Oil Crops, Institute of

(full name V. S. Pustovoit All-Union Scientific Research Institute of Oil Crops), an institute for the breeding of oil crops. It is located in the city of Krasnodar. The Institute of Oil Crops was formed in 1932 through the reorganization of the Kruglik Plant Breeding and Experimental Station (from 1912 the station had been known as the Plant Breeding and Experimental Field of the Kuban’ Agricultural School, which was founded and directed by V. S. Pustovoit).

As of 1971 the institute had divisions of plant breeding, seed raising, plant physiology, biochemistry, farming, plant protection, mechanization, economics, and scientific-technical information. Besides its central experimental base in Krasnodar, the institute has experimental stations in Rostov-on-Don (Don Experimental Station), Ust’-Kamenogorsk (Kazakh Experimental Station), Kishinev (Moldavian Experimental Station), IsiFkul’ (Omsk Oblast, Siberian Experimental Station), Armavir (Armavir Experimental Station), and Veidelevka (Belgorod Oblast, Belgorod Experimental Station). The Berezanskoe Seed-raising and Experimental Farm in Krasnodar Krai is also part of the institute. The institute and its network of experimental stations have more than 28,000 hectares (ha) of arable land.

The Institute of Oil Crops has developed highly productive sunflower varieties, whose cultivation raised the oil yield from seeds (processed by the press method) from 25.13 percent in 1940 to 40.59 percent in 1971. By 1972, 15 sunflower varieties bred at the institute had been regionalized in 49 krais, oblasts, and republics. The varieties Peredovik, Armavir 3497, and VNIIMK 8883 occupy the largest area (more than 1.7 million ha). The institute has also regionalized varieties of soybean (VNIIMK 9186), mustard (VNIIMK 162 and others), sesame (Kubanets 55), oil flax (Avangard), castor bean (Kruglik 5, VNIIMK 165, and others), and peanut (VNIIMK 1657). Varieties bred by the institute are also cultivated abroad, for example, in Yugoslavia, Rumania, Hungary, Poland, and Canada.

The Institute publishes Biulleten’ nauchno-tekhnicheskoi informatsii po maslichnym kul’turam (Bulletin of Scientific-Technical Information on Oil Crops; published since 1956) and various collections on different topics. Between 1950 and 1952 short reports on scientific research were published. The institute has been awarded the Order of Lenin (1971) and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor (1963).