The article presents a model of a commercial variety of strawberry for the conditions of central Russia. This model covers 40 features and properties, which are combined into three groups: 1) plant resistance to a complex of adverse abiotic and biotic factors (adaptive potential); 2) productivity and quality of products; 3) manufacturability of the variety. In the middle zone of Russia, adapted strawberry varieties should develop normally and produce a high quality crop of 20-25 t/ha with the sum of temperature from 1800 to 2000 oC and the duration of the vegetative period from 130 to 180 days. They must withstand spring frosts, sharp and prolonged cooling during the vegetative period, more frequent droughts and high temperatures up to +36 oC, early-winter frosts up to -25 oC in the absence of snow, the frosts up to -36 oC in winter under snow cover, temperature drops from 0…+3 oC to -20 oC in December-March after thaws and have fi eld resistance to numerous diseases and pests. The parameters of high productivity of a biennial strawberry bush are: the number of fl ower stalks ≥10 pieces, the number of berries ≥50 and the average weight of fruits for all collections is more than 10.0 g. The ideal strawberry variety should contain >12 % RSV, >8 % sugars, >80 mg% ascorbic acid, >80 mg% anthocyans and no more than 1.5 % organic acids in berries. In addition to the high taste qualities and biochemical composition, strawberry berries should be attractive, one-dimensionally, have good transportability and keeping quality. According to the ideal variety model, the crushing force of strawberry berries, which determines their preservation during harvesting and long-term transportation, must be at least 10.0 N. The combination of the above-mentioned features and properties in one genotype is a task of the future, but systematic researches in this direction should be carried out constantly. The creation and gradually updating of sources and donors for each of breeding features on a genetically diverse basis will accelerate the implementation of this model into specifi c varieties.

Among citrus crops in the subtropical zone of the of the Russian Federation Black Sea coast of Krasnodar Territory, only tangerines can be grown (Citrus reticulata Blanco var. unshiu Tan.). The expansion of planting is hindered by poor winter hardiness, that’s why breeders are faced with a task of creating new forms of mandarin that are maximally adapted to the extreme climatic conditions of the region. By using of a distant hybridisation it is possible to create such forms. Purposeful distant hybridization allows transferring the properties of one genus to another, which is leading to phenotypic and genotypic changes in hybrid generation. The article emphasizes the importance of distant hybridization. For the period 1995-2019, distant, recurrent and inter-hybrid hybridizations were carried out to create a new hybrid fund. The results of 19 combinations of crossing by using Poncirus trifoliata Raf., and hybrids which were obtained with the participation of this genus, as well as hybrid species: C.×insitorum, C.×citrangeqwa and the genus Fortunella Sw. Expanded forms were selected for further breeding with an early term of fruit ripening (I decade of October): YuМR-97; YuКR-22; ККR-27; ККR-22; МRКR-97-25; МRКR-97-25-1; КRМR-25-97, with later ripening (II decade of October: КVI-1, КVI-3, YuI-12 received with C. insitorum. Also with late maturity hybrids were revealed: КРF-25; КРF-22; МРF-97; TsКR-25; YuTs-8 with the immixture of Fortunella margarita and C. citrangeqwat. From recurrent and inter-hybrid hybridization were marked out promising forms of mandarin with positive features such as early ripening, average fruit mass and a high tasting assessment. The greatest breeding value is represented by hybrids derived with the immixture of the most frost-resistant ccongeners of the citrus Poncirus trifoliata, however, from 5.0 % to 6.25 % of promising samples were selected in these families. All forms have breeding value for further work on creating winter hardiness varieties of mandarin.

Work was carried out to evaluate the protective and adaptive reactions of fruit crops to the temperature stresses of the winter-spring period (using peach varieties as an example in the Krasnodar Territory). Peach is one of the most demanding crops for temperature stresses of the winter-spring period. The levels of destructive air temperatures (ºС) for fl owering buds of 3 peach varieties were elaborated: Collins, a medium frost resistance; Favourite Morretini, an Italian variety of low frost resistance;  Sochny, a variety of breeding Nikita Botanical Gardens with high frost resistance in phases of winter-spring development. The study covers two long periods (1985-2000 and 2001-2019) in three horticultural zones of the Krasnodar Territory – the Kuban horticultural zone (Krasnodar weather station), Piedmont zone (Goryachy Klyuch weather station), Steppe zone (Tikhoretsk weather station). The manifestations of destructive low temperatures were revealed for each analyzed variety for each period in each studied horticultural zone. The reactions of varieties to destructive temperature stresses of the winterspring period in time and space of the Krasnodar Territory are shown. It has been established that against the background of exposure to environmental limiting factors (low temperatures in the winter-spring period) in the development of fl ower buds of peach varieties under conditions of climate fl uctuations, there’s a change going on in the spectra (sets) of gene products that determine the one and the same quantitative trait – frost resistance, which leads to change the ranks of varieties on this basis. It was determined that in the present time, Sochny variety should be placed in the Kuban, Piedmont and Steppe zones. Favourite Morretini and Collins can be successfully grown in Kuban zone. The results of the research allowed us to make recommendations on the rational placement of peach varieties, taking into account their protective and adaptive reactions to the stresses of the winter-spring period.

