Breeding methods I. Michurina. The main methods of selection work I.V.

Equipment: tables on general biology, illustrating the methods of plant breeding, methods of breeding work by I.V. Michurin and achievements in plant breeding.

DURING THE CLASSES

I. Knowledge Test

A. Card work

№ 1. Scientists have obtained a wheat-rye hybrid of triticale. How did you manage to create such a hybrid that successfully reproduces sexually?

№ 2. Bezostaya 1 (bred by P.P. Lukyanenko) and Mironovskaya 808 (bred by V.N. Remeslo) are recognized as the highest-yielding (up to 100 c/ha) wheat varieties. Their ears and grains are very large, the stems are thick, strong. These varieties are soft, polyploid ( 6n) wheat. The highest yield and large fruits in strawberries are also given by polyploid (8n) plants. Using this data, answer the questions:

a) how does polyploidy affect fruit size and other morphological features of wheat and strawberries?
b) how does polyploidy affect the productivity of these plants?
c) what is the economic significance of polyploidy for humans?

№ 3. Evolutionary theory was confirmed by the studies of the Danish geneticist V. Johansen. He studied the action of selection in populations and pure lines. It turned out that within the limits of a pure line, selection by size, seed weight, and other traits is inefficient. At the same time, selection in freely crossing populations is effective. Explain what pattern of evolutionary theory is supported by the results of this study.

№ 4. Currently, a hybrid tomato variety resistant to two viruses is widely used in the USA and England. The variety is obtained as a result of the fusion of germ cells of a wild tomato and a cultivated variety. Explain the importance of preserving the genes of wild species for breeding.

B. Oral knowledge test

1. What are the biological characteristics of plants taken into account in breeding?
2. What is inbreeding and interbreeding?
3. What is intervarietal and interspecific crossbreeding?
4. What is the phenomenon of heterosis and what are its genetic bases?
5. What is the method of G.D. Karpechenko on overcoming the infertility of interspecific hybrids?
6. What is mass and individual selection in plant breeding?
7. What is induced mutagenesis and what is the method of obtaining polyploids in plant breeding.

II. Learning new material

1. Methods of selection work I.V. Michurin

Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin (1855–1935) is an outstanding practical breeder, the author of 300 varieties of fruit and berry crops. At the beginning of his activity, I.V. Michurin was engaged in acclimatization according to the Grell method, grafting southern varieties into the crown of hardy and cold-resistant varieties in order to achieve their adaptation to new conditions. But it was impossible to change the genotype of southern varieties by a similar method. Michurin was convinced of this by testing about 200 foreign varieties: after 35 years, not a single tree remained of them, although Michurin lived and worked in the relatively mild climate of the Black Earth Zone of Russia (Kozlovsk, now Michurinsk, Tambov province).
Convinced of the futility of attempts at simple acclimatization, I.V. Michurin began to develop new breeding methods based on hybridization, selection and education (the impact of environmental conditions on developing hybrids). In their implementation, he used a variety of approaches (many of them for the first time in world breeding practice), the most important of which are as follows.

biologically distant hybridization - crossing representatives of different species to obtain varieties with the desired properties or crossing representatives of different genera. So, for example, Michurin crossed the Vladimirskaya cherry with the white Winkler cherry. In further work with hybrids, he developed the Krasa Severa cherry variety, which had good taste and winter hardiness. When crossing cherry with bird cherry, Michurin received a hybrid called cerapadus. He also obtained hybrids of blackberry and raspberry, plum and blackthorn, mountain ash and Siberian hawthorn, etc.

Geographically distant hybridization - crossing of representatives of contrasting natural zones and geographically remote regions in order to instill in the hybrid the desired qualities. For example, the well-known pear variety Bere winter Michurina was obtained as a result of hybridization of the wild Ussuri pear and the southern French variety Bere-royal.

The mentor method - one of the methods of "education" of hybrids developed by I.V. Michurin. It is based on the fact that the characteristics of a developing hybrid change under the influence of a scion or rootstock. Michurin used this method in two versions. In the first case, the hybrid seedling served as a scion, and it was grafted onto an adult fruit-bearing plant (rootstock), the properties of which it was desirable to obtain from the hybrid. In the second case, a stalk of a variety was grafted into the crown of a young hybrid seedling (rootstock), the characteristics of which they would like to obtain from the hybrid.
This method was applied by Michurin, for example, when creating the Bellefleur-Chinese apple variety. In the first year of fruiting hybrids, it turned out that their fruits are small and sour. To direct the further development of the hybrid in the right direction, Bellefleur cuttings were grafted into the crown of young trees. Under the influence of cuttings, the fruits of the hybrid began to acquire the taste qualities of Bellefleur.
The influence of the mentor should be seen as a change in dominance during the development of the hybrid. In this case, the mentor contributed to the phenotypic manifestation (dominance) of the genes obtained from the Bellefleur variety, without changing the genotype of the hybrid.

Mediator method was used by Michurin for distant hybridization. It consists in using the wild species as an intermediary to overcome inbreeding. By crossing the wild Mongolian almond with the wild peach of David, Michurin obtained the Posrednik almond, which he later used to cross with the cultivated peach. The hybrid peach he received acquired winter hardiness, due to which he was promoted to the north.

Mixing pollen was used by Michurin to overcome interspecific inbreeding (incompatibility). The essence of the method was that when pollinated with a mixture of one's own pollen and pollen of another species, one's own pollen irritated the stigma of the pistil, and it perceived foreign pollen.

Exposure to environmental conditions . When "educating" young hybrids, Michurin used changes in the methods of storing seeds, the nature of nutrition and soil properties, exposure to low temperatures, and used frequent transplants. As a result, hybrids hardened and could endure adverse environmental conditions.

Selection – repeated and rigorous selection of plants in terms of size, shape, winter hardiness, immune properties, quality, taste, fruit color, etc.
Most of the varieties obtained by I.V. Michurin, were complex heterozygotes. To preserve their qualities, they are propagated vegetatively: by layering, grafting, etc.

2. Achievements in plant breeding

Selection work is of great national economic importance. Replacing low-yielding varieties with high-yielding breeding varieties is one of the main ways to increase yields. At present, both in our country and abroad, selection and genetic work leads to remarkable results.
Let's take a look at some of the latest advances in breeding for major crops.

Winter wheat . For Russia, wheat is the main grain crop. Academician Pavel Panteleimonovich Lukyanenko (1901–1973) created a number of high-yielding varieties of winter wheat, covering millions of hectares both in Russia and in other countries. Especially popular are the varieties Avrora and Kavkaz, yielding up to 100 c/ha, and Bezostaya 1 with a yield of up to 50 c/ha. On the basis of the latter variety, the varieties Krasnodarskaya 57 and Odessa semi-dwarf were bred.
No less high-yielding varieties were bred at the Mironovskaya breeding experimental station by Academician Vasily Nikolaevich Remeslo (1907–1983): Mironovskaya 264, Mironovskaya 808, etc. Over the past 50 years, the yield of winter wheat varieties has increased from 25 to 65 c/ha, i.e. 2.5 times. Ilyichevka also belongs to the new high-yielding varieties of winter wheat, bred at the same station. In 1974, this variety was released in 15 regions of Ukraine and, with proper irrigation and high agricultural technology, yields up to 100 c/ha.
Among the new varieties, perennial wheats are very promising, bred under the guidance of Academician Nikolai Vasilievich Tsitsin (1898–1980) on the basis of interspecific hybridization of wheat and wheatgrass. They are high-yielding, drought-resistant, withstand frosts down to -35 oC.

Spring wheat . Among the spring varieties, the most valuable is the high-yielding variety Saratovskaya 29, created by Alexei Pavlovich Shekhurdin (1886–1951) and Valentina Nikolaevna Mamontova (1895–1982), which is distinguished by high baking qualities. We have already mentioned the Novosibirskaya 67 spring wheat variety with a shortened and thickened straw, bred at the Institute of Cytology and Genetics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The yield of this variety in Western Siberia reaches 40 q/ha.

