Department of Crop Science

The Crop Science Department was founded in 1946. The first head of the department was academic Pavel Popov Mindorovski. 

The department`s academic staff is involved in three specialized areas - Crop Science, Fodder Crop Production and Selection.

The training of students is mainly focused on Crop Science, Fodder Production areas and Selection.
Additional subjects are: medical, aromatic and spice plants, grain production, technical crops, fodder production, meadows and pastures, organic production of field and fodder crops, grass mixtures, grain storage, tobacco production, cotton production, plant genetic resources, seed production of field crops, plant breeding and applied in vitro technics,  plant breeding, seed production and biometry, plant breeding methods to improve the nutrition’s absorption, seed production at different nutrition system, plant breeding for sustainable agriculture, plant genetic resources and pest resistance.

At present, there are 10 habilitated lecturers at the department - 6 professors and 4 associate professors, as well as two non-habilitated- 1 chief assistant professor and 1 assistant professor.

The teaching and research work is supported by three senior experts. 

The department's lecturers train students in all faculties and majors, through which the preparation of the students studying Agriculture – Field Crop Production is connected with constantly deepening theoretical and practical-applied knowledge.

Scientific and research activities at the department are related to the cultivation of cereal crops (wheat, barley, triticale, oats, corn); beans (chickpeas, soybeans, peas); technical crops (rape, sunflower, flax); essential oil plants (basil, sandy everlasting, coriander, fennel, silver rosmary and supports the seven Bulgarian varieties of lavender, as well as one white oregano variety - Hebrus) and fodder crops (alfalfa, perennial grasses). 

The scientific interests of the academic staff are related to solving various problems in the  field crop production and fodder crop production such as: testing introduced varieties of field and fodder crops; conducting research to establish the most suitable predecessors, sowing time, plant densities, sowing and fertilizer rates; testing leaf fertilizers and  growth regulators influence over the field and forage crops development and productivity; testing heavy metals influence on plant development, their accumulation and distribution in field and fodder crops.
* Connections with the practice.

The lecturers from the Crop Science Department maintain contacts with the business and have direct observations on the technological processes of the producers. The academic staff has the opportunity and offers constant updating of the production technologies, including recommendations related to the varietal composition by regions, taking into account the specifics of the meteorological conditions, soil resources and the plant nutrition regime. The department offers consultations in connection with problematic fragments of the production process as: correct crop rotations, recommendations for the types and quantities of macro fertilizers, ways for improving the quality of the crop production, problems related to the cares during the vegetation period.

In order to carry out the learning process, the department has 4 laboratories equipped with computers, multimedia, microscopes, and equipment for various analyzes. 

The Department of Crop Science maintaines a 0.9-hectare training-experimental field located in the university campus. It consists of wide range of crops and varieties used for the educational process and the practical training of students.

The scientific and experimental base, located out of the university campus has building, laboratory for distillation of essential oils, renovated classrooms and warehouse base. According to the scientific interests of the academic staff, field experiments with problems of different nature are set annually. Depending on the required scale, the experimental area varies from 0.10 to 0.25 ha. In addition, the base is also used for providing training practices with students.

The department has introduced six master`s degree programs – Crop Production; Medical, Aromatic and Spice Plants;  Industrial production of seeds and planting material; Selection and seed production; Essential oil and medicinal crops; Management and digitalization technologies in crop production. The department’s academic staff is also involved in  training master students of the other faculties at the Agricultural University.

The Crop Science Department provides training to students of the educational-qualification degrees Bachelor and Master, as well as the scientific-qualification degree PhD.