The Republic of Belarus is one of the absolute leaders among countries of the former Soviet Union in agricultural production. The export share of agricultural products and processing industries in the country’s GDP is over 8 %, and in the total export
potential – over 15 %. Agriculture is of a key role in the integration processes of the Member States of the Customs Union and the Common Free Market Area, which is confirmed by the section XXM “Agro-Industrial Complex” of the International Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union. A deep analysis of competitive advantages of AIC of Belarus is carried out in the paper, and the role of domestic agriculture in integration processes and specialization within the EAEU frameworks is determined. The attention is focused on the necessity to implement the agro-industrial policy coordinated by the members of economic union, which will affect the efficiency of implementing the total resource potential of the Member States to increase the volume of production of competitive agricultural products and foodstuffs, to cover requirements of the common agricultural market, as well as increase exports of agricultural products and foodstuffs. For a fair competition between the Member States’ subjects, as wells as due to equal conditions for access to the common agricultural market, a balanced development of
production and markets for agricultural products and foodstuffs is required; as well as unification of requirements related to the circulation of agricultural products and foodstuffs; protection of producers’ interests in the domestic and foreign markets; ensuring good veterinary and phytosanitary level in the territory of the Member States based on common requirements and rules. It should be also considered that some EAEU members negotiate to become, or are already WTO members, i.e. have liberal commitments for this organization. A number of recommendations for internal and external agricultural policy is proposed, which will allow the domestic AIC to be one of the guarantors of the national security of Belarus in the future as well.

In modern conditions food safety is the basis for economic and social development, important element of economic and national security of a state. The main stages of the food security system development in Belarus are analyzed in the paper, as well as factors and conditions for food security at the present stage, the relevancy of developing a new strategic document is demonstrated, which is the doctrine of the food security of the Republic of Belarus till 2030. Scientific and practical problems are determined that are to be solved during substantiation of food security strategy,  including development of an efficient monitoring system under international criteria, prediction of continuing threats of physical and economic accessibility and quality of food, creation of conditions for transition of the national food system to a new level of development, when the foodstuff structure will allow improving the public health and welfare. New methodological approaches are proposed for construction of a food security model and forecast of development of food markets till 2030, including the developing segments (baby food, organic agriculture and healthy food). The recommendations for threat assessment in the food sector are developed based on international practice, contributing to development of efficient tools, methods and mechanisms of prediction at
different levels (international, national, regional and household level). The fundamental provisions of the strategy in the field of food security were substantiated, as well as the ways for saturation of the domestic market with domestic food products, competitiveness of these products, as well as the planned level of social and economic efficiency was reached.

A retrospective analysis of different stages of state of foodstuff problems in the territory of the modern Belarus is performed in the paper, showing that the food security problems were completely solved only in the recent decade. The entire prior period the agriculture was subjected to various “administrative experiments” and was a donor of food resources for development of other sectors of the national economy. Nowadays the only legal instrument that legitimizes the term “food security” and reveals its urgency is the Concept of the national food security of the Republic of Belarus. In this regard it is necessary to develop a regulatory and legal framework taking into consideration the concept, strategy, doctrine and program of food security, as well as the laws of the Republic of Belarus (“On Food Security”, “On Food Safety”, “On Agro-Industrial Complex Development”), as soon as the food security system should be determined by the laws, decrees and orders of the President of the Republic of Belarus, decisions of the Security Council of the Republic of Belarus, and based on the above the Government should develop and implement the target foodstuff programs and determine the measures to
ensure implementation of these programs. The results of the analysis show that food security problem still has not strict definitions and established tools for expression. In this regard definitions, formulations and interpretations of food security are analyzed, contained in the writings of scholars, researchers and specialists in this field. Based on the results of the analysis, the definition of food security is shaped as a target management subject.

Implementation of the State program for agricultural business development in the Republic of Belarus for 2016–2020 is determined by the highly skilled agricultural workforce performance able to carry out the production processes at a high technical and technological level. The agrarian workforce market has its own characteristics and is determined by a complex of conditions (demographic, economic and social). An efficient mechanism of its regulation should be established for timely problems solving. The quantitative and qualitative parameters of the formation and development of the agrarian workforce market in Belarus are analyzed in the article, trends and reasons of supply and demand imbalance were identified. Study of the agrarian workforce market formation shows that the demand for labor in the agro-industrial complex is determined by requirements of its enterprises and industries, and supply for labor is determined by territorial size and population structure. Households, education institutions and demographic factors are important aspects of labor supply sources in the market. When mostly economic parameters of agrarian enterprises and industries in AIC determine the labor demand. There is a lack of trained personnel and skilled workers in agricultural organizations. At the same time there are an excessive number of trained agricultural personnel. Moreover a high flow index of agricultural personnel is observed for a number of years. Based on research findings it was concluded that regulation of the agrarian workforce market should be carried out via strengthening of cooperation between educational institutions and potential employers, as well as by elaboration of new labor motivation instruments. Along with this, the importance of adapting agricultural organizations personnel to technical and technological and social changes is emphasized.