Sunflower . In this area of plant breeding, the achievements of academician Vasily Stepanovich Pustovoit (1886–1972) are remarkable. Until the middle of the XX century. The best varieties of sunflower oil content did not exceed 33%. Currently, the average oil content of seeds reaches 50%.

Sugar beet . In recent years, the sugar content and yield of sugar beets have increased dramatically. A large role in the selection of this culture was played by polyploidy (works by A.N. Lutkov, V.P. Zosimovich).

Corn . When creating new promising varieties of this crop, self-pollinating homozygous lines are used with their subsequent hybridization (M.I. Khadzhinov and G.S. Galeev).

III. Consolidation of knowledge

Generalizing conversation in the course of learning new material.

IV. Homework

To study the paragraph of the textbook (methods of breeding work by I.V. Michurin and the achievements of plant breeding).

Lesson 8–9. Animal breeding, its methods and achievements

Equipment: tables on general biology, illustrating the methods of selection work by I.V. Michurin, achievements in plant breeding, methods of animal breeding.

DURING THE CLASSES

I. Knowledge Test

A. Card work

№ 1. What important pattern of trait dominance in hybrids was established by I.V. Michurin? What is the significance of this pattern for selection? Give examples.

№ 2. What are the positive and negative aspects of self-pollination in the selection of cultivated plants?

№ 3. There is an expression: "A person is fed and clothed by polyploids." How should it be understood?

№ 4. When selecting parent pairs for hybridization, I.V. Michurin made extensive use of geographically distant forms. So, for example, the apple-tree variety Bellefleur-Chinese was created, obtained as a result of hybridization of a Chinese apple tree from Siberia and the American variety Bellefleur yellow. Why did Michurin pay much attention to the crossing of geographically distant forms?

B. Oral knowledge test

1. What breeding methods did I.V. Michurin?
2. What are the latest advances in plant breeding?

II. Learning new material

1. Features of animal biology taken into account in breeding

When selecting animals, it is necessary to take into account the following features:

- a small number of offspring in a pair of parents;
- long life expectancy;
- the impossibility of vegetative reproduction of highly organized animals and the presence of only sexual reproduction in them;
- dichotomy;
- often late puberty;
- more complex than in plants, relationships with the environment due to the presence of the nervous system;
- the difficulty of studying the genotype, because it contains a large number of heterozygotes, and genes are in complex interaction (meat, milk, wool productivity, fertility, fur density in fur animals and other economically valuable traits are very difficult to inherit).

2. Types of crosses and breeding methods used in animal husbandry

In breeding work, it is important to represent the ultimate goal that the breeder is striving for. Whether it is desirable to increase milk production, increase its fat content, or change the meat qualities of livestock - all this requires different directions for the selection and selection of producers, the use of various crossing systems.
When selecting breeders, it is important to consider their pedigrees. In breeding farms, pedigree books are always kept, in which the exterior features and productivity of parental forms are taken into account in detail over a number of generations. According to the signs of the ancestors, one can judge the genotype of the producers.
The types of crossbreeding in breeding work with animals are varied. There are mainly two types of crossing: unrelated and related.

unrelated crossbreeding , or outbreeding (from English. out- outside and breeding- breeding) is carried out between individuals of the same breed or between individuals of different breeds of animals. With strict selection, it leads to the maintenance of properties or their improvement in the next generations of hybrids, tk. in the offspring, a successful combination of genes can be obtained, which ensures the formation of a number of economically important traits.

Inbreeding, or inbreeding, held between siblings or parents and offspring. This type of crossing is used in those cases when they want to transfer most of the genes of the breed to a homozygous state, i.e. to obtain pure lines, preserve economically important traits, increase the stability of these traits for subsequent crossing and obtain the effect of heterosis.
To a certain extent, such crossing is similar to self-pollination in plants, since. leads to an increase in homozygosity. With closely related crossing, weakening of animals, loss of resistance to external factors, to diseases is often observed. All these negative manifestations of inbreeding are called depression.

Interline crossing is carried out between representatives of pure homozygous lines in order to avoid the adverse effects of recessive genes, transfer them to a heterozygous state and cause the effect of heterosis. Usually representatives of several lines are used for crossing.

distant hybridization , i.e. interspecific crossing has been known in animals since ancient times. Most often, interspecific hybrids are sterile, because. they have disrupted meiosis, which leads to disruption of gametogenesis. Since ancient times, man has been using a hybrid of a mare with a donkey - a mule, which is distinguished by endurance and long life expectancy. Overcoming the infertility of interspecific hybrids of animals is an important task of breeding.
Sometimes gametogenesis in distant hybrids proceeds normally, and this made it possible to obtain new valuable breeds of animals. An example is the archa-merino, which can graze high in the mountains like argali and, like merino, produce good wool. Prolific hybrids have been obtained from crossing local cattle with yaks and zebu (a subspecies of cattle common in Asia and Africa). Productive hybrids of beluga and sterlet (bester), ferret and mink (honorik) , carp and carp. Also prolific are the offspring obtained by crossing between one-humped and two-humped camels, domestic horses and Przewalski's horses, bison and bison.
In animal husbandry, two main breeding methods are used: interbreeding and interbreed.

Inbreeding, or breeding in oneself , aimed at preserving and improving the breed. In practice, it is expressed in the selection of the best producers, the culling of individuals that do not meet the requirements of the breed.

Interbreeding used to create a new breed. In this case, inbreeding is often carried out, which helps to obtain a large number of individuals with the desired properties.

To be continued

Michurin plant breeding

I.V. Michurin is an outstanding scientist-breeder, one of the founders of the science of breeding fruit crops. He lived and worked in the county town of Kozlov (Tambov province), renamed in 1932 to Michurinsk. Working in the garden from a young age was his favorite thing. He set the goal of his life to enrich the gardens of Russia with new varieties and achieved this dream, despite incredible difficulties and hardships. He developed original practical methods for obtaining hybrids with new properties useful for humans, and also made very important theoretical conclusions. Having set himself the task of promoting southern varieties of fruit trees to central Russia, Michurin first tried to solve it by acclimatizing these varieties in new conditions. But the southern varieties grown by him froze out in winter. A mere change in the conditions of existence of an organism cannot change a phylogenetically developed stable genotype, moreover, in a certain direction. Convinced of the unsuitability of the acclimatization method, Michurin devoted his life to breeding work, in which he used three main types of influence on the nature of a plant: hybridization, the upbringing of a developing hybrid in various conditions, and selection. Hybridization, i.e., obtaining a variety with new, improved characteristics, was most often carried out by crossing a local variety with a southern one, which had higher palatability. At the same time, a negative phenomenon was observed - the dominance of the features of the local variety in the hybrid. The reason for this was the historical adaptation of the local variety to certain conditions of existence. One of the main conditions contributing to the success of hybridization, Michurin considered the selection of parental pairs. In some cases, he took for crossing parents who were distant in their geographical habitat. If for parental forms the conditions of existence do not correspond to their usual ones, he reasoned, then the hybrids derived from them will be able to more easily adapt to new factors, since there will be no one-sided dominance. Then the breeder will be able to control the development of a hybrid that adapts to new conditions.

By this method, the Bere winter Michurina pear variety was bred. As a mother, the Ussuri wild pear was taken, which is distinguished by small fruits, but winter-hardy, as a father, the southern variety Bere royale with large juicy fruits. For both parents, the conditions of central Russia were unusual. The hybrid showed the qualities of the parents that the breeder needed: the fruits were large, storable, had high palatability, and the hybrid plant itself endured cold up to - 36 °.

In other cases, Michurin selected local frost-resistant varieties and crossed them with southern heat-loving, but with other excellent qualities. Michurin brought up carefully selected hybrids in Spartan conditions, believing that otherwise they would have traits of thermophilicity. Thus, the Slavyanka apple variety was obtained from crossing Antonovka with the southern variety Ranet pineapple. In addition to crossing two forms belonging to the same systematic category (apple trees with apple trees, pears with pears), Michurin also used hybridization of distant forms: he received interspecific and intergeneric hybrids. He obtained hybrids between cherry and bird cherry (cerapadus), between apricot and plum, plum and blackthorn, mountain ash and Siberian hawthorn, etc.

