Efficiency of application of mineral fertilizers and bacterial preparations on winter barley in the conditions of the Lower Don

Field experiments on ordinary black soil were conducted in 2018-2021 in the Rostov region. The object of research was a variety of winter barley Master. The predecessor is corn for grain. Bacte-rial preparations developed at the All-Russian Institute of Agricultural Microbiology (VNIISHM) in St. Petersburg contain strains of associative microorganisms-nitrogen fixators: Mizorin, Ri-zoagrin, Extrasol. They were applied to barley seeds in the pre-sowing period. It was found that the use of Mizorin (600 g /ha) for seed treatment before sowing against the background of a near-sowing application of nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizer in the form of a mixture of ammophos and ammonium nitrate at a dose of N30P30, nitrogen fertilization by a scattered surface method with ammonium nitrate at a dose of 30 kg/ ha of the active substance increased the increase in grain yield on average for 3 years compared with the control variant by 0.71 t/ ha or by 14.4%. The use of the biological preparation Mizorin without mineral fertilizers against the background of natural soil fertility increased the yield compared to the control variant by 0.31 t /ha or by 6.3%. On av-erage, in 2019-2021, the protein content in winter barley grain in the control variant was 10.7%, which provided a protein harvest equal to 528 kg/ha. Against the background of nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers at a dose of N30P30 and nitrogen fertilizing at a dose of 30 kg / ha, the max-imum increase in protein content was obtained in the variant with the use of Mizorin, which compared to the control variant was 1.1%, while the protein harvest increased by 138 kg/ha or 26.1%. Keywords: WINTER BARLEY, ORDINARY BLACK SOIL, BACTERIAL PREPARATIONS, MINERAL FERTILIZERS

Detecting Phenological Development of Winter Wheat and Winter Barley Using Time Series of Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2

Monitoring the phenological development of agricultural plants is of high importance for farmers to adapt their management strategies and estimate yields. The aim of this study is to analyze the sensitivity of remote sensing features to phenological development of winter wheat and winter barley and to test their transferability in two test sites in Northeast Germany and in two years. Local minima, local maxima and breakpoints of smoothed time series of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data of the Sentinel-1 VH (vertical-horizontal) and VV (vertical-vertical) intensities and their ratio VH/VV; of the polarimetric features entropy, anisotropy and alpha derived from polarimetric decomposition; as well as of the vegetation index NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) calculated using optical data of Sentinel-2 are compared with entry dates of phenological stages. The beginning of stem elongation produces a breakpoint in the time series of most parameters for wheat and barley. Furthermore, the beginning of heading could be detected by all parameters, whereas particularly a local minimum of VH and VV backscatter is observed less then 5 days before the entry date. The medium milk stage can not be detected reliably, whereas the hard dough stage of barley takes place approximately 6–8 days around a local maximum of VH backscatter in 2018. Harvest is detected for barley using the fourth breakpoint of most parameters. The study shows that backscatter and polarimetric parameters as well as the NDVI are sensitive to specific phenological developments. The transferability of the approach is demonstrated, whereas differences between test sites and years are mainly caused by meteorological differences.

Targeted Knockout of Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 4E Confers Bymovirus Resistance in Winter Barley

The Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 4E (EIF4E) is a well-known susceptibility factor for potyvirus infections in many plant species. The barley yellow mosaic virus disease, caused by the bymoviruses Barley yellow mosaic virus (BaYMV) and Barley mild mosaic virus (BaMMV), can lead to yield losses of up to 50% in winter barley. In autumn, the roots of young barley plants are infected by the soil-borne plasmodiophoraceous parasite Polymyxa graminis L. that serves as viral vector. Upon viral establishment and systemic spreading into the upper parts of the plants, yellow mosaics occur as first symptoms on leaves. In the further course of plant development, the disease entails leaf necrosis and increased susceptibility to frost damage. Thanks to the rym4 and rym5 allelic variants of the HvEIF4E gene, more than two thirds of current European winter barley cultivars are resistant to BaYMV and BaMMV. However, several strains of BaYMV and BaMMV have already overcome rym4- and rym5-mediated resistance. Accordingly, new resistance-conferring alleles are needed for barley breeding. Therefore, we performed targeted mutagenesis of the EIF4E gene by Cas9 endonuclease in BaMMV/BaYMV-susceptible winter barley cv. “Igri”. Small insertions were generated, resulting in a shift of the translational reading frame, thereby causing the loss-of-function of EIF4E. The mutations occurred in the homozygous state already in the primary mutants. Their progeny proved invariably homozygous and fully resistant to mechanical inoculation with BaMMV. EIF4E knockout plants showed normal growth habit and produced grains, yet exhibited a yield penalty.

Effect of Restorative Measures of Fertility on Eroded Soils of Mountain Shirvan on the Winter Barley Performance

Due to the complexity of the relief of Mountain Shirvan, the dominant gray-brown soils, subject to varying degrees of erosion, have lost their fertility. To restore and maintain of these soil fertility, vermicompost and inorganic fertilizers were introduced under winter barley in various versions. It was revealed that the highest crop yield falls on the option of 6 tons of vermicompost per hectare. In this variant, the length of the ear of barley was 11.2 cm, the number of grains was 33, the weight of grains from 1 m2 was 183.6 g and the weight of 1000 grains was 44.7 g. 10–15% with the option of inorganic fertilizers. In this connection, the widespread use of vermicompost is considered expedient both from an economic and an ecological point of view.

Estimation of immunity of the winter grain varieties sown in the south of Russia to the pink snow mold pathogen (Microdochium nivale)

The purpose of the current study was to estimate immunity of the winter grain varieties sown in the south of Russia to the pink snow mold pathogen (Microdochium nivale (Fr.) Samuels & I.C. Hallett) in the sprouting phase. For resistance to M. nivale there have been studied 35 winter wheat varieties sown in the south of the Russian Federation, 19 winter barley varieties and 4 variety samples and 13 winter triticale varieties developed in the LLC “Agrostandart”, FSBSI RCG named after P.P. Lukyanenko, FSBSI FRC Kabardino-Balkarian Research Center of the RAS, FSBSI “ARC Donskoy”, FSBSI “North Caucasian FRSC”, FSBSI “FRAC”, NPO “KUBANZERNO”, FSBEI HE “KubSAU”. There has been substantiated a methodological approach to conducting research on immunological estimation of winter grain varieties in the laboratory conditions. The optimal temperature for the cultivation of the pathogen was +10/+15 °C (with a photoperiod of 12 hours). There was found that the required temperature to stimulate sporulation was +5 °C. The optimum temperature for the incubation period was +5 °C at 85% humidity. There has been established that the only winter wheat variety ‘Dolya’ had a very high resistance degree to pink snow mold; the varieties ‘Antonina’ and ‘Brigada’ had a high resistance degree; 21 varieties were classified as resistant. M. nivale resistance was demonstrated by 9 winter barley varieties and 3 variety samples (‘Versal’, ‘Iosif’, ‘KA-12’, ‘KA-5/KA-3’, ‘KA-5/KA-1’, ‘Karrera’, ‘Kondrat’, ‘Kubagro-1’, ‘Lazar’, ‘Master’, ‘Romans’, ‘Sarmat’). Among the studied winter triticale varieties, 4 varieties had a very high resistance degree (‘Argus’, ‘Slon’, ‘Tikhon’, ‘Ullubiy’) and 9 varieties had a high resistance degree to pink snow mold pathogen (‘Aznavur’, ‘Argo’, ‘Arioso’, ‘Valentin 90’, ‘Iliya’, ‘Sotnik’,’ Styuard’, ‘Forte’, ‘Khleborob’).