Department of Genetics, Plant Breeding and Seed Production is 100 years old

The year 2023 is a special year for domestic selection: this year marks the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Department of Plant Breeding and Seed Production at Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, the first department of this profile in Russia. Among the rapid changes in everyday life in post-revolutionary Russia, much was possible even in such a conservative environment as education. In 1923, thanks to the efforts of the Russian geneticist and breeder Sergey I. Zhegalov, this department was organised on the basis of the Breeding Station. The activities of the Department of Genetics, Plant Breeding and Seed Production are based on a solid academic foundation laid by Sergei I. Zhegalov and developed by his followers who have headed and worked at the department. The Department of Genetics, Plant Breeding and Seed Production was and is a methodological center for the training of genetic breeders. The textbooks and training manuals written by its staff from Zhegalov’s time to the present day have been fundamental for all universities in the country. In 1988, on the initiative of Professor Yuri B. Konovalov, a new specialty “Breeding and Genetics of Agricultural Crops” was started at Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, which was supervised nationally by the Department of Genetics, Plant Breeding and Seed Production. During the existence of the department, more than 100 doctors and candidates of sciences have been trained. Graduates of the department can be found in in almost all major agricultural universities and research institutes in neighbouring countries, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Vietnam, Syria, Egypt, China and many other countries.

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