Fifty interline hybrids of F₁ of winter rye obtained from crossing of 25 sterile inbred lines with male fertile lines ‘N-1172’ and ‘N-1185’ as testers have been studied. The tests were carried out on the plot of 8.0m² in a triple sequence with seeding rate of 500 kernels per 1m². The productivity of the hybrids F₁ ranged from 70.2 till 90.6 hwt/ha (tester ‘N-1172’) and from 71.5 till 102.6 hwt/ha (tester ‘N-1185’). On the whole the number of hybrids F₁ with significant heterosis of productivity was 13 per 50 (or 26%). Both a general and specific combining ability (F_fact.= 2.41 and 2.32 respectively with F₀₅ =1.63) contributed a lot in the dispersion of the trait of productivity. The sterile analogs of the lines ‘N-325’, ‘N-1078’, ‘N-1179’, ‘N-1238’,‘N-1276’ and the line-tester ‘N-1185’ showed a reliably high GCA. The lines ‘N-48’, ‘N-71’, ‘N-463’, ‘N-700’ and ‘N-1179’ showed high effect of SCA. A significant difference in a combining value of the studied line-testers has been established. It has been noted that the level of their own productivity is the most important sign for selection of the lines on GCA.

The assessment of spring soft wheat varieties artificially infected with smut pathogen showed that more than a half of cultivars recommended to cultivation in the Republic of Tatarstan are extremely susceptible to the disease. The varieties ‘Simbirtsit’, ‘Ester’, ‘Eskada 70’, ‘Eskada 66’, ‘Eskada 109’, ‘Zlata’ and ‘Arkhat’ turned to be less susceptible to the local type of smut. During favorable for wheat infection years the most susceptible varieties of wheat grown in the ecological seed plot have the infectious degree of 1273-5821 pc. of teliospores per kernel. The amount of spores of fungi Tilletia levis during wheat growing were less than the amount of spores of fungi Tilletia caries ; the ratio of the types varied during the years, i.e. the ratio of caries to levis was 4:1 in 2012, 16:1 in 2013; 55:1 in 2014, 27:1 in 2015 and 8:1 in 2016. Some heavily infected varieties can re-infect the seeds of other varieties with the smut spores in the process of harvesting. The varieties ‘Simbirtsit’ and ‘Eskada’ (without any signs of infection), harvested by the combine machine SAMPO 2110 after the harvesting of the variety ‘Omskaya 33’ (464630 teliospores per kernel) were infected with smut spores (10295 and 1965 teliospores per kernel respectively), that was enough for mass infection of the most susceptible varieties. During the variety testing it’s necessary to conduct seed disinfection to reduce negative effect of smut on productivity if it’s impossible to renovate the variety.

The review presents the results of the comparative evaluation of physical and biological characteristics of hulled and unhulled varieties of barley. The work shows the advantages of the hulled lines of barley in comparison with unhulled varieties in protein accumulation, amino-acid content and oil. The advantages of the hulled early-maturing barley samples compared to the middle-maturing samples have been established as they produce the largest indexes of such essential amino acids as lysine, phenylalanine, methionine and threonine, as well as the largest number of such fatty acids as linoleic and linolenic. The various approaches to improve productivity and quality of hulled barley with the help of biochemical indexes have been considered that is of great theoretical and practical value. The article considers different studies of physiological peculiarities of hulled barley and mechanisms of its stability. The authors discuss the perspectives of the use of such physical and biochemical indexes as the number of photosynthetic pigments, the intensity of photosynthesis, morphometric characteristics (leaf area, mass of dry plant) in plant-breeding to estimate the initial material and to select highly productive forms of hulled barley as the test indexes for the improvement of productivity and quality of grain.

