The 100-year history of building up the VIR collection of genetic resources of drought- and salt-resistant perennial and annual forage crops and its current status are described. Numerous expeditions were conducted to collect valuable germplasm material. The collections of a number of drought- and salt-resistant forage plants were established and studied. Breeders from VIR, its network and other breeding centers developed drought-resistant and salt-resistance varieties on the basis of the Vavilov collection. Theoretical and practical research on the physiology of desert plants was further developed. Currently salt tolerance of forage crops is assessed using molecular methods.

Iability of blackberry accessions in vivo after in vitro culture storage was analyzed. Phenological development phases of adult plants, crop yield and water regime were studied in the field. Adaptability of the accessions to adverse environmental factors (frost, drought and heat resistance, resistance to fungal infections) was evaluated.

The strategy and technology of rye breeding for low water-soluble arabinoxilans (WS-AX) in grain were proposed. Together with breeders from other institutions we developed the first six low-pentosan varieties of winter rye suitable for grain forage use. Seeds of low-pentosan forage rye do not form viscous mucus in animal stomachs, thus eliminating the problem that exists when feeding classic baking rye. When using them as fodder for laboratory and farming animals, high palatability and nutritional value were observed.

The article presents the history of oat breeding in the Kuban region. Two varieties of spring oats ‘Desant’ and ‘Assol’ have been developed and submitted for the state trials. New varieties are described in detail.

In 2012-1016, 23 chickpea accessions from VIR and 23 accessions from the collection of chickpea somaclones of the Siberian Research Institute of Forages were studied at Omsk State Agrarian University. The research performed in the southern forest-steppe of West Siberia resulted in identifying chickpea accessions with a shorter growing season, high plant productivity, good processability, and high symbiotic activity. The possibility of using cluster analysis for comprehensive assessment of source material for chickpea breeding was demonstrated. The nature of inheritance of agronomic traits in F1 chickpea hybrids was revealed, and recommendations for selection were formulated. A correlation was established between the major characters.

The Polish program of winter oat breeding started in 2002 from interspecific crossing of foreign winter oats with the accessions of tetraploid perennial wild species Avena macrostachya Bal. ex Coss et Dur. Single hybrids were obtained in three cross combinations. Large differences were noticed in fertility level and chromosome constitution of progeny of the intensely cloned and colchicine treated F1 hybrids. The B1F or F2 generation consisted of plants with chromosome numbers between 40 and 49, octoploids (2n=56) and plants carrying 60 to 70 chromosomes. The quasi-hexaploids of the first group were partly or completely sterile, but their chromosome complement was quickly regulated and fertility restored, usually after additional back-cross to A. sativa L. A few generations later they produced valuable breeding strains. In field experiments in Radzikow (near Warsaw) and Grodkowice (near Krakow), they showed high yielding potential and no negative effects of wild germplasm. In the dry seasons 2009 and 2013 winter oats produced yields nearly 100% higher than the spring cultivar standard. Test weight of the winter oat was also ca. 4kg/hl higher than in the spring oat. Two of the husked strains, showing winterhardiness level better than the starting A. sativa population, are in the Polish state variety trials (from 2014 and 2015) 2015. They could be recommended for the regions with stable snow cover, because they were not able to survive naked ground surface temperatures below -14oC, which happened twice in Radzikow and once in Grodkowice in the last 8 years of field trials. Especially the last winter (2015/2016) was destructive, even for the octoploids, which were earlier considered the most winter-hardy oats. The octoploids produce healthy green mass and very large plump grain, rich in protein, however they require a breeding effort to increase yield (now 50-67% of the best winter hexaploids) and to make ripening uniform. The last severe winter season revealed several new hexaploid strains, transgressive in frost resistance to the octo-ploids. The 8x or 10x sativa-macrostachya alloploids proved to be effective sources of winterhardiness for hexaploid oat.

Three flax lines: gc-204 (with opened flowers, curved stamen filaments, sterile anthers, forming few seeds by selfpollination), gc-208 and gc-188 (fertile ones, sterility occurs only when hybridized with other lines) were used as CMS sources. These lines can be involved in heterosis breeding. Genes controlling male fertility restoration RFO8, RFO9 were identified. Recessive alleles of the genes restoring fertility rft3-2, rft3-3, rft3-6, rft3-7, rft5-2, rft6, rft7 and dominant RFT4-3 determine tubular shape of sterile flowers, and are undesirable for breeding because the probability of cross pollination decreases. Other recessive (alternative) alleles of pollen fertility restoration genes rfo6, rfo6-2, rfo6-3, rfo7 do not affect the corolla’s shape.

This work presents the results of long-term research on morphological and biological traits of six hybrid cherry plum varieties (Prunus х rossica Eremin). Such morpho-biological traits are shown to have significance during expert examination of varieties for distinctness, homogeneity and stability. The studied varieties (‘Andromeda’, ‘Desertnaya Rannyaya’, ‘Obil'naya’, ‘Olen'ka’, ‘Rumyanaya Zor'ka’ and ‘Femida’) meet the criteria of distinctness, homogeneity and stability, which has been confirmed by the experts from the State Variety Testing Commission.

The article presents the results of the application of molecular markers of the genes controlling resistance to potato cyst nematode in different stages of potato breeding - for screening genetic collections and promising hybrids of the All-Russian Institute of Potato Research and the Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources. It has been established that "pseudopositive" and "pseudonegative" results of a marker-mediated breeding process are associated not only with the specificity of the used markers, but with a lack of objectivity in phenotypic evaluation for resistance to the nematode.

This article is a biographical essay about a prominent scientist - the cytogeneticist G. A. Levitsky, N. I. Vavilov’s closest associate, who devoted more than 15 years (1925-1941) to his work at VIR, who organized and headed the Laboratory of Cytology there. His scientific achievements and tragic fate, very similar to Vavilov’s, are highlighted. Key words: genetics, cytology.