Vol 17, No 4 (2022)

One of ways to increase resistance of agricultural plants to abiotic stresses is the use of biofertilizers with anti-stress and growth-regulating properties. They improve absorption of nitrogen and phosphorus from organic fertilizers and soil. The purpose of the research was to study sowing qualities of seeds, morphological indicators of spring barley seedlings after presowing seed treatment with biofertilizers under conditions of sufficient humidification and osmotic stress. The laboratory experiment was carried out to study the effect of biofertilizers on seedlings of spring barley ( Hordeum vulgare L.) cv. Gubernatorsky under conditions of sufficient and insufficient humidification. The barley seeds were treated once according to the following scheme: 1. control (distilled water) 10 L/t; 2. Gumi 20 M potash (0.4 L/t); 3. Borogum-M complex (0.2 L/t); 4. PEG 6000 (100 g/L); 5. Gumi 20 M (0.4 L/t) + PEG 6000 (100 g/L); 6. Borogum-M complex (0.2 L/t) + PEG 6000 (100 g/L). Treatment of spring barley seeds with biofertilizers increased the germination rate and germination capacity by 3…5 and 2 %, respectively. When modeling drought using PEG-6000, the sowing qualities of seeds decreased by 4 %. Under conditions of sufficient humidification, the studied biofertilizers had a complex positive effect on shoot and root weight of barley seedlings. In addition, the average length of roots, shoots and the total root length increased. The number of roots did not change significantly. Lack of moisture decreased the effectiveness of Borogum-M complex biofertilizer, while Gumi 20 M potassium biofertilizer had a positive effect on the parameters of barley seedlings under water stress conditions.

Southern assortment of cherries does not quite meet the modern requirements of production. Many varieties are low-productive, not resistant to cherry leaf spot ( Coccomyces hiemalis ) and moniliosis ( Monilia cinerea ), small-fruited, with low taste qualities. However, new varieties have been created that have not been studied by the complex of consumer and commodity qualities of fruits. Thus, evaluation of new varieties for these traits is relevant. The aim of the research was to evaluate cherry varieties of different origin for commodity, biochemical, and consumer qualities of fruits. The research was carried out in the Kuban horticultural zone of the Krasnodar territory. Objects of the research were 9 varieties of sour cherry trees. Field and laboratory studies were conducted according to ‘Program and methodology of varietal study of fruit, berry and nut crops’ (1999), ‘Methodological instructions on chemical and technological variety testing of vegetable, fruit and berry crops for canning industry’ (1993). Statistical analysis was carried out according to B.A. Dospekhov (2014) and G.F. Lakin (1990). It was found that the average fruit weight of cherry varieties varied not significantly - from 2.72 to 6.45 g, which was confirmed by the coefficient of variation (23.3 %). Indicators of maximum and minimum fruit weight varied significantly in varieties, coefficients of variation were 27.2 and 29.7 %, respectively. The following cherry varieties with large fruits were identified: Timati, Igrushka, Duk Ivanovna, Duk Khodosa, Prizvaniya and Svetlaya. were distinguished. Cherry varieties with high sugar content in fruits were as follows: Feyа, Dzhusi Frut and Igrushka. Feyа, Duk Khodosa, Prizvanie, Svetlaya and Dzhusi Frut had fruits with low acidity; Feyа, Dzhusi Frut and Igrushka fruits were characterized by high content of soluble solids in fruits. Feyа, Igrushka and Duk Khodosa fruits had the highest content of vitamin C; Igrushka, Duk Khodosa, Prizvanie, Svetlaya and Dzhusi Frut were rich in Vitamin P; Duk Khodosa, Prizvanie, Dzhusi Frut and Duk Ivanovna had the largest anthocyanin content. Therefore, Igrushka and Duk Khodosa cherry varieties are recommended for growing in the southern Russia and breeding for improvement of fruit quality.

The aim of the study was to determine effectiveness of the use of microbiological agents in spring barley cultivation. The experiments were conducted in the conditions of light chestnut soils in the north of the Astrakhan region, Chernoyarsky district, Solenoe Zaymishche village in 2018-2020. The use of this cultural method contributed to two-fold increase in the productivity of spring barley (3.5 t/ha), compared with the control (without any seed treatment - 1 .4 t/ha). The pre-sowing inoculation of seeds increased field germination and number of mature plants: by 75 and 26.8 % for Mizorin, 79 and 40.9 % for BisolbiFit, 78 and 37.6 % for Rizoagrin, respectively, in comparison with the control. Application of these microbiological agents in spring barley cultivation can be recommended to both small and large farms, which will help to rise the agriculture of the region to a high level of production of spring barley.