Under natural conditions, alien pollen of another species is not perceived by the mother plant and crossing does not occur. To overcome non-crossing in distant hybridization, Michurin used several methods.

Method of preliminary vegetative approach

One-year-old stalk of a hybrid rowan seedling (graft) is grafted into the crown of a plant of another species or genus, for example, to a pear (rootstock). After 5-6 years of nutrition, due to the substances produced by the stock, there is some change, the convergence of the physiological and biochemical properties of the scion.

During the flowering of mountain ash, its flowers are pollinated with pollen from the rootstock. This is where the crossover takes place.

Mediator Method

It was used by Michurin in the hybridization of cultivated peach with wild Mongolian almond bean (in order to move the peach to the north). Since direct crossing of these forms was not possible, Michurin crossed the beaver with the semi-cultivated peach David. Their hybrid crossed with a cultivated peach, for which he was called an intermediary.

Pollination method with a mixture of pollen

I. V. Michurin used various variants of the pollen mixture. A small amount of pollen from the mother plant was mixed with pollen from the father. In this case, its own pollen irritated the stigma of the pistil, which became capable of accepting foreign pollen. When pollinating apple flowers with pear pollen, a little apple pollen was added to the latter. Part of the ovules was fertilized by its own pollen, the other part - by someone else's (pear). Non-crossing was also overcome when the flowers of the mother plant were pollinated with a mixture of pollen from different species without the addition of pollen of their own variety.

Essential oils and other secretions secreted by foreign pollen irritated the stigma of the mother plant and contributed to its perception.

Throughout his many years of work on breeding new varieties of plants, IV Michurin showed the importance of the subsequent education of young hybrids after crossing.

When raising a developing hybrid, Michurin paid attention to the composition of the soil, the method of storing hybrid seeds, frequent replanting, the nature and degree of nutrition of seedlings, and other factors.

The mentor method

In addition, Michurin widely used the mentor method he developed. In order to cultivate desirable qualities in a hybrid seedling, the seedling is grafted onto a plant that possesses these qualities. Further development of the hybrid is under the influence of substances produced by the parent plant (mentor); the desired qualities are enhanced in the hybrid. In this case, in the process of development of hybrids, a change in the properties of dominance occurs. Both a rootstock and a scion can be a mentor. In this way, Michurin bred two varieties - Kandil-Chinese and Bellefleur-Chinese.

In order to cultivate the keeping quality property in the hybrid, Michurin planted several cuttings of late-ripening varieties into the crown of the Bellefleur-Chinese hybrid seedling. The result turned out to be good - the fruits of Chinese Bellefleur acquired the desired qualities - late ripeness and keeping quality. The mentor method is convenient in that its action can be regulated by the following methods: 1) the ratio of the age of the mentor and the hybrid; 2) the duration of the mentor; 3) the quantitative ratio of the leaves of the mentor and the hybrid.

For example, the intensity of the mentor's action will be the higher, the older his age, the richer the crown foliage and the longer he acts. In breeding work, Michurin attached significant importance to selection, which was carried out repeatedly and very rigorously. Hybrid seeds were selected according to their size and roundness: hybrids - according to the configuration and thickness of the leaf blade and petiole, the shape of the shoot, the location of the lateral buds, according to winter hardiness and resistance to fungal diseases, pests and many other characteristics, and, finally, according to the quality of the fruit.

The results of IV Michurin's work are striking. He created hundreds of new varieties of plants. A number of varieties of apple trees and berry crops are advanced far to the north. They have high palatability and at the same time are perfectly adapted to local conditions. The new variety Antonovka 600 grams yields up to 350 kg per tree. Michurin grapes withstood the winter without powdering the vines, which is done even in the Crimea, and at the same time did not reduce their commodity indicators. Michurin showed with his works that the creative possibilities of a person are endless.

The outstanding Russian scientist-breeder Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin spent most of his life in the county town of Kozlov (Tambov province), which was later renamed Michurinsk in recognition of his work. He is considered one of the founders of the science of breeding fruit crops. From a young age, he was fascinated by gardening. His whole life was devoted to one goal: to develop new high-yielding varieties of agricultural crops in the climatic conditions of Russia. And he managed to achieve the realization of this dream, despite the incredible difficulties and hardships.

One of the most important results of his many years of work was the original practical methods he developed for obtaining hybrids with new, valuable properties. In addition, on the basis of the work done, he made very important theoretical conclusions.

Initially, Michurin set himself the task of acclimatizing southern varieties of fruit trees to the conditions of central Russia. However, failure awaited him here, due to the fact that the heat-loving southern varieties of plants, even if grown in new conditions, could not stand the harsh winter. This is due to the fact that one change in the conditions of existence of an organism cannot change a phylogenetically developed stable genotype, moreover, in a certain direction.

Thus, Michurin realized that the acclimatization method did not give the desired results. This led him to the idea that it is possible to obtain varieties with the required properties if one variety is crossed with another, that is, by engaging in selection work. Michurin used three main types of influence in his work: hybridization, education of a developing hybrid in various conditions, and selection.

hybridization method

Obtaining a variety with new, improved characteristics is called hybridization. As a rule, it is carried out by crossing a local variety with a southern one with higher palatability. However, due to the historical adaptation of the local variety to the conditions of existence of the given area, the obtained hybrids were dominated by the characteristics of the local variety.

In order for hybridization to be successful, Michurin took parents from very distant geographical areas for crossing. Michurin believed that in this case unilateral dominance would not occur, since the conditions of existence would not be familiar to any of the parental forms. Based on this, the development of the newly obtained hybrid can be controlled.

Subsequently, Michurin practically proved the validity of the above statement, having received a completely new pear variety Bere winter Michurina. It was distinguished by large, storable fruits with good taste, while the hybrid plant itself endured cold up to -36 °. The southern pear variety Bere royale with large juicy fruits was taken as the father, and the wild Ussuri pear with small fruits and high winter hardiness was taken as the mother. For both parents, the conditions of central Russia were unusual.

Michurin also selected and crossed local frost-resistant varieties with southern heat-loving varieties, which differed in other ways. He strictly monitored that the resulting hybrids were frost-resistant. Thanks to this, the apple variety Slavyanka was obtained from crossing Antonovka with the southern variety Ranet pineapple.

Michurin's experiments on crossing plants of different species were also widely known, while interspecific and intergeneric hybrids were obtained, such as hybrids between cherries and bird cherry (cerapadus), between apricot and plum, plum and blackthorn, mountain ash and Siberian hawthorn, etc.

Under natural conditions, crossing of different species plants does not occur due to the fact that alien pollen of another species is not perceived by the mother plant. Michurin used several methods to overcome non-crossing in distant hybridization.

Method of preliminary vegetative approach

This method was used by Michurin when crossing mountain ash and pear. It consists of two stages.

First, a one-year-old stalk of a hybrid rowan seedling (graft) is grafted into the crown of a plant of another species or genus, for example, to a pear (rootstock). After 5-6 years of nutrition, due to the substances produced by the rootstock, there is some change, the convergence of the physiological and biochemical properties of the rootstock.

Then, during the flowering of mountain ash, its flowers are pollinated with the pollen of the rootstock. This is where the crossover takes place.

Mediator Method

The essence of this method is that in case of impossibility of direct hybridization of two forms of plants, the third one is used. This plant is crossed with one of the first two, and then the resulting hybrid is crossed with the second, resulting in a hybrid of the first two forms. The third form acts as an intermediary.