The Subtropical Scientifi c Center has a large collection of bulbous plants, including daff odils, dating back to the 1960s. The purpose of this work was to study miniature daff odils attracted to the collection. The research was carried out at the experimental base of the Center in Sochi (Razdolnoye village) in 2013-2019. As the collection was replenished with dwarf varieties, the work was begun on developing a methodology for evaluating this group. Climatic conditions of the research area are typical for the zone of humid subtropics, characterized by a large amount of precipitation, mainly in winter and early spring, and mild winters. During the research, it was noted that the meteorological parameters in the years of research diff ered both from the average long-term indicators and between themselves. When introducing and studying varieties, much attention was paid to both phenological observations and biometric measurements, as well as to varieties’ reproduction ability. It is established that all these parameters largely depend not only on variety characteristics, but also on climatic conditions during the growth and development of plants. Insuffi cient precipitation in some years and relatively cold winters contributed to the later phenophases, reducing their terms and biometric parameters. In general, as a result of long-term observations, it was found that in the humid subtropics of Russia, dwarf daff odils begin their vegetation in the fi rst or second ten-day period of January, which lasts from 118 to 135 days, depending on a variety. Early blooming (in the third ten-day period of February) was recorded in ‘Tete-a-Tete’ and ‘Jetfi re’ cvs. Later blooming was recorded in ‘Jack Snipe’ and ‘Canaliculatus’ cvs. in the second ten-day period of March. As a result of the research, the following miniature varieties with a plant height of less than 20 cm were selected from the daff odils collection: ‘Canaliculatus’, ‘Jack Snipe’, ‘Jetfi re’, ‘Rip van Winkle’, ‘Tete-a-Tete’ and ‘Topolino’. The studied varieties have high ornamental qualities, are resistant to biotic factors and can be used in pot culture and landscaping of open ground.

The purpose of the research was to study the infl uence of microbiological nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers on the yield and general condition of blue honeysuckle plants on sod-podzolic soils in the conditions of the Republic of Mari El. The experiment was conducted according to the following scheme – factor A– varieties: Goluboye Vereteno (control), Elite form No. 50, Pamiati Silaeva, Nizhegorodsky Dessert, Elite form No. 81, Podarok Dergunovu, Lakomka; factor B – fertilization: control (without fertilizer), bacterial fertilizers Azotovit, Phosfatovit, Azotovit + Phosfatovit, the rate of application in each option was 14 l/ha, water – 3000 l/ha, ammofoska (N12, P15, K15), the application dose was 300 kg/ha. The repeatability of the experiment was 3-fold, the placement of plots was rendominized, the term for applying microbiological and mineral fertilizers was the fi rst decade of May, once. The application was superfi cial. Joint application of “Azotovit” and “Phosphatovit” as an early spring top dressing, it allows to signifi cantly increase the yield of blue honeysuckle berries, the increase was 0.4 t/ha with a yield of 2.0 t/ha. The use of bacterial fertilizers Azotovit and Phosphatovit in the initial period of growth of honeysuckle plants has a positive eff ect on their further development and general condition, as well as increases the potential yield. The highest average annual increase was obtained in the option of joint application of bacterial nitrogen and phosphorous agrochemicals in the elite form No. 81 variety (36 cm), which exceeded the control (Goluboye Vereteno variety on an unfertilized background) by 2.1 times.

