Without white cabbage, which has become the basis of many national dishes, it is impossible to imagine Russian cuisine.
Thousands of domestic farmers are engaged in growing vegetables, and many of them prefer to work with foreign hybrids. Is there a Russian alternative to the achievements of European selection, is there enough quality seeds on the market, and what future awaits cabbage, which in Rus' was once called the “third bread”?
These and other questions are answered by a world-famous breeder who has been creating Russian white cabbage hybrids for more than 40 years, General Director of the N.N. Breeding Station LLC. Timofeev" RGAU-MSHA named after. K.A. Timiryazeva, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences Grigory Monakhos.
– Grigory Fedorovich, as far as I know, in Russia there are modern, highly productive hybrids of white cabbage. Are they able to compete with the achievements of European selection?
– Our farmers and agricultural holdings have access to the best breeding achievements in the world, foreign and domestic.
Russian varieties and hybrids today are in demand mainly among private household plots, from which the domestic seed business receives the main profit. This category of buyers accounts for 90% of all domestically selected crop seeds sold.
In commercial production, the situation is exactly the opposite, but here, too, about 70% of the volume of late cabbage produced is provided by our hybrids Valentina, Dominanta, Prestige and Orion.
Today in Russian fields there is a fierce struggle for varietal composition. Russian breeders compete worthily with their foreign colleagues, creating hybrids that are comparable in quality to foreign ones and even superior to them.
But farmers are accustomed to working with foreign hybrids, they have been growing them for a long time, and they know their strengths and weaknesses. The agricultural sector is conservative, and producers are not yet ready to give up their preferences.
In addition, unlike international companies, Russian breeders do little to promote their products.
It is noteworthy that in the organized white cabbage production sector in Kyrgyzstan, 80% of the area is occupied by Russian hybrids Dominant and Orion. That is, we were able to oust the Dutch selection from this republic, and local vegetable growers don’t even want to hear about other cabbage.
– White cabbage is not included in the list of crops for which our country has established quotas for the import of seeds. But the situation may change. In this case, will Russian farmers have problems?
– I think there will be no negative consequences. Including because restrictions will not apply to the import of seeds from friendly countries, in particular from the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union.
At the moment, all transnational companies specializing in seed production continue to actively operate in the Russian market. None of them, as far as I know, are going to leave.
The position of the state on this issue is not entirely clear. As part of the loudly proclaimed policy of import substitution, we see completely illogical steps on the part of the authorities. Every year, about two billion rubles are spent on subsidizing the purchase of foreign crop seeds. This is explained by WTO rules, although half of the sanctions imposed against our country flagrantly violate them. In essence, we are financing our competitors, fueling the economies of other countries at a time when domestic breeders need more powerful support.
– What tasks are Russian breeders working on now?
– The issue of achieving resistance of white cabbage to various diseases is coming to the fore. We managed to solve the clubroot problem, and four resistant hybrids have already been included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements. I note that only two transnational companies have similar products in their product range.
After the massive loss of crops in several Russian farms from Fusarium wilt, varieties were changed to resistant hybrids. And we have committed ourselves not to submit for state testing varieties and hybrids of white cabbage without genetic resistance to this disease.
A new challenge for us is the defeat of cabbage by tobacco thrips. You have to fight against it using chemical methods. It is very difficult to create hybrids that are tolerant to the pest. We were able to establish that it is due to the content of glucobrassicin, a natural compound due to which cruciferous plants acquire a bitter taste that repels pests. However, when the produce is overripe, the bitterness decreases and thrips damage the cabbage. In the future, there is the possibility of getting rid of thrips quite easily and cheaply using domestic biological products. After a new series of experiments, we will have more accurate data, and then the results of our research will be ready for publication.
Due to the increase in the volume of mineral fertilizers used in vegetable growing, another problem has become more acute. Cabbage heads on farms practicing intensive farming are affected by internal necrosis. Some hybrids are very susceptible to this physiological disorder, while others resist it. But in this case, the determining factor may be the mistakes of the farmers themselves. The cause of necrosis is the overgrowth of the growing plant. Or, as in the Republic of Mari El, the thoughtless use of bird droppings as fertilizer, which leads to an excess of ammonia in the soil, which prevents the crop from absorbing calcium.
We have outlined a number of measures to eliminate all the described difficulties. These include the creation of provocative backgrounds necessary for the selection of white cabbage hybrids for each of the specific breeding traits.
– Are there factors that hinder the work of scientists?
– I believe that the conditions put forward by the State Variety Testing Commission for new varieties and hybrids require revision. The main criterion for inclusion in the State Register is high yield, but this is completely wrong when it comes to vegetables.
At the moment, there is not a single state variety plot where the storage capacity of vegetable crops is assessed. Our winter lasts about 6-7 months, and all this time the population needs to be fed with vegetables stored in storage. It is clear that super-stable cabbage is less productive and will differ in some consumer properties. But then let’s decide what is more important for us: ensuring food security or drawing beautiful numbers.
