Turkmenistan successfully applies innovative technologies in cotton production

The agricultural sector is one of the key sectors of Turkmenistan's economy. Under the Ministry of Agriculture of the country in November 2023 opened the Scientific Research Institute (SRI) of cotton growing, which makes a great contribution to the creation of new, more effective varieties of plants and improvement of breeding work. This was reported by the correspondent of Arzuw.news.

Most of the arable land of the republic is occupied by cotton fields, which is a valuable raw material for light industry and is known among the people as "white gold". The development of promising varieties of the crop, which requires manual labor and careful care, will increase the rich yields. Scientists of the Research Institute of Cotton Growing are working tirelessly to find solutions to this problem.

"Specialists are working on the creation of new cotton varieties by crossing the flowers of the mother and father plants, i.e. hybridization. This method of selection is called synthetic (complex). The crossing is carried out purposefully, in accordance with the scientists' objectives. Each promising variety has certain shortcomings that need to be improved," said Abadan Akyeva, head of the cotton genetics and breeding department.

The manager explained that to create a new species, scientists cross a reference model with plants that have strong traits. Thanks to the emergence of more productive varieties, cotton production can be significantly increased without high costs. All crops require roughly the same procedures in the form of planting, care, fertilizing, watering, and harvesting. Higher cotton yields and fiber strength under the same conditions have immediate economic benefits.

"For plant crosses, high-yielding maternal and paternal varieties are selected as starter species. Seeds included in the hybrid combination are sown on plots according to a predetermined schedule. During flowering, petals are removed from the flowers of the mother variety without damaging the stamens with pollen. The cover of pollinated flowers is removed after 3-4 days. This work is done on 50-100 flowers for each combination, and all records are kept in a special notebook," Akiyeva said.

The head of the department emphasized that the cotton pods of each combination are harvested separately. Their seedlings represent the first generation of the hybrid. Specialists study the plants in laboratory conditions and next spring they are planted as a new line. Starting from the second generation, single breeding work is also carried out on the most effective varieties. Comparison and competition are very serious. Sometimes experiments on a new variety are discontinued if the expected characteristics do not exceed the qualities of the compared reference.

This work is continued until leveling of characteristics in hybrids, i.e. uniform manifestation of indicators of height, fruitfulness and fibrousness. After two years of trials in the breeding field, the seeds are taken to the field for a year for comparison. 3.5 kilograms of hybrid seeds, brought to the variety level, are transferred to the first variety testing site of the institute, where scientists conduct three-year experiments with the new variety.

Plants undergo the most important test during the state variety trial, when they are planted for 2 years on several hectares in breeding farms under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture of Turkmenistan. During the trial period, varieties considered promising and showing more favorable traits than their classical ancestor are officially recognized as new and sent for a two-year production trial.

During this procedure, the new species is crossed with the reference species and planted in large areas. After that, a special breeding farm is opened to prepare seeds of the new species to be used in production.

Turkmen scientists are diligently developing elite varieties that are of great benefit to both farmers and light industry and are capable of replacing the existing fine and medium-fiber cotton. The staff of the Research Institute has created the varieties "Eloten-54" and "Eloten-56", which have been successfully tested in production and are currently used in large-scale production. The author of the first variety is Muhammetrahim Meredov, a researcher of the Institute.

Last year, Yazmukhammet Sylabov, a tenant of a farmer association in Iolotan district, planted the medium-fiber variety "Eloten-54" on 2 hectares and "Eloten-39" on a similar neighboring area. With two irrigations, the new type of cotton yielded 45.8 quintals per hectare, 8 quintals more than the competing variety. This year "Eloten-54" is growing on 10 hectares of the farmer's association.

The author of the fine-fiber variety "Eloten-56" is Dr. Rejepmyrat Berdimyradov, Doctor of Biological Sciences. This variety is relatively new compared to "Eloten-14", which for a long time remained the only thin-fiber cotton grown in the country. According to the results of production trials, the yield of "Eloten-56" reached an average of 44 centners per hectare, which is 4.1 centners higher than that of the competing variety. Other advantages of the new variety include earlier ripening and larger boll weight.

Thanks to the support of Hero-Arkadag Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov and President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdimuhamedov, national research institutes have been given the opportunity to create new crop varieties. To stimulate farmers' work, the state constantly raises purchase prices for crops. The establishment of the Scientific Research Institute of Cotton Growing and the successes of the republic's scientists testify to the farsightedness of transformations and the harmonious combination of ancient and rich agro-technical traditions with the latest achievements of science.