Under long-term effect of single application of gypsum (11, 23, 36, 45 and 56 tons per ha) was studied humic condition of multi-sodium solonetz soils: total carbon and humus contents, changes in group and fraction structure as influenced by soil improvers. When solonetz soils are involved in agricultural turnover, the humus content in the 0-20 cm layer has been found to reduce because of intensified microbiological processes and mineralization of humic substances. The humus content in reclaimed solonetz soils, being in long-term (20 years) fallow condition, increased up to 5 percent as compared with 3.6 percent in the control. The type of humus in the control and virgin solonetz soil is fulvate. The Cgk : Cfk ratio is approximately 0.3. In reclaimed solonetz soils, group structure of humus in the 0-20 cm layer is fulvate-humate (Cgk : Cfk > 1), and approaches the type of zonal meadow-chernozem soil. In the 20-40 cm layer, it changed to humate-fulvate. In the control, humic acids composition had fraction 2 (10 percent of total carbon in soil) prevalent. In long-term reclaimed solonetz soils, the percentage of this fraction almost doubled (18-28 percent of total carbon). As a dose of gypsum increased, the fraction 2 content bound with calcium increased as well. In the variant with the gypsum dose of 11 tons per ha, fulvic acids prevailed in the humus content, and in the variants with high doses, they considerably decreased, which was indicative of reduced mobility of humic substances.

Results are given from the evaluation of fallow types influencing properties of dark-chestnut soils and wheat productivity. When biomass of rape and oats were plowed down, density of the 0-19 cm layer reduced by 0.04-0.08 g/cm3; under favorable weather conditions, rape green-manured fallow contributed to a reduction in soil density to 1.11 g/cm3; plowing down of green manures resulted in increased soil porosity by 3.9-5.5 percent. Investigations of water regimes in crop rotations with various types of fallows under conditions of dry steppe of Tuva showed that bare fallow had more stabile characteristics of moisture availability. Green fallows at the moment of sowing the first crop did not yield to bare ones in available moisture reserves after wet years. The dynamic nitrate nitrogen content is determined by forecrops and weather conditions of a year. Nitrate nitrogen was more accumulated in green fallows during dry years in spring and autumn. During wet years, the nitrate nitrogen content was decreased in all types of fallows. It was revealed that the nitrate nitrogen content before sowing spring wheat on green fallows was more and made up 12.1-12.7 mg/kg of soil (8.5 mg/kg on bare fallow). Spring wheat productivity varies depending on agrometeorological resources, and weakly depends on a type of fallow.

Adaptation and productive qualities of 44 breeding lines of spring soft wheat, bred at the N.I. Vavilov Research Institute of Plant Industry and Siberian Research Institute of Plant Growing and Selection, were studied under natural-climatic conditions of the Republic of Tuva. Based on 3-year investigations carried out in the collection nursery were selected breeding lines resistant to drought and characterized by good potential productivity and early ripeness: Altaiskaya 92 ґ Kantegirskaya 89, Skala BR ґ Kantegirskaya 89, Chagytai ґ Irtyshanka 10, Chagytai ґ 38/1, and GK-276 ґ Novosibirskaya 29. It was found that the breeding lines Altaiskaya 92 ґ Kantegirskaya 89, Skala BR ґ Kantegirskaya 89, Chagytai ґ Irtyshanka 10, Chagytai ґ 38/1 under conditions of the pronounced continental climate of the Republic positively combined thousand-kernel weight and high grain content. The Chagytai cultivar has high combining ability, when crossed, and transfers positive traits, the number of productive stems, thousand-kernel weight, and the number of spikelets per ear.

Results are given from the 4-year study of lines and varieties of spring barley bred at Krasnoyarsk, Buryat and Altai Research Institutes of Agriculture. Twenty four breeding lines were studied in the competitive variety trial nursery using the facilities of the Tuvinian Research Institute of Agriculture. It has been revealed that barley productivity depends on moisture availability and temperature regime during the growing season. It has been established that the breeding line L-21-116, bred at the Krasnoyarsk Research Institute of Agriculture within the framework of adaptive selection program, exceeds the standard cultivar Donetskiy 8 and other numbers in the number of productive stems and kernels per ear as well as in productivity. The ability of this breeding line to adapt as well as its advantage over the standard because of drought resistance and resistance to lodging has been revealed. The results of integrated evaluation of spring barley lines are indicative of the competitive ability and breeding value of the line L-21-116 in the pronounced continental climate of the Republic of Tuva.

