The article presents the results of studying the fatty acid composition of fruits in 23 walnut cultivars and elite forms from the gene pool at the North Caucasian Federal Scientific Center of Horticulture, Viticulture, Wine-making as well as their genetic relationships based on microsatellite genotyping. The total fat and the content of individual polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, and saturated fatty acids in the fruits were determined. Ten microsatellite DNA markers were used to analyze genetic diversity. The total fat content in the fruit kernel (oil content) was found to vary within the range of 67.54–77.85 %. The Rodina cultivar (>75 %) and the elite forms Slavyanin, Shchedry, Saturn, Vengersky, Izyashny, and Konkistador (about 75%) have the highest oil content. In terms of the polyunsaturated fatty acid content in the oil, the cultivar Pelan (79.72 %) and the elite forms Slavyanin (75.59 %), Saturn (75.60 %), Topaz (77.46 %) stand apart. The cultivars Zarya Vostoka (73.97 %), Urozhainy (74.44 %), and Dachny (74.78 %), as well as the elite forms Izyashny (72.29 %), Maslenichny (72.47 %), Yuzhanin (71.80 %), and Vengersky (71.79 %) are also valuable in this respect. The samples Izyashny, Konkistador, Dachny, and Slavyanin have the most optimal Omega-6 (linoleic acid) to Omega-3 (alpha-linolenic acid) ratio (within the range of 3/1–4/1). Genetic diversity analysis determined the average number of alleles per locus to be 6.700, and the average effective number of alleles per locus to be 4.116, which indicates a relatively high level of genetic diversity. According to the results of genetic relationship analysis of the studied sample, two groups with the greatest genetic similarity were identified. These findings are consistent with the origin of the samples. In the identified groups of the strongest genetic similarity, samples possessing both individual economic traits and their complexes were selected. Pairs of samples promising for selective breeding were proposed. The most valuable samples for breeding include Saturn, Pelan, Urozhainy, Zarya Vostoka, and Shchedry (group № 1) as well as Slavyanin, Rodina, Dachny, Izyashny, and Konkistador (group № 2).

The article presents a comprehensive analysis of 40 olive cultivars and hybrid forms bred and introduced by the Nikitsky Botanical Garden. The study examines their yield, oil content in fruits, fruit weight, flesh-to-pit ratio, frost resistance, and timing of the onset of the main phenological phases. The increase in the olive cultivation area in the Mediterranean region as well as beyond the traditional olive production areas is largely driven by the growth of olive oil consumption. This motivates producers to increase olive fruit production. The research aims to identify new genetic sources for breeding and to identify candidates for new cultivars. The study was undertaken in 2022–2024 on ex situ plants of the NBG-NSC collection. The Italian cultivar Corregiolo and the cultivar Nikitskaya Krupnoplodnaya adapted through NBG-NSC breeding were used as a standard in assessing the phenorhythmics and productivity components. The results revealed significant phenotypic variability in morphometric, biochemical, and physiological traits. Using k-means clustering, we categorized genotypes into groups which were identified based on individual traits significant for breeding. These traits are as follows: large fruit size (Nikitskaya Krupnoplodnaya, Tiflisskaya, Ascolano, Santa Caterina, Tolgomskaya, Otur, Manita, Krymchanka, Nikitskaya Zhemchuzhina, Tavrida); high yield (Corregiolo, Nikitskaya Krupnoplodnaya, Nikitskaya, Otur, Tifl isskaya, Ellada, Tavrida, Krymchanka, Agatovaya, Obilnaya, Nikitskaya Zhemchuzhina); high oil content in fruits (Corregiolo, Nikitskaya Krupnoplodnaya, Nikitskaya, Razzo, Otur, Primorskaya, Kolkhoznitsa); a good flesh-to-pit ratio (Piangente, Santa Caterina, Tolgomskaya, Ellada, Konservnaya, and Obilnaya); increased frost resistance (Tossiyskaya, Rannyaya, Tavrida, Ellada, Universalnaya, Krymchanka); early flowering (Lomashenskaya, Pulazeqin, Otur, Nikitskaya Krupnoplodnaya, Tiflisskaya, Tlemcen, Universalnaya, Izyashnaya, Yubileynaya, Rannyaya, Konservnaya, Nikitskaya Zhemchuzhina); early fruit ripening (Dalmatica, Kalinjot, Nikitskaya, Universalnaya, Izyashnaya, Yubileynaya, Oktyabrskaya, Rannyaya, Primorskaya, Konservnaya, Obilnaya, Krymchanka, Nikitskaya Zhemchuzhina, Tavrida, Manita, Ellada). The cultivars were grouped according to a set of the major economic traits in comparison with the cultivar model using hierarchical clustering. The Tossiyskaya, Nikitskaya, Tiflisskaya, Nikitskaya Krupnoplodnaya, Otur, Manita, Ellada, Tavrida, Nikitskaya Zhemchuzhina, Krymchanka, Agatovaya, Obilnaya genotypes showed the closest similarity to the cultivar model.

