Corylus L. specimen’s conservation and reproduction in the botanic gardens and dendrological parks: an example of Corylus chinensis Franch.

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Aim. Value of cultivated Corylus L. as a fruit, ornamental and oilseed crop with prospects for use in the food industry, feed production and pharmacy are grown under the hazelnut name, makes it necessary to improve the methods of conservation and reproduction of Corylus spp., which can be valuable sources of initial material for breeding. Involvement in a hybridization of the well-known cultivars of hazelnuts with Chinese hazel (C. chinensis Franch.) contributed to the cre- ation of several new cultivars, in particular ‘Sofiyivsky 1’ (‘Ukraine-50’×C. chinensis), Sofiyivsky 2’ (‘Dar Pavlenka’×C. chinensis), and ’Sofiyivsky 15’ (‘Garibaldi’×C. chinensis). However, in the process of studying the morphological features
 
 of C. chinensis from the collection of NDP “Sofiyivka” and analysis of the effectiveness of its interspecific interbreeding with other Corylus revealed their differences from the data given in the literature sources, which initiated our research. Materials and methods. Study of species-specific features of C. chinensis, hybridization, progeny analysis, clonal selection, propagation of selected seedlings, and generalization of the observations were performed using commonly used methods. Results and discussion. Comparison of morphological features of the C. chinensis imported from the Berlin Botanical Garden (Botanischer Garten Berlin-Dahlem) and its vegetative descendants with descriptions and photos given in the online database founded by the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (Great Britain), showed the similarity of features of leaves, bark, and trunk with incomplete similarity of the infructescence, its shape, and downiness. It may indicate a hybrid origin of the introduced plant (Corylus…, 2017). The obtained data related to the value of C. сhinensis in hybridization with hazelnut cultivars using its male parent contradict the literature data that report on successful hybridization in direct combinations of C. chinensis×C. avellana and the incompatibility of these species in reciprocal crossing. Conclusions. It was found that the studied C. chinensis plants of generative age generally correspond to the descriptions of the species given in scientific sources and the electronic databases “Plants of the world Online” and “World Flora Online” in their morphological characteristics. However, the identified certain discrepancies indicate the need to continue their study, and the study of the others obtained from native sources of C. chinensis representatives, cultivars, and numerous interspecific hybrids using molecular and genetic DNA analysis methods.