The experience of the northwestern dairy farming and grassland management research institute in breeding varieties of forage crops

Many years of research by the Institute’s staff on identifying and creating plant varieties that can be grown in the Vologda Oblast have revealed that varieties derived from local wild plants are more resistant to adverse weather conditions and diseases, and that they also increase the quality and quantity of products. Proceeding from this fact, local plants began to be cultivated to obtain good breeding material in order to obtain offspring with best qualities. In the course of breeding work, the strain of timothy grass from the Vologda Oblast was cultivated and included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements approved for use. Timothy grass Vologodsko-Dedinovskaya was bred by the method of mass selection from the local Vologda variety at the All-Russian Williams Fodder Research Institute. Through periodic free re-pollination of timothy grass Vologodskaya with other best varieties in the All-Russian Williams Fodder Research Institute, the variety Vik 9 was bred. We must not forget the merits of the scientific staff of the NWDFGMRI, who made a significant contribution to the development of feed production related to breeding issues: F.Ya. Fedotov, N.M. Fedotova, Z.I. Britvina, I.L. Bezgodova. N.M. Fedotova is author of the spring vetch “Smena”. F.Ya. Fedotov and N.M. Fedotova are authors of two varieties of peas: SZM and Fen. At the moment, the Northwestern Dairy Farming and Grassland Management Research Institute has bred six breeding varieties, three of them are preserved in the state register. A lot of work was carried out at the Institute to identify and preserve local varieties of forage crops. Local varieties are more adapted to adverse weather conditions and serve as breeding material for forage crops.