Fifty fruitful years

Abstract

In 2018, there was celebrated the 50th anniversary of the activity of the Myronivka Institute of Wheat based on the Myronivka Breeding and Experimental Station in 1968. The founder and the first director of the institute is Academician Vasyl Mykolaiovych Remeslo, since 1984 the institution is named after him. Exceptional in plasticity the winter-hardy variety Myronivska 808 expanded the range of winter wheat cultivation far to the North and Northeast and was released in 85 regions of the former USSR with cropping areas being more than 10 million hectares in the USSR and more than 2 million hectares in Central European countries. Besides masterpiece of world breeding Myronivska 808, the varieties Myronivska Yuvileina 50 and Illichivka in the 70–80s were widely cultivated in these regions where they have significantly increased the gross grain yield. The Myronivka Institute has become the main institution coordinating the fulfillment of the All-Union targets in winter wheat breeding and carried out the general methodological guidance of breeding research institutes in this sphere. International cooperation in breeding winter wheat and barley that has been initiated in the 1970s by Academician V. M. Remeslo with research institutions of the GDR, Czechoslovakia and expanded in the mid-80s by director of the Institute L. O. Zhyvotkov through agreements with Bulgaria, Hungary and Poland was fruitful. Resulted from long-term creative cooperation a number of winter wheat and barley varieties of joint breeding or on the basis of breeding material of collaborating institutions have been created and in the 80s–2000s released in Ukraine and these countries. Agreements with international coordinating breeding centers CIMMYT and ICARDA have been concluded. In the mid-90s cooperation with scientific institutions of China has begun, which is now reaching a new level. If during more than 105 years since the beginning of the station’s operation (as of 2018) 327 varieties of 20 agricultural crops have been created, over 50 years of activity of the institution as a research institute, more than 280 varieties of 16 crops have been submitted to the State variety trial, including 153 bread winter wheat and 1 durum winter wheat varieties, 32 spring bread wheat and 6 durum spring wheat varieties. For 2018 102 varieties of different crops of Myronivka breeding were put on the State Register of Ukraine, including 55 winter wheat and 16 spring wheat varieties. 30 varieties are being tested at the State variety trial. There are 10 Doctors of Sciences and 20 Candidate of Science at the Institute. At he Institute there is licensed postgraduate studies and specialized academic council for defending candidate's dissertations. Collection of scientific papers “Myronivka Bulletin” is a specialized scientific publication. International cooperation with breeders and scientists of Bulgaria, Hungary, China, Kazakhstan, and Lithuania is actively developing and expanding. Scientific and production cooperation with grain producers and business representatives from Turkey, Hungary, Moldova and Belarus has begun. Today, the network of the Institute includes Nosivska Plant Breeding and Experimental Station, five experimental farms and one base in different regions of Ukraine. In 2016, for the achievements in scientific and practical activity the Myronivka Institute of Wheat was awarded the Diploma of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine “For Merits to the Ukrainian People”.