Russian Agriculture Ministry sets task to transition to obtaining animals with specified characteristics in five years

MOSCOW. Dec 25 (Interfax) - The Agriculture Ministry, as part of the work to achieve the technological leadership of the Russian agricultural sector, among other things is setting the task of transitioning from traditional breeding to obtaining animals with specified beneficial characteristics.

"In the next five years, it is necessary to implement a transition from traditional breeding to predictive modeling - obtaining agricultural animals with specified beneficial characteristics. Science faces the task of developing methods for collecting, verifying and processing phenotypic and genomic data," the ministry said on its Telegram channel, citing Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut. She participated in the strategic session "Priority 2030: a consortium of science and practice for technological leadership in the agricultural sector."

The focus of the event is on cooperation and creating project groups to solve current problems in agricultural science.

The sphere of livestock includes projects in genetics, breeding, reproduction and animal health, Lut said. In the field of biotechnology, great importance is attached in particular to creating domestic organic and amino acids, enzyme preparations, modified starches and starter cultures.

The agro-technological direction covers projects in breeding and seed production, soil fertility and land reclamation, agrochemistry, unmanned aerial systems and unmanned vehicles, and the adaptation of the sector to climate change.

To preserve and improve soil fertility, it is important to form effective regional adaptive landscape farming systems, Lut said. Another priority task is optimizing the forms and technologies of applying fertilizers and plant protection products.

"It is important for us to obtain concrete results. A development can only be considered successful if it is in demand by business, economically justified and implemented into real production," the ministry quoted Lut as saying.