The unique center has yielded as many as 5 wheat harvests.
In 2022, the Center of Collective Use (CCU) for accelerated breeding of cereal crops, deployed at the Siberian Federal Scientific Center of Agrobiotechnology (SFSCTA) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), managed to produce five wheat harvests.
The cereal grown at this center reaches maturity within two months from planting, significantly expediting the breeding process. Launched in 2022 as part of the “Russia’s Bread” project, the initiative involves a collective effort by ten organizations, including the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute (VIR), SFSCTA RAS, Kurchatov Genomic Center, agricultural research centers in Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, and Omsk, as well as “Phenomika,” a company manufacturing equipment for phenotyping.
Within a year of operation at the CCU, four additional setups for cultivation were installed, each capable of growing over 3,000 plants. The accelerated breeding center consists of a specialized facility known as a speed-bridge, equipped with a climate control system, including simulated wind, special lamps replicating the full spectrum of sunlight, water purification, and automatic irrigation systems.
Photo: freepik