The Agrarian University of the Tambov Region is launching professional retraining courses in potato breeding and seed production. Michurinsky State Agrarian University with the support of the Federal Research Center named after A.G. Lorha in early February 2022 opens a set of students on this topic, the press service of the university reports.
Research at the university is carried out within the framework of the competition won by the educational institution of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia for the provision of grants in the form of subsidies from the federal budget for the implementation of a comprehensive scientific and technical project "Development of innovative technologies for the production of elite seed potatoes of promising varieties of domestic selection in the conditions of the Tambov region" within the framework of the subprogram "Development selection and seed production of potatoes in the Russian Federation” of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2017-2025. The implementation of this project makes it possible to introduce into production an effective technology for obtaining virus-free, elite potato seed material of domestic varieties and to promote import substitution.
According to Vadim Babushkin, rector of the Michurinsk State Agrarian University, the university staff has been conducting research on the propagation of domestic potatoes for four years. “Today there are many varieties with high commercial and economic and biological characteristics, which, unfortunately, have not found wide application in industrial potato production due to the lack of innovative technologies for the production of their seed material. Our scientists using the methods of biotechnology, biophysics and agronomy were able to more fully use the genetic resource of some Russian varieties and want to share this knowledge in professional retraining courses,” notes the head of the Tambov Region Agricultural University.
The course program consists of four modules of lectures and practical exercises. First, students will master selection, then seed production and clonal micropropagation, and at the end of the intensive, chemical plant protection products. The most important issues of genetics, breeding, seed production of potatoes and modern issues of agricultural technology will be covered in his lectures by the director of the Federal Research Center. A.G. Lorkha Sergey Zhevora.