Specialists of the Michurinsky district department of the branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Rosselkhoztsentr" in the Tambov region, together with the Michurinsky State Agrarian University (hereinafter - MichGAU), have begun to dig up the improved potato planting material. The minitubers obtained will be planted in the fields of Zolotaya Niva LLC in the Znamensky District of the Tambov Region. The farm is planning to transfer about 30 minitubers. Work on obtaining virus-free potatoes is carried out within the framework of the implementation of a comprehensive scientific and technical project (KNTP) "Development of innovative technologies for the production of elite seed potatoes of promising varieties of domestic breeding in the conditions of the Tambov region" within the framework of the program "Development of potato breeding and seed production in the Russian Federation" of the Federal Scientific and Technical agricultural development programs for 000 -2017. "
Initial potato samples obtained from the All-Russian Research Institute of Potato Farming named after A.G. Lorkha, were propagated in vitro in the laboratory of potato breeding and seed production. Then, to obtain tubers in vivo, the microplants were planted in a tunnel-type greenhouse, where all the conditions necessary for growth and development were created. In the greenhouse MichGAU grown such potato varieties as Prestige, Udacha, Gulliver.
Specialists of the branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "Rosselkhoztsentr" in the Tambov region have been testing the improved potato planting material for 3 years, overseeing the observance of all norms necessary for growing and harvesting seed potatoes. The result of the work is a certificate of conformity for seed potatoes.
This year, the first batch of minitubers, obtained in 2019, was planted in the open field at Zolotaya Niva LLC, where specialists from the Russian Agricultural Center carried out phytosanitary weeding.