One of the main components of the berry business is berry varieties, which are the result of plant breeding programs either in Ukraine or abroad. Ukrainian plant breeding program is one of the components of the country’s food security. This was emphasized by Oleksandr Yareshchenko, Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the Institute of Horticulture of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine (NAAS), during the webinar “Berry Forecast-2021. New season – new problems?” organized by the “APK-Inform: Vegetables and Fruits” project. The media partners of the event were the EastFruit international platform and the Sapienza agromedia agency.

“Ukrainian plant bereeding is a resource, by which we can obtain certain volumes of products and settle the issue of food safety. New varieties are offering a competitive advantage due to the limited access of domestic producers to foreign assortment. In addition, Ukrainian plant breeding sector creates jobs for scientists and technical staff,” Olexandr Yareshchenko said.

Nevertheless, according to Oleksandr Yareshchenko, Ukraine cannot compete with the leading plant breeding companies in Italy and Great Britain. “There are 2-3 varieties of strawberries In Ukraine, one is an early selection and 2 are new varieties. The situation with raspberries is similar. We have 2 Ukrainian varieties in production and so far, there are not any prospects for improvement observed,” the Deputy Director for Scientific Work of the Institute of Horticulture of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine said.

According to Oleksandr Yareshchenko, full plant breeding of blueberries in Ukraine has not been carried out before, since the culture is relatively new for commerce. “At the moment, there are several domestic varieties in the register, which are in fact improved clones of the Elliott blueberry variety ,” the expert emphasized.

Olexandr Yareshchenko noted that the range of black currants is competitive. “Black currant is a crop with which we successfully compete with the leading plant breeding centers (Poland, Great Britain). More than half, if not 2/3 of the varieties of Ukrainian selection are grown in industrial plantations,” Oleksandr Yareshchenko added.

Modern breeding trends

“The plant breeding sector in the world is increasingly acquiring the features of a commercial project. Accordingly, it is becoming more private than public. Even developed countries like the USA, Germany, Great Britain, which until recently allowed state funding for plant breeding programs in different institutions, now are also follow this trend. Breeding is increasingly becoming private by means of domestic resources, grants from government or international foundations. There are two main formats: either large companies can finance plant breeding programs from their own budget, or association of producers, processors, companies interested in creating a commercial product will do so,” the expert said.

Сообщение Berry business: modern global trends and advantages of Ukrainian varieties появились сначала на EastFruit.

Scientists of the Sverdlovsk Horticultural Breeding Station registered a new winter-resistant haskap variety Polyanka Kotova in the State Register of Protected Selected Achievements.

According to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, this is the first variety of haskap bred in the Middle Urals. It has the name of one of the authors of the variety, an outstanding breeder Leonid Kotov.

The new variety is characterized by high frost resistance, good yield (more than 3 kg of berries from a bush) and an original dessert taste. Thus, the berries are recommended to be consumed fresh, but they are also perfect for processing, such as making jam from mashed berries.

“Kotov received the new variety from reseeding the seeds of Kamchatka haskap back in 1985. Finally, the outstanding seedling was transferred to the Sverdlovsk Horticultural Breeding Station to be studied in a common agro background with other introduced varieties. According to the study results in 2011, Polyanka Kotova variety was transferred for state variety testing. 

Breeding and registering a new sort of berry culture is a long and thorough work. However, today we have a variety obtained in our soil and climatic zone, suitable for cultivation in the Sverdlovsk, Kirov, Nizhny Novgorod regions, Perm Territory, and the Republic of Mari El (included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements in the Volga-Vyatka region)”, said Nadezhda Yevtushenko, a senior researcher at the Sverdlovsk Horticultural Breeding Station, Candidate of Agricultural Sciences, co-author of the Polyanka Kotova haskap variety.

Polyanka Kotova has a vigorous, well-leafy bush, elongated-oval or slightly pear-shaped fruits with delicate pulp, and an excellent sour-sweet taste. Besides, with proper watering, berries reach 1 gram or more. The new variety is of early-medium ripening in the first or second decade of June. Besides, it is resistant to pests and diseases, and it is not affected by apical aphids, ticks, spots.

The variety testing by the state commission lasted nine years. Experts checked the plant for all the declared characteristics: ripening, yield, resistance to diseases, size and taste of the fruit, and many others.

Сообщение Russian agricultural scientists developed a new winter-resistant haskap variety  появились сначала на EastFruit.