INTRODUCTORY SEARCH AND MOBILIZATION OF PRUNUS DULCIS (MILL.) D.A.WEBB SPECIMENS FOR RESEARCH IN KHOROL BOTANICAL GARDEN

Abstract

The Khorol Botanical Garden is presented as a point of introduction of subtropical fruit plants, where Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A. Webb occupies a prominent place among the studied species, since the value of the stone core of this culture is widely known.
 Odesa, Zaporizhzhya and Cherkasy regions are shown as regions for the selection of introduction material, because in the last decade, thanks to the activities of the NGO «Ukrainian Walnut Association» and amateur gardeners, P. dulcis has become increasingly widespread.
 The expediency of selecting cultivars according to their description is substantiated, because the determining feature is the average and late flowering of plants, since in the conditions of the forest-steppe of Ukraine, early flowering ones can suffer from reverse frosts, which significantly affects the yield of the crop.
 The results of the search for P. dulcis for the mobilization of samples to the Khorol Botanical Garden are highlighted. It was established that in the steppe zone of Ukraine, a significant number of varieties of Ukrainian and foreign selection programs are cultivated, which bear fruit every year and form full seeds. The high adaptation of cultivars, their plasticity and winter resistance was shown, which made it possible to identify and mobilize samples of the following mid- and late-flowering varieties and forms: ‘Amaretto’, ‘Papershell’, ‘Vairo’, ‘Victoria’, ‘Dessertny’, ‘Meteor’, Pervenets Khramov’, ‘Foros’, ‘E5 Borozan’, ‘M 41 Alex’, ‘Ferragnès’, ‘Fentsia’, ‘Thin-skinned’, forms 9-A,1-D, 3-E, F–37 ‘Louise’ , F–58–12 ‘Paper’, № 1 (weeping), № 2, F–48.
 It is noted that the collected collection of P. dulcis samples will be further investigated for pollination with the establishment of differentiation between self-incompatible and self-compatible varieties and forms.
 It is emphasized that self-incompatible varieties, while producing viable pollen and ovules, are unable to fertilize the seed primordia of the same variety and, as a result, produce a harvest. Because of this, the presence of two or more varieties in a separate garden is necessary to ensure the transfer of pollen from the anthers of the flowers of one variety to the receptacles of the flowers of another. Insufficient pollination is a real loss of yield, so to ensure a good level of yield, the maximum number of flowers must be pollinated. In P. dulcis, the reduction in fruit number resulting from any pollination problem is rarely offset by the increase in fruit size and weight that occurs in other fruit crops.