Purpose. To analyze peculiarities of Ukrainian cereals and oilseeds trade, the situation on the world market, and determine future prospects of its development. Methods. Analysis and synthesis, comparative evaluation, graphic procedure. Results. The role and place of Ukraine in a total grain supply to the world market was determined. Ukraine is a world’s top ten grain producer. Among domestic agricultural products, cereals, oilseeds and sunflower oil are in the highest demand in the world. In recent years, our state has reinforced its status as one of the leading exporters of cereals. The commodity pattern of cereals and oilseeds export was analyzed with specifying most in-demand positions and the main countries purchasing these pro­ducts. According to the results of 2015, Ukraine obtained the highest foreign currency revenue from export of corn, wheat and barley (in grain structure) including soybeans and rapeseed (among oil crops). Key domestic and multinational operators are the main exporters of cereals and oilseeds in Ukraine and still hold their leading position. It was found a significant excess of import price of seeds as compared with export price of crops grown in Ukraine. Assortment of maize and sunflower seeds offered by major companies-producers in Ukraine was studied. Main trends of the world grain market development are considered. Conclusions. It was established that Ukraine is one of the major exporters of cereals and oilseeds. However, volatility of their prices significantly affects the export revenue that was decreasing even with increasing export quantities in kind. The dependence of domestic grain industry development on high-quality imported seed of maize and sunflower hybrids was recorded. It is expected that in the years to come Ukraine will maintain its strong positions in the world’s grain market.

Purpose. Analysis of hexaploid triticale breeding process for drought resistance through the use of systemic ecological tests in contrasting conditions. Methods. Dialectical, field, laboratory and statistical ones. Results. Medium-grown (‘Amos’, ‘Nikanor’, ‘Rarytet’, ‘Yaroslava’) and low-stem (‘HAD 69’, ‘HAD 86’, ‘HAD 110’, ‘Timofei’) multiline varieties of winter and alternate hexaploid triticale were developed with higher adaptability, potential yield of 9–12 tons per ha and high bread-making properties. Among the most drought resistant genotypes, such varieties as ‘Amos’, ‘Buket’, ‘Harne’, ‘Markiian’, ‘Kharroza’, ‘Shalanda’, ‘Nicanor’ and ‘Yaroslava’ showed high values of yield, plasticity and stability. Conclusions. The use of interspecific hybridization instead of intergeneric one in hexaploid triticale breeding, together with systemic testing of the hybrid material in contrasting agro-ecological zones, ensured the creation of multiline competitive varieties with an optimal combination of yield and adaptive properties

Purpose. Determination of the possibility to diffe­rentia­te triticale samples by starch grain size and identify samples with a minimum size of granules that have a significant positive correlation with the efficiency of the starch transformation into ethanol. Methods. Light mic­roscopy of grinded triticale grains. Results. Analysis of the starch granule size in triticale samples was performed. The minimum average granule size was observed in line Kc-270/14 (23.78 µm), maximum one – in line KR-110/14 (28.06 µm). The size of starch granules in a soft winter wheat variety ‘Tsvit Kalyny’ was 24.2 µm that was within the values typical for winter triticale varieties and lines. The size of the majority of granules ranged from 15 to 35 µm, but their distribution was uneven in the studied lines. Conclusions. Considerable polymorphism of winter triticale for the starch granule size was established. It was found that the minimum average size of starch granules was observed in the samples characterized by minimum maximum size of granules, low frequency of granules of more than 35 µm, and therefore, minimum dispersion. Based on this, assumption can be made about the possibility to evaluate a sample for the presence of granules larger than 35 µm that can significantly reduce the number of measurements and speed up analysis.