Increasing the competitiveness of the agro-industrial complex is inextricably linked with the development of science that ensures the development of innovative methods, the introduction of new knowledge and achievements of agricultural science in production. In order to provide scientific support to the vegetable-growing industry in 2017, the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution “Federal Scientific Vegetable Center” was founded. The main directions and tasks of the Center are presented in the article. Brief results of research work for the current year are given: 47 new varieties and hybrids have been created; more than 200 gene sources and 30 donors of especially valuable features were allocated, 28 patents for selection achievements, inventions and utility models were obtained. The publication activity of the center for 2017 is 159 publications in the RINC system, as well as 22 articles in the journals included in the Web of Science, Scopus and RSCI databases. Citation of FSBSI FSVC articles on the RINC database -1075.

Relevance. The article substantiates the need and expediency of taking into account elements of biologization and ecologization of individual elements of potato cultivation technology in the field experience of the Center for Precision Agriculture. Since the experiment was conducted in a large metropolis, an important component of the technological process is the use of mustard as an organic fertilizer for green manure, embedded under potatoes.Methodology. The research was conducted within the framework of grain-row crop rotation of the field experiment of the Center for Precision Agriculture of the Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy. The work presents data on the potato crop. Potatoes were grown using two technologies (traditional and precision), two soil treatments (moldboard and minimum) and two variants of fertilizers for the preceding winter wheat (without additional fertilizing and with two additional fertilizing during the growing season). The potato yield was determined by the direct combining method, mustard for green manure by weighing the above-ground mass from the accounting area, plant deviation on the ridge and area loss by the calculation method.Results. The best result in terms of potato yield was obtained in the case of its cultivation using precision technology with the use of a moldboard reversible plough, better quality of green manure mustard, with the use of two additional fertilizing during the vegetation period of the preceding winter wheat. The method of moving agricultural machinery on autopilot showed itself quite well both in conditions of minimum and moldboard tillage; the method of moving on a marker showed the worst result in the same conditions, leading to a loss of area on a 100-hectare field of almost 1 ha. In addition to reducing the efficiency of using the useful area of the fields, deviations during the passage of units using a marker led to a shift in rows relative to the ridges, which also significantly reduced the yield and marketability of potatoes.Conclusion. The highest potato yield was obtained with precision technology using moldboard tillage in the variant of double fertilization of preceding winter wheat. The same variants showed an excess of the aboveground mass of green manure mustard. The use of the autopilot showed high accuracy of plant placement in a row and reduced losses of useful area in variants with minimum and moldboard tillage.

Introduction. The relevance of the work is due to the need to find ways to preserve the nutrient composition of vitamins and other necessary raw materials to create finished food products that can diversify the diet of astronauts, taking into account their habitat.   Goal – Comparison of methods for dehydrating plant materials and creating finished food products with a certain degree of dehydration, recommended for feeding astronauts. These methods were used to produce so-called “frips” from fresh fruits and berries; this is a type of snack that is also widely used and developed in modern industry.   Objects and methods of research. The objects of the study were several types of fruits and berries of various varieties (minimum 2) during dehydration by several types of drying.   Results. Dehydration using the LTVD (low temperature vacuum drying) method makes it possible to obtain finished products with a given final moisture content, and the product can be made from multi-component raw materials. The duration of the dehydration process using the LTVD method compared to the VFD (vacuum freeze drying) method is reduced by approximately 10-20 % depending on the product, while due to the absence of preliminary freezing, the specific energy costs for drying a food object can presumably be reduced by 15-25 %. Quality indicators of the finished dry product The product dried using the presented methods is comparable, the content of vitamins and microelements is at almost the same level, therefore, when choosing the type of drying, we can recommend the LTVD method as less energy-consuming. The yield of marketable products in the production of frips ranges from 15.0 to 19.5 % by weight of the initial raw materials, which meets the requirements for economic efficiency of production.

The vegetable growing industry in Russia is the main component of crop production, the development of which determines the basis of life and food security. Being the most important and indispensable products of plant origin in the human diet, for a Russian, vegetables are in third place in importance after bread and potatoes. However, according to Rosstat, the level of selfsufficiency in vegetables and food melons in the country is 86,3%, which implies the need to increase their production. To improve the situation in the vegetable growing industry, an important place is given to the issues of improving selection and seed production, since the variety and high-quality seeds are the main elements of modern zonal crop cultivation technologies. At the Federal Scientific Center for Vegetable Growing, selection and seed production of vegetable crops is moving to an innovative development path, where, along with classical methods, modern methods are used: molecular marking according to the main economic characteristics, accelerated creation of homozygous lines using doubled haploid methods, plant immunity. In recent years, various methods of pre-sowing preparation of seeds have been developed to increase their viability and germination friendliness, to obtain even seedlings without harming the ecosystem. Based on the fundamental and priority applied research of previous years, in 2022, the creation of 17 varieties and hybrids of vegetable, melon and flower crops for all potential vegetable growing zones was completed. In order to provide the industry with pure-grade high-quality seed and increase the productivity of crops through the full use of the potential of the variety, the Federal Research Center for Vegetable Growing is constantly working in primary seed production. The developed zonal cultivation technologies will allow growing domestic products in various soil and climatic conditions of the country.

