeans, peas, buckwheat, but there were also samples of oil flax seeds, oats, ryegrass and even rice. In connection with the annual planting of new orchards in the Oryol region, there is an active use of the laboratory’s capabilities to identify pathogens of apple tree seedlings. For the first time this year, we worked with seedlings of flower crops, broad bean plants and berry crops. Also, last season, August managers, together with farm agronomists, closely monitored the dynamics of the development of downy mildew in soybeans, assisted in recording the disease and comparing the effectiveness of the fungicides used.
Mikhail Suprunenko, head of the regional group "AgroLaboratory-Stavropol", Stavropol, Stavropol Territory
Our laboratory is two years old, but even taking into account the short period of work, we see an increase in applications for research in entomology, phytopathology and agrochemistry from farms in the Stavropol Territory, Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia. Everyone wants not only to know the salinity and the degree of provision of the soil with macro- and mesoelements, but also to obtain a calculation of mineral nutrition for the planned yield of a particular crop, since fertilizers have seriously increased in price; It happens that in order for a farm to survive, it is necessary to calculate the minimum allowable volume of application based on the potential of the soil. But at the same time, farmers began to think about how not to lose fertility, since high yields are associated with accelerated removal of nutrients from the soil, while for farmers it is a key means of production and the key to a prosperous future. In general, the number of requests to us from gardeners and vegetable growers, especially those growing crops such as onions and potatoes, is growing. For large holdings, our state accreditation is important, in particular, for obtaining the results of phytopathological studies. There is a high demand for inspection (including preliminary) when storing fruits and vegetables, in particular onions, with calculation of shelf life. In Kabardino-Balkaria, a number of farms require a service to determine the susceptibility of apples to bitter pitting. For producers of fruit crops, the importance of soil and water analyzes is increasing - this becomes noticeable, for example, as the “Turnkey Gardens - 10 Acres” program develops, when the owners of gardens laid out for them with the help of state subsidies begin to need data, which is currently happening on their areas.
Elena Shuplyak, head of the regional group “Agroanalysis-Don”, Azov, Rostov region
Due to precipitation, the amount of which was 2,5 times higher than the norm in previous years, waterlogging and outbreaks of phytopathogenic infections, farmers of the Southern Federal District have shown high interest this season in monitoring the situation in crops for timely implementation of fungicidal treatments. Phytopathological and microbiological analyzes of soil and plants were relevant. There remains a traditional need for water analysis to determine its quality for irrigation and preparation of pesticide solutions - in particular, this is typical for the Rostov region due to the low quality of water in reservoirs and underground sources. However, this year, small farms engaged in growing crops under irrigation have been added to the number of regular customers. The need for monitoring of perennial plantings with specialist visits and sampling has increased. Along with the increase in the production and consumption of organomineral fertilizers, the need arose to analyze them for the content of nutrients and assess the quality of these products. Also at the beginning of the season, due to an outbreak of Fusarium wilt of tomatoes grown indoors, the number of complex plant analyzes carried out and recommendations issued for building a crop protection system increased. In preparation for the new season, the number of seed samples for phytoexamination and determination of their sowing qualities has increased.
Vera Platonova, head of the regional group "AgroLaboratory-Saransk", Saransk, Republic of Mordovia
In 2023, the main activities of the laboratory were a comprehensive analysis of seed material (determination of seed qualities, phytoexamination of seeds, issuance of recommendations), phytopathological studies of plant material (diagnosis of plant damage by fungal diseases with recommendations for plant protection), as well as a comprehensive analysis of the safety of winter crops. We began to receive more requests from agricultural producers to diagnose the condition of winter grains during the winter and early spring periods. The complex analysis includes determining the viability of plants, the sugar content in the tillering node, identifying the population of plants with intra-stem pests, taking into account the degree of damage to plants by pests, taking into account the prevalence of fungal plant diseases, diagnosing plant material for the presence of parasitic nematodes and recommendations for plant protection. The demand for assessing the condition of winter crops is growing, since it allows you to reserve spring seeds for potential reseeding of weak areas, as well as make timely decisions about additional chemical treatments and fertilizer applications.
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