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ON THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF GRANT PETROVICH PETROSYAN

MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE OF THE ARMENIAN SSR
OF THE ALL-UNION SOCIETY OF SOIL SCIENTISTS

RESEARCH INSTITUTE
SOIL SCIENCE AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY OF THE MOA OF THE ARMENIAN SSR, 1983

on scientific, industrial and social activities of the director of the Research Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry of the Ministry of Agriculture of Arm. SSR

PETROSYAN GRANT PETROSOVICH

       Tov. Petrosyan G.P. was born on December 27, 1923 in Yerevan in a family of employees.

    In 1941, without completing secondary education, he voluntarily joined the Soviet Army and after graduating from a fighter aviation school in 1943, he worked as an instructor pilot, then as a senior pilot in a fighter aviation regiment. Member of the CPSU since 1943. After demobilization in 1947, he completed his secondary education, and in 1952 he graduated from the Armenian Agricultural Institute. During his studies, he was a State scholarship holder and a released secretary of the party organization of the institute.

 

    After graduating from the Institute Comrade. Petrosyan G.P. worked as an instructor in the party department of the Yerevan City Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, and then as a secretary of the Kirov District Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia.

 

     In 1954 he entered graduate school and after graduating in 1958 he defended his Ph.D. thesis. In 1956-1958. led pedagogical work at the Armenian Agricultural Institute and worked as the dean of the Faculty of Agronomy.

 

    From 1958 to the present, comrade. Petrosyan G.P. is the permanent director of the Research Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Armenian SSR.

 

    Tov. Petrosyan G.P., as the director of the institute, made every effort to create a modern scientific institution. In parallel with the organization of the institute and the creation of experimental bases, he carried out a lot of work on the training of highly qualified scientific personnel (45 candidates of science and 7 doctors were trained).

 

   From the first days of the organization of the institute, the activities of the team by G.P. Petrosyan were directed to the implementation of a close connection between the ongoing theoretical research and the introduction of scientific achievements into production. As a result, the ongoing soil-geographic studies not only provided further study of the issues of the genesis of the main types of soils, but made it possible to carry out the decision of the decision-making bodies to identify the agro-reclamation state of land resources, involve new lands in agricultural circulation and provide all farms of the republic with large-scale soil and agrochemical maps. The study of the development of erosion processes was combined with the development of complex measures to combat soil erosion.

Tov. Petrosyan I II. from the first days of his scientific activity, he has been successfully dealing with the problem of melioration and development of saline-alkaline and waterlogged soils.

 

    Under the leadership and with the direct participation of Petrosyan I. II. studies of soil-genetic, soil-hydrogeological and soil-agricultural features of the Ararat plain have been successfully carried out. He studied the main aspects of hydromorphic-saline processes, the interdependencies of lithological-geochemical and hydrological-soil processes in saline-waterlogged soils, as well as the relationship of soil-saline processes with ground-drainage and irrigation waters of the plain and the adjacent drainage basin.

 

    Since 1954 Comrade. Petrosyan G.P. devoted his activity to the development of methods for reclamation of saline lands. In particular, he developed a trench-hole method for their development and use for planting fruits and grapes for local arrays of soda-saline lands.

 

   The widespread introduction into the production of the republic of the method of reclamation of soda solonetzes-salt marshes using chemical industry waste, developed under the guidance and direct participation of Petrosyan G.P., is due to the industrial technology of chemical reclamation proposed by him, provided with fundamentally new reclamation machines. The technology developed by him is being systematically improved, and at present, design organizations and production units design and carry out land reclamation work in accordance with the “Guidelines for the chemical reclamation of soda solonetzes-salt marshes of the Ararat Plain of the Armenian SSR”, published by the Ministry of Water Resources of the USSR. Under conditions of fresh water deficiency, based on many years of research, he established the possibility of reducing the leaching period and accelerating the introduction of reclaimed soils into agricultural circulation.

 

    A characteristic feature of G.P. Petrosyan's work style is the ability to organize complex research with the involvement of specialists from related industries for a comprehensive scientific development of the problem and its implementation in production. Under his leadership and direct participation in the reclaimed solonetzes-salt marshes of the experimental station of the Institute, a system of agriculture and a technology for cultivating crops on reclaimed soils was successfully developed.