The intermediary method was used by Michurin when crossing a cultivated peach with a wild Mongolian almond bean (to increase the frost resistance of a peach). Since direct crossing of these forms was not possible, Michurin crossed the beaver with the semi-cultivated peach David. Their hybrid crossed with a cultivated peach, for which he was called an intermediary

Pollination method with a mixture of pollen

Non-crossing was also overcome when the flowers of the mother plant were pollinated with a mixture of pollen from different species without the addition of pollen of their own variety. Essential oils and other secretions secreted by foreign pollen irritated the stigma of the mother plant and contributed to its perception.

Throughout his many years of work on breeding new varieties of plants, IV Michurin showed the importance of the subsequent education of young hybrids after crossing.

The mentor method

This method was developed by Michurin and widely used by him in practice. It consists in the fact that the seedling is grafted onto a plant that has the necessary qualities for nurturing the desired qualities in the hybrid seedling. As a result, the desired qualities are enhanced in the hybrid, and its further development is under the influence of substances produced by the parent plant (mentor). In this case, in the process of development of hybrids, a change in the properties of dominance occurs. At the same time, both a rootstock and a scion can be a mentor.

Using the method of a mentor, Michurin bred two varieties - Bellefleur-Chinese and Kandil-Chinese.

Kandil-Chinese is the result of crossing Kitaika with the Crimean variety Kandil-Sinap. Michurin grafted the hybrid into the crown of the frost-resistant Kitaika mother in order to develop and consolidate the trait of frost resistance. Thanks to the nutrition of the mother's substances, the hybrid has the desired quality.

The second variety, Bellefleur-Chinese, was bred to prevent the hybrid from deviating towards the frost-resistant and early ripe Kitayka, and therefore the fruits of the hybrid could not be stored for a long time. Michurin planted several cuttings of late-ripening varieties into the crown of the Bellefleur-Chinese hybrid seedling in order to increase the keeping quality in the hybrid. As a result of the hybridization carried out, the fruits of Bellefleur-Chinese became more late-ripening and keeping quality.

This method can be controlled in the following ways:

1) the duration of the mentor; 2) the ratio of the age of the mentor and the hybrid; 3) the quantitative ratio of the leaves of the mentor and the hybrid.

The older the age of the mentor, the richer the foliage of the crown and the longer it acts, the higher the intensity of its action. When carrying out breeding work, Michurin made repeated and rather rigorous selection, which made it possible to obtain hybrids of excellent quality. Hybrid seeds were selected for their roundness and size; hybrids - according to the configuration and thickness of the leaf blade and petiole, the shape of the shoot, the location of the lateral buds, the winter hardiness and resistance to fungal diseases, pests and many other features, and, finally, the quality of the fruit.

As a result of his research, I. V. Michurin created several hundred new varieties of plants. New cold-resistant varieties of apple trees and berry crops were bred. These plants are characterized by high palatability and at the same time are perfectly adapted to local conditions. One of these species is the apple variety Antonovka six hundred grams, which yields up to 350 kg from one tree. The grapes bred by Michurin withstood the winter without powdering the vines, which is done even in the Crimea. At the same time, he did not reduce his commodity indicators.

I. V. Michurin, with his work, turned the idea of human capabilities and laid a solid foundation for further research in plant breeding

Bibliography

Biology manual for university students. Minsk, I., Higher School, 1978
Encyclopedic Dictionary of a Young Naturalist. Moscow, I., Pedagogy. 1981

He developed original practical methods for obtaining hybrids with new properties useful for humans, and also made very important theoretical conclusions.

Having set himself the task of promoting southern varieties of fruit trees to central Russia, Michurin first tried to solve it by acclimatizing these varieties in new conditions. But the southern varieties grown by him froze out in winter. A mere change in the conditions of existence of an organism cannot change a phylogenetically developed stable genotype, moreover, in a certain direction.

Convinced of the unsuitability of the acclimatization method, Michurin devoted his life to breeding work, in which he used three main types of influence on the nature of a plant: hybridization, the upbringing of a developing hybrid in various conditions, and selection.

Hybridization, i.e., obtaining a variety with new, improved characteristics, was most often carried out by crossing a local variety with a southern one, which had higher palatability. At the same time, a negative phenomenon was observed - the dominance of the features of the local variety in the hybrid. The reason for this was the historical adaptation of the local variety to certain conditions of existence.

One of the main conditions contributing to the success of hybridization, Michurin considered the selection of parental pairs. In some cases, he took for crossing parents who were distant in their geographical habitat. If for parental forms the conditions of existence do not correspond to their usual ones, he reasoned, then the hybrids derived from them will be able to more easily adapt to new factors, since there will be no one-sided dominance. Then the breeder will be able to control the development of a hybrid that adapts to new conditions.

In addition to crossing two forms belonging to the same systematic category (apple trees with apple trees, pears with pears), Michurin also used hybridization of distant forms: he received interspecific and intergeneric hybrids.

He obtained hybrids between cherry and bird cherry (cerapadus), between apricot and plum, plum and blackthorn, mountain ash and Siberian hawthorn, etc.

Method of preliminary vegetative approach

During the flowering of mountain ash, its flowers are pollinated with pollen from the rootstock. This is where the crossover takes place.

Mediator method

Pollination method with a mixture of pollen

Throughout his many years of work on breeding new varieties of plants, IV Michurin showed the importance of the subsequent education of young hybrids after crossing.

The mentor method

Both a rootstock and a scion can be a mentor. In this way, Michurin bred two varieties - Kandil-Chinese and Bellefleur-Chinese.

Kandil-Chinese is the result of crossing Kitaika with the Crimean variety Kandil-Sinap. At first, the hybrid began to deviate towards the southern parent, which could develop insufficient cold resistance in it. In order to develop and consolidate the sign of frost resistance, Michurin grafted a hybrid into the crown of Kitayka's mother, who possessed these qualities. Nutrition mainly with its substances brought up the desired quality in the hybrid. The breeding of the second grade Bellefleur-Chinese was associated with some deviation of the hybrid towards the frost-resistant and early ripe Kitayka. The fruits of the hybrid could not withstand long storage. In order to cultivate the keeping quality property in the hybrid, Michurin planted several cuttings of late-ripening varieties into the crown of the Bellefleur-Chinese hybrid seedling. The result turned out to be good - the fruits of Chinese Bellefleur acquired the desired qualities - late ripeness and keeping quality.

The mentor method is convenient in that its action can be regulated by the following methods: 1) the ratio of the age of the mentor and the hybrid; 2) the duration of the mentor; 3) the quantitative ratio of the leaves of the mentor and the hybrid.

Through the eyes of a Siberian gardener

From the book "Smart Garden. How to outsmart the climate. N. I. Kurdyumov, V. K. Zhelezov:

«…

Chapter 1

Notes of an Enchanted Siberian Gardener

Fate - unpredictable prejudice.

These autobiographical notes appeared at the request of my co-author N. I. Kurdyumov. He urged me to be honest about how I “got myself into this life.” Well, I'll try! And I will try for you to look at the amazing Sayanogorsk gardening through my eyes, to know the joy of this creativity and, God forbid, continue this path.

WE ALL COME FROM CHILDHOOD

The war is over. The red pencil of the leader of the peoples drew a line on the political map of Europe. And this trait has passed through the souls and destinies of millions of people. My grandfathers and mother, who lived in "Polish Ukraine", were put on a barge and landed in the Kherson steppe, scorched by the sun. The old beautiful garden remained in their bitter memories. But life is life! Fruit trees also grew here.

All our free time in June, sitting like rooks on old wild cherry trees, we gorge ourselves on delicious berries. Candies were only seen on New Year's Eve, secretly stolen from the Christmas tree.

I went to school with a bouquet of flowers like a holiday. The teachers seemed to be celestials. Once I went to the house of my first teacher and saw that her hands were covered in flour. Experienced shock. Angel is kneading the dough!

Elementary School. There are kerosene lamps on the walls in the classroom. Sometimes ink freezes in ink tanks. And on the radio, like a spell, you constantly hear: “Michurinists”, “Michurinskiy”, “agrobiology”, “hybridization”. At the lessons we crammed the “square-nested planting method”, “black fallow” and “grass-field farming system” ... Maybe there was a special program for us, students of the Ukrainian rural school? But here's the result: if there weren't those lessons - I wouldn't be a gardener.

