Vol 45, No 3 (2019)

The results from the assessed adaptability of 14 soft winter wheat varieties of domestic breeding and 29 breeding lines from the Lukyanenko Scientific Center of Agriculture are provided. The stress-resistant varieties with the maximum range of adaptive abilities—Spartak, Marafon, Esaul, Zhemchyuzhina Povolzhya, and L. 351-04 ya0-19-7 line—are marked. The following varieties were characterized by the average yield in contrasting conditions: Vyuga—5.85 t/ha; Severodonetskaya Yubileinaya—5.88 t/ha; Bazis—5.82 t/ha; Zimnitsa—5.62 t/ha; 679 Sv-93 line—6.28 t/ha; and L. 351-04-ya0-19-7 line—6.01 t/ha. The varieties Bazis, Vyuga, and Zimnitsa showed the maximum experimental yield under favorable conditions—7.78, 8.25, and 7.93 t/ha, respectively, which was higher than the yield of the standard Biryuza variety under adverse conditions by 1.16, 0.73, and 0.62 t/ha. According to the drought-tolerance index, varieties Spartak, Severodonetskaya Yubileinaya, Esaul, and Zhemchyuzhina Povolzhya are promising. The falling number of the studied varieties under unfavorable conditions exceeded the norm for wheat of the first class (250–396 s). Under stress conditions, it decreased to 79 s in a number of varieties. The mass fraction of protein and gluten in the grain of most varieties was characterized by low stability. In adverse conditions, the mass fraction of protein in the grain decreased to 10.4% and raw gluten to 17.4%, which is 61.9 and 52.6% of the level of the year favorable for the formation of qualitative grain. The most stable indicators of grain quality are observed in the Biryuza and Vyuga varieties. In adverse conditions, the falling-number was 316 s in Biryuza variety and 395 s in the Vyuga variety. The mass fraction of protein was 14.5 and 14.0%, and raw gluten was 28.2 and 30.0%, respectively.

Boiling soluble proteins (BSPs), which constitutes about 0.2% of the total genome, play an key role in stress adaptation. However, drought stress induced regulation of BSPs are still a matter of conjecture. This study primarily focused indicators of oxidative stress like: ROS, lipid peroxidation, injury index and scavenging boiling soluble antioxidant enzymes in embryos and endosperm of different cultivars of wheat under different intensities of drought stress followed by stress recovery. Both in embryos and endosperm of cultivars HD 2967 and PBW 550, MII, MDA and ROS relatively unchanged, minor increased or decreased under severe drought stress conditions. Activities of different boiling soluble antioxidants like BsMDAR, BsTRX.R, BsPAO and BsPDI were substantially higher in the embryos and endosperm of cultivars HD 2967 and PBW 550 under moderate and severe stress conditions, while minor increase or decreased activities were detected in cultivars HD 2851 and HD 2932. Based on present study, it can incidental that cultivars HD2967 and PBW 550 are better equipped to perform biological antioxidant responses to eliminate drought-induced oxidative stress.

Molecular-genetic selection of parental lines of sugar beet has been carried out for further hybridization. Initial lines, including male sterile lines and multigerm pollinators, have been evaluated using 12 microsatellite markers. As a result, two primer pairs have been selected to be the most informative in relation to the heterogeneity of breeding material and the most efficient for a heterosis prediction. A PCR analysis of 12 initial lines of sugar beet has determined specific DNA profiles for breeding material. The performed cluster analysis has allowed us to reveal genetic distances and to divide the studied varieties into clusters depending on their genetic relationship as well as to recommend parental forms for highly productive hybrids. A crossing of genetically distant lines plays an important role in the heterosis manifestation in hybrids. Due to low productivity, combinations of lines whose genetic distance does not exceed 1.41 should be excluded from further analysis. The results of this study are important for the production of heterosis hybrids in the practical breeding of sugar beet.