Low and unstable yields of the main oilseed crops do not create interest for their large-scale cultivation in conditions of the Northern Caspian - A strakhan region. For this reason, gross harvest of oilseeds is reducing significantly creating a vegetable oil shortage. Currently, safflower cultivation is relevant due to high drought resistance and quality indicators of safflower oil. 24 collection samples of safflower were studied on light chestnut soils of the Lower Volga region in 2019-2021. The experiments on safflower cultivars from seed collection of Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry were carried out at the experimental site of Precaspian Agrarian Federal Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Influence of the main abiotic and biotic environmental factors on morpho-biological and economic characteristics of safflower was determined. Based on the results obtained, the following promising samples having breeding value as a starting material for creation of new cultivars were identified: Gila, Shahalli-260, Tsambuli, Shirkas, Talan, Centr 70, Moldir, Nurlan, Aleksandrit, Shifo, Sinaloa-90. Productivity and oil content of the selected cultivars exceeded the indicators of cv. Astrakhan 747 (standard) by 0.43…1.06 t/ha and 1.75…3.02 %, respectively.

The causative agents of grain crops bacteriosis viz. Pseudomonas fuscovaginae , Pseudomonas syringae and Xanthomonas translucens are regulated by phytosanitary requirements of the largest importers of Russian grain - Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Pakistan. Therefore, it requires the development of rapid methods for their diagnosis. The PCR method, which is the fastest and most reliable in testing laboratories, needs optimal preparation of the test material. The aim of the study was to optimize the process of preparing seed samples for subsequent detection and identification of P. fuscovaginae, P. syringae and X. translucens by PCR. Wheat grain samples were soaked in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) for 2 hours and infected with suspensions of P. fuscovaginae, P. syringae pv. coronafaciens and X. translucens at various concentrations. Then, the infected grain samples were crushed and subjected to two-stage centrifugation. DNA was isolated from the obtained analytical samples and species-specific PCR was performed for each bacterial species. It was found that a two-hour soaking of the seeds and their treatment with a homogenizer is sufficient to effectively destroy each grain in the sample and ensure the release of bacteria into the liquid part of the sample. The first low-speed centrifugation allowed the crushed grain to settle efficiently and remove excess starch from the supernatant. High-speed centrifugation of the supernatant made it possible to obtain a concentrated microbiota contained in the grain sample. To obtain DNA of sufficient quality for PCR test, the kit ‘Proba-GS’ (AgroDiagnostika, Russia) was used for DNA extraction. Using ‘Pseudomonas fuscovaginae-RT’ kit (Syntol, Russia) and PsyF/PsyR and 4F1/4R 1 primers, DNA of P. fuscovaginae P. syringae and X. translucens , respectively, was successfully detected in each of the samples infected with these bacteria at concentrations of 103 CFU/ml. The absence of PCR inhibition was noted. The method of removing starch from samples for molecular diagnostics of phytopathogens was used for the first time. Application of these methods will allow diagnosing pathogens of bacterioses within one day.

Due to violation of husbandry, feeding, milking, non-observance of sanitary requirements, especially in postpartum period, cases of endometritis, mastitis and limb diseases in cows increase in conditions of intensive cattle breeding. These diseases adversely affect reproductive and productive qualities of animals, thus causing great financial losses to agribusiness. Therefore, increasing longevity of animals, reducing percentage of their elimination due to various diseases, reducing risk of economically significant diseases in dairy herds by selecting highly productive animals with high resistance to common diseases are relevant. The aim of the research was to study phenotypic relationship between fertility level and milk production of black-motley Holsteinized cows with different diseases at the farm in Moscow region. The research materials were 1234 records of diseases - endometritis, mastitis and limb diseases - obtained from veterinary outpatient logs (2015-2021) of the breeding organization. Information about 5 signs of milk productivity and 3 signs of fertility of the studied population of black-motley Holsteinized dairy cattle was taken from ‘Seleks’ database. According to the results, significant (p < 0.01) increase was observed in sick animals in comparison with healthy ones: number of inseminations per lactation - b y 33.5 %, open days - b y 7.3 %, milk days - b y 4.35 %. Milk yield was higher by 19.4 % (p < 0.01), fat and protein mass fraction - by 0.32 and 0.33 % (p < 0.01), respectively, fat and protein yield - b y 82 and 69 kg (p < 0.01), respectively, compared to healthy animals. When comparing the indices in animals with one, two and three diseases, significant differences were obtained both between the groups with single diseases and complexes. For fertility traits, the indices increased significantly with the number of diseases from 4 to 20 % for individual traits. For milk production traits, there was a tendency for indices to decrease with increasing number of diseases.

