Ivan V. Michurin: On the 160th anniversary of the birth of the Russian Burbank

Abstract

October 2015 marks the 160th anniversary of the birth of Ivan V. Michurin, naturalist and plant breeder, who significantly contributed to the progress made in fruit and berry crops and ornamental plants, as well as the elaboration and improvement of breeding methods. He created new cultivars; considerably extended gardening northward and eastward; introduced several new berry species, such as the actinidia and black chokeberry; and pioneered using dwarf and semidwarf fruit tree stocks in Russia. Michurin initiated a mass movement of fancier gardeners and horticulture experimenters in the Soviet Union, who changed and significantly extended the set of species and geographical range of fruit and berry cultivation in the Soviet Union. He not only created a vast collection of fruit crop varieties and species from around the world but also organized their involvement and efficient use in breeding via hybridization. Michurin created new artificial plant species, such as the cerapadus (a hybrid of the cherry and Amur chokecherry), as well as peach, almond, and other varieties new for the region. In total, he created 132 commercial cultivars, 11 of which are not only cultivated now but were also included in the National Register of Protected Plant Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation. Having lived a long and productive life, Michurin passed away before he was not only announced a “great transformer of nature” but also before he was appointed as the founder of Michurin’s progressive theory, a Soviet creative Darwinism. Later, Michurin’s name was in part rehabilitated and separated from Lysenkoism.