Every spring, school teachers taught us to plant trees on the streets of the military town. Those are fruit trees! I remember it looked like this: I held the seedling in the air, and the teacher straightened the roots and carefully covered them with earth. Probably, then I became a gardener ... What I did not suspect until I turned thirty-five!

We were also taught greenhouse vegetable growing. And despite the fact that in the south of Ukraine, spring comes two months earlier. I noticed that in the cold, the glass of the greenhouse was wet. Oh, how then it was useful in gardening! Early vaccinations and green cuttings under plastic bottles are the result of those childhood memories.

When, instead of lessons, we, kids, were thrown to collect spikelets, tomatoes or plums, this was also a study. No one cared for the collective farm plum trees, and the harvests were excellent. Sweet fruits - one of the happy sensations of childhood - are etched in my memory for life.

He spent all his free time in the forest. It was great there! Spoiled his teeth on the fruits of hazelnut - hazel. And I saw a lot. For example, at the edges of the bushes and trees were dwarf, and the deeper into the forest, the larger. Obviously, the farther into the forest, the more comfortable they are - protection from the wind, and more moisture. But there is a struggle for the sun. The trees stretch upwards, the angle of branching is sharp, and the lower branches are dry. But on the contrary: a powerful pine or wild pear grows in the wasteland. The sea of the sun - and the tree is spreading, the branches depart almost horizontally.

Then, in childhood, he suggested that trees radiate heat into the environment. But this is still an assumption. Need accurate measurements. It is warmer in the forest, winter begins later. There is no wind here, and heat is better preserved, although the sun almost does not reach here. Life is based on the oxidation of carbohydrates, which is accompanied by the release of heat. But in winter, even with severe frosts, the trees are not completely “dead” - some kind of breathing continues in them.

The fate of the son of a military man led him to the polar Norilsk. Finished school there. Campaigns began in the tundra for mushrooms and berries. It was not difficult to notice that all living things here are hiding in the folds of the terrain. Real trees grew only on the southern slopes, sunny and protected from the wind.

Buying school textbooks in August, even before classes I read “biology”, “history”, “geography” and “astronomy” from cover to cover.

Once, dissatisfied with the formality of teaching (memorize, but do not think), I had the imprudence to joke: they say, after finishing school I will enter the theological seminary. He was subjected to wild ostracism of teachers. He pretended to be "repentant". But he refused to think. Academician Oparin's theory - "life originated in muddy puddles", and Darwin's doctrine of the origin of species - did not suit me on many points. Now it turns out: they did not arrange it correctly! Scientists in laboratories prove the improbability of the random origin of life from a mixture of molecules. Darwin's theory of the evolutionary variability of species also explains only part of the facts. It turns out that only targeted and massive mutations can create a new species. And it is true that during global cataclysms, new species appeared suddenly, like devils from a snuffbox. In general, I do not rule out a reasonable start in life. But this topic, if you like, we will discuss on the site.

I went on foot all the neighborhoods of Norilsk. On the bank of the river I found several dozen "illegal" dachas. On poor peat land, beds with parsley and radishes were green. On a rare warm day, samovars with “boots” boiled on the tables. I remember, treating myself to strong tea, I sharply envied the northerners who have at least some piece of land.

It was in the Arctic that he made his first "fundamental discovery". Imagine a small abandoned church with a dome and a cross. And before that, I, a boy, with burning eyes read A. Tolstoy's book "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin." And now, after many years, an insight: the domes of churches are accumulators, and crosses are antennas for receiving and transmitting spiritual energy. There is a brilliant engineering solution, and not just a religious symbol. Now scientific papers are being written about it. It turns out that the ancient architects knew much more than ours! The question is where?

Studying in Krasnoyarsk, at the Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals, gave little to the future gardener. Although there was a plus here: a dislike for life in a huge stone "anthill" was born and strengthened. Did not accept, did not understand "the laws of the city,". For example, a person is lying in blood, a hospital is nearby, crowds of people are passing by - and no one but me cares about this poor fellow. The conviction is still alive: the metropolis makes people indifferent consumers. I'm probably wrong - people are different. But I'm allergic to big cities.

Norilsk again, thirteen years of successful work in the profession, inventions, honorary titles, a board of honor and even an order, successful career growth - and EVERYTHING IS NOT THAT! And suddenly, in a casual conversation, I hear: they say, on the Yenisei, in the town of Sayanogorsk, which is under construction, real plums grow ... REAL Plums?!!

This phrase, thrown by chance, turned my whole life upside down.

PLEASE BUY PLUMS!

Here I take a vacation, I come. I’m walking through the market of the village of Maina, and I see a striking picture: a man of about fifty is sitting on the market square, and in front of each there are several buckets of selected round plums of all colors of the rainbow - yellow, blue, purple (photo 3 and 75), black, red, red-pink , yellow-red ... And everyone looks at me with longing and hope - the only buyer! Even now, a quarter of a century later, such a picture is unlikely to be seen somewhere in Siberia.

1985 year - the Yenisei is blocked. Revelation of my life - city exhibition of agricultural products. I walk like I'm spellbound. Giant vegetables, and immediately their mistresses offer seeds. He grew the first crop in his life: carrots the size of a bottle and beets the size of a head. Looking ahead, I will say that this unique local assortment is for the most part irretrievably lost. Summer residents unanimously switched to bright packages of seeds from unknown companies, which are littered with market stalls. Basically, these are F1 hybrids from which you will not collect seeds. Reliable for our zone among them - a few. Thank God, our local tomatoes are still in use - tastier and the Kuban did not eat! The wonderful world of Sayanogorsk horticulture was revealed with all colors and tastes. At the same exhibition I saw half-kilogram apples of Alma-Ata Aport, as well as Borovinka, White filling, Papirovka, a variety of ranetki and semi-culturing. At the dachas in great abundance - felt and steppe cherries, Chinese plums, pears (though still unsweetened) and apricots. I emphasize that there is no reservoir yet, but there is already an abundance of fruits!

The myth that only ranetki can flourish in Siberia (Ranetki are the first hybrids of the Siberian berry apple tree with Russian varieties of apples. The fruits are still inedible, weighing 10-15 g, but landslide fruitful and super frost-resistant), collapsed in my mind completely. There is no snow! In fact, it got smaller and smaller every year. A terrible sight of winter 2009 - black fields from Sayanogorsk to Abakan and Shushenskoye in forty degrees of frost! But over the same quarter of a century, hurricane winds have noticeably weakened - for gardens they are more terrible than frost.

MADNESS OF THE BRAVE!

What I saw then - it should have been seen! Thousands of builders, power engineers and metallurgists in the 80-90s massively "went crazy" - they became gardeners! Both at work and in the kitchens, conversations are only about gardens: where, who and what got it, what grows from whom and how it feels. You can't go to the store with seedlings. Not having the slightest experience, not knowing about the "prohibitions" of science, driven only by holy hope and stubbornness, the Sayanogorsk people plant everything that comes into their heads on their plots. Cuttings, seeds, seeds, seedlings are brought from business trips and vacations. In planes, trains, buses - seedlings, seedlings! Nurseries in neighboring regions ship us tens of thousands of seedlings. Our initiators create garden societies and summer cottages.

A garden boom has overwhelmed the city. Here someone suddenly, to surprise, unusually large sweet fruits appear on the tree ... It is impossible to hide it! In the spring, like ants to honey, neighbors, friends and complete strangers come running, and in a hand trembling with excitement, they gratefully take away the cherished stalk for grafting. A few years - and this new-found "variety" is already in hundreds of gardens ...

For twenty years, Khakassia has become a huge mass regional breeding and experimental station - even Michurin could not dream of such a thing!

