The problems of breeding new varieties of forage and other plants for improving the soil in organic farming in Russia

Abstract

In the agriculture of Russia, organic farming is still relatively uncommon, aimed at obtaining ecologically pure food products of the highest quality category. Such agriculture is characterized by minimal use (up to complete rejection of the use) of various pesticides and other agrochemicals. Tillage under such a farming system is also minimized. At the same time, the use of green manure plants is of great importance. The most famous of these is the seradella. But this culture is most common in the southern regions. In Western Europe, it has been used for this purpose for hundreds of years. On the territory of our country, other crops are used and mainly these are fodder plants: yellow lupine, narrow-leaved lupine, white lupine, hedgehog, perennial ryegrass, white mustard. gray mustard, spring rape, winter rape, spring vetch, winter furry vetch, meadow clover and many others. To create specialized varieties, the main thing is to select plants that, to the maximum extent, will be able to suppress the development of weeds, increase soil fertility, and make poorly soluble nutrients available. In our country, there is a huge number of soil differences and climate features (temperatures, rainfall and their distribution by seasons, etc.), therefore, the creation of one variety of each crop for the entire country is extremely difficult. The requirements for green manure and normal use of plants of the same crop differ sharply. For example, the presence in fodder plants of hydrocyanic acid, glucosinolates and other substances toxic to animals is unacceptable, and their presence in green manure crops, as a rule, is not harmful, and often useful. There are also differences in the requirements for the rate of development and longevity of varieties. Therefore, the standards for breeding varieties intended for green manure fallows or cover crops differ significantly from the requirements for a variety for other purposes - such varieties should be distinguished by rapid seed germination, rapid growth of green mass, such varieties may not differ in longevity, since they are used for one season, often they winter hardiness is not needed. Work in this direction has begun, there are specialized first varieties, but for many cultures this work is just beginning.