The study was conducted in 2012-2014 in the south-west of the Bryansk region polluted by radiation during the nuclear accident in the Chernobyl NES, so the purpose was not only to obtain highly productive fodder, but also to harvest the products with a normative number of radionuclides. The trial was carried out on sod-podzolic sandy soil with the level of pollution 137Cs to 850 кB/м². The scheme of the trial included one-type sowings of fodder crops (yellow lupine, oats, ryegrass, Sudan grass and millet) and their combinations. The trials were conducted on the non-fertilized soil and on the soil fertilized with 180 kg of potassium per hectare under various seeding rates of grain component combined with lupine. The yellow lupine showed the largest productivity of grain-haylage mass among one-type sowings (190…214 hwt/ha); in multi-type sowings the combination of yellow lupine with Sudan grass and millet produced 285 and 294 hwt/ha with a maximum seeding rate of grain component on the soil fertilized with potassium. It’s necessary to note that the increased seeding rate of grain component combined with lupine resulted both in the increase of grain-haylage mass and in the decrease of cesium content in fodder. The fertilizing of potassium had no effect on the decrease of cesium in grain-haylage mass of lupine to 400 Bk/kg that proves the necessity to use cesium in the sowings combined with crops having the lowest ability to accumulate radionuclides. The content of 137Cs in grain crops grown in non-fertilized soil was 1.4…2.1 times lower than the permissible level. The increase of grain component in the combinations with lupine gave an opportunity to bring to the norm of cesium content (137), and the fertilizing of 180 kg of potassium per hectare allowed reducing this index in further sowings.

Spring barley is one of the most early-maturing and adaptable crops with a great diversity of forms and varieties occupying a significant part of sowing areas in RF. The high adaptive ability of barley to various growing conditions causes its wide distribution throughout the country. The article considers economic value of the crop and gives the examples of its use in the industrial processing. Such essential indexes as a dynamics of sowing areas and productivity of spring barley in the Russian Federation for the period of 2010-2016, as well the tendencies of their increase and decrease have been analyzed in the work. The major sowing areas of spring barley in the Russian Federation are concentrated in four federal districts (Prevolzhsky, Tsentralny (Central), Sibirsky (Siberian) and Yuzhny (Southern)) with about 87.8% annual sowing areas occupied by spring barley. The Orenburgsky region ranks first among the regions and areas of Russian in the amount of spring barley sowing areas in 2016. The analysis of spring barley productivity in 2010-2016 showed that the Prevolzhsky, Tsentralny (Central), Sibirsky (Siberian) and Yuzhny (Southern) federal districts were the leading ones due to the average productivity of spring barley 2.13-2.56 t/ha. The special attention in the article has been devoted to the analysis of the results obtained in the Southern federal district and in the Rostov region. The article considers the expediency of increasing the production of spring barley due to the expansion of sown areas occupied by this culture, both in the Russian Federation and in other federal districts.

The article considers the results of the ecological trials (2008-2016) among the maize hybrids (FAO 200-249), developed in the different selection centers of Russia. The number of the hybrids (FAO 200-249) participating in the ecological trials was 36-43 due to the voluntary provision of the breeding material for the experiments. The coefficients of asymmetry and excess (kurtosis) of grain productivity, harvest moisture and biochemical indicators are not significant at 5% level, that is, the distribution of parameters is normal. A significant variation of hydrothermal coefficient (0.32-1.1) is an important feature of a long-term study of hybrids by FSBRI RusRIK ‘Rossorgo’. The hybrids were in the similar conditions. A strong decrease of maize hybrid productivity was seen in 2010 because of extreme drought in the second part of vegetation (a period of maize flowering). The period 2012-2016 is characterized with a stable productivity of the standard variety ‘Krasnodarsky 194 MV’ and the best maize hybrids developed in RU of Russia. The best hybrids productivity ranged as follows КС>Кр>По>Во>ЮВ>control (‘Krasnodarsky 194 MV’) >ДП>Фо>Ик>Зе. The harvesting humidity of grain indicates the technological possibility to dry grain of maize hybrids of middle-maturing group, because the real excess moisture can be removed without significant difficulty. The biochemical composition of maize hybrids varied a lot in the trial. The range of the best hybrids in the content of raw protein is ДП>По>ЮВ>Ик>Фо>КС>Во>Зе>Кр> control (‘Krasnodarsky 194 MV’).