At first, the suburb of Sayanogorsk, the village of Maina, was the leader in horticulture. There began to create and experience unique gardeners - A. Levitsky, V. Borodich, K. Soshnikov, T. Zhestovskaya, and dozens of their followers followed them. Every autumn the streets turned orange as the apricots ripened. Then the city and all the favorable corners of the summer cottages were filled with gardens.

When the reservoir of the hydroelectric power station was filled, the village of Cheryomushki intercepted the palm. Here, on the sunny coastal slopes, the most fertile and warm climate has been established. This is our "fruit Mecca". Only the winter of 2010/2011 left Cheryomushki without a crop of apricots and plums, mowed down many insufficiently frost-resistant trees. Until recently, even peaches, mulberries and walnuts could be found here, not freezing for many years. It was here that Boris Iosifovich Bodnar grew his cherry orchard, the only one in all of Siberia.

The Sayanogorsk giant aluminum smelter is also under construction, the launch is ahead. And the city died out: everything is in the country! The news about the "pioneers" who received the first harvest of unprecedented new varieties instantly becomes the event of the month. He grew a fruit larger and sweeter than the others - and you are a respected person!

A great help to the general enthusiasm is the new super popular magazine "Plant Farming" ("PH"). I observed almost anecdotal situations. I go to the "patch", where they sell seedlings. A dozen silent women are waiting for the seller. Everyone stands silently - and not a word, even torture. Here comes the seller - everything is snapped up in a minute. Finally I find out: Chinese magnolia vine was sold. The magazine wrote that he, among other things, treats impotence!

LEARNING TO LOOK WITH YOUR OWN EYES

In fact, here is a very brief summary of the subsequent chapters of the book. Something like a list of main conclusions.

He started, of course, like everyone else: from the market. I buy everything that I see, I poke at any free spot ... This is where I gained experience! With excitement I plant four seedlings of "cherries". I've been waiting for the harvest for five years. I try the most sour berries ... Well, how could I know then that all garden Siberia calls any local sour cherries with a long stem "cherries"!

Felt cherries are truly edible and reliable. They are also called "Chinese". He studied the surrounding gardens, selected and grew his bushes. I have been enjoying berries since mid-July, when there are no other berries yet (photo 4).

Many of our "local varieties" are selected from the seeds and seeds of cultivars, including European ones. For a long time I observed the fate of different seedlings and came to the conclusion that sowing seeds is not a way to propagate cultivated trees. This is the hardest, long and thorny path only for enthusiastic breeders. In order for one surviving tree with valuable fruits to remain and become famous, hundreds of Sayanogorsk residents sowed tens of thousands of seeds. All other seedlings either gave half-wilds, or froze out in the very first winters.

I take out the filing of the new "PX" - my first window into the big garden world. I learn: the basal offspring of seedlings not only retain the maternal qualities of the fruit, but also begin to bear fruit early. I am making another expedition to the gardens. I decorate my garden with dozens of coppice trees of Chinese (Ussuri) plums of all colors of the rainbow (photos 3 and 75). Fantastic spectacle! For all the years not a single tree has frozen, the harvests are plentiful and annual, the fruits are sweet, even cloying. But it is worth extracting bones from them and growing trees - and here it is, a cold shower: the leaf is smaller, and the sweetness is not at all the same, and the harvest is not expected to be 3-4 years, but 5-6 years. And this despite the fact that the Chinese plum, in comparison with the "Europeans", conveys its qualities very well with seeds!

I am learning to vaccinate. I plant like everyone else - "in a stump under the bark." They get along great. But years passed, and already adult apple trees began to dry out! Or worse than that - to collapse under the weight of the harvest. I conclude: “fixing” a stock with a scion is not right. Having tried other methods, I stop at two: “improved copulation” - with a handle in the butt, and with a handle in a split, or “in a stump” (Copulation is the connection of two shoots with oblique cuts to each other. More details in the chapter on vaccinations. is inserted into the split of a rootstock of the same diameter. These trees live with me longer than others.

I do not miss a single opportunity to test a new variety, almost on my knees I ask for permission to cut off the stalk - at least the very top ... And for several years there are only failures! Or dead vaccinations, or "freaks". It turned out that the best fragment for grafting in a harsh climate is not even the middle of the cut growth, as they say in the classics, but its lower part, not counting a few dormant buds at the base.

There were other discoveries:

The older the stock, the faster the scion.

The lower the grafting site, the more powerful the seedling grows and develops faster.

The lower the grafting site, the fewer dead or undersized scions.

The result - on two- and three-year-old seed rootstocks, I confidently grow powerful seedlings of plums and apricots. For five months - above two meters, with a powerful skeleton of dozens of branches and hundreds of flower buds (photos 5, 6 and 67).

I took up the selection of rootstocks, and then the strengthening of their compatibility with scions, on a whim, after one "little trick". The suburban area, alas, is not dimensionless! I go to the forest, do a hundred vaccinations on one-year-old and two-year-old seedlings of a semi-wild Siberian apple tree. By autumn I come and see: some vaccinations have developed much stronger than others. I choose the most powerful seedlings and transfer them to my garden. And I think: what if they are re-grafted to the Siberian one more time? ..

So, from case to case, my interest in selection manifested itself.

IGNORANCE IS POWER ALSO...

Having settled down a little in a new place, in the very first spring of 1985 I bought a summer cottage in the Shushensky district, in the village of Krasny Khutor. Now journalists and television regularly come here, gardeners from the surrounding regions, and even scientists sometimes drop by. How many centners of delicious fruits, to my joy, they ate from me in twenty years - do not calculate. And it all started with the fact that I ... did not believe Michurin.

An old neighbor advised to plant cultivated apple trees on the “Siberian berry apple tree”. Obviously Michurin did not read! At one time, Ivan Vladimirovich sentenced Siberians, having made sure from his own experiments that the support of frost-resistant rootstocks does not increase the frost resistance of the crown. Yes, and modern authors often accuse Siberian of incompatibility with many large-fruited varieties.

But then I didn't know that. I did not know that our forest apple trees are no longer quite Siberians (photos 7 and 8). I grafted on their seedlings different varieties that came from the Chernozem region and from Ukraine. And I, still an inexperienced grafter, got good seedlings! In half the cases, he waited for the harvest. The fruits were quite "European".

I was finally convinced by a specific episode from practice. A familiar gardener went to Belarus and brought seedlings, a dozen varieties of apple trees and plums. He just planted them, and I got cuttings for grafting. Inoculated in early spring: plums - on the Chinese, apple trees - on the forest "Siberian". A few years later, having already managed to give the first harvest of tasty fruits, all its trees froze to death. And mine, grafted onto local frost-resistant rootstocks, remained alive. And this despite the fact that at that time I had not yet applied vegetative convergence with rootstocks.

Since then, I have observed a similar picture more than once and made sure that the best rootstocks for Siberia and the North are local wild species. I am sure that the flowering of Sayanogorsk apple trees is connected precisely with these rootstocks.

(If you graft the best of the branches that have taken root on it again, compatibility will increase. If you repeat this technique for a few more years, the graft will “become related” to the rootstock - vegetatively get closer. Details are in the chapter on selection adaptation).

Worst of all was the case with cultivated pears. I went the same way: I found an abandoned garden and there are dozens of old wild Ussuri pears with crazy annual harvests. He began to grow "northern" table varieties bred for the Non-Black Earth region on the Ussuri. The result exceeded all expectations. Young pear orchard- the third-fifth generation of re-grafting on Ussuriyka - passed the exam with excellent marks. Most of the varieties "did not notice" the penultimate forty-degree winter - they bore fruit, as usual.

For Russian cherries and sweet cherries, a frost-resistant stock was also found.

They turned out to be descendants, apparently, of Vladimirskaya - the famous Russian tree-like cherry, introduced by the first settlers. I generally call them "Siberian Standard Cherry" for their powerful growth. As a frost-resistant stock, it is for vigorous trees that it has no equal.

Saying "cherries", I did not make a reservation. In Bryansk, M. V. Kanshina has already bred sweet cherries with frost resistance up to -35 ... -37 ° C. My result is not yet impressive: one small harvest in the last five years. But all the work is still ahead.

