GENETIC RESOURCES OF ROOT VEGETABLES CROPS IN CENTRAL REGION OF RUSSIA

As a result of the research carried out in 2013-2016, the viability and originality of 1157 accessions of root vegetables have been preserved. 250 breeding accessions of carrot, beetroot and radish have been assessed for different economically valuable traits in open field and laboratory tests. Out of them, 65 accessions were selected out as sources of economically valuable traits. The early-maturing accessions of radish, such as ‘Korsar’, ‘Francuzsky Zavtrak’, ‘Mikhnevsky 1’, ‘18 Dney’, ‘Koroleva Margo’, ‘Polyna’, ‘Rozovo-Krasny s Belym Konchikom’, ‘Sofit’, ‘Kvarta’, ‘Saksa’, ‘Variant’ were regarded. The carrot accessions, such as ‘Scarlet’, ‘Koroleva Oseni’, ‘Dlinnaya Krasnaya’ were distinguished as sources of high yield capacity. The sources of high root yield in beetroot were varieties: ‘Valenta’, ‘Mestnaya iz Madagaskara’, Goldiers Super Black Beet, Zwaans Early Red Chief. The long shelf-life during wintertime was observed in beetroot varieties: ‘Slowiblot’, ‘Valenta’, ‘Lomarina’. The varieties: ‘Nevezhes’, ‘Neger Schwarz Halblange’, ‘Goldiers Super Black Beet’ were distinguished by high root marketability. With the use of world plant collection at VIR, the following varieties of root vegetables: ‘Dar Podmoskovya’ in carrot; ‘Osennya Princessa’ in beetroot; ‘Mikhnevskiy 1 ‘in garden radish; ‘Osenniy Krasavets’ in daikon; ‘Albina’ in root parsley; ‘Atlant’ in parsnip; Moscowskiy Krasavets in celery, and ‘Oseniya Udacha’ in wild radish were developed. It was also shown those varieties that had high yield capacity and root marketability were distinguished by small epidermal cell structure and large number of stomata per unit of leaf surface. It may be supposed that the large number of stomata per unit of leaf surface and small epidermal cell structure was the evidence of adaptive capacity of accessions taken for the study.