MOSCOW, September 23. /TASS/.
Two new research laboratories will be set up at Tyumen State University to work on a regenerative agriculture project as part of the federal scientific and technical program for the development of genetic technologies for 2019-2027. New educational programs for students and new profiles in graduate school will be developed as well, the press service of the university said on Thursday.
Tyumen State University took part in the contest for grants of this federal program under the section "Search and study of microorganisms and microbial communities of soils, animals and plants". Metropolitan scientific centers which are involved in the project with Tyumen State University include: Orekhovich Institute of Biomedical Chemistry and Gauze Research Institute of New Antibiotics. The total amount of financing for the project in 2021-2023 will amount to 320 million rubles.
"The theme of the new project is simultaneously in line with the tasks of ensuring biosafety and promoting new approaches in land use that can reduce the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Regenerative farming is fast becoming a mainstream crop production practice. The goal of science is to methodically ensure agriculture oriented towards preserving the quality of the natural environment based on the use of the most modern technologies, which is what our project is aimed at," the press service quoted the project coordinator, first vice-rector of Tyumen State University, Andrey Tolstikov, as saying.
The research program of the new project is aimed at finding and studying microorganisms and microbial communities of soils, animals and plants and involves the development of new technologies for regenerative agriculture. Obtaining fundamental groundwork and the development of agroecological innovative approaches contribute to an increase in soil productivity and bioproductivity, improve their ability to renew, meet market demand for organic food, reduce anthropogenic pressure on artificial and natural ecosystems, increase biodiversity, and also make a significant contribution to solving the problem of global climate change.
In particular, non-pathogenic bacterial producer strains will be isolated and biological products for plant protection against phytopathogens developed with their use. Technologies will be created based on the use of predatory phytoseid mites to control the number of agricultural pests. Moreover, the project will result in the development of the fundamentals of the technology for monitoring the state of agrocenoses soils, the improvement of genetic technologies for metagenomic screening of agroecosystems by developing new bioinformatics solutions, and the creation of new algorithms for processing biological data.
The project will also develop a technology aimed at solving the problems of the agricultural sector caused by the mass death of bees — the most important pollinators of cultivated plants — worldwide.