The largest and the most stable yields of grain depend on the cultivar’s opportunity to use soil-climatic conditions of cultivation as well as its ability to overcome unfavorable weather factors that worsen the growth and development of plants. Thus, the new varieties should have a complex system of biochemical, physiological and economic-valuable traits and properties that improve the adaptive ability of the varieties to definite conditions of their cultivation. The work presents the data about the model values of winter wheat characteristics developed by the scientists to improve productivity of the varieties in the definite soil-climatic regions. For the growing conditions of the West Siberia the model of early maturing cultivars should possess 18-20 spikelets and 30-35 kernels per head, 40-45 g of 1000-kernels weight, 4.5-5.0 t/ha of kernels productivity. The model of middle and middle-later maturing cultivars should have 20-22 spikelets, 45-55 g of 1000-kernels weight, 6.0-7.0 t/ha of kernels productivity. For the growing conditions of the Middle Povolzhie the model of the variety should be tolerant to frosts, droughts, diseases; it should possess large productive tillering, 19 spikelets, 40-42 kernels per head, 38-40 g of 1000-kernels weight, 4.0-4.5 t/ha of productivity in favorable years and 2.5-3.0 t/ha in dry years. For the northern part of the Rostov region the model of the cultivar should have 70-90 cm of plant height, 8-9 cm of length of head, 1.2-1.5 g of kernels’ weight per head and 9-10 t/ha of potential productivity. For the southern part of the Rostov region the model of the cultivar sown in fallow land should possess 80-90 cm of plant height, 9.0-9.5 cm of length of head, 38-39 g of 1000-kernels weight, 36-38 kernels per head, 18.0-18.5 spikelets per head and 7.0-7.5 t/ha of grain productivity.

Rye is considered to be the second bread as it’s both tasty and useful. At present, a healthy lifestyle and in particular proper nutrition are preferable, thus the consumption of bread baked from pure rye flour or from its mixture with wheat flour (with a greater share of rye flour) increases. Taking into consideration that rye is used for nutrition, the purpose of our research is to study biochemical, technological traits of quality of the present varieties of winter rye and to estimate baking merits of rye and rye-wheat bread. The study has been carried out on the experimental plots of the Samara RIA. Seven varieties of winter rye ‘Bezenchukskaya 87’ (standard), ‘Olga’, ‘Roksana’, ‘Antares’, ‘Bezenchukskaya 110’ and the line ‘GK-80’ have been taken as the experimental material in 2016. In dry summer of 2016 all studied varieties of winter wheat produced the grain with a low amylolytic enzyme activity (the ‘falling number’ determined according to Hagberg-Perten was 271-368 s), with a maximum viscosity (700-1000 e.am.) and can be uses as the improvers in the mixtures with rye flour of poor quality or in the mixture with wheat flour. All studied varieties of winter rye showed a large bread volume in the experimental baking with the maximum bread volume of 515-575 cm³ per 100 g of flour (the varieties ‘Bezenchukskaya 87’ and ‘Roksana’) and the minimum 470-480 cm³. The wheat flour added to the rye flour has a positive effect on such rheological traits as dough extension and bread volume. Bread baked directly from the mixture of rye and wheat flour (1:1) according to the technology of State Committee with an intensive dough kneading was of light color with good porosity, with slightly sweet taste and with good appearance

Oats is the most essential food and grain forage crop in Russia. At present due to the active and fast development of husbandry and food industry there is a great need in oats grain that can be used both as fodder and as food. A good fodder pool is of great importance for further development of husbandry, its improvement and productivity, where grain forage crops are greatly significant as the sources of concentrated and coarse fodder (roughage). The agro ecological variety testing conducted by FSBSI “PreCaspian RI of arid agriculture” in 2014-2016 allowed selecting the promising varieties of spring oats, which meet all requirements to productivity, possess high qualitative grain characteristics and have adaptability to dry conditions of the North PreCaspian. The work presents the data about weather conditions during the study, gives the information about the selected promising varieties of spring oats ‘Konkur’, ‘Lev’ and ‘Borets’ with 1.0-1.3 t/ha of grain productivity, 75.0-80.1 cm of plant height, in comparison with the standard variety ‘Lgovsky 1026’ with 0.68 t/ha of grain productivity, 65.5 cm of plant height. The new cultivars of oats possess 80-84 days of vegetation period, 35.3-36.4 g of 1000-kernels weight, when the standard variety ‘Lgovsky 1026’ possesses 88 days of vegetation period and 32.4 g of 1000-kernels weight. All three cultivars are tolerant to lodging. According to the results of study these varieties are recommended to cultivation on light chestnut soils of the arid part of the North PreCaspian.

Durum wheat grain is the main raw material for pasta production, but some characteristics of the culture are promising for its use in baking. The flour from durum wheat in its pure form is of little use for bakery products. At the same time the use of 30% of durum wheat flour with its excellent physical and rheological properties of dough gives a positive result in bakery. The study, results of which have been considered in the article was conducted on the experimental plots of the Samara RIA in 2015-2016. The technological traits if grain quality and rheological properties of dough of the 29 varieties of spring durum wheat and their mixtures with spring soft wheat have been studied. The genotypes of durum wheat varieties ‘Bezenchukskaya 209’ and of the lines ‘1389DА-1’, ‘D2098’ and ‘98s-08’ with the best rheological properties of dough have been identified. Good sugar-producing ability of durum wheat and good gas-retaining ability of soft wheat allow baking nutritious and delicious bread with bread volume of 905-980 cm³. But durum wheat flour added to the mixture does not always have the effect of improvement. Not only quality of the durum wheat grain is of great significance but also a selection of the variety which improves and the variety of soft wheat which is being improved.

