Open Day at the Institute of Agriculture – Karnobat

The Institute of Agriculture – Karnobat at the Agricultural Academy is organizing on 07.06.2023 an Open Day: Innovations in Agriculture.

The Institute will present barley and oat varieties, fertilizers, plant protection products, biostimulants, agricultural machinery and mounted implements. Visits to the Institute’s fields are also part of the planned programme of the event. Guests will have the opportunity to see for themselves the quality of the Bulgarian barley breeding. At this year’s AGRA 2023 Innovation Awards in Section 5 “Varietal seeds and planting material” the Institute of Agriculture – Karnobat, with the spring barley “Savelia“ , received not only a diploma but also a plaque – one of the highest awards of the exhibition.

The spring barley “Savelia” of the Institute of Agriculture – Karnobat is a top achievement of Bulgarian breeding, fully compliant with European standards.

“The new spring fodder barley ‘Savelia’ has the great advantage of being sown in the spring if, for various reasons, farmers have not managed to sow barley in the autumn,” shares the Barley Variety Breeder Prof. Dr. Darina Valcheva. “‘Savelia’ is sown from 1 to 15 March, and when the weather is warmer during the winter months, as it has been in recent years, sowing can be carried out even earlier. The greatest advantage of this barley is that it is a spring variety which, in terms of yield, is on a par with the winter varieties.

According to data from the Executive Agency for Variety Testing, Field Inspection and Seed Control (IASAS), at some of the locations where it was tested, the yield reaches 712 kg per decare. The high yield is combined with resistance to abiotic factors. We have witnessed drought during critical periods of the development of cereal crops over the last 10 years – and for this reason the team of the Institute of Agriculture in Karnobat is providing its response to this trend with the innovative barley variety “Savelia”. The variety can successfully overcome drought and achieve high yields. In addition, it is resistant to the main economically important barley diseases, including brown rust, stem rust, powdery mildew, stripe disease, and it also performs very well against net blotch, which has appeared in recent years and has become a scourge for agricultural production.

The research team of the Institute is working on varieties that are resistant to abiotic stress and are developed for the local climatic conditions of the country. Although in recent years the Institute of Agriculture in Karnobat has developed good commercial relations and is successfully selling its varieties in North Macedonia and Turkey, it is keen to cultivate the preference of domestic farmers for Bulgarian breeding. Seeds from IA – Karnobat are offered on the market – of high categories, basic and pre-basic, and in Bulgaria they can be sown everywhere in the regions with areas for barley cultivation.

PROGRAMME OF THE OPEN DAY