A DWARF PEAR VARIETIES CREATION IS THE PRIORITY SELECTION PART

Abstract

The creation of dwarf highly productive pear cultivars of intensive type for central Russia will contribute to the development of the horticultural industry and import substitution of fruit products. The article presents the results of the long-term work of a team of researchers of the Russian Research Institute of Fruit Crop Breeding to create intensive pear cultivars of restrained growth, with a large adaptability potential and a set of economically valuable traits. Such work is based on the method of combinative selection using donors of monogenically determined dwarfism (gene D), as well as donors and sources of high winter hardiness, resistance to fungal diseases, fertility, yield, high commodity and taste qualities of fruits. In the course of targeted crosses, a series of seedlings were obtained, all of them had a compact habitus due to the presence of the D gene in the genome; the height of the seedlings at the age of 14 on average for all studied hybrids was 212.9 cm, the crown width was 71.4 cm. Such compactness of the crown makes it possible to implement super-dense pear plantings and increase the profitability of cultivating this crop. As a result of careful selection, a number of genotypes were isolated from the resulting hybrid fund of dwarf genotypes (1-4-38, 1-6-74, 1-6-79, 1-6-83, 1-5-62, 1-6-57). The long-term observations and evaluation have shown that the selected genotypes are characterized by sufficient winter hardiness and resistance to diseases, as well as a complex of economically valuable traits (early fertility, good fruit quality, an average weight of 120-130 g in 1-6-74, 1-6-79, and 1-6-83 and an average weight of 120-150 g in 1-4-38, 1-5-62). These genotypes are promising both for breeding work and for laying intensive type orchards.