Results are given from field experiments conducted in 2012-2013 to study fiber flax varieties, bred in Belarus and Belgium, in the experimental field of the Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture and Peat, located in the subtaiga zone, and to develop promising adapted hybrid material. The cultivars Velich, Iva and Yarok, bred in Belarus, and Pamyati Krepkova, bred in Tomsk, significantly exceeded the standard Tomskiy 16 in the total height and the technical stem length (by 2-5 cm). The Belgian cultivars were on a level with the standard and somewhat below. The Dutch cultivars Safi, Suzanne, Hermes, Agatha, Bonita, Melina and the Byelorussian cultivar Yarok significantly, by 2-5 percent, exceeded the standard in the fiber content in the stems. The Byelorussian cultivars Vasilek, Velich and Grot were below the standard by 2-4 percent for this character. The cultivars Levit-1, Iva, Yarok, bred in Belarus, and the Belgian cultivars Suzanne, Bonita, Electra and Hermes were above the standard by 25-50 percent in fiber yields. Major Byelorussian and Belgian cultivars had the ratio between length and diameter of flax fiber, being an indirect index in fiber quality assessment, below the standard. The Belgian cultivars Agatha and Hermes and the Byelorussian cultivar Grot were on a level with the standard and somewhat below as to this character. The most productive and adapted cultivars have been included in the breeding process as donors of productivity and fiber quality.

Preliminary results of research into assessing egg freshness are presented. Investigations were conducted on an experimental installation made up of the electrode system and the precision instrument for measuring electric parameters, MNIPI E7-20. The electrode system is two hemispheres made of nonpolarizable material, which were put on the object under measurement. It was found that the impedance of fresh eggs from JSC Berdsk Poultry Factory is 3-3.5 times less than that of the samples from retail trade. The analysis of measurement data and calculations carried out for grade index ki, earlier intended for meat quality assessment, has shown that eggs from JSC Berdsk Poultry Factory have ki і 2.7, and eggs from retail trade have ki Ј 2.3.

Results are given from a comparative study of hematological and biochemical parameters of blood in Tuvinian breed of horses, Tuvinian yaks and Tuvinian Short-Fat Tailed sheep. Tuvinian yaks were characterized by the greatest number of leucocytes and high contents of protein, calcium, A and E vitamins in blood. The comparative analysis of findings obtained and the established physiological standards showed 1.9 time increase in the content of phosphorus, 1.4 time increase in alkaline reserve, 6.7 % reduction in the erythrocyte number and 13.8 % reduction in the content of calcium in Tuvinian horses’ blood. In Tuvinian sheep, the content of hemoglobin is 8.8 percent, the number of leucocytes 11.2 percent, cholesterol 1.4 times, phosphorus 1.7 times higher than the standards; the erythrocyte number reduced by 38.4 percent, alkaline reserve by 3.8 percent. The revealed features of interior characteristics in animals of Tuvinian native breeds are conditioned by their all-year-round outdoor keeping under extreme natural-climatic conditions of high-mountain pastures.

Results are given from a comparative study on effectiveness of three methods for diagnosing cattle diseases caused by bacterium Pasteurella multocida, which are bacteriological and biochemical analyses as well as the PCR method. Conventional bacteriological methods and study of biochemical properties do not make possible to determine genotypes of cultures and strains. To evaluate the effectiveness of the PCR method at different stages of bacteriological diagnosis, we calculated the coefficient of coincidence, k. By bacteriological analyses of samples from sick animals on artificial nutrient media were isolated 60.4 percent of P. multocida cultures, by the PCR method were detected 49.2 percent of positive samples (p > 0.005, k = 0.76). From white mice were reisolated 52.3 percent of pathogenic cultures that was confirmed by reinvestigation with PCR tests (k = 1). All isolated bacteria cultures demonstrated biochemical properties, characteristic of P. multocida. As a result of typing, 41.2 percent of isolated cultures were attributed to Pasteurella multocida, 67.2 percent of them belonged to genotype A, and 26.8 percent genotype B. It has been found that PCR is effective at all stages of bacteriological diagnosis of diseases in cattle caused by P. multocida and allows us to determine genotypes of bacterium.