Under conditions of apple scab (Venturia inaequalis) epiphytotics, optimizing instrumental approaches adopted to assess the physiological state of plants becomes an urgent task. The study aims to develop and test a method for non-destructive rapid assessment of nitrogen balance in apple tree leaves (Malus domestica Borkh.) using the nitrogen balanceindex (NBI) to analyze the effectiveness of various fungicide protection schemes. The experiment began in 2024 as part of a three-year study into the biological effectiveness of fungicides for apple scab in the apple orchard of Solnechnogorsky District of Moscow Oblast on the Mantet, Melba and Lobo cultivars. The experiment included four variants: two proposed schemes under study with sequential triple administration of a contact fungicide, followed by double application of a systemic preparation. Scheme No. 1 involved using Merpan, WP (500 g/kg captan) – 3 kg/ha + Znatok, WDG (500 g/kg trifloxystrobin) – 0.14 kg/ha. Scheme No. 2 included Shrapnel, WSG (700 g/kg dithianon) 0.7 kg/ha + CipAgro, WDG (750 g/kg cyprodinil) – 0.2 l/ha, commercial fungicide protection system (with a predominance of difenoconazole) and control (water treatment). NBI index measurements were performed on 3 July and 3 September using a Dualex device on leaves of three age groups. Comparison of the methods showed that the 30 × 1 approach (30 points on one leaf) provides less variability (SD ranges from 1.99 to 3.62) compared to the 6 × 4 approach (6 points on each of 4 leaves). Leaf age had the greatest effect on NBI (24.7% of variance, p < 0.05). The study established reliable inverse correlations between the NBI level and the spread (ρ = -0.615, p <0.05) and development (ρ = -0.601, p <0.05) of scab. It was observed that the protection scheme with captan and trifloxystrobin enabled the maximum increase in NBI during the growing season (up to +5.25 units). The obtained results confirm the effectiveness of using NBI as an objective criterion for assessing fungicidal protection under conditions of high infection pressure.

Apple scab (caused by Venturia inaequalis (Cooke) G. Winter) is one of the most harmful diseases of this crop. Therefore, when cultivating susceptible cultivars, it is necessary to implement a set of protective measures based on fungicide use. This increases the cost of the output and reduces the environmental friendliness of production. Consequently, alternative control methods are currently being sought. One such promising approach involves utilizing biological agents which have an antagonistic effect on the scab pathogen. The article examines the prospects of using yeast as a biological agent to suppress the scab pathogen. The study aims to evaluate the antagonistic activity of yeast strains against the pathogen V. inaequalis under microbiological culture conditions. The research objects were yeast strains of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae species and the non-Saccharomyces genera. A total of 34 isolates was obtained from the surface of grape berries selected in the vineyards of Krasnodar Krai. Another object was an apple scab strain isolated from scab-affected leaves. The antagonistic activity of yeast was evaluated using the dual culture technique on an agarized peptone-yeast medium. As a result, the research identified the antagonistic effects of several studied yeast strains on the scab pathogen. The colony diameter of the pathogen culture ranged from 19.0 (nS23) to 29.3 mm (S1, S8) depending on the antagonistic activity of the yeast strains. In the controls, this figure equaled 35.6 mm. Taking into account the average values, the non-Saccharomyces genera strains had a stronger antagonistic effect on V. inaequalis, unlike the Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains. The inhibitory activity evaluation enabled the identification of strains nS22, nS23, nS26, nS27 which exhibited inhibitory capacity of 43.8–46.6 %. Subsequent studies of the ability of strains nS22, nS23, nS26, nS27 to suppress V. inaequalis bioactivity under orchard coenosis conditions may further confirm their antagonistic properties. As a result, it will be possible to propose strains for developing biofungicides to combat apple scab.