 

   A comprehensive study of ways to improve and increase the fertility of settled lands was carried out by reducing and rationally using irrigation water, irrigation regime and technique, and measures were developed to prevent the possibility of secondary soil salinization. He, together with his employees, as a result of testing many varieties of fruit, grapes, cereals, herbs, melons and other crops, comprehensively studied and substantiated the effect of residual soil salts on the growth and development of plants. The parameters of salt tolerance of various breeds and varieties of perennial and annual crops have been established, the quality of products has been studied up to recommendations for the production of high-quality dessert wines.

 

  Thanks to his efforts, the reclamation station of the institute, in fact, became the standard of an exemplary modern agricultural enterprise, whose activities are known in many countries.

The results of G. P. Petrosyan’s scientific activity, set out in more than 150 works, clearly show a skillful combination of theoretical studies with their experimental confirmation and consistent introduction into production. He is also one of the authors of the collective monograph "Soils of Armenia".

 

   Possessing great organizational skills, tone. G. L. Petrosyan systematically acts as the initiator of the promotion and implementation of new problems and ideas that are of great scientific and industrial importance for the development of agriculture in the republic. On his initiative, the country's first zonal agrochemical laboratory was organized in the country, equipped with non-standard equipment for mass soil analysis. He is also the initiator of the creation of a new form of training of scientific personnel under the NTO of agriculture of the republic - public postgraduate studies for specialists in agricultural production. Thanks to his daily assistance, more than 70 public graduate students have successfully defended their Ph.D. He is one of the initiators of the introduction of intensive industrial orchards in the republic, an unskilled wage system, the organization of a land reclamation trust for the development of saline lands based on the technology developed by the institute, the introduction of laser equipment for soil leveling, sprinkling irrigation of cultivated crops in the arid climate of the Ararat plain, process automation management of irrigation systems and bilateral regulation of the water regime of soils using the pressure of water from vertical drainage wells for the operation of sprinkling systems.

 

    Tov. Petrosyan G.P. persistently and consistently uses all forms of social influence for the successful introduction of scientific achievements into production. Speaking with high party integrity in the union and republican press, he systematically draws the attention of water management and agricultural authorities to the inadmissibility of a simplified approach to the issue of land reclamation and protection.

 

   Diverse and activities Comrade. Petrosyan G. P. in the creation and strengthening of international relations of the institute. Over the past years, representatives of more than 80 countries of the world have familiarized themselves with the work on saline soil reclamation, the International Symposium on methods of development of soda-saline soils and a scientific excursion tour of the participants of the X International Congress of Soil Scientists were successfully held.

 

   Tov. Petrosyan G.P. is the scientific supervisor for Armenia of the annual International Courses on the issues of reclamation of irrigated saline soils. The Institute cooperates with a number of countries under intergovernmental agreements. Tov. Petrosyan G.P. has repeatedly presented the achievements of the domestic reclamation science at congresses and conferences in the USA, Canada, the United Arab Republic, Spain, India, Libya, Hungary and other countries, took part in the work of the FAO expert commission. The participation of the institute at a number of international exhibitions (Spokane, Los Angeles, Nicosia, Zagreb, Baghdad, Montreal, Delhi, Leipzig, Bratislava, etc.) was highly appreciated, and wines made from grapes cultivated on reclaimed soils were awarded diplomas and medals.

For active assistance rendered in the training of national personnel, comrade. Petrosyan G.P. was awarded the Big Gold Medal of the Academy of Sciences of Cuba, is an Honorary Member of the NTO of Agriculture of Czechoslovakia, was elected deputy. Chairman of the sub-committee of the MNP on saline soils, is a member of the Central Committee of the International Center for Mineral Fertilizers.

 

   Scientific and social activities of comrade. Petrosyan G.P. is also multifaceted. He was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Armenia, the city committee and district committees of the party, a deputy of the Supreme Council of the republic, deputy. chairman of the All-Union Society of Soil Science and the Armenian branch of the USSR-Cuba Friendship Society, is a member of the Plenum of the USSR Scientific and Technical Society for Agriculture and a number of scientific problematic councils and sections of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the Armed SSR, VASKhNIL and a number of NTS ministries.

 

     For more than 20 years, heading the NTO of agriculture of the republic and the Armenian branch of the GP, he skillfully uses the capabilities of these organizations to mobilize the scientific forces of institutions of various ministries and departments to solve urgent problems of agricultural production.

Labor activity comrade. Petrosyan G.P. was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor, the Order of the Badge of Honor, medals “For the Victory over Germany”, “Valiant Labor in Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of V.I. Lenin” and “30 Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War” , two Gold medals of VDNKh of the USSR.

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