The peculiarities Obsky 140 variety of corn in yield formation when it is cultivated with the use of selenium nanoparticles in an optimum concentration were studied. The experiment was conducted in soil culture in threefold repetition. Agrochemical indicators of soil were: 6.2 pH_KCl, 2.6% content of humus, 204 mg/kg P₂O₅, and 219 mg/kg K₂O of soil. Four variants of the experiment were developed: control 1 (dry seeds), control 2 (seeds soaked in water), seed incrustation with NP Se (semidry pickling), and seeds soaked in NP Se (30 min before seeding calculated for 0.1 g/ha). NP Se containing 3.7 mg of Se nanopreparation in 1 L of water was used. The positive effect of selenium nanoparticles on the growth processes of corn seeds—germination, germination energy, and growth force—was shown. Seed treatment with NP Se increased the seed germination energy by 6.90 and 9.13%, laboratory germination by 4.67 and 8.34%, and growth force by 26.32 and 31.05%, respectively, compared with control 2 and control 1. Under adverse conditions, the use of selenium nanoparticles increased plant growth in height. NP Se had a positive effect on starch accumulation, and soaking in this preparation increased the content of protein fractions. The greatest increase in yield of corn’s dry phytomass was provided by the soaking of seeds in selenium nanoparticles, which is caused by an increase corn’s green mass yield.

The environment-forming function of the desert tree black saxaul (Haloxylon aphyllum) in the Karnabchul desert was investigated. As a result, it was found that black saxaul plants of different age had different effects on the degree of illumination. The intensity of solar radiation was mainly affected by middle-aged plants and by old generative specimens to a lesser extent. Black saxaul had a significant effect on the air temperature: it lowered the temperature under the crown and on the crown edge during the daytime, especially at 1:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m., while it increased it in these zones at night. Black saxaul also significantly influenced the temperature of the soil. The temperature was higher at night under the crown, while it was lower than in the outer part of the crown in the daytime. The moisture content of the soil also changed under the influence of black saxaul. Under its crown, the moisture content was noticeably higher than on open natural pastures. It was highest in the upper layers of the soil at the base of the saxaul trunk. As a result of the environment-forming action of black saxaul, favorable hydrothermal conditions for the growth and development of the natural wormwood-ephemeral vegetation under the protection of the shelterbelts and on the pasture areas adjacent to the shelterbelt were formed. The components of the production activity of pasture shelterbelts of black saxaul were shown: fodder mass of saxaul and wormwood-ephemeral vegetation of natural pastures. As a result of the increase in the yield of natural pastures under the protection of the shelterbelts and the harvest of black saxaul, the forage productivity of desert pastures increased more than two times.

To establish a landscape-focused experiment, the soil cover of an agricultural land unit was studied on a smooth slope of a glaciolacustrine plane, and the factors and parameters of spatial differentiation were determined for several physical, physicochemical, and agrichemical properties. Various degrees of differentiation for certain properties associated with the characteristics of parent rocks were revealed along with the geochemical regimes and the nature of human impact. A significant heterogeneity was recorded in thickness of eluvial horizons, in degree of gleying, soil structure, and organic matter and nitrogen content; moderate heterogeneity was observed in terms of soil texture, physical and chemical properties, and nutritional regime. The main cause for variation of soil properties in the agricultural landscape was the heterogeneity of moraine parent rock: its physical, chemical, and agrochemical properties varied by 19–59%. Natural and human-induced processes in soil formation led to a 2.6-times reduction in the average coefficient of variation for these properties in the arable layer (from 36 to 14%). A number of agrochemical properties became 1.3–1.9 times more heterogeneous due to sheetflood erosion in the transitional eluvial facies, and they became three times more heterogeneous in the eluvial facies as a result of uneven application of organic fertilizers.

Study results of the All-Russia Research Institute of Irrigated Agriculture obtained in 2014–2016 in conditions of the southern slope of the Volga Upland are presented. The possibility of rice cultivation with innovative water-saving technology on general-purpose irrigation systems, including a different set of agricultural crops as precursors in other crop rotations, has been determined. To assess the preferences of different rice precursors, we selected soybean, a legume culture, potato, a row crop, and a narrow-crop rice. Studies have shown that, despite small time differences, rice crops after all precursors completed the vegetation period and formed a yield close to the planned one without negative impact on soil, phytosanitary condition, and growth and development of rice. All this makes it possible to recommend them to be used as rice precursors in rice crop rotations on general-purpose irrigation systems with periodic irrigation in the following order: soybean → potatoes → rice.

