Technical Equipment of Corn Breeding and Seed Production

The development of the subprogram “Maize Breeding and Seed Production Development” within the framework of the Federal Scientific and Technical Program for the Development of Agriculture for 2017–2025 determines the necessity for intensive technical equipping of the industry with specialized domestic breeding equipment.(Research purpose) To analyze the technical level of devices for the work mechanization in maize selection, variety testing and primary seed production, to identify the main directions of agricultural machinery development.(Materials and methods) The authors studied materials published in periodicals, statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia and the Federal State Statistics Service, information materials of Russian and foreign companies, the regulatory framework. They used methods of complex structural-dynamic analysis and an expert-analytical method of processing information.(Results and discussion) The authors established the presence of domestic selection and seed production import dependence on foreign equipment supplies: with equipping of breeding institutions with mechanization facilities about 50 percent the foreign machinery and equipment share reached 70 percent. They identified the main problems in the corn selection and seed production mechanization. The first problem was the lack of domestic seeders for sowing at the first stage of selection, having the following parameters: traction class – 0.2; row spacing – up to 0.7 meters, the sowing sections number – 1 and 2; the distance between the coulters is 0.7 meters. The second problem was the domestic seeders for sowing shortage at the second stage of selection with the required parameters: traction class – 0.6; 1.4; 2.0; row spacing – 0.7 meters; the sowing sections number – 4 and 6; distance between extreme openers – 2.1; 3.5 meters. The third problem was the lack of domestic harvesting equipment that met the requirements: row spacing – 0.7 meters; working width – 1.4 and 2.8 meters; width – 1.8 or 3.2 meters; turning radius – 7.5 meters.(Conclusions) The technical level of devices for the work mechanization in selection, variety testing and maize primary seed production didn’t meet the parameters of an integrated approach in the justification and specialized equipment development. The authors noted the necesity to develop the following domestic technical means: sowing machines for sowing nurseries of the first stage; markers; small-sized sprayers; two-row mover-shredder of corn male parent plants.