– Who and where is working on the production of seeds of domestic white cabbage hybrids?
– Only four scientific institutions are involved in cabbage selection in Russia, including the Timiryazev Academy. And the main part of the crop seeds for commercial vegetable growing is provided by the station named after N.N. Timofeeva and Agrofirm "Poisk".
Our institution sells about a tonne of seeds annually out of the total volume of six tons required by the organized sector.
The cultivation of white cabbage seeds was organized at an experimental site in the Republic of Dagestan, in dry subtropical conditions. Seeds are produced using the cheapest, non-transplanting method when planting seedlings in autumn. Last year, from a site in Dagestan, we received 800 kilograms of hybrid seeds with a germination rate of 95%. This is a good indicator, although the region still has some work to do. The main problems remain non-compliance with spatial isolation and mass destruction of seed crops by cattle.
– Is it possible to increase seed production?
– We are currently limiting the area under seed crops, since we don’t see any point in producing more products than we can sell. But the breeding station can increase production at least 10 times at any time, if there is demand.
- What domestic varieties and hybrids are most popular among producers?
– Among the cabbage varieties, the most popular are Iyunskaya, Slava 1305, Slava Gribovskaya 231, Podarok, Belorusskaya 455, Amager 611, Zimovka 1474, created at the Gribovskaya breeding station (now the Federal Scientific Center for Vegetable Growing). Among the hybrids in demand are Nastya, Kazachok, Transfer, which are distinguished by their high early maturity, productivity and excellent taste.
- IN What, in your opinion, are the features of the white cabbage market in Russia?
– If we look at the varietal composition, we will see that up to 70% of crop hybrids grown in the country were created 30-40, or even 50 years ago. Among the foreign ones are Atria, Rinda, Aggressor, the domestic ones are Transfer, Kazachok, SB 3, Kolobok, Valentina.
It is difficult for seed companies to enter the market with new products. New products often turn out to be unclaimed, so the costs of creating cabbage hybrids do not pay off. This is, again, due to the conservatism of the farmers.
As for the sale of commercial cabbage, the rules on the market in recent years have been set by retail. Retail chains expect heads of cabbage from producers with certain characteristics: a weight of about two kilograms and high shelf life. But such cabbage contains a lot of fiber, which does not suit the consumer. It is completely unsuitable for fermentation and requires long heat treatment.
The agricultural sector is forced to grow products based on the requirements of networks. Vegetable growers suffer serious losses by artificially reducing the yield of late hybrids from 100 tons per hectare to 70-80 tons. Although, according to agricultural technology, the producer must begin harvesting when the weight of the head of cabbage reaches at least three kilograms.
– How do you explain the reduction in cultivated areas observed in recent years?
– First of all, this is due to a drop in demand from the population. Consumption of cabbage is decreasing because the food culture has changed, and the tradition of fermenting cabbage en masse for the winter no longer exists. In addition, the choice of fresh vegetables has greatly expanded during the cold season.
The need to grow cabbage on large areas is no longer necessary, as many farmers have increased crop yields to the maximum. For example, producers working with our hybrids easily receive 120 tons per hectare.
There is another reason for the reduction in the area under cabbage - the lack of workers. Harvesting the crop is usually done manually, but there are not enough workers, even visitors from the regions of Central Asia. The productivity of a specialized combine is low. He manages to harvest only one hectare per day, and only in dry weather, and nine people must serve him. It turns out that growing other vegetables from the borscht set, the harvesting of which is mechanized, is much more profitable.
– Grigory Fedorovich, what are the prospects for white cabbage in Russia?
– The prospects for the development of this area, including in terms of breeding and seed production, completely depend on the activity of consumers and state policy. In the meantime, no one will say whether the decline in demand for cabbage has reached its limit, or whether the situation will worsen.
Unable to expand the scope of work with cabbage, our scientific institution took up another crop - rapeseed. In Russia, about two million hectares are annually allocated for rapeseed. There are already first successes: we have obtained spring rapeseed hybrids with excellent performance.
We also focused on breeding onions, the scale of production of which is growing; in 2022, this crop overtook cabbage in terms of cultivation area and production volumes. According to the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, that year 1,05 million tons of onions and 950 thousand tons of cabbage were harvested in the country.
Our employees have already created several onion hybrids with genetic resistance to downy mildew. Now one of the hybrids, Resistor, is undergoing state variety testing. By the way, similar hybrids appeared abroad 10 years ago, but not a single one of them was registered in Russia. Onions susceptible to the disease should be treated with a systemic fungicide up to six times per season. It takes about the same amount of money to purchase a pesticide as it does to purchase seed material. That is, foreign companies that are leaders in sales of plant protection products do not benefit from the appearance of the best modern hybrids in our fields. So draw your own conclusions whether we should be content with Western selection achievements.
Irina Berg