The merits of demonstration corn crops were appreciated in the Stavropol region

Specialists from the Shpakovsky district department of the Stavropol branch of the Russian Agricultural Center summed up the results of monitoring the demonstration crops of corn, which were placed in April of this year on the agricultural lands of the peasant farm of V.V. Demchenko.

For demonstration crops, seeds of domestic varieties of corn bred at the All-Russian Research Institute of Agricultural Economics of the Federal Scientific Center VNIIESKh were used: Mashuk 355 MV, K-350, Mashuk 300 and Mashuk 360 MV, 15 rows (or 0.82 ha) of each variety, . The predecessor crops were flax in 2021 and winter wheat in 2022.

The main cultivation of the field was carried out in the fall of last year, then cultivation was carried out twice, and after sowing, harrowing was carried out twice (before germination and after germination). During the growing process, a three-component mineral nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizer with sulfur was used in a volume of 100 kg/ha.

“Throughout the entire growing season, we carried out phytomonitoring of demonstration crops, carefully monitoring their growth and development in each phase, their response to given soil and climatic conditions and applied fertilizers, resistance to pests and diseases,” said Vasily, chief agronomist of the Shpakovsky district department of the Russian Agricultural Center Solovyanov.

The harvesting carried out on September 25 made it possible to evaluate both the merits of the corn varieties themselves and the results of the efforts invested. The indicators are as follows: from an area of ​​0.82 hectares of corn of the Mashuk 355 MV variety, 3370 kg were threshed, humidity 14.1%. Grade K-350: threshed 3800 kg, humidity 13.9%. Variety Mashuk 300: threshed 2900 kg, humidity 13.2%. Variety Mashuk 360 MV: threshed 2350 kg, humidity 12.1%.

Thus, the highest yield of 46.14 c/ha in terms of a basic moisture content of 14% was shown by corn K-350, the second position is occupied by the corn variety Mashuk 355 MV with a yield of 40.84 c/ha, and the third leader is the variety Mashuk 300 s yield 35.45 c/ha.

As the acting HEAD of the Stavropol branch of the Russian Agricultural Center noted, in light of the government’s task of import substitution in the field of seed production, the importance of demonstration crops is extremely high.

“For the development of domestic selection, we need not isolated, but mass experiments in growing strategically important agricultural crops,” Olga Kuznetsova emphasized. “And here I would like to thank the farm managers who are pioneers in the tests. In previous years, Stavropol farmers preferred foreign varieties and hybrids of corn, but if sanctions pressure increases and Russian borders are closed to the import of seeds, our agricultural producers will not know which domestic analogues have performed best. That is why today such great importance is attached to demonstration crops, which will allow, without a long transition period and economic damage, to reorient towards self-sufficiency in the seeds of corn and other crops grown in the region.

Source: Branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "ROSSELKHOZTSENTR" in the Stavropol Territory