The search for new markers of high productivity of sheep and the introduction of evaluation and selection methods for these indicators is an urgent direction in breeding of Russian sheep. The material for the research was the results of assessment of exterior, live weight of Romanov sheep. Genetic studies were carried out using tissue samples (ear plucking). Polymorphism of growth hormone gene in Romanov sheep was evaluated by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and polymerase chain reaction. Evaluation of polymorphism of growth hormone gene in the population of Romanov sheep showed the presence of three allelic variants - AA, AB and BB, with a frequency of 0.24, 0.63 and 0.14, respectively. The statistically significant difference between the indicators of live weight in animals with genotypes GHAB and GHAA, GHAB and GHBB was: at birth 210 g and 140 g (P ≥ 0.95), respectively; at weaning 350 g and 1260 g (P ≥ 0.95), respectively. The phenotypic variability of live weight was the highest at birth and at weaning and amounted to 31.7…32.5 % for all genotypes. Animals with genotypes GHAA and GHAB outperformed their peers with genotype GHBB in dimensions of rump width in tuber coxae, rump width in tuber trochanterica, chest width, chest circumference, and therefore, had a wide body. When studying the phenotypic and genetic correlations of measurements of exterior and live weight at the age of 12 months, a reliable positive relationship was established with height at withers height (rP = +0.13*; rG = +0.02), rump height (rP = +0.14**; rG = +0.03), rump length (rP = +0.14**; rG = +0.02). The new knowledge gained about polymorphism of GH gene and its relationship with productive traits of Romanov sheep will allow for in-depth evaluation, targeted selection and selection of individuals with desirable genotypes.

The study presents an assessment of variability of histological structure, measurement, and comparison of size of the neoplasm obtained by ultrasonographic examination and pathological examination, as well as the morphometric dimensions of nuclei and cytoplasm of testicular interstitial cell tumors in dogs. The study involved 35 dogs with neoplasms of 46 testes, where 11 animals had interstitial cell tumors in both testes. Insignificant differences of the size of these neoplasms were revealed (p > 0.05) using ultrasonography and pathoanatomical measurement methods. Hence, it allows using both methods to assess the size of interstitial cell tumors. In the study, interstitial cell tumor was detected in both testes at once in 50 % of cases in dogs, however, this might be due to specific characteristics of the sample, and further research is required. In the course of scientific work, a morphological study showed the presence of variability in histological structure of interstitial cell tumors, which can lead to incorrect interpretation of the morphological picture and misdiagnosis, e. g. «adipocyte-like» morphology of interstitial cell tumors have morphological similarity to a benign neoplasm from adipose tissue - lipoma. In addition, there was an extremely pronounced difference in size of cytoplasm (from 23.6 to 148.4 µm; average 66.21 ± 22.42 µm) and nuclei (from 9 to 57.6 µm; average 23.19 ± 7.10 µm) in tumor cells. It proves the presence of pronounced anisocytosis and anisokariosis, which should indicate malignancy of the neoplasm, however, testicular interstitial cell tumors extremely rarely metastasize in practice and according to numerous studies.

Mycotoxins can accumulate in raw materials of plant origin at different technological stages of its production. Most often, the producers of mycotoxins are fungi of the genera Aspergillus , Fusarium , Penicillium and some others. The clinical symptoms of mycotoxicoses vary significantly, and lethal outcomes are possible. For this reason, the mycotoxicological study of various types of feed under production conditions is an indispensable component of veterinary support of industrial animal husbandry. As part of this study, a retrospective analysis of the results of a mycotoxicological study of feed for different animal species was carried out in the Omsk region in 2017-2021. All feeds received by the Omsk Regional Veterinary Laboratory for 5 years for the determination of mycotoxins were examined for the presence of ochratoxin A, zearalenone, T-2 toxin, aflatoxin B 1, deoxynivalenol. It was established that almost 70 % of the studied samples contained mycotoxins, including their maximum allowable level was exceeded in 74 samples. Exceeding the permissible levels was noted for the content of T-2 toxin (34 samples), zearalenone (27 samples), ochratoxin A (6 samples), aflatoxin B 1 (4 samples) and deoxynivalenol (3 samples). The largest number of cases of contamination was recorded in the study of feed and feed mixtures. The greatest danger is the multiple contamination of feed with mycotoxins. This increases the risk of developing comorbid conditions and the spread of opportunistic infections.