The authors made assessment of agroclimatic resources in KhMAO-Yugra based on observed meteorological data obtained from 53 meteorological posts over the period of2005-2016. It was found that the climate change on the territory of KhMAO has resulted in an increase of200°C in the sum of active temperatures (above the base growth that equals 10°C) over the past decade. These changes are caused by the prolonged growing season by 13-15 days. The average temperature of the hottest month has not been changed. The longer vegetation period can be mainly due to a longer climatic autumn that increased by an average of 9 days. The sum of negative temperatures in the cold season over the past decade has increased by 200-400°C, while maintaining the height of the snow cover. This fact made the rest period significantly more favorable for the over-wintering of perennial plants. There is a trend towards more even distribution of the precipitation amount between the warm and cold seasons. However, there remains excessive moisture during the growing season characterized by semiarid spring and the steady growth of hydration dynamics towards the end of the growing season. Based on the analysis made, the authors performed agroclimatic zoning: determined and identified the boundaries of the four agro-climatic areas of the district; provided detailed description of their agro-climatic resources; and evaluated the bioclimatic potential of the territory of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District and its agro-climatic regions. It is shown that due to the regionally available agroclimatic resources it is economically feasible to develop dairy and dairy-meat cattle breeding, combined with the cultivation of crops zoned for the territory of Western Siberia.

The effectiveness of environmental variety testing was registered by the average yield level exceeding the standard and differing in varietal and technological indicators. The tests were carried out for mass reproduction and food purposes, recommended for cultivating spring soft wheat varieties in a hillocky area of steppe plain on medium chernozem of Akmola region. The research objectives include the influence of varietal agricultural technology on the elements of the yield structure associated with the technological grain quality; grain quality conformity with the interstate consumer standards, mainly the baking ones. The objects of research include the varieties recommended for cultivation of spring soft wheat of the mid-ripening group: Akmola 2 (St), Lutestsens 90, Karabalykskaya 90, Rosinka 3, Karabalykskaya 20. Varietal cultivation technology provided an opportunity to obtain high-yielding varieties of spring soft wheat in the studied agricultural zone with noteworthy economic (length of the vegetation period, days; indicators of yield structure, yield, t/ha) and technological (bushel weight of grain, g/l; kernel hardness, %; protein content in grain, % and gluten in flour, %; falling number, sec) signs. Three varieties: Karabalykskaya 90, Rosinka 3, Lutestsens 90, have survival rate (%) at the following level: 64, 58, 66; yield (t/ha): J.85, J.92, J.98, respectively, as compared to Akmola 2 standard (60% and J.73 t/ha). The technological grain quality as to the gluten content (%) corresponded on average to grade 3 and amounted to: 24.7; 25.8; 26.0; 23.9 (standard). The above mentioned wheat varieties deserve further seed propagation in the agricultural enterprises of Akmola region (Kazakhstan).

To address the issue of increasing the sowing qualities of seeds and reducing their injury during post-harvest processing, a prototype of the universal dryer US-0.35 was designed, manufactured, and tested. A new energy-efficient three-stage convective drying method has been implemented in the dryer. The author carried out a series of the laboratory and field experiments on the effect of the developed method of drying on the sowing qualities of seeds using the example of winter rye, spring wheat, and spring oats. The experiments allowed determining germination, the germination energy of seeds and the completeness of sprouts. Before the start of the experiment, each crop was harvested by a combine harvester DON-1500B, carefully adjusted according to the manufacturer instructions. The combine straw walker keys were upgraded with flexible pads. Reference samples of grain crops were dried according to the standard technology, by the convective method with the SKU-2.5 dryer. The experimental samples were dried with the developed universal dryer US -0.35. It has been shown that the output of experimental rye seeds stockpiled for storage was 12.5% more as compared to the reference group. The output of experimental wheat seeds was 11.7% more as compared to the reference group. The output of experimental oats in the group was 4.6% higher as compared to the reference group. The seed germination rates of rye, wheat and oats exceeded those of the reference group, respectively by 7.6, 5.4, and 4.2%, and the germination rates, respectively, by 15.1, 19.5, and 4.2%. The field experiment results have shown that the completeness of rye sprouts from the experimental group was 12.5% higher as compared with the reference group, while wheat and oats were significantly higher by 10.1%.