The research aimed to study seasonal dynamics of content of Nmin (ammonium and nitrate forms of nitrogen) in the soil of a young sour cherry orchard as aff ected by nitrogen fertilizers. The experiment was conducted with 4-years old sour cherry trees of the ‘Turgenevka’ variety during the growing seasons of 2018 and 2019. The experimental orchard was situated at forest-steppe zone of the Central Russian Upland (Orel region) with loamy Haplic Luvisol. The treatments included: 1. Control (without fertilizers); 2. N30K40; 3. N60K80; 4. N90K120; 5. N120K160. Urea and potassium sulfate were used as fertilizers and were soil applied once a year at early spring. Soil samples were collected in soil layers from a depth of 0…20, 20…40 and 40…60 cm fi ve times during the growing seasons: in May, June, July, August and September. Without fertilizers, mineral nitrogen content varied within 3.1…31.7 mg/kg during both growing seasons. The fertilizer treatments resulted in essential rise of Nmin to 4.7…147.6 and 20.3…102.5 mg/kg in 2018 and 2019 growing seasons respectively. In both 2018 and 2019 the Nmin concentration in 0…60 cm soil layer was the highest in May…June, and decreased by 1.3-5 times in July…August. The fertilization by urea in N90 and N120 doses led to at essential increase of soil nitrogen content by 1.6-5 times compared with unfertilized soil in early summer. The movement of mineral nitrogen to the deeper soil layers was observed when applying of nitrogen fertilizers at the dose of N120. The greatest productivity of 4-years old ‘Turgenevka’ sour cherry trees was observed at N120K160 treatment (5.38 and 9.33 kg/tree in 2018 and 2019 respectively), but the increase in yield compared to the control was not statistically signifi cant.

Fruit and small fruit crops are aff ected by various viral diseases, leading to a decrease in yield and product quality, in connection with which the urgent task is to increase the reliability, sensitivity and productivity of diagnosing viruses and other dangerous pathogens. The solution to this problem is carried out by introducing new methods and technologies of molecular diagnostics, with the main attention being paid to decoding nucleotide sequences by sequencing. Sequencing provides a detailed description of the genome of the virus and allows one to get complete epigenomic information. Next generation sequencing (NGS) methods provide parallel testing for the presence of all malicious viruses in a single sample, including identifi cation with a high degree of certainty of non-specifi c and new viruses with the possibility of using diff erent types of samples, for example, pollen. An example of NGS is the Illumina method, based on sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of short RNAs. Modern sequencers can generate from 4 million to 20 billion reads per cycle with read lengths from 50 to 300 nucleotides. The use of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) in conjunction with barcoding allows mass genotyping and characterization of viruses, analysis and elimination of PCR errors while maintaining the real diversity of gene libraries, as well as recognition of mutations in samples. New sequencing methods allow a deeper study of the genetic diversity of the strain composition of the viruses of fruit and small fruit crops. Some of the recently identifi ed and infecting fruit crops belong to the genera of viruses previously unknown for these plant species (for example, Fabavirus, Luteovirus). Complete RNA sequencing was used to identify and characterize the viruses of grape, apple, pear, and cherry. In cultivated Prunus species, 44 viruses have been identifi ed. A new ilarvirus was discovered on the apple tree – the Apple necrotic mosaic virus. The use of HTS for the analysis of fruit and small fruit viruses is becoming increasingly widespread. With a decrease in the cost of sequencing, the introduction and validation of new molecular methods will make it possible in the near future to use them in the diagnosis of viruses by State surveillance authorities.

Viticulture is one of the promising agricultural sectors in the Sevastopol region. In connection with this the goal of the work is a comprehensive analysis of the climatic conditions of the region for the rational distribution of vineyards. Meteorological data (air temperature and precipitation) for the period 1985-2018 and terrain parameters (slope, aspect, altitude) for the Sevastopol region were used. To assess the optimal climatic conditions, the analysis of frost risk, heat supply and water supply (average of absolute minimums of air temperature, growing degree days, Selianinov’s Hydrothermal Coeffi cient, Huglin and Winkler indices) was carried out. The spatial distribution of the listed agroclimatic parameters was modeled using author formulas. Using GIS technologies, maps of the spatial distribution of heat supply and agroclimatic parmeters for the region were obtained. The main part of the territory of the Sevastopol region is located in a zone with a sum of active temperatures of 3500-3900°С. The amount of precipitation during the growing season and the values of the hydrothermal coeffi cient indicate insuffi cient moisture in the region. Most of the region’s territory (72 %) has an average of absolute minimums of air temperature above –14 °C. According to the values of the Huglin index, the main part of the region is in the warm zone (2400-2700 °C), and by the values of the Winkler index – in Region 3 (1667-1944 °C). The heliothermal conditions of the Sevastopol region territory are suffi cient for growing grapes of diff erent groups of varieties and ripening dates. Agroclimatic parameters are characterized by positive trends, which in the future can lead to changes in heat supply and the displacement of terroirs. The territory of the Sevastopol region has favourable agroclimatic conditions, which makes it possible to grow grape varieties from very early to late ripening and placing them on fl at and sloping lands.