Pink Lady apples are in strong demand among consumers due to their excellent taste, aroma, and juiciness. Producers value the cultivar for its high yield, good transportability, and long shelf life. The research aims to study the effectiveness of four existing (NA, NA+1-MCP, ULO, ULO+1-MCP) and two innovative (DСA, DRA+1-MCP) technologies for storing fruits of the commercial Pink Lady apple cultivar to develop a year-round storage system. The study used apple fruits of the 2021 and 2022 crops grown in the Southern Federal District (Stavropol Krai, LLC Sady Stavropolya). The samples under investigation were stored at temperatures of +1 and +3 °C under normal atmosphere (NA: O₂ – 21 %, CO₂ – 0.03 %), controlled atmosphere with ultra-low oxygen (ULO: O₂ – 1.2 %, CO₂ – 1.2 %), and dynamic controlled atmosphere (DCA: O₂ < 0.8 %, CO₂ – 0.8 %) conditions combined with post-harvest treatment with 1-MCP and without it. It was found that fruits with acceptable initial quality exhibited high keeping quality and resistance to many physiological disorders and fungal diseases even during long-term storage (8 months or more). The set of recommended storage methods for Pink Lady cultivar fruits ensures the preservation of high-quality apples for 2.5–3 months (NA), 3–5 months (NA+1-MCP), 8–9 months (ULO), 9–10 months (DCA). The elimination of external (skin greasiness, superficial scald) as well as internal diseases and damage, the preservation of consistently high firmness and other organoleptic characteristics (juiciness, freshness, taste, and aroma) after long-term (8 months or more) storage of fruits indicates the prospects of the DCA method regarding the studied cultivar. Moreover, the possibility of storing fruit at higher temperatures and the elimination of additional chemical loading in the form of 1-MCP without loss of quality increase the attractiveness of this method for both producers and consumers.

The article presents the results of research on the use of deep learning methods based on SegFormer models for semantic image segmentation and autonomous navigation of robotic platforms in rows of orchard plantings. The study compared different versions of SegFormer models pretrained on ADE20K and CityScapes. The data sets show a difference in accuracy of up to 4–7 % and diff er in the number of classes and the number of model parameters (from 3.7 million for B0 to 82 million for B5). For transfer learning of the models, a dataset was prepared and labeled. The dataset consisted of 1200 images of rows of orchard plantings with annotations for six classes of objects. These included the class Tree (apple trees with a height of ≥1.5 m), the class Near-Trunk (zones around the trunk, with a radius of 0.5 m), the class Pole (support structures with a height of ≥2 m), the class Sky (the sky area, including clouds), the class Track (row spacing, 3 m wide), and the class Background (the surrounding environment, other background objects) in Robofl ow. To expand the dataset and improve the quality of the models, we performed data augmentation (image rotation, brightness correction). The experiments showed that increasing the dimensionality of hidden layers in the SegFormer B0–B5 models enhanced feature extraction from images, correlating with the growth metrics for semantic segmentation. The comparative analysis of 12 versions of SegFormer models (B0–B5) identifi ed the optimal ratio between accuracy and performance. For instance, the B4 SegFormer version achieves the highest accuracy (Val Dice=0.7927) and is recommended for high-detail mapping tasks. The B0 SegFormer version ensures the highest processing speed (1.52 FPS) and is applicable for real-time navigation. The designed trajectory construction algorithm based on DBSCAN clustering and RANSAC approximation showed high efficiency in eliminating noise in segmentation and generating movement routes. Thus, robotic platforms are enabled to adapt to dynamic conditions, including changes in row geometry and background interference. The developed algorithm will improve positioning accuracy and reduce the dependence of robotic platforms on expensive multisensor systems.