DLG-Feldtage competition in Germany: successful debut of NUBiP scientists
The traditional international competition of winter wheat growing technologies is held during DLG-Feldtage exhibition in Germany since 1988. In 2018, Ukrainian agronomists made a successful debut and competed with participants from Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Denmark, and Sweden.
During the competition, each participant tests himself/herself as a farmer: he/she chooses a variety or hybrid and offers the complex of agrotechnical works. The jury evaluates the gross yield and the quality of the grain, and, most importantly, makes an economic assessment of the result of the technology as it would have been calculated by a usual local farmer, that is, the income received at local purchasing prices excluding actual direct costs.
In the field conditions of Sachsen-Anhalt land in East Germany, Head of the Department of Horticulture, Svitlana Kalenska, tested the technology with Svitanok Myronivskyy domestic breed, as well as the additional variant with reduced sowing density. By yield and economic results, the main option from Ukraine was among top three leaders, collecting 6.61 t/ha and ‘earning’ 722.20 euros/hectare. The winner of the competition was Institut für Bodenkultur und Pflanzenbau (Germany) with the rates of 7.24 t/ha and 817.74 euros/hectare respectively. Svitlana Kalenska showed the highest result among all participants on the aggregate income level for both Ukrainian technologies!
One of organizers, Reinhard Rossberg, DLG e.V. (German Agricultural Society) commented,
'In the conditions of extreme drought in 2018, it became clear that the key to economic success is to understand the peculiarities of the area and respond quickly to changes in weather conditions. Given the economic outcome, participants from Eastern Europe showed themselves better than in previous years. We can learn a lot from our counterparts to be prepared for climate change.
The Department of Horticulture has been cooperating with DLG since the beginning of its representation in Ukraine, presenting collections of crops during DLG-Feldtage International Field Days in Ukraine exhibitions. Thanks to this collaboration, organizers of DLG-Feldtage invited the Department to participate in the contest of winter wheat growing technologies during DLG-Feldtage in Germany.’
Svitlana Kalenska, answering the question how she managed to show such wonderful results at her first attempt, replied,
‘The reason is my long-term experience with winter crops. The main field of my research is devoted to the biology and technology of growing winter cereals. The competition, on the one hand, was very well organized. All communication was on-line. But on the other hand, it was quite difficult to adjust the need for pesticides and fertilizers only on the basis of data (weather conditions, moisture content, state of plants) sent from Germany, without my own ‘sense’ of the field. The research we carry out at NUBiP is now focused on the possibility of preventing stress in plants, and, if necessary, reducing its effects in order to maximize the biological potential of the crop variety. Weather conditions of 2017/2018 in the growing season were extra unconventional, with constant stress for plants. Therefore, increasing wheat resistance to stress due to nutrition and protection was quite effective. A significant role was also played by the crop variety: we chose the early ripening variety, which was quite successful this year.’
‘The main benefit of such competitions is, of course, professional communication and information exchange with colleagues from various countries of Europe. We also paid great attention to assessing the cultivation technology from the standpoint of the producer’, Svitlana Kalenska noted.
Oksana Tonkha,
Dean of Agrobiological Faculty
