About

NS Soybean Cultivars

Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops

In 1938, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia founded in Novi Sad an agricultural research and control station which, over time, grew into Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops. Presently, the numerous breeding programs and efficient extension service place the Institute in the forefront of the Serbian and international agricultural science.

The fundamental and applied research programs are primarily centered on the development of field and vegetable crop cultivars including forage and industrial crops, medicinal plants and spice herbs. The breeding programs place emphasis on high yielding capacity, tolerance to major diseases and resistance to unfavorable biotic and non-biotic factors. Work on special-purpose cultivars receives due attention. In addition to the breeding of new cultivars, the Institute provides a complete production technology for each cultivar. In short, the Institute’s extension service provides farmers with superior seed and detailed recommendations for soil preparation, other cultivation practices and crop protection measures.

So far, over 1000 cultivars of field and vegetable crops have been developed at the Institute. Of that number, almost 500 have been registered and commercially grown abroad. The Institute places its cultivars on the most demanding foreign markets through commercial seed sales, parent seed sales and license agreements. The institute’s cultivars compete for their place at seed markets of 26 countries, from Argentina, through EU countries, Ukraine and Russia, to China and India.

Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops has a formidable team of more than 100 highly qualified and experienced researchers, 70 of them with Ph.D. degree. They are assisted by over 300 specialists of various profiles. Their joint efforts provide guarantee of quality for everything that the Institute offers: seed, technology, services, training.

Institute is a state company operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Science and Technological Development. In that capacity, the Institute carries out government-sponsored national projects and it takes part in various international projects.

Beside research, Institute develops its commercial sector, meaning that it functions both as a scientific institute and seed company. Institute has created a new trade mark “NS seme” (NS Seed) that has already become a synonym for the quality and high yield. “NS seme” became recognizable brand name from Serbia, and one of the best export products. The interest for cultivation of NS cultivars is constantly growing, especially in the Eastern Europe.

During the campaign for the spread of soy growing in the country in the 1970s, a soybean team was formed at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops in Novi Sad. The team was composed of plant breeders, cultural practice specialists, phytopathologists and seedsmen. The team’s primary goal was to develop the first high-yielding domestic soybean varieties that will be suited to the local growing conditions, thus creating the conditions for the establishment of stable production and the replacement of foreign cultivars on the domestic market. The concept of the program was to develop varieties with different growth periods (Maturity Groups 0, I and II) that could be grown in all the different soil and climatic conditions of the country. Later on, the program’s goals were expanded to include the development of cultivars with very short growth periods (MGs 00 and 000) that would enable soybean to be used in double cropping or grown as a stubble crop. Another objective was to develop soy varieties suitable not only for intensive farming but also for extensive agriculture conditions that involved soils having unfavorable composition or an inadequate nutrient supply, areas in which proper tillage was not possible, and so on. The new varieties also had to be resistant to lodging, pod splitting, and major diseases.