The history of development of Tuvinian-Saradzha hybrid half-hair sheep in the Republic of Tuva is stated. Hybridization was carried out between Saradzha fat-rumped half-hair rams and native hair and fine-fleece-hair ewes. There are described major economic characters of modern hybrid half-hair and hair sheep used for hybridization. There are given comparative data on growth energy, meat and wool production of the young stock obtained from crossing hybrid half-hair rams with half-hair and hair ewes. The most intensive growth of the young stock occurs during their suckling period and at the age of 8.5 months. By the period of weaning from mothers, the lambs at 5 months of age reached live weights of 25.4-26.0 kg, at 8.5 months of age 34.7-37.8 kg. The scientific principles are presented, and practical recommendations are given to use hybrid half-hair rams as improvers of hybrid half-hair and hair ewes for developing a new type of Tuvinian half-hair short-fat tailed sheep adapted to conditions of Tuva well.

The veterinary drug Argumistin is an aqueous colloidal solution of silver nanoparticles (10 mg/ml or 50 mg/ml) stabilized with benzyldimethyl[3-(myristoylamino)propyl]ammonium chloride monohydrate (0.01%). In this work we investigated acute and chronic toxicity of Argumistin in the form of aqueous solution for topical and internal use. According to the classification LD50, the veterinary drug Argumistin is referred to low-hazard substances, when intragastrically administered to laboratory animals (mice). Long-term enteral administration in doses of 5 ml/kg did not lead to a damaging effect on the performance status of white non-linear mice. In intragastric administration for 10 days in a dose of 45 ml/kg (100-fold excess of the recommended daily therapeutic dose), statistically significant changes in the mass of the liver and spleen, as well as changes in certain biochemical indices of blood, were registered.

Results are given from a study on dynamic body weight, fattening and slaughter traits, weight of the internals in the young stock of goats raised in the Republic of Tuva. The investigation was carried out on the two groups of goats - Soviet wool and native coarse-wooled ones. As a result of control nutrition during 60 days, the young stock of Tuvinian native coarse-wooled goats proved to be more productive as to dynamic body weight and meat characteristics. The average daily liveweight gain in native young goats was 16 % higher than that in Soviet wool goatlings. The Tuvinian animals exceeded the young stock of Soviet wool breed in preslaughter weight by 3.23 kg, in hot weight by 1.37 kg, in carcass weight by 1.76 kg, in slaughter yield by 0.53 absolute percent, in carcass meat and fat contents by 0.92 and 0.24 kg, respectively. Their internals were more developed as well: weight of the heart was 20 % more, kidney with fat 25.4 %, blood 10.6 %, internal fat 51.3 %, head 20 %, extremities 28.3 % more.

Results are given from investigations into studying reproductive ability and milk production performance in first-calf Simmental cows, bred in Austria, both imported and born under conditions of Transbaikalia, as compared with Simmental analogs of local population. The investigations were conducted on the experiment-production farm “Baikalskoe”, Kabanskiy District, Republic of Buryatia. It was established that calving in the animals of experimental groups went off satisfactory. The animals from Austria yielded to the control ones in reproductive characteristics, but exceeded in milk production performance by 34.3 percent (p > 0.999). The first-calf cows born on the farm had good reproductive characteristics, and had an advantage over the control analogs because of their milk production performance (p > 0.999). The milk yield coefficient in the experimental cows indicates that they are dual-purpose cattle.

The effect of the long-term selection process on adaptation of Holstein breed of cattle to specific natural-climatic conditions of Sakhalin was studied. The coefficient of selection was determined by assessing relative adaptabilities of genotypes through selection and preserved after being selected through relative adaptability. Studies have shown that the population of limited size had a low degree of adaptation to raising conditions, showed no heterosis and reduced flexibility in next generations. Productivity for 305 days of lactation under unfavorable conditions of feeding and keeping can be considered as a trait with the intermediate optimum, because the animals with the population averages have the highest degree of adaptation, and selection contributes to intermediate indices. The animals having average characteristics become more adapted as they possess the optimum values of traits. The adaptation degree depends on genetic variability of traits.

