Specialists of the Agrostar breeding center have started harvesting the first crop of a new potato variety. This is a joint fruit of the region's academics and farmers. An early ripe high-yielding root crop variety was given the working name Julia. Minitubers were grown in a specialized greenhouse, created and equipped by Samara scientists. This year the new variety will be tested in the fields. Further it will be tested in different regions of Russia. The project will allow solving one of the most important tasks set by the governor Dmitry Azarov - to ensure the food security of the region with the export of products.
Breeding research became possible thanks to the implementation of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2017 - 2025 and the program "Development of Potato Breeding and Seed Production in the Samara Region".
The Samara scientific and technical project passed the competitive selection of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and united scientific organizations and leading potato-growing farms of the region: Samara Research Institute of Agriculture, FSBEI VO "Samara GAU", LLC "MolyanovAgroGroup", KFH Tsirulev E.P., CJSC "Lunacharsk", LLC "Scorpio". The goal of the project is to create 4 varieties of domestic selection of potatoes.
The minitubers of the new variety were bred on a virus-free platform organized on the basis of the N.N. Tulaykova. Employees of the research institute work on seed material in agroecosystems completely isolated from external infections using biotechnological installations and modules of various technical designs.
To achieve the result, the project used innovative equipment and LED lamps, created jointly by Agrostar specialists and scientists from the Samara Agrarian University. The lighting mode using LED lamps allowed not only to significantly reduce energy consumption, but also to increase the productivity of grown tubers by 40%.
“There was a task - to get at least 5 tubers from a bush. During trial digging, we received at least 7 pieces, individual specimens were given up to 14 tubers from a bush. This is a very good result. The created greenhouse allows getting up to three harvests per year and reducing field trials, ”said Natalya Ivanaiskaya, head of the breeding center.
The regional budget funds helped to implement the complex scientific and technical project. In total, more than 7,1 million rubles were raised within the framework of the program "Development of potato breeding and seed production in the Samara region". According to the current legislation, the project participants can be reimbursed up to 50% of the costs of carrying out selection and seed production. This is the acquisition of agricultural equipment, research, laboratory, technological, engineering equipment, fertilizers, plant protection products, covering material, peat for improving the soil, materials and components for molecular biological, bioengineering work, biological products and consumables for their production.