Yurii Andrusyk, associate professor «The scientists of the department of horticulture of our university have selected more than 80 varieties of horticulture crops»
Do you know that the jam you buy in a supermarket might be prepared from the fruit which was selected in NUBIP of Ukraine? It is true because scientists of the department of horticulture named after V. L. Symyrenko have selected great many horticulture crops not only for private farming but for horticulture industry of our country. It is hard to calculate the area but it is enormous. We are talking to Yurii Andrusyk, associate professor about their achievements.
– What are you achievements and why are they unique?
– We began to develop selection at our department after Petro Zaharovych Sherenhovyi had come to our department. He has devoted his life to selection. His favourite berry was black currant. He created nearly 40 varieties of this berry. They are unique as they have a delicious taste, high yield and disease resistance, particularly canker. All this due to the fact that Petro Zaharovych was not only a gardener but a plant pathologist. Many of the varieties which he selected are registered such as «Universytetska», «Dochka Vorskly» etc. These are used in currant industry of Ukraine. Other varieties such as «Aspirantska» are rather sweet. The professor supervised the selection of golden currant. This currant has a number of advantages such as big berries land and air dryness resistance. These berries have a different taste and flowers are very bright and attractive, the leaves in autumn becomes yellow, orange and red. The leaves are also used to decorate some things. There are six varieties of red and white currant, there are varieties of strawberry and gooseberry. I took part in selecting raspberry. We selected the first in Ukraine tree-shaped varieties of raspberry, they are spineless («Blahorodna», «Kozachka») and remontant ones («Kosmichna», «Osinnia»). By the way, our department have selected first regional varieties of blackberry in Ukraine such as «Nasoloda» and «Sadove chudo». They are both spineless, as a forest blackberry has many thorns. Overall my colleagues have selected more than 80 varieties of horticulture crops.
– How do you promote your developments?
– We sign commercial contracts. First of all the producer needs these as they want to have a document which confirms the quality and the source of young plants.We have been the only suppliers of them until now. Now there are alien varieties at our market nowadays. Therefore, we have a competition, but try to keep a loyal pricing policy. We try to meet the producers’ demands.
– How much time does it take you to provide young plants?
– It depends on the order. If we speak about an industrial order then we can use not only field reproduction but bio technological as well via in vitro. Using this method we can get young plants even in winter. And then we can grow them naturally, for example to adapt to greenhouse conditions. By the way, it improves the quality, resistance of young plants and enhances the harvest. And amateurs can get young plants at any time contacting our department or our university garden.
– Why do people prefer foreign varieties?
– We have analogues of some crops but it takes much time, effort and significant funding. For example, in Ukraine to create a variety can take up to 10-15 years (in the case of berries) and 30-40 years for apples and pears. The problem might be that we use traditional methods. And abroad they use gene modification to accelerate the selection process. Everything is commercialized there. However, imported varieties are often not adapted to the climatic conditions of our country.
– Are modern students interested in selection study?
– Unfortunately modern young people are only interested in those spheres of economy which bring high salary. Though we are doing our best to motivate our students by encouraging them to create a crop.
– What is the secret of a selection success?
– I do believe that selection should meet the needs of consumers.
Olha Nakonechna