Barley is one of the main agricultural crops which is widely used in agriculture. The crop has been cultivated since tillage started. Nowadays the purpose of the selection of barley varieties is to improve the quality and nutrients of grain, its forage advantages and technological properties. But it’s necessary to look for and study all new samples of the collection of ARIPB and other institutions to combine all essential traits in one variety. The breeding of new varieties can become successful only if genetically various initial materials that determine advantages and disadvantages of future varieties are available and widely used. The purpose of our study was to assess economically valuable traits of the collection of spring barley varieties. The study was conducted in the fields of the laboratory for barley breeding and seed-growing in FSBSI “Agricultural Research Center ‘Donskoy” (the years of 2014-2016). 167 varieties and samples of spring barley have been studied. The varieties with a complex of valuable traits and properties have been selected. The varieties ‘Manych 121’ (ARRIGC, Russia) and ‘Odessky 22’ (OSSI, Ukraine) possess a shorter period of vegetation than the standard variety ‘Preazovsky 9’ (2 days shorter). The productivity of the variety ‘Zernogradsky 203’ (ARRIGC, Russia) was 6.5 t/ha (the largest one), the variety ‘Bin’ (Sverdlov region, Russia) produced 6.7 t/ha, the variety ‘Rakhat’ (Tatarstan) produced 6.9 t/ha and the variety ‘Gonar’ (Belarus) produced 6.7 t/ha. The varieties ‘Zernogradsky 35 (Rostov region, Russia), ‘Zernogradsky 73’ (Rostov region, Russia), ‘Talovsky 9’ (Voronezh region, Russia), ‘Kamyshinsky 23’ (Volgograd region, Russia), ‘Chelyabinsky 96’ (Chelaybinsk region, Russia), ‘Дзiвосны’ (Belorus), ‘Gonar’ (Germany) and ‘Viking’ (Germany) possess the largest amount of protein in kernels (more than 13.0%).

It’s necessary to know more than ten physical-mechanical characteristics including height, weight and strength of plants and their parts to design and work on the harvesters stripping plants under roots. The former conducted researchers of various winter wheat varieties show, that their physical-mechanical characteristics are greatly different, e.g. the length of a stem and its diameter of the studied variety ‘Dmitry’ is 0.8m and 3.65mm respectively, while the length of a stem and its diameter of the variety ‘Grom’ is 0.545m and 3.2mm respectively. Due to various geometric characteristics of the compared varieties the stem cutting force of the variety ‘Grom’ was 2.29 kG, that is on 1.35 less than that of the variety ‘Dmitry’. Intravarietal variations of physical-mechanical characteristics of the winter wheat plants are of great importance as well. The variation of stem length of the winter wheat variety ‘Dmitry’ is of 0.35-1.25m, the angle of its bending to fracture is of 29.26⁰-74.74⁰. The size and aspect ratio of plant characteristics have a great effect on the mutual arrangement of the fairing and the stripping drum and the position of the reaper against the field surface. The values of the coefficient of friction of the heap components along the working surfaces of the stripper as well as the coefficient of grain recovery influence upon the speed of its detachment from the ear, the trajectory of motion in the transport channel, and, ultimately, the quality of the whole process. That’s why their study is of great importance.

The article presents a description of the main technologies of winter wheat cultivation. The conventional tillage in comparison with a no-till technology has been considered. The article gives the study results obtained by various researchers in cultivation technology of winter wheat. The authors consider both advantages and disadvantages of the conventional and no-till technologies. The main effects of the various cultivation methods on the state of soil root layer have been studied. The article presents a separate study of the aspects connected with the influence of the conventional and no-till technologies upon agrophysical properties of soil. The work considers the main reasons of erosion on the fertile soil layers and the effect of tillage on prevention of these processes. The authors present the data about the effect of various tillage methods on the infection of winter wheat by pests and on weeds distribution.

