The article presents the results of breeding research with representatives of the peony genus complex (Paeonia L.) at the South Ural Botanical Garden-Institute of the Ufa Federal Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The study aims to create highly ornamental cultivars of hybrid peony (P. hybrida hort.) for the climatic zone of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The cultivars are characterized by high resistance to diseases and pests, as well as by winter hardiness and heat tolerance. Since the 1950s of the 20th century, a collection fund of the Paeonia genus complex has been formed in the Ufa botanical garden. This enabled selection of parental forms with specified ornamental traits for hybridization. In 1999-2000, the garden staff conducted crossing combinations between certain peony cultivars. Also, they collected seeds from open pollination. As a result of sowing the obtained seeds outdoors, about 200 seedlings from controlled pollination and 22 from open pollination were grown. When the hybrids reached the reproductive period of development, they were carefully selected according to the main ornamental traits (color, doubleness, flower size). Specimens superior to the parental cultivars or especially noticeable for one such trait were selected. Upon reaching the period of full and mass flowering, the selected hybrids were evaluated according to the methodology of the State Variety Test of the Russian Federation. Of these, 11 promising hybrid seedlings distinguished by their ornamental features were selected for transfer to the State Variety Site for plant breeding testing. The article describes new hybrid peony cultivars (‘Bashkirskaya Zhemchuzhinka’, ‘Bashkirskiy Suvenir’, ‘Geliya’, ‘Kruzhevo Sada’, ‘Minzifa’, ‘Pamyati A.S. Sakharovoy’, ‘Ural’skaya Fantaziya’, ‘Ufimskiy Val’s’, ‘Ufimskiy Rassvet’, ‘Yubileynyy YuUBSI’, ‘Yantarnoye Ozherel’ye’) included in the State Register. All cultivars bred in the botanical garden are resistant to adverse weather conditions, pests, and diseases. Moreover, they are winter-hardy and drought tolerant. We recommend including them in the assortment of cultivated plants used for soft landscaping in the populated areas of Bashkortostan and generally in central Russia.

The Oryol Oblast (Russia) is characterized by years with intensive droughts and dry winds in June and July, i.e., during vegetation and fruiting of fruit and berry crops. These periods make up about 20-55 %. We set out to evaluate the drought tolerance of apple-tree varieties based on their leaf water content indicators under the conditions of the Oryol Oblast. The research objects were the following apple varieties: ‘Ligol’ (Polish selection), ‘Honey Crisp’ (American selection), ‘Rozhdestvenskoe’, ‘Pamyat Semakina’, ‘Minister Kiselev’, ‘Orlovskoe Polesie’, ‘Vyatich’,‘Orlovsky Partizan’, and ‘Zdorovye’ (VNIISPK selection) on a medium-grown rootstock 54-118. The experiment was laid out in the fall of 2016; the planting scheme was 5 x 2.5 m. The drought tolerance of the apple varieties was studied by the method of artificial dehydration in 2-fold repetition (5 leaves in each repetition). Leaves were dried in an Espec PSL- 2KPH environmental test chamber in metal vessels at a temperature of 105 °C to constant weight. Water loss by apple leaves was determined at the time of completion of the dehydration process (following 4 h). To determine the ability of leaves to restore their water content, leaves were weighed and spread out for wilting. After 4 h, the leaves were weighed and left to saturate with water for 12 h. Over two years of research during the vegetation period under the specified conditions, an average level of leaf tissue water content was observed in all the studied varieties. The highest index of water deficit under the field conditions in August 2019-2020 was observed in ‘Orlovsky Partizan’ (12.3 and 10 %). On average, during the research period after drought simulation, apple-tree varieties were characterized by an average level of water deficit. Its lowest level (on average for the vegetation period, i.e., June, July, and August) was noted in ‘Rozhdestvenskoe’ (29.5 %) and ‘Vyatich’ (27.4 %) varieties. A high ability to restore the water content of leaf tissues after drought and subsequent saturation of their water under laboratory conditions was noted in ‘Rozhdestvenskoe’ (128.5 %) and ‘Orlovsky Partizan’ (127.7 %) varieties. Our studies showed that apple varieties on medium-grown rootstock 54-118 under the conditions of the Oryol Oblast have an average index of drought tolerance.

