Crop production news

09.03.2020

THE NEW CHICKPEA GROWING PROTOCOL PROMISES TO REDUCE THE DEVELOPMENT TIME OF THE VARIETY FROM 12 TO 6 YEARS.

Selectionists with chickpea at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) have developed a breeding protocol that allows them to develop new sorts of chickpea more quickly. The Rapid Generation Advancement (RGA) protocol allows for the production of six to seven generations of chickpea per year under  climate controlled conditions. The protocol has been standardized through a series of experiments conducted over two years using six cultivars of chickpea - early, middle and late maturity.

"RGA can significantly reduce the number of years needed to achieve homozygosity and develop a variety or material for research purposes," said Dr. Poor Gaur, Director of ICRISAT's Asian Research Program.

The enlarged photoperiod (light) in the seedling stage causes early flowering within 20-25 days after sowing, against a normal flowering time of 40-50 days.

The duration of the sowing cycle is further reduced by active seed germination.

In the course of experiments, the team found that the average total number of generations produced per year during the experiments was 7, 6.2 and 6 in the genotypes of early, middle and late ripening, respectively. The results were described in a publication in The Crop Journal.

 

28.02.2020

RIVER GRAIN LOGISTICS SHOWED THE LARGEST INCREASE IN 2019

The largest increase in the volume of grain transportation in 2019 showed river transport of Ukraine.
 
This was reported by Pro-Consulting analyst Nelly Onishchenko, the press service writes.
 
Thus, at the end of last year 4.9 million tons of grain and grinding products were transported by rivers, which is 54% more than in 2018 and 2.5 times more than in 2016.
"Compared to other modes of transport, the advantage of river transport is that it allows transporting large volumes of goods. Thus, a barge with 900 tons of cargo capacity replaces 18 wagons or 45 20-ton trucks," said Nelly Onishchenko.
 
At the same time, she said, there are a number of problems that do not allow using the full potential of river transport:
  • imperfect and outdated public infrastructure;
  • lack of a modern cargo fleet;
  • imperfect legislation, which cannot provide clear regulation of the market;
  • uncompetitive working conditions compared to other modes of transport due to excessive tax burden.
  • According to the report, the transport of agricultural products in 2019 by road increased by 16.1% to 22.4 million tons.
"It should be added that the figure of 22.4 million tons reflects only the activities of legal entities. Then if we take into account the transportation of individuals, then according to Pro-Consulting estimates, the volume of 1.5-2 years. It is more and may be from 33 to 40 million tons," the analyst said.
 
According to her, in the structure of transportation, grain accounts for 78.4%. Other crops account for another 21.6%, of which 4% are fresh fruits and vegetables, about 2% - raw milk, 2.3% - sugar beet and another 3.3% - forest products.
 
"Taking into account the dynamics of previous years, and for the record cereal production in 2019, we can expect that in 2020. Road transportation will continue to grow", - summed up the representative of Pro-Consulting.