Stavropol region is well known zone of vegetable seed production from 70th years of last century. Development seed production of main vegetable crops is connected with using of new technologies. New technological methods and its influence on the seed yield formation and on the quality of carrot seeds have been investigated in this study. The objects of the study were seeds of carrot variety Marlinka and different technological methods, including in schemes of sowing. Methods and conditions of experiments have been written in details with scheme of experiment by the study influence of sowing schemes on the seed productivity of carrot plants variety Marlinka. Years of study (2015-2017) have been characterized as drought. Seedling capacity of seeds was very small (about of 30%). Sowing with seed drill Matermacc (by the scheme of sowing: 25+20x20x20x20x20+25 sm) ensured the seedling capacity needed for survive of plants after winter. Yield of seeds was in 4-6 time higher in variant with using seed drill Matermacc and scheme of sowing 25+20x20x20x20x20+25 sm, than in variants with traditional technologies. Mass of 1000 seeds was similar under different technologies and schemes of sowing. But seedling capacity was significantly decreased under traditional technologies and using seed drill SZ-5,4.

The characteristics of new vegetable crop, anguria (West Indian gherkin, Cucumis anguria L.) cv. “Dieticheskiy” is provided. This varieties is mid ripening crop (48-50 days from germination to harvest) with yield 7,15-8,24 kg/mІ. The fruits are transportable, the tasting score is 4,4-4,5 points, the fruit weight is 43-50 g, storability is 7-10 days. The productivity is 45-50 fruits per plant. The cv. “Dieticheskiy” is resistant to powdery mildew and root rot. It is recommended to grow in greenhouses.

Relevance. Onions in Russia in 2021: Cultivation area – 56.3 thousand hectares; Productivity – 28.6 t/ha; Production – 1608.6 thousand tons; Import from the volume of consumption – 10.7%. Modern varieties and hybrids and plant protection products make it possible to obtain high yields in the conditions of the Non-chernozem zone. The aim of the research is to optimize the parameters and terms of technological operations for the cultivation of onion in an annual crop on alluvial meadow soils of the Non-Chernozem Zone.Materials and methods. The nutrition system of onion plants was tested through distributed nitrogen application during the growing season: Option 1 – (N160P160K160) presowing – (Ca40N10 + K40N20 + K40N20) during the growing season; Option 2 – (N110P110K110) presowing + (Ca40N20 + K40N40 + K40N40) during the growing season. Experience in the use of the microbiological preparation Bisolbi-Plant (Bacillus pumilis) BIS88 together with the 1% humic preparation "Rostok" at a rate of one liter per hectare each to stimulate active growth.Results. At the end of the growing season in the second variant of the nitrogen experiment, the growing season was extended by 7-10 days. The excess yield under the second option for 2021-22 years of research amounted to more than 20.0 t/ha and is significant. The difference in the options for applying the Bisolbi-Plant preparation in 2.8 t/ha with HCP05 – 8.2 t/ha was not significant. The advantage of the variant with the biological preparation is higher plant density by 71.0 thousand units/ha and the absence of signs of bacteriosis. Thus, the distributed application of nitrogen (N110P110K110) presowing + (Ca40N20 + K40N40 + K40N40) during the growing season with irrigation water was significantly more effective than (N160P160K160) presowing + (Ca40N20 + K40N20 + K40N20) during the growing season. There was a tendency to increase the yield and quality of products with the double application of Bisolbi-Plant (BIS88) at a rate of (1.0 + 1.0) l/ha.

In conditions of maintenance of environment parameters for plant growth, the use of nutrient solutions prepared with non-deficient fertilizers is an effective method of reducing the cost of vegetable production. The article examines economic prospects of the use of technologies of small-volume (0,15 — 0,3 l./per plant) the intensity of light-culture of plants in nutrient solutions, prepared on the basis of industrially produced fertilizers ‘Rastvorin A’, ‘Akvarin’, ‘Agricola’ and ‘Kemira Lux’, which are recommended for leafy crops. ‘Knop’ solution as one of the most effective for intensive technologies of the light-culture of leafy crops was used as a control. The object of study was a lettuce, cultivar ‘Tayphun’ and parsley cultivar ‘Bogatyr’. Plants were grown under different levels of light irradiance. Light during the growing period for both species was for 12 hours, the temperature was maintained at 20-22C° in the day and 18-20C° at night, air humidity between 60-65%. The duration of the vegetation period is 25 days. As a result of the study, it was shown that the productivity of lettuce cultivar ‘Typhun’ and parsley cultivar ‘Bogatyr’ that were grown on nutrient solutions ‘Agricola’ and ‘Rastvorin’ was very high. The content of nitrates for all cases was not extended more than the MCL. The highest productivity in the range of irradiance between 60 and 40 watts has been observed in lettuce plants of cultivar ‘Typhoon’, grown under light-culture system with the use of nutrient solutions ‘Akvarin’ and ‘Agricola’. Thus, the study carried out has showed that nutrient solutions ‘Akvarin’, ‘Agricola’ and ‘Rastvorin’ can be recommended for cultivation of leafy crops under condition of changeable light irradiation.

The results of study of impact of the new cultivation technology on the growth and plant development, and potato yield in the mountain province. The advantages of the technology “Surface planting” and the factors increasing potato productivity are presented.