The worldwide collection of vegetable and cucurbit crops kept in VIR includes 50,019 accessions of various status -representatives of 27 families, 145 genera, 475 species received since 1923 from 95 countries of the world. Biodiversity of cultivated species and their wild relatives, especially from their centres of origin and diversity, is adequately represented in the collection. Currently, the completion of the collection is conducted in the following areas: collection of wild species and local forms with a high level of resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, and with valuable biochemical composition; replenishment of the collection with accessions missing in the evolutionary series of vegetable crops from their ancestral forms to modern varieties and lines, including those needed for the analysis of domestication processes; introduction of crops and types of varieties novel for Russia; mobilization of the world’s best achievements in modern breeding, first of all in the newest breeding trends; mobilization of new genetic material -mutant lines, double haploid lines, and mapping populations.

Researches were carried out on varieties, hybrids, isogenic lines and mutants of peas of various use developed from the beginning of the 1980s up to 2013. Experimental material was investigated under field conditions in the collection, hybridization and breeding nurseries as well as in the process of competitive variety testing in Orel Province. It is shown that one or several recessive alleles of the genes introduced into the genotypes of new varieties of grain, fodder and vegetable peas, blue lupin and soybean can influence the changees in a great number of morphological and physiological parameters determining plant growth, development and also characteristics in the system of yield formation. Reduction of leaf area in leafless pea varieties and lupin varietitts with limited branching is connected with the weakening of root system growth, which is caused by trophic interaction between these organs.

Each particular crop has a number of features that lead to changes in the use of new substances and also impact productivity and product quality. From this point of view, panicoid grass crops deserve much attention, especially when introduced in the mountain and foothill regions of the Republic of North Ossetia - Alania where poultry husbandry is well developed. Setaria italica subsp. moharicum Alef., Echinochloa frumentacea Link, Setaria italica subsp. maxima Alef. have been introduced at the North Caucasus Research Institute of Mountain and Foothill Agriculture as new crops for the republic. The goal was to improve their biological potential by applying innovative technologies. To achieve this, the sowing time and methods, as well as reproductive features of these crops were studied. Sowing and harvesting dates have been varied, and peculiarities of developmental biology taken into account. During the years of research, Echinochloa frumentacea Link has been found resistant to abiotic stresses in the foothill areas of the republic. Also, the optimal sowing time, seeding rate, plant density and survival rate, as well as 1000 seeds weight have been determined.

In order to find new sources of agronomic traits, 402 barley accessions from different ecological and geographic zones were studied. Productivity, 1000 grain weight, grain weight per spike, number of fertile spikes per plant, resistance to covered smut, drought tolerance of accessions were evaluated. Promising breeding material was obtained. Key words: barley, collection, breeding, agronomic traits, accessions, productivity, disease resistance.

Peach is notable for its drought resistance as well as sensibility to moisture conditions. Therefore, improvement of breeding material and development of drought-resistant varieties can be numbered among our most pressing tasks. The object of research was 39 peach hybrid forms developed at Nikitsky Botanical Gardens. Throughout the research period the total water content in the leaves of hybrid forms amounted to 50.2-58.9%. The water deficit in leaves ranged from 11.2 to 25.9%. In the process of wilting the leaves of peach hybrid forms lost 26.4-39.8% of moisture content within 24 hours. High regeneration capacity of leaf surface (up to 86.2%) was observed in 3 early and 5 midripening forms. This research allowed us to identify hybrid forms with high drought tolerance, including 5 early-, 4 mid- and 1 late-ripening forms.

Peach is a stone fruit crop occupying a considerable area of distribution due to its plasticity. Floral buds are especially sensitive to adverse winter and spring conditions. The developed assortment of peach should satisfy climatic conditions of the south of Russia. The analysis of frost resistance of new peach varieties and forms is presented here. Genotypes with the lowest degree of freezing of generative buds have been obtained: Persimira 99-87, Persimira 29586, ‘Sputnik 1’, ‘Snegurochka’, 13-93 and 18-93.

For three years 265 barley accessions from Dagestan were analyzed for the duration of the period between shooting and earing stages. Under the conditions of south planar area of Dagestan, the early accessions k-15008 and k-15013 have been selected. The accession k-15027 was characterized by a high rate of development in the Northwestern area of the country. The Dagestanian barleys were found to be strongly affected by the growing conditions, notably they have a high norm of reaction. It is concluded that vernalization temperatures, short day and high temperatures during the vegetation period promote earliness of barley.

The studies found out that the productivity and quality of oat crop accessions were influenced by the climatic conditions during the vegetation period and plant mineral nutrition level. Under favorable weather and soil conditions the accessions demonstrated a reliable yield increase (0.35-0.37-0.40 t/ha), increased weight of 1000 grains and lesser grain husk. With irregular heat and humidity on poor naturally fertile soils, the growing season of mid-ripening varieties was longer, while for mid-early ones becamer shorter; grain yield was lower than in dry environments.

The results of years of researching 85 strawberry varieties in the North-West of Russia are presented. Evaluation of introduced varieties was made as compared with the local commercial cultivars, and the sources of major biological and agronomic traits interesting for breeding and and practice were identified.

Ninety five lines of sunflower genetic collection differing by their ability to suppress the CMS phenotype were molecularly marked with the use of 7 primer pairs. Using the STS marker orfH522, a sterile (PET1) cytoplasmon was identified in 79 lines, which confirmed indirectly the presence of fertility restoration genes in their genotypes. The majority of these lines also have a complex of molecular markers linked to the Rf1 gene. The HRG01, HRG02 and STS115 markers showed the best diagnostic value in revealing the Rf1 gene in the examined material. The data on allelic variation of the microsatellite loci ORS224, ORS511 and ORS799 were obtained for the first time.

The morphological characters of flowers, fruits and leaves in the introduction population of Prunus maackii Rupr. have been studied in Novosibirsk. The range of variation in qualitative and quantitative traits as well as the average values of such quantitative traits and the level of their variation have been found out. These data may be used in defining the botanical diagnosis of the species. Besides, they may help to reliably identify the best genotypes.

The biographical data of Robert E. Regel, one of the Heads of the Bureau of Applied Botany, who played a significant role in its establishment and development in the early 20th century, are presented.