I call the early-growing semi-wild Manchurian apricot a gift from God. I got a seedling twenty years ago from our most authoritative gardener A.D. Levitsky. In addition to frost resistance, huge growth and large yields, it gives me bones.

Thank you old neighbor! Now we have reliable rootstocks!

Gradually, authority among gardeners appeared. People started asking for help. I had to inspect dozens of problem gardens. It was there that I made a truly important discovery for myself - I saw the cause of the mass death of trees. A typical picture: a dead ten-year-old apricot. Planted strictly according to science: in a bowl-shaped recess 20-30 cm deep. I kneel down and see: a trunk near the soil, as if “girded” with white rings. And it's not the first time I've seen them... Yes, these are traces left by the level of water and ice! Frozen soil does not absorb melt water, and the man-made "puddle" dries out for a long time - two or three weeks. During the day, the bark is saturated with water, and at night it freezes. But ice breaks even the most durable metal!

Years passed, I looked at hundreds of dead trees. My head was filled with new facts and observations. Mostly like this: a snowless or harsh winter has come - seedlings from European Russia, seedlings from southern stones and Central Asian seedlings "from Barnaul" die in almost everyone. There were more and more findings. There was evidence of harmfulness, destructiveness for Siberia of many generally accepted, read - European agricultural practices. It was impossible to remain silent any longer - he rushed to write in newspapers and magazines.

(Alas, not all editors dared to print my “anti-scientific” truth. And separate disparate articles did not solve the problem. It was then that I realized that I would have to write a book).

WHEN IT'S CLOSE IN THE COUNTRY PLOT

To say that everything went smoothly for me is to twist my soul. Traditional book agricultural technology prevented us from seeing the obvious, and the lack of knowledge, on the contrary, did not allow us to generalize the data and pushed for categoricalness. And then came the "revolutionary" 1992. For the first time in the history of Soviet Russia, future farmers were given free land! So, suddenly, in my life, too, there was a “perestroika”.

They gave, of course, inconvenience. And we, the townspeople, were generally not considered people, they were sent to collective farms - to negotiate for ourselves. Well, agreed. Then they demanded that I, a metallurgist, pass exams in horticulture. I ran to the library, surrounded myself with books for universities and technical schools.

It turned out that it is necessary to start with the cultivation of wind protection - a living wall of wild plants. How many years do you need! Then you need to make a full set of mineral fertilizers, then plow all five hectares to a great depth. Then, be sure to get zoned grafted seedlings, and certainly in state nurseries ...

As a result, I passed the exam, received five hectares of "junk" land, but I did everything in my own way.

My partner and I did not apply fertilizers: the soil is alive - why poison it? They didn’t plow it: why cripple it? Even then, “seditious” thoughts appeared that the health and frost resistance of trees not least depend on the naturalness of the soil, on the activity of all soil life. A cart of earth, poured out right on top of the turf, and already in it a small hole strictly according to the size of the straightened roots - this is our landing hole. In autumn, 1650 ready-made 2-3-year-old rootstocks of local Siberians were brought from the neighboring taiga. I had to take it with bare roots: the forest soil did not hold a lump. They were immediately placed in their permanent positions. In the spring of next year, they were all vaccinated. They also planted a nursery for growing a replacement: insurance against the inevitable theft and other "joys of life".

And even in the very first spring, we planted a pine windbreak forest belt in three rows. It is pines that are needed here: they do not shed their needles for the winter. Planted densely, a meter apart. The tight fit caused our guard to rise rapidly.

Wind protection is the most important, the main basis of gardening in Siberia! But in our windswept Khakassia, there are already dozens, and many villages have been “naked” for almost hundreds of years. Alas, over the past ten years, I have only once seen the planting of a small forest belt - along the road near Shushenskoye.

There was no equipment for irrigation, and for the first years we covered the near-stem circles with pieces of old roofing material. Underneath it was damp in drought and warmer on snowless frosty days. But there were mice under it! I had to wrap the stems of seedlings with pieces of the same roofing material. I regret that I guessed to use fiberglass for this much later.

And then - no amateur performances, without the experience of professionals - nowhere! I went to get acquainted with the agronomists-gardeners of the Shushensky State variety plot, the Baikov spouses. I come, but they are not up to me: a large crop of plums is dying. Everyone runs around with boxes, and I wander around the garden with interest. I tried the Severyanka pear - very good fruits! I looked with amazement at the huge harvest of Pepin saffron apples: many branches were broken off by the weight of the fruit!

We returned here in winter. Seeing that we are now “real farmers” with documents and land, agronomists offered help - cuttings of the best that they had: the Zhigulevskoye apple tree, northern Sinap and even Alma-Ata Aport, received for testing from the Sverdlovsk experimental station. I already knew about these varieties from the reviews of experienced gardeners, and made five hundred vaccinations of each. Only Aport Alma-Ata could not stand the winter of 2000/2001. From myself I added apple trees already growing in Sayanogorsk - “Glory of Michurinsk” and “Kutuzovets”. I refused other varieties unknown to me: I could not take risks.

Like a paradise fairy tale, I dreamed of a huge collection, where each tree- another variety. But farming is an expense now, and income is somewhere far away. Many problems had to be solved. The place was considered lost for the garden: the island! A beautiful island adjoining the Shushenskaya side, a shady passing fish channel, and through the Yenisei in all its glory - Sayanogorsk. They dug a well. Hooray! - six meters to the water, which means that rotting does not threaten the roots. Ditches were dug along all the rows - a “ditch” irrigation system, since water is nearby. I remember from school: river water is alive, and well water is so-so.

The first years were windy. The most powerful seedlings broke and fell, sometimes even with stakes. Adapted. Grafted lower and lower, annually shortened the tops and skeletal branches. The trees turned out to be squat, stocky, with a thick trunk and thick skeletal branches - like bushes. I noticed: the lower I plant, the more powerful, stronger and faster the seedlings.

There were mistakes - where without them! In the second year, a temporary fence of three rows of barbed wire could not withstand the pressure of a herd of bulls - they passed without noticing. More than a thousand grafted seedlings were trampled. By that time, I had found better quality wild game growing in dense soil in the Ochursky forest. After grieving, we threw away the broken seedlings along with the rootstocks. In autumn, they quickly brought in new Siberians dug up with a lump. Planted to the point of complete exhaustion. They were all grafted the following spring.

The island also gave unexpected compensation: thick hoarfrost - steam from the Yenisei. Covering the trees in calm weather, he does not allow them to dry out the frost. So we waited for the harvest. And what!

2004 - a large harvest of selected apples. And this is without watering and care. Half of the harvest was taken out by a dozen trucks. Sold in absentia, on parole, just to save the harvest. So many more were stolen.

2005 promised an even bigger harvest. But two troubles came unexpectedly.

The partner, a talented engineer, made a career and moved to Moscow. And I completely lost interest in the commercial garden - the “sore” head was completely captured by the idea of a new selection method. I would have to rent crops, but I, obsessed, rented ... a flourishing garden. The following spring, it burned down - someone set fire to the grass while the tenants were sleeping in city apartments. All spent savings, along with future millions in income, were dispelled by ashes. A hundred burnt, but still living trees remained. For several years without care and watering, they gave fantastic harvests of apples - twenty, and sometimes up to thirty buckets from one tree (photos 9 and 10). And what is interesting - namely large, selected apples. I explain this by the fact that the roots have reached the aquifer.

So, now I am left with non-standard experience, a lot of observations and alternative agricultural techniques. And since he didn’t die of a heart attack, there was only one way out - to take up breeding seriously.

THE NEXT STEP IS THE ZELEZOWSKI SELECTION

Having come to his senses after the tragedy, he picked up an ax and a saw and went to Krasny Khutor, to his semi-abandoned dacha. He cut down almost all the old trees of the first generations - those varieties that were in many gardens. Only Chinese plums removed about forty. He left invaluable "suppliers" of rootstock seeds: three Chinese plums, three Manchurian apricots, planted several Ussuri pears, chose the best layers of the "Vladimir" Siberian cherry. And expanded the garden by another 10 acres. Since I am destined to remain poor, I will grow the best garden in Siberia!

