On March 26, 2024, the Institute of Plant Protection of the NAAS of Ukraine hosted a round table entitled "Peculiarities of Cereal Crop Protection against Pests, Diseases, and Weeds in the Spring Period of 2024 under Martial Law". The purpose of the event was to discuss current issues in cereal crop protection during the spring season of the current year and to provide farmers with recommendations on the timely implementation of protective measures, taking into account the forecast of harmful organism development and the conditions of martial law.
The round table was attended by nearly 100 participants (including 42 online) from all regions of Ukraine, representing the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, the Department of Phytosanitary Safety and Control in Plant Husbandry of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, research institutions, educational establishments, agricultural producers, and others.
The participants of the round table were warmly welcomed by Oleksandr I. Borzych, Director of the Institute of Plant Protection, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Academician of the NAAS, and Volodymyr V. Khareba, Acting Academician-Secretary of the Crop Production Department of the NAAS of Ukraine, Academician.
V. M. Voznyi, Head of the Plant Protection Department of the Phytosanitary Safety Administration of the Department of Phytosanitary Safety and Control in Plant Husbandry of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection, emphasized the relevance of the forecast, which makes it possible to predict the timing of appearance, level of spread, and development of harmful organisms (diseases) in the phytosanitary state of agrocenoses in the future. This forecast serves as the basis for planning and carrying out plant protection work, determining the need for chemical agents, as well as material and labor costs.
O. O. Strygun, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Senior Research Fellow (IPP NAAS), provided information on the control of major pests of winter cereal crops in the spring of 2024.
A. V. Fedorenko, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Senior Research Fellow (IPP NAAS), reported on the impact of global climate change on the population dynamics of major cereal crop pests.
O. H. Afanasieva, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Senior Research Fellow (IPP NAAS), highlighted the specific features of protecting cereal crops against diseases during the spring vegetation period in the Forest-Steppe zone, while V. A. Traskovetska (Plant Breeding and Genetics Institute – National Center of Seed and Cultivar Investigation NAAS) addressed Southern Ukraine. T. O. Halagan, Candidate of Biological Sciences (IPP NAAS), noted the harmfulness of phytoparasitic nematodes in cereal crops and the necessity of their control.
Yu. Myronova, a representative of BTU-Center, focused on the specific features of biological protection, which, under low infection backgrounds, helps protect cereal crops against diseases and reduce the pesticide load on agrocenoses.
Leonid V. Zentylo, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences, Professor of the Department of Agriculture and Herbology at the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine, Corresponding Member of the NAAS, Laureate of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Prize, and Director of Kolos Agrofirm LLC, provided information relevant to researchers and agricultural producers regarding the impact of agrotechnical measures (including crop rotations) and climate change on the phytosanitary condition of crops and their productivity.
The participants of the round table will long remember the patriotic and constructive speech by Vitalii P. Fedorenko, Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor, Academician of the NAAS. The Academician noted that while many plant protection problems have been resolved, new challenges are emerging that require the joint efforts of both researchers and agricultural producers to overcome them.