The authors have experimentally established a possibility of penetration and development of entomopathogenic nematodes (EPN) in the corpses of insects killed not only by the nematodes themselves, but also under the influence of, insecticides, for example, negative temperatures, or other insect pathogens. This fact indicates the need to study the biology of these organisms to ensure objective assessment of the prospects of their effective practical use in agriculture. As a result of the conducted research it has been established that in the presence of live insects or their corpses in a certain amount of the soil, only a certain number of the nematodes which are in a zone of host dwelling get into the insect. As population density of infective larvae increases above the optimum, the laws of self-regulation begin to act on the micropopulation level, causing the most of the infective larvae flow into inactivated state and serve as the basis for the continued existence of EPN micropopulation in this biotope.

The reproduction rate of various microorganisms in milk may differ and depends mainly on the storage temperature. The initial degree of microbial contamination of the product, the presence and concentration of certain chemical substances also serve as factors that cause the development of dairy microorganisms. The research purpose is to identify the nature of the differential effects of antibiotics on the microbiological composition of raw milk, sourdoughs and fermented milk products. The authors studied physicochemical and microbiological indicators, the technological properties of the starter cultures obtained by milk fermentation with the use of antibiotics. According to the study results, during the life of lactic streptococcus the mass fraction of fat in the substrate was at a level of 0.36 to 0.42%, which is almost 2 times lower than in the starter cultures of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus. This indicates that individual fat components and fractions are used to ensure the metabolic processes of Streptococcus salivarius subsp. thermophilus.

The most important biological feature of meat-and-fat sheep breeds is earliness, intensive growth and development, effective transformation of feed into products, as well as the possibility of using animals for economic purposes at an early age. Representatives of domestic meat-and-fat sheep include such breed as Edilbay; which is successfully bred in various ecological zones of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Edilbay sheep are characterized by a wide ecological valence. This is evident from the fact that they have shown good adaptability to the conditions in all zones of Kazakhstan - their historical homeland. Comprehensive study in the comparative aspect of the biological and productive features of the Edilbay fat-tailed breed obtained from the mating of local ewes with producing rams of different genotypes is relevant and has both scientific and practical significance. This paper discusses the results of the control slaughter of eight-month young rams of the Edilbay breed obtained from various matchings of parental couples in the conditions of West Kazakhstan, where the indicators of meat productivity have been analyzed. Experimental animals of all studied groups are characterized by rather high rates of meat productivity, massiveness and roundness of forms, with well-developed muscles and uniform fat coating. After feeding and slaughtering at the age of eight months, carcasses weighing 19.3-20.7 kg were obtained, with the prevailing number of offsprings from the Brlyk sheep. It should be noted that the Syundik sheep offsprings got an intermediate position by their number. It is also obvious that offsprings obtained from the Brlyk rams are marked by higher slaughter mass and meat productivity as compared to those obtained from the Syundyk and Kurmangazin rams.

The authors have evaluated the variability of the results of determining the content of soilped fractions of a different size obtained by the method of dry dispersion on sieves. They have proved the fact of reaggregation of soil mass, i.e. soil mass exchange between soil peds of a different size. It has been found that the composition renewal of the soil ped mass forms the basis of the ped “life” and causes the variability of the ped composition of the soil, which describes the intensity of renewing individual soil peds. It has been determined that the higher the content variability of ped fractions of a certain size is, the less stable they become and vice versa. For most fractions, the level of variation coefficients lies in the range of 10-20%.

To the 90th birthday of Professor N.N. Tretyakov, Corresponding Member of RAAS and RAS