I started with the main thing: I planted an unmeasured number of seeds and seeds and grew seedlings. Then he returned everything that he had already worked with: he cut cuttings in the gardens of friends with whom he had previously shared. Then a hard culling of already one-year-old seedlings. The remaining grafts. By autumn, he chose the best of the best - he left them in place forever. The rest was again culled, the best sold or exchanged for cuttings of different new varieties.

The following autumn, I cut the cuttings already from the grown-up selected vaccinations. They planted another school of seedlings, the seeds for which he took from the same supplier tree. In the fall, he again rejected or sold everything except the best of the best. They were also left in place, and cuttings were already cut from them for a new grafting generation. He reasoned simply: the more “accumulate” the influence of frost-resistant rootstocks, the more frost-resistant the scions will become.

Regrafting of the best trees on new rootstocks had to be repeated up to five to seven times. And each new grafting generation grew larger and more resilient to climatic anomalies! These trees increasingly produced sustainable yields. Later I realized: it's not just about the transfer and consolidation of frost resistance. In this way, I brought to the limit the biological compatibility of the scion with the rootstock. In fact, I received compatible clones (Clone - vegetative offspring. Everything that grew from the buds and cuttings of the mother plant) Why not a method of selection adaptation for Siberia?

Eyes lit up! Sparing no money, he wrote out cuttings from the best gardeners in Russia. Ordered on the principle of "only the best". At the same time, he ransacked all available gardens, took all the best from there. This went on for over a year. Only at the beginning of the millennium he went to Ukraine three times and, as a smuggler, secretly took out whole brooms of cuttings. He instilled everything indiscriminately and watched. Varieties, ordinary by my standards, simply destroyed.

I soon realized: I'll tear myself up! Replanting and selecting every variety every year is not a job for a single person. It became easier to do: wait. Severe winters did their useful work: in about half of the cases it waited for fruiting, in half the trees died. Often I lost excellent, but not yet frost-resistant varieties: I physically did not have time to duplicate seedlings.

In some cases, it was possible to get a crop in the second year, and quite often in the 3rd-4th. Here already acted on the result. If the fruits are smaller than expected (the rootstock also affects the fruits!), I cut off the grafted crown and grafted other varieties here, saving time and space. If everything is fine, I left the tree for further work. He did not allow selected forms to stagnate: once every 3-4 years he re-grafted onto a seedling - he supported “frost-resistant genes”.

What I'm trying to do can be called "the third way of selection".

More precisely, this is the path of selective adaptation, which is quite effective and efficient precisely at the limits of the survival of fruit plants. Seedling local rootstocks were put at the forefront by Michurin and all the founders of Siberian and northern gardening. The influence of the rootstock on the scion has long been proven. Vegetative hybridization (If you graft the best of the branches that have taken root on it again, compatibility will increase. If you repeat this technique for a few more years, the graft will “become related” to the rootstock - it will vegetatively get closer. Details are in the chapter on selection adaptation), mentor method ( Mentor - "educator". The grafted part or rootstock influences the plant, transfers some of its properties to it. More details on pages 238-239) and vegetative convergence are also recognized methods of Michurin. I began to consolidate and strengthen these effects with multiple repetitions. After all, what did thousands of Sayanogorsk gardeners do? They constantly transferred both alien varieties and surviving branches from frozen trees to new rootstock seedlings. And what I call the “Siberian miracle” and the “Sayanogorsk phenomenon” happened. Well, I just studied this phenomenon, saw the essence and gave it a purposeful character.

The influence of the rootstock on the scion leads to a partial "fusion" of their qualities. It has been proven that even the transfer of genetic material occurs in this rapprochement. See the chapter on selective adaptation for details.

MOMENT OF TRUTH

"Global warming" in practice turned into two terrible, almost snowless winters, when the frost for weeks, months was between thirty and forty. The first of these winters - 2009/2010 - Sayanogorsk orchards withstood with honor, only missed the harvest of apricots. My trees of very tender European varieties, with the exception of apricots, gave an almost normal yield. I lost one tree each: the Golden Delicious apple tree, the Autumn Yakovleva pear tree, the Academician apricot, and the Souvenir Vostok plum clone grafted on a Manchurian apricot. Mature peaches are dead. The rest of the trees turned out to be from absolutely healthy to frozen, but recovered with powerful growths.

And everything would be in Sayanogorsk as before - numerous trucks, tens of tons of fruits. But after that, an abnormally cold summer happened. And then - the second consecutive terrible winter. 2010/2011.

She still finished off many trees, even apple trees that had not yet healed their wounds. The worst situation was in the mountain dachas, where it was down to -43°C. The minimum losses along the coast of the ice-free Yenisei are up to -40°C. Mostly “exotics” froze here: peaches, cherries, large-fruited pears and apricots.

In my case, repeated frosts killed the Central Russian pear, which I considered the most frost-resistant of the purely sweet ones. Finished off two more apricots Academician and the oldest cherry.

A few more trees, about to die, pushed out shoots from the lower dormant buds. With my lowest vaccination, complete death does not threaten my trees, although there was snow - below the boots. Well, outwardly, the losses in the garden are almost imperceptible. Young people are growing up, already by the beginning of July they have given meter gains. It even bloomed a little, like many mature trees. But the harvest did not work out: the flowers were covered with thick snow with frost down to -3°C.

The most reliable crop, the steppe cherry, gave us the usual harvest. In felt and tree-like - a weak harvest, in pears and plums - a single fruiting, in apple trees - a quarter of the usual harvest. I will modestly keep quiet about apricots until next year.

In general, after two disastrous winters and springs, our gardens are like that rooster from The Bremen Town Musicians: "pretty plucked, but not defeated." Most of the "local varieties" are alive, and many are not affected at all. Again I use new material - the most stable branches of my clones. It seems that these seedlings will no longer be afraid of anything. Our gardens definitely have a future!

* * *

The history of most of the Sayanogorsk "folk varieties" can no longer be established. Something grown and successfully selected from the bones. Something re-grafted many times. I adapted to local rootstocks and climate. Initially, these are well-known Russian varieties, but they are already different - changed, adapted. Trees grow and bear fruit, recovering from the harshest winters. Many local "clones" go beyond Khakassia. For thirty years, illiterate mass enthusiasm has done what science has not done,- forced excellent varieties to grow where, by definition, they could not grow.

And there is no special secret here. One of the factors of our success is a dry climate with little snow and an abundance of sun. This is more favorable for stone fruits that are afraid of aging. The second reason is local frost-resistant rootstocks. And the most important factor is mass character, and with it incredible courage. The incantations of science - to plant only zoned varieties - were ignored. Gardening clubs, lectures by masters and experts, thousands of attempts - and a miracle really happened. Developed amateur gardening arose in some thirty years!

How long will he be? It now depends on us.

The fact that the North and Siberia cannot feed themselves with pure fruits and vegetables is savagery and nonsense. We ourselves are to blame: with our own hands we destroyed everything good that we had. Perestroika is already in the distant past, and we live so indifferently, as if tomorrow is the end of the world! Come to your senses, friends: the time has come for our grandchildren. So we have to start all over again, even from scratch - for their sake.

At the same time, I agree that the State Register is not at all a guide for an experienced gardener. And amateur gardening in Siberia is developing contrary to official recommendations. I think that the State Register was compiled by scientific officials, and not by scientific gardeners. They, too, are ashamed to eat folk bread for free.

I note that gardeners in the south of Kuzbass also use the Siberian apple tree as a rootstock, which Michurin rejected. But we believe that this is no longer the Siberian apple tree that Michurin had in mind, but hybrids of this species, i.e. Siberian apple tree, pollinated in a variety of semi-cultivars common in our gardens.

(G. Kazanin).

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