The decision of the problem of the development of the stable forage production without increasing of the areas with legumes is considered impossible. The creation of a stable fodder base for animal husbandry in the most soil-climatic zones of the country significantly depends on field grass growing. Sainfoin is the most essential crop for field grass growing, that is of great importance for fodder production, biologization of agriculture, energy saving and ecology. The article considers the two-cycled study of forage productivity and bioenergetics efficiency of the sainfoin varieties (developed in ARC ‘Donskoy’) cultivated under heavy shortage of moisture and high average summer temperatures in the south of the Rostov region. The objects of the study were the varieties ‘Manycheskaya’, ‘Rostovskaya 60’, ‘Rostovskaya 90’, ‘Lyutsiya’ and ‘Selyanka’ used for hay. The studied cultivars of sainfoin produced the average yields of green mass of 45.2-50.6 t/ah, 12.0-13.3 t/ha of dry matter, 10.17-11.13 t/ha of fodder units and 2.40-2.65 t/ha of raw protein. The variety ‘Selyanka’ produces the largest yields of green mass - 50.6 t/ha, with 11.13 t/ha of fodder units, 2.65 t/ha of raw protein and 179 g of digestible protein per fodder unit. The variety ‘Lyutsiya’ showed the largest yield of dry matter (13.3 t/ha), 11.9 t/ha of fodder units, 2.63 t/ha of raw protein and 183 g of digestible protein per fodder unit. The assessment of bioenergetics efficiency of sainfoin cultivation showed that the variety ‘Lyutsiya’ possessed the largest content of energy in the yield (143.64 GJ/ha), the net energy income was 112.12 GJ/ha, the least energy capacity of the product was 2.36 GJ/ha and the largest coefficient of energetic efficiency was 4.6. Such indexes of productivity, content of exchangeable energy and digestible protein in dry matter, amount of digestible protein per fodder unit show that the cultivation of each sainfoin variety allows obtaining high-qualitative fodder with 3.8-4.6 coefficient of energetic efficiency.

During the testing of plant protection methods on the fields we need a longer period of time, large expenditure of material and labor. It’s not always possible to evaluate the efficiency of chemical drugs to one definite type of pathogen. On the naturally infected fields the plants are infected by some kinds of fungi, that produce the same symptoms of the disease. Thus it is essential to study the efficiency of fungicides to some kinds of phyto pathogens in the artificial conditions or to use laboratory methods with the application of pure cultures of fungi. One of these methods is Plate Count Agar (PCA) (also called Standard Methods Agar (SMA)). It has been established that this method can be used for biological assessment of fungicides (in vitro) for the fungi Fusarium, and also for other species which grow in the artificial conditions. The method consists in the following: in the experimental variants, a suspension of conidia of the fungus and a solution of the chemical drug are applied to the agar plate, in the control variant sterile water is applied instead of the fungicide. After the process of incubation in the thermostat, a number of formed fungal colonies and their diameter are assessed. The application of Plate Count Agar (PCA) (also called Standard Methods Agar (SMA)) gave the opportunity to reveal the most efficient (92.2-100.0%) for the fungi Fusarium semitectum, F. tricinctum and Bipolaris sorokiniana chemical drugs ‘Kinto Duo’, ‘Vitaros’, ‘Vintsit’, ‘Maksim’, ‘Vial TT’ and ‘Maksim ekstrim’. The fungicides ‘Kolfugo super’ and ‘Falkon’ showed their largest inhibitory effect (with the efficiency of 97.3-98.6%) for the fungus Fusarium graminearum.

At present, agriculture needs a strong state support. The state support is the source of financing for agriculture. The difference between agricultural production and the most sectors of the economy is that it is less efficient. The invested capital is less profitable. Therefore, agriculture is not able to compete equally with industry without external support, including state support. The article considers the main areas of funding for effective development of the agricultural sector. 9815 agricultural enterprises and organizations of the agro-industrial complex have used the State support due to the state program of the Rostov region. The federal budget gives subsidies for breed husbandry, basic seed-growing, fodder, purchase of mineral fertilizers, chemicals, etc. The largest share of federal budget expenditures to support the agro-industrial complex of the Rostov region consists of the funds for reimbursement of the interest rate on loans and loans granted to rural enterprises, which allows them to replenish working capital on time and to do the spring and harvesting work. The regional budget gives the subsides to support the programs of the AIC’s development, to form breed husbandry and basic seed-growing, to compensate the expenditures on the development of social infrastructure, to partially compensate electricity, mineral fertilizers and chemicals for plant protection, research and study of the AIC, reconstruction of reclamation systems, etc.