The agro-service field is designed to provide various services to agricultural enterprises in the field of technical and technological support, maintenance of agriculture and livestock systems, and allows to create new conditions for establishment of
necessary rhythmicity and science of agricultural production, as well as raising its organization and functioning efficiency. The most important part of the system of agro-service is technical maintenance of machinery and equipment, and its improvement nowadays is an urgent task for raising efficiency of both agricultural and agro-service enterprises, and entire AIC in the Republic of Belarus. In this regard, a key role in increasing the level of technical equipment of agriculture should be given to the further development and establishment of a highly efficient branded maintenance of agricultural consumers, including presale inspection under the normative and technical documentation and sale of agricultural equipment, warranty and post-warranty maintenance of production means during the entire operation period. In the area of maintenance and repair it is reasonable to develop priority directions for improvement of agricultural service system, in particular, it is necessary to consider the number of dealer service centers of manufacturers of agricultural machinery, as a formal increase of the number of such centers with no analysis of economic situation may lead to financial insolvency of individual technical centers, cessation of activities and, as a consequence, inefficiency of the entire service network. In addition, it is necessary to raise responsibility of these centers to agricultural producers via contracts for warranty and post-warranty maintenance.

A mathematical model of effect of the controlled environmental factors on crop yield is proposed, which in contrast to empirical formulas that have no physical basis, is based on real, experimentally determined physical laws, which makes it closer to the balance class. It is necessary to know the maximum yield that is formed under perfect levels of nutrition and moistening of plants for the practical application of the proposed model. The values of all the reference model parameters (optimal soil moisture content, when maximum yield and biological minimum of soil moisture content is ensured, resulting
in stop of the crop training) are set according to the results of field experiment. The perfect and as low as practicable levels of nutrition and moistening, that ensure crop training, determine the limits for calculating (application range) dependences. The supporting values are determined at the average level during the vegetation period, which allowed to eliminate the time factor dependence. In addition, the model considers proportionality of correlation between transpiration and productivity, and it is determined that in contrast to the biological minimum for the soil moisture content, that has quite a real value, other than zero, the biological minimum of the food regime when the crop training is stopped, in particular can be equated to zero. It is shown that the maximum yield value of crop can only be set with a certain degree of probability, since it is affected by unregulated environmental factors unrecorded by calculation formula. The level of maximum yield varies from year to year depending on degree of favorability of such conditions, with the most significant factor limiting the crop (at the minimum
point). The model adequacy test is carried out by comparing the results of calculations and similar results obtained by empirical dependencies, proposed by different authors. Comparison results confirmed that the proposed model of effect of nutrition and water regimes on crop yield combines different empirical formulae (with determination ratio of 0.86–0.96).

The phenomorphic distribution of pronotum cover spot pattern of Colorado potato beetle (Lepinortarsa decemlineata Say) imago in the Republic of Belarus and the Republic of Moldova is studied. The genetic heterogeneity of the Belarusian and
Moldavian phytophage populations is determined. The dominance of No.1, 3 and 6 phenomorphs in the Colorado potato beetle populations based on the imago pronotum cover spot pattern (15.4–25.3 % of all individuals) is determined, the phenomorphs
No.7, 8 and 9 are rare (the frequency of occurrence up to 3.0 %). It is determined that on the territory of Moldova in the population of Colorado potato beetle phenomorphs No. 3 and 6 dominate by imago front back figure, by frequency of occurrence 15.0–17.8 % and 38.4–40.2 % from all the individuals, respectively, the phenomorphs No.7 (1.8–2.1 %) and No.8 (1.8–2.3 %) are rare. It is determined that the Belarusian population belongs to the northern and central ecotypes, the Moldavian one – to the southeast ecotype. The phenotypic structure diversity under the ecological stress conditions is shown. The populations diagnosis according to pyrethroid chemical group preparations resistance is specified by the morphotypic method. The frequency of occurrence of sensitive, tolerant, resistant and highly resistant pest populations in different geographical regions of the phytophage habitat is revealed. In Belarus the sensitive populations were present in 17.1 %, in Moldova – in 47.8 %, the resistant populations – 43.9 and 21.7 %, respectively. Highly resistant populations were discovered in insignificant number and were met at the same level: in Belarus – 4.9 %, in Moldova – 4.3 %. The results obtained will allow to substantiate the development of ecologized potato protection system from the Colorado potato beetle using entomopathogenic microorganisms and biologically active substances of plant origin, that would prevent resistance of the Colorado potato beetle to chemical insecticides. Acknowledgments. The study is performed with financial support of the Belarusian Republican Foundation of Fundamental Researches within the frameworks of project No. Б13МЛД-008.