Results are given from comparative study of species and varieties of perennial legume grasses, being new for the forest-steppe zone of the Republic of Tuva with its pronounced continental climate: two varieties of alfalfa, three of melilot, two of clover and two of sainfoin. It has been established that alfalfa and sainfoin varieties are most winterhardy, drought resistant and fit for long-term use under conditions of Tuva. The Ogonek and SibNIIK 10 cultivars of clover were destroyed by frost in their second year. Based on this fact, we do not find clover cultivation expedient for conditions of Tuva. The melilot varieties yielded to alfalfa and sainfoin in nutritive value and palatability, but were characterized by sufficiently high drought resistance and productivity in established climatic conditions. For the years of study, the SibNIIK-30 cultivar of sainfoin and Tuyana cultivar of changeable alfalfa showed the maximum green mass yields (6.8 tons per ha) under rainfed conditions. The SibNIIK-30 cultivar of sainfoin demonstrated the greatest increase in green mass (10.8 tons per ha) at vegetative irrigation. When grown under conditions of the Republic of Tuva, the alfalfa and sainfoin varieties showed the contents of fodder units ranged from 0.50 to 0.55, and exchange energy from 7.56 to 8.22 MJ.

Yield structure elements were studied in the two recognized varieties and five promising selection numbers of soybean of the Siberian ecotype under conditions of severe drought in 2012. Intravarietal and intervarietal variation in this index is shown. A contribution of varietal diversity to total variation of each yield structure element was determined by the method of variance analysis. The structural analysis provided opportunities to select individual plants and form lines with the optimal combinations of yield structure elements. Modern and newly developed soybean varieties are polymorphic by these indices. Variation amplitudes in yield structure elements are influenced by genotype and modifying factors. The analysis of yield structure elements allows us to carry out individual selection of soybean plants with the maximum degree of manifestation of yield structure traits and to develop lines having a certain set of traits. The influence of droughts on yield structure elements in soybean specimens is of varied character. As influenced by moisture deficiency was observed an increase in the number of seeds per plant and thousand-kernel weight in the selection number SNK-147.

Results are given from studies on genetic diversity of oat collection material from the VIR collection to further use it in the breeding process. Investigations were conducted at the Narym Breeding and Seed Production Department of the Siberian Research Institute of Agriculture and Peat in 2011-2013. Thirty five oat samples were analyzed. The investigation of samples showed that weather conditions, considerably varying across the years of studying, had a significant impact on the growth and development of oats. Under drought conditions, technological grain quality became worse, productivity and the height of the plants decreased, resistance to lodging increased. Under conditions of high moistening and heat deficiency, unevenly distributed over the growing season, against the background of poor natural fertility, yields and the height of oat plants decreased more than under hot and dry conditions against the background of mineral fertilizing, but processing qualities improved. There were selected the best samples of oats as to yielding capacity, large kernel, small chaff and great thousand-kernel weight.

There are presented biological, agronomic and technological parameters and morphological traits of a new cultivar of spring oat, Otrada, for feed purposes. The cultivar was developed at the Research Institute of Agriculture for Northern Trans-Ural Region and put into the State Register of Breeding Achievements to be cultivated for feed purposes in the 9th and 10th Regions of the Russian Federation since 2013. The Otrada cultivar is mid-ripening of 69-74 days from coming-up to wax ripeness, mid-tall, with the height of plants of 77.4-112.5 cm, resistant to lodging. The average grain yield for the years of studying (2005-2013) made up 4.57 tons per ha as compared with the standard Megion of 3.92 tons per ha. The maximum grain yield of 6.32 tons per ha was obtained in the competitive variety trial nursery in 2006. The cultivar has sufficiently high output of grain (Kkhoz = 33.7 percent). Technological properties of grain are on a level with the standard Megion. The cultivar is resistant to grain fall and average resistant to spring-summer droughts.

Data on the history of creation, establishment and development of agrarian science in the Republic of Tuva are given. The significance of the first research institution of agriculture, Tuvinian Agricultural Experiment Station, is shown. Principal directions for research at the Tuvinian Research institute of Agriculture are listed. The leading scientists, who have contributed to the development of agricultural science in Tuva, are mentioned. The most important scientific developments and principal findings of investigations are given.