Organic farming development involves minimizing or completely abandoning the use of mineral fertilizers in favor of organic ones. Regarding the cultivation of medicinal and aromatic crops, in the Pharmacopoeia this thesis is specified by the fact that using minimum synthetic substances, the obtained medicinal raw materials (MRM) will be environmentally friendly, without residual impurities of pesticides and heavy metals. The development of the organic farming industry entails the appearance of more and more new products on the market. One such source of secondary raw materials is black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) zoohumus. The article aims to show the feasibility of using its alkaline extracts in cutting propagation of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) in protected ground conditions. Plants were grown for 60 days in pot culture on a neutralized peat growing medium. The liquid zoohumus supplement was applied to the soil once by drenching the growing medium with concentrations of 0.2, 1.0, and 2.2 % of the working solution. The control was the variant of growing plants on water. At the end of the experiment, biometric and biochemical evaluations of the resulting green yield were made. The fatty acid profile of leaf extracts was analyzed by GC-MS. The study showed that M. piperita L. has a low yield of saturated fatty acids and a high percentage of unsaturated fatty acid synthesis. The dominant components among the latter were C18:3 (omega-ω3) and C18:2 (omega-ω6). Calculation of their ratio index showed an increase in the values in the zoohumus variants. In addition to nutritional value improvement, an increase in this parameter may mean an increase in membrane fluidity, which enhances the effect of cross-adaptation to multiple stresses in plants. At the same time, in comparison with the controls, the plants grown on a medium with zoohumus application turn out to be shorter, but bushier in terms of the shoot height to mass ratio. Having compared the obtained values for other nutritional indices, we concluded that the optimal concentration of the working solution for zoohumus application on a solid growing medium equals 1.0 %.

One of the most dangerous diseases of woody plants is root rot. In the plantations of domestic apple, the main fruit crop of the North Caucasus, in nurseries and young orchards, an increase in the harmfulness of soil toxinogenic fungi from the genus Fusarium, as well as the genus Phytophthora has been observed in recent years. In the Russian Federation, there are no registered preparations against apple tree root rot. Therefore, the search for effective fungicides against this disease is a promising research area. In connection with the processes of ecologization of plant protection systems and due to the spread of organic farming methods, it is necessary to select and develop preparations of biological origin that provide a multidirectional effect against phytopathogenic fungi. The study is an in vitro investigation of the biological efficiency of various microbiological preparations against fungi of the genera Fusarium and Phytophthora which cause the development of apple tree root rot. The preparations differed in the number and nature of components and contained both fungal and bacterial organisms. The biological efficiency of the microbiological preparations was analyzed in vitro by agar block method with agar plate inversion. It was shown that the bioagents of the preparations “Agrobiovit K1”, liquid (L), “Vitaplan”, wettable powder (WP), “Sporobacterin”, WP, and “Fitosporin-M”, L displayed antifungal activity against the pathogens of Fusarium and Phytophthora apple tree root rot. Their biological efficiency was medium to high. Under in vitro conditions, the highest activity against the three studied species of the genus Fusarium was observed in the experimental preparation “Agrobiovit K1”, L. The most effective preparations against the Phytophthora sp. isolate were “Vitaplan”, WP and “Sporobacterin”, WP. It was also shown that multicompound preparations, as well as preparations containing both fungal and bacterial components had higher efficiency compared to single-compound ones.

