USE OF THE APPLE GENE POOL OF NORTH CAUCASUS FEDERAL SCIENTIFIC CENTER OF HORTICULTURE, VITICULTURE, WINEMAKING FOR THE BREEDING IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOUTHERN SORTIMENT

The objects of research are representatives of the genus Malus growing in the Kuban zone of the North Caucasus region. The purpose of the research is the breeding improvement of the of apple southern assortment on the basis of the development of the scientific direction “Introduction, variety study and breeding of pome crops in the North Caucasus and the creation of promising domestic varieties with improved adaptability and quality. The history of the creation and development of this scientific direction of the scientific school “Southern Horticulture” in the North Caucasus, the founder of which was Lev M. Sergeev (1886-1980. Under his leadership, the first breeding programs for seed crops (apple, pear, quince) for the North Caucasus region were developed, the priority of which was to improve the characteristics of productivity and quality characteristics of fruits; with his active participation, a network of gossortuchastok was organized in the North Caucasus and by the end of 1947 a zoned assortment of the main fruit crops of the south of Russia was formed. At present, the development of the above-mentioned scientific direction has been continued in the works of L. M. Sergeev, original studies of which are based on the use of a complex of classical and improved methods for creating and evaluating breeding material, modern achievements in molecular genetics, biochemistry, cytology, and are aimed at creating domestic varieties with improved productivity and quality of fruits, with high resistance to abiostressors and the main fungal pathogens of the North Caucasus. In recent years, the gene pool of the apple tree has been significantly updated, numbering 436 specimens of various ecological and geographical origin and ploidy, most of which are from Russia (49 %), Western European countries (18 %), and the USA (17 %). Over the years of research, scientists from North Caucasian Federal Scientific Center of Horticulture, Viticulture, Wine-making have created and submitted for State variety testing 81 new apple varieties, including 25 varieties created in collaboration with scientists from All- Russian Research Institute for Fruit Crops Breeding, I. V. Michurin Federal Research Center and others. 36 apple varieties obtained on the basis of the use of spontaneous and induced mutagenesis, an improved method of polyploidy, directed, repeated and geographically distant hybridization were included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements approved for use in the North Caucasus region.