Livestock breeding – is the most important branch of agriculture and the main source of funds for development of industrial and social base of agro-industrial complex of the country, which ensures food security. The animal husbandry is facing few priority tasks. The first – to have a competitive breeds of farm animals and poultry, the second – to implement efficient technologies for management, feeding and reproduction of animals, and the third – to ensure the biological safety the branch. Measures in the resent years aimed at increase of efficiency of animal breeding branches provided more than 7.45 million tons of milk, 1662 thousand tons of meat of livestock and poultry (body weight) for production in 2015 from all the categories of farms. In the whole in the country 730 kg of milk and 120 kg of meat was produced, calculated per capita. According to these indicators, as well as according to the amount of high-value food protein of animal origin produced (90–100 g per person a day) Belarus is among the most advanced countries along with Canada, the US and other. These volumes of livestock production ensure domestic requirements and export potential of the republic. More than 56 % of milk and 30 % of meat produced in the country is exported to external market. According to experts opinion, about 60–65 % of dairy products and 45 % of meat produced in the country will be exported in the near future. The article analyzes the modern state, main results, priorities and problems of containment of increase of productive traits of farm animals in Belarus. Ways to improve the competitiveness of the industry, as well as rates of livestock production growth in the future are presented.

The selection and breeding work aimed on improvement of meat traits of reared breeds and types of pig at farms of the republic does not always give the desired results and is delayed for years quite often. The reason for this phenomenon, in our opinion, is inadequate meeting of the requirements of selected animals for energy and amino acids taking part in synthesis of meat. The objective is to find the perfect combination of essential amino acids and energy in the diets, ensuring the maximum utilization for synthesis of meat in the body of animals. This task is complicated by the fact that the amino acid composition of animals’ body of different genotypes vary, and consequently, the amount of amino acids that they should receive in the diet is also different, i.e. the content of the so-called “ideal protein” for each genotype is to be individual. The aim of the study – is to establish the possibility of reducing of the crude protein level in diets for young pigs based on physiologically substantiated optimization of the amount of consumed essential and nonessential amino acids. The experiments confirmed the possibility of reducing the crude protein level in the diets for young pigs due to control of consumed essential amino acids and their correlation with metabolizable energy. For piglets at growing in 1 kg of compound feed per 1 MJ of metabolizable energy 0.85 g of
lysine is required, during the I fattening period – 0.73 g, during the II period – 0.62 g. The amount of remaining (including available) essential amino acids is controlled with respect to lysine: methionine with cystine – 60 %, threonine – 66 % and tryptophan – 19 %. This model for control of metabolizable energy and essential amino acids allows to reduce the level of crude protein in compound feeds by up to 10 % at increase of average daily weight gain at growing by 24 g (P k 0.05), during the I fattening period – by 29 g, and during the II period – by 11 g.

Научно-технический прогресс в сельском хозяйстве сопровождается не только благоприятными, рациональными изменениями, но и отрицательными: возникает и усиливается эрозия почв, почва чрезмерно уплотняется, уменьшается содержание гумуса, идет засоление почв и т. д. В период интенсификации сельскохозяйственного
производства необходимо требовательно оценивать конструкцию ходовых систем сельскохозяйственных машин, работающих в растениеводстве, так как создается ситуация, когда новые машины, призванные повысить урожай, снижают плодородие почвы. Почва, являясь средой для выращивания сельскохозяйственных культур, все большей мере начинает выполнять функцию несущего основания для движителей сельскохозяйственных машин, которые оказывают на нее механическое воздействие. Наибольшее воздействие осуществляется движителями тракторов, мощность и масса которых неуклонно растет. Так, урожайность зерновых в следах тракторов снижается на 10–15 %, а корнеклубнеплодов – на 20–30 %. В статье приведены исследования, позволяющие определить закономерности накопления повторных осадок. Получены зависимости для определения деформации почвы с различными физико-механическими свойствами при различных режимах нагружения и компоновке ходовых систем машинно-тракторных агрегатов. Установлено, как влияет на глубину следа соотношение величины давления движителя на почву с пределом ее несущей способности. Полученные данные могут быть применены в качестве исходных данных для определения рациональных параметров ходовых систем.

The most popular grain crop among consumers is wheat and products based on wheat, and the most useful and good for health are the oats processed products. Sprouting of grains – is one of innovative ways to improve their biological value. The aim of research – to obtain a new grain product based on mixes of sprouted wheat and hulless oat. The analysis of grain quality and processing products was carried out by conventional methods. Physical and chemical parameters of quality, chemical composition and seed properties of high-quality hulless oat grain and food wheat grain were determined. Correspondence of the raw materials to requirements of TU 700 036 606.104–2013 “Cereals grain for sprouting” was confirmed. Evaluation of vitamins and amino acids levels in the grain raw materials was carried out. The process of wheat and hulless oats mixture sprouting in different ratios was studied. The perfect variants of wheat and hulless oats mixture sprouting are obtained. It was determined that with the increase of hulless oat content in the grain mixture, the total sprouting time decreases due to reduction of time for air-water breaks. Pilot tests for producing oat-wheat mixture of sprouted grains were performed. Its compliance with the requirements for quality and food safety was determined, and also high nutritional advantages were determined:
presence of dietary fiber, high level of vitamin and mineral complex and amino acids. The developed technology will allow to widen the assortment of functional purpose food products.