Visit to maize fields

The purpose of the visit was
to provide advice and on-site monitoring of
maize hybridisation.
Recently, maize has been gaining
popularity, with its production area
expanding further north and east due
to the development of new genetics. Thus,
Russian farmers face a very important,
yet a difficult choice: which plant
breeding material to opt for — Russian
or European? According to farmers, the
bottom line is good quality and high yield.
‘We are in a partnership with Austrian
company RWA for F1 maize hybrid
production for the Russian market’, says
Yuriy Vasyukov, Executive Director of
Zashchitnoye.

‘The hybridisation takes
place in Russia, which is of particular
significance in the context of import
replacement policy. Then, the quality of
the seeds is controlled in Austria, which
also speaks in favour of the product.’

Grizzly maize hybrid, in particular,
has high cold hardiness which allows
growing the crop in the regions
previously considered unsuitable for
maize production.
‘We have been growing the innovative
Grizzly maize hybrid since 2016’, says
Andrey Zvyagin, Head of Plant Breeding
and Early-Generation Seed Production
Department of Zashchitnoye. ‘Having
started from a pilot plot of 1.5 ha, we have
gradually expanded to the current 120 ha.
This year’s result looks promising.’
Zashchitnoye is fully equipped with stateof-
the-art tools required for both field
works and post-harvest conditioning of
hybrid maize seeds. On behalf of RWA,
Michael Papadi advised the agronomists
on the hybridisation technique. According
to Mr. Papadi, the F1 hybrid looked
particularly good in Kursk fields.
During the stay, the Austrian expert also
visited the trial plot in Zashchitnoye,
where other hybrids from RWA were
undergoing trials. The hybrids with the
best performance will take their rightful
place in the innovative line-up.

By Tatyana IGNATENKO
Source: EkoNiva News No 61
Translation of the Russian article