FRUCTIFICATION OF VACCINIUM GENUS IN MARI EL REPUBLIC

Abstract

Introduction. Ericaceae plants, including bog bilberry (Vaccinium uliginosum), cranberry (Oxycoccus), clusterberry (Vaccinium vitisidaea) and blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) take a special place among non-traditional fruit and berry crops. They are currently grown on a commercial scale in North America and Europe. There is a tendency to cultivate these crops in Russia as well. Goals and objectives. The work is aimed at the research into mass and morphometric indicators of clusterberry (vaccinium vitisidaea) and marsh cranberry (vaccinium macrocarpon) cul-tivated in the Botanical Garden-Institute of Volga State University of Technology. The research focused on the following 6 taxons of the Vaccinium type: V. vitis-idaea L. and 4 taxons of V. mac-rocarpon Aiton. Using the established practices we studied the following parameters: size of berries, shape index, mass of 100 berries, yield of moisture-free raw material, number of berries in a racemule. Results. Variations in the size and mass of berries of V. vitis-idaea in research were statistically insignificant, which is indicative of lower sensitivity of the type crop to the changes of abiotic factors of the environment and demonstrated more stable fruitification. The research into clusterberry in terms of the size and mass of its berries were combined in one cluster. Depending on the crop sort, the yield of moisture-free raw material varied from 15.0 % to 21.2 %. The clusterberry was represented in multiple fruit system ranging from 3.1 to 9.4 berries. The largest variation of this indicator was evidenced from the sorts ‘Koralle’ and ‘Runo Bielawskie’. The diameter values of the cranberry sorts varied from 11.3 to 14.1 mm, the length values varied from 14.0 to 18.0 mm, the mass values of 100 berries varied from 71.5 to 116.2 g. The sorts of cranberries in terms of size and mass of their berries were combined into one cluster. The yield of moisture-free raw material of cranberries had the following mean values: from 12.7 % to 15.4 %. Conclusions. Ranging in terms of lowering of the long-term average annual value of berry mass of clusterberry was as follows: V. v. ‘Ida’, V. v. ‘Kostromskaya Pink’, V. vitis-idaea, V. v. ‘Sussi’, V. v. ‘Koralle’, V. v. ‘Runo Bielawskie’; the same of cranberry sorts was as follows: ‘Stevens’, ‘Ben Lear’, ‘Wilcox’, ‘Mc. Farlin’. The lowering of berry mass was caused by the reduction of precipitations in August 2016. The yield of moisture-free raw material has the invert correlation with all the indicators under study – smaller berries contained less moisture. The representatives of Vaccinium type undergoing research in the conditions of Botanical Garden Institute of Volga State University of Technology are productive in terms of fruit yield, however feature smaller sizes and masses as compared to the literature data. It is recommended to improve productivity by en-hancement of agro-engineering treatment.