A new method to identify the conformational and constitutional types based on the body specific mass-ratio index (BSMRI) with the use of four live-body measurements and a liveweight in animals has been developed. The cows were assigned to three conformational and constitutional body types by specifying the BSMRI values: flabby (1.36 and less), intermediate (1.37–1.54), and compact (1.55 and more). The objective of the survey is to allocate the Red Steppe cows of the Kubansky intrabreed type to the types of constitution, immunological status, milk production, and reproductive capacity. It is ascertained that the compact type of body condition is typical for the largest portion of cows, comprising 46.2%, which is 11.6 and 27.0% more than that in the specimens ascertained to the intermediate and flabby body condition types, respectively. The milk yields of the cows of a flabby type were, on average, 254–335 kg (P > 0.95) higher than the average milk yield of 5496 kg for the experimental livestock. In addition, the cows assigned to the flabby type produced milk with higher fat- and protein yields and milkability greater by 0.11% (P > 0.99) and 0.09% (P > 0.999) than that in the cows of the compact and intermediate types, respectively. Better welfare was determined in the compact-type cows, which were characterized by a higher production use, when compared to the cows of the other types. Moreover, the cows of a flabby type were inferior to the compact-type animals in the milk yields by 2109 kg on average.

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance and carcass characteristics of growing pigs fed diets supplemented with pumpkin stew waste (PSW) and yam peel meal (YPM). Eighteen (18) crossbred pigs weighed ±26.25 kg were divided into three treatment groups of six (6) per group and replicated thrice with 2 pigs per replicate. The pigs were randomly allocated to three dietary treatment arranged as follows: T₁ (basal feed only), T₂ (basal feed + 10% PSW), T₃ (basal feed + 10% YPM). At the end of 56 days feeding trial, cost implication analysis was carried out. Carcass evaluation was carried out using six Pigs (2 per treatment) which were randomly selected. Results obtained indicated that pigs fed control diet recorded the lowest feed intake (P < 0.05) compared to pigs fed diets supplemented with pumpkin stem waste which recorded the highest significant (P < 0.05) feed intake followed by pigs fed yam peel meal based diet which was not significantly (P > 0.05) different from T₁ (Control). Similarly, a significant (P < 0.05) increase in daily weight gain was obtained in pigs fed PSW followed by those fed YPM and those fed Control diet. Final body weight indicated significant (P < 0.05) differences among the treatments with the highest recorded in T₃ and the lowest in T₁. However, feed conversion ratio, carcass characteristics and cost benefit analysis indicated no significant (P > 0.05) difference among the treatments. These results revealed that supplementing pig diets with kitchen waste such as yam peel meal and pumpkin stem waste could improve growth performance in pigs.

The objective of the survey is to identify the specificities in the functions of ATPase enzyme systems in blood and the longest back muscle in sheep of two breeds and different ages. Lambs and wethers of Texel and Kuibyshev breeds sampled on the analog principle are the subject of the survey according to the current animal-keeping and feeding standards developed by the Ernst All-Russia Research Institute for Animal Husbandry. It has been ascertained that the activities of Mg²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase, Mg²⁺-ATase, and Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase in the lamb’s red-blood cell membranes are determined by the age at high significance levels (P  < 0.001) of 99.45, 99.41, and 98.46%, respectively, while their activities in the wethers’ longest back muscle are determined by the age at the levels of 81.09, 85.16, and 83.21%, respectively. The correlation analysis has proven the effects of age on the ATPase activity in the membranes of the red blood cells and the longest back muscle сells. With respect to red blood cells, the correlation is negative, while the muscle tissue is found to have a positive correlation. No significant effect of the breed specificity on the activities of Mg²⁺, Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase, Mg²⁺-ATPase, and Na⁺, K⁺-ATPase in the red-blood and muscle tissue cells was identified.

A qualitative and quantitative system of criteria for evaluating the universality of volatile metal corrosion inhibitors (VCIs) with respect to agricultural production conditions has been developed. The system of qualitative criteria for universalism includes (1) assessment of the effectiveness of metal corrosion inhibition under the conditions of the individual or combined action of corrosion-specific stimulators in the vapor-gas phase; (2) suppression of different types of local corrosion that they cause in the corrosion medium; (3) suppression of the general and local corrosion of contacting-metal structural materials with different compositions under specific conditions; and (4) the observance of acceptable specific characteristics of VCIs: ecological characteristics and characteristics related to the hazard class and influence on chemical oxygen consumption (COC) and biochemical oxygen demand for the biodegradation of substances by microorganisms (BOD₅). The system of quantitative criteria for the universalism of VCIs includes quantitative parameters for all proposed qualitative points. It is also proposed to introduce a simplified assessment for agricultural-production conditions by characterizing partially universal inhibitors, which reduces operation costs. Experimental data are given for the IFHAN-114 volatile inhibitor as an example of the effectiveness of the proposed criteria. It is shown that IFHAN-114 is a partially universal inhibitor.