To produce a stable and high yield of high-quality apple fruit, it is important to form optimal protection and nutrition systems. This work aims to study the impact of plant protection products in tank mixtures with fertilizers on scab development inhibition, fruit quality, and productivity. The research was conducted in 2020-2021 at JSC Dubovoe on the ‘Bogatyr’ cultivar. The degree of scab development on leaves and fruit, biological efficiency, yield per tree, and the content of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper, zinc, manganese, and molybdenum in the leaves were determined. In the variant when protection products and foliar fertilizers were used in one tank mixture,a decrease in scab development and an increase in biological efficiency were observed. In this variant, the scab index ranged from 0.2 to 2.5 % for leaves and from 0.1 to 0.5 % for fruit. Biological efficiency reached 90.7 % for leaves and 97.9 % for fruit. The application of fertilizers in the variant with an experimental protection system ensured the maximum yield (39 and 48 kg/tree) and the highest proportion of first-grade fruit (86 and 92 %). The use of foliar fertilizers optimized the content of macro- and microelements in the leaves, which increased the effectiveness of plant protection agents.

The Russian Black Sea coast is a favorable region for peach cultivation. Nevertheless, the humid subtropical climate promotes the active development of one of the most harmful diseases of the crop, i. e. leaf curl (Taphrina deformans (Berk.) Tul). The main method of protecting peach is chemical. However, long-term use of fungicides entails a serious ecological burden on the agrocenosis and leads to the emergence of resistance in phytopathogens. Thus, analyzing the efficiency of preparations that increase the natural immunity of plants is a relevant area. In the experiment, we studied the impact of plant growth regulators with an immune-inducing effect applied once during the flower bud stage on peach resistance to leaf curl and crop yield. The research was carried out in 2022-2023 in peach plantations using standard methods. The efficiency of preparations controlling leafcurl was assessed against an average infection background (the disease development in the control was 33.4 % in 2022 and 24.8 % in 2023). Treatment with the standard (Delan, water-soluble granules (dithianon, 700 g/kg); Scor, emulsifiable concentrate (difenoconazole, 250 g/l)) reduced the intensity of disease development by 2.9-5.7 times. A single application of the growth regulators Albit, Zerebra Agro, and Stimmunol EF during the flower bud period enabled an increase in the biological efficiency of the protective measures against peach leaf curl at the peak of the disease development (May) by 58.6-74.3 % relative to the reference variant. Moreover, the crop yield grew by 37.7-57.9 %.

Researchers have repeatedly emphasized that the level of anthocyanin accumulation correlates with fruit color. For a quick and more objective assessment of color, computer vision has been actively used, which makes it possible to determine color coordinates with high accuracy. The study aims to test the hypothesis about the feasibility of determining the anthocyanin concentration in raspberry fruit using color coordinates calculated from color digital images. The fruit of 51 raspberry cultivar samples from the genetic collection of the Federal Horticultural Research Center for Breeding, Agrotechnology and Nursery served as the research object. After collection, fruit of the cultivar samples were photographed using a myRuler v.5.2 N104401 scale ruler with a reference set of hues. To calculate and analyze color coordinates, three basic color spaces were used: RGB, CIE L*a*b*, and CIE LCH. After photographing, the anthocyanin content in fresh berries was determined by pHdifferential spectrophotometry according to GOST 32709-2014. The chemical analysis results were compared with the image processing data in order to obtain and analyze functional dependencies linking the concentration of anthocyanins with the color coordinates of fruit. Visual evaluation did not confirm the assumptions about a pronounced direct positive relationship between fruit color intensity and the level of anthocyanin accumulation. This correlation persisted only between groups of cultivars: yellow-fruited < red-fruited < black-fruited. It was not observed within the red-fruited group. Additional division of red-fruited cultivar samples into dull and glossy ones did not significantly change the validity coefficients of approximation. Differentiation of the raspberry samples according to the hue coordinate value (the H coordinate in the CIE LCH color space) into two groups, namely crimson and scarlet, led to a nearly twofold increase in the validity coefficients of approximation. The division of red-fruited raspberry samples according to the coordinate value of the hue into four groups (crimson, red, scarlet, and orange) led to an additional increase in the validity coefficients of the approximations of the functions for determining anthocyanin concentration. The obtained dependencies enable the estimation of anthocyanin concentration within ± 3 mg/100 g while simultaneously using the color coordinates a* and b* of the CIE L* a* b* color space and the color C coordinates of the CIE LCH color space for analysis.