Dialogue with a scientist

A rubric about people for whom the Agrarian is not only a university, but also a scientific base.

Ludmila Alekseevna Mikhno.

Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, Associate Professor at the Department of Chemistry and Plant Protection, Faculty of Ecology and Landscape Architecture.

Areas of applied research aimed at the creation and improvement of new technologies in plant protection from pests.

1. Tell us a little about yourself. How did you come to science, what prompted you to stay in university/science after graduation?

All our lives we learn something, and science is a gift given to mankind. My story is simple. While still a student, I came to work at the Department of Phytopathology and Entomology as a technician. Therefore, I am familiar with the work of teachers not by hearsay. According to the results of defense of graduate qualification work I was recommended to graduate school and was invited by the head of our department, Doctor of Agricultural Sciences Anna Petrovna Shutko. Anna Petrovna played a key role in my scientific biography, with her daily work she instilled in me a love of science and plant protection in particular. In our commonwealth of phytopathologists there has always prevailed an atmosphere of scientific creativity with a healthy career motivation; therefore, it was simply impossible not to get involved, not to dive deeply into scientific research. And so gradually grew my sustained interest in scientific activity. I think that it is very important to find your way and under no circumstances do not turn from it. Recently I came across a statement of Vladimir Lenin about science: "We need to make science really enter the flesh and blood, become an integral part of life quite and truly. It is hard not to agree with him! Indeed, new developments and discoveries are not the only task of a true scientist, he must live science and take care that science is unhindered.

2. What were the first scientific developments?

The top of my first developments opened the project on the materials of my thesis on "Biological effectiveness of herbicide mixtures and their effect on the yield of winter wheat in the conditions of the experimental station of the Stavropol SAU", which was among the ten winners of the V Interregional competition of scientific papers "BayStady - 2015". This competition, held annually by Bayer with the support of the Russian Union of Rural Youth, is designed to support talented undergraduate and graduate students who intend to grow and develop professionally in the field of plant protection. I should note that in 2018 already my student Yulia Echevskaya, in turn, won this prestigious competition.

3. What do you do today? What kind of work and in what direction are you doing? What progress have you made in researching your topic?

My research is aimed at studying and improving the technology of winter wheat cultivation by optimizing the phytosanitary state of agrocenoses using immunogenetic methods of plant protection. I consider as significant in my scientific biography the victory in the All-Russian competition "UMNIC - 2016" with the development of a patented technology for express identification of resistant to root rot forms of winter wheat using callus and cell culture methods. And my main achievement is the successful defense of my PhD thesis in March 2019 on "Biological justification of immunogenetic methods of protection of winter wheat from a complex of phytopathogens on leached chernozem" in my native specialty 06.01.07 "Plant Protection" in the dissertation council D 220.061.05 at the Saratov State Agricultural University named after NI Vavilov.

4. How can the results of your research be useful to people?

Digital technologies, automation, artificial intelligence are currently penetrating into all areas of agribusiness, requiring new skills and competencies from us as scientists. Plant protection agronomist, as I believe, is a profession of creative people, as each season requires a new individual solution for each crop, for each specific field for each individual farm. And my research is precisely aimed at solving current problems to reduce phytosanitary risks by increasing the immune status of plants.

5. If you are given the opportunity to ask any scientist of any question, who would that scientist be and what would the question be?

Since my research is aimed at studying the biological efficiency and economic feasibility of using immunity inducers in the system of integrated plant protection, I would address my question to Nikolay Ivanovich Vavilov, a Russian Soviet scientist-geneticist, botanist, plant breeder, chemist, geographer, public and statesman, Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, USSR Academy of Sciences and VASKhNIL: "What do you think of transgenic plants? Do they really pose a threat, are they a time bomb? Or are they the saving of our planet?

6. What scientific discovery are you most looking forward to? Maybe a cure for cancer, or the invention of the philosopher's stone?

I'm looking forward to the creation of a vision machine! A robot that will quickly identify the causes of oppression, the type of plant damage and injury, and also be able to apply protection or, for example, fertilize on its own. 

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