The Michurinets agricultural enterprise is conducting an experiment on cluster potato cultivation. This technology makes it possible to obtain fifty tubers of seed potatoes from one plant for a limited period.
“We take a plant grown under sterile conditions in a test tube, cut it, that is, divide it into five parts on average and plant it in cassettes with prepared peat,” says agronomist Alexander Murzin. – This is necessary for the plant to adapt to the extreme growing conditions for it in the field, to be able to survive. Prior to that, it did not experience temperature changes, the effects of wind. When the plant gets stronger, we transplant it in the greenhouse into special buckets to get seed potato tubers, or we plant seedlings like cabbage in the field using a special planting machine.”
Agrarians believe that the technology of cassette cultivation is becoming especially relevant in the context of import substitution, because it allows you to increase the amount of planting material in a short time. As part of the experiment, they work with potatoes of the Siberian varieties “Zlatka” and “Sokur”.
“Both varieties give a high yield,” says Pavel Potapov, executive director of the agricultural technology firm Agros. – From one bush you can collect about 30 tubers, which will be well stored and in taste will not yield to the advertised foreign varieties. Breeders from SibNIIRS took into account another important feature when they created this potato – the plants are resistant to diseases and the Colorado potato beetle does not like them.
The regional Ministry of Agriculture announced support for enterprises that develop Siberian seed production and apply innovative technologies for growing potatoes.
“Miuchrinets” and “Agros” use advanced technologies: what concerns potatoes, this is not only in our region, it is not in Russia, – says the Minister of Agriculture of the Novosibirsk Region Evgeny Leshchenko. – Cassette propagation of potatoes is an innovation. We will certainly help to produce such planting material in large volumes so that our enterprises and gardeners can plant the best planting material.”
