Relevance and methods. In the dry steppe zone of flat Dagestan, the beneficial effect of drip irrigation in combination with organic fertilizers on the yield and quality of Almaz eggplant fruits has been proven. Results. It was established that out of the three studied soil moisture thresholds (70, 80 and 90% HB), the best conditions for plant growth and development, optimization of their photosynthetic activity are created at a moisture threshold of 80% HB in combination with the introduction of 40 t / ha manure + N320P120K210. The combination of factors under study makes it possible to increase the leaf surface index by an average of 24.3%, which contributes to an increase in the photosynthetic potential by 15.7% and an increase in the efficiency of the use of photosynthetically active radiation by crops by 2.5 times in comparison with the unfertilized background by 90% НВ. In conditions of a shortage of irrigation water, drip irrigation in combination with fertigation in the form of three root fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers increases the efficiency of its use by reducing the water consumption for the formation of a unit of production from on average with 164.8 to 66.4 m3 /t. It has been proven that the best combination of yield-forming factors ensuring the highest eggplant yield - 62.3…63,6 t / ha, is the use of drip irrigation with the maintenance of soil moisture in the active 0.5 m layer during the growing season within 80...100% HB in the complex with the introduction of 40 t / ha of manure and N320P120K210.

On 2-4th of September, 2013 the International «XV EUCARPIA Meeting on Genetics and Breeding of Capsicum and Eggplant» was held in Torino (Italy). The problems of utilization of genetic resources, evaluation and release of breeding material were discussed. Achievements in the field of molecular genetics and biotechnology of pepper and eggplant are presented.

The content of phenolic compounds (flavonoids, anthocyans and phenolcarbonic acids) was studied in fruits of three species of eggplant ( S. Melongena, S. Integrifolium, S. Aethiopicum) and their F1, hybrids that were grown under condition of low-capacity hydroponics. It was found out that some of F1 hybrids of cultural species of eggplant ( S. Melongena) contained 2,3% of phenolic compounds, whereas content of phenolic compounds in wild species of eggplants ( S. Integrifolium, S. Aethiopicum) reached up to 3%.

The results of the research work on inheritance of resistance to root-knot nematode in eggplant hybrids F1 was presented in the article. The breeding of early-maturing, resistant to root-knot nematode varieties and hybrid may cover all population’s demand on eggplant fruits in spring time and preventing the loss in yield caused by root-knot nematode in Republic of Uzbekistan. The breeding program for these varieties and hybrids requires the knowledge of inheritance of these resistance traits. The line Mk/03 out of 100 accessions had been selected as a line bearing resistance to root-knot nematode, while the line Al/03 and Cc/03 were sensitive and used as second parental component for further crossing. It was shown that resistance to root-knot nematode in eggplant hybrid F1 was inherited as dominant trait. The type of crossing did not affect degree of dominance. Among combination studied 50-80% of plants did not show any sign of damage, whereas only 20-46.6% of plants were weakly damaged with score 1-2. The degree of dominance was very high for all cases and achieved hp=-0.74, -0.9, i. e. the hybrids F were very close to parental accession insensitive to root-knot nematode. Our study showed that if one of the parental accessions has high resistance to root-knot nematode the first progeny with sensitive accession always shows resistance, and not depending on type of crossing the dominance of resistance can be observed.

The studies found that in the crosses of S. melongena with wild species, used as a male and female component, the interspecific hybrids have the traits of the generative organs of wild species: the shape and flower size, color, shape and fruit size.

The growth in the cost of raw materials, vehicles, fuel, incomplete use of the crop leads to an increase in the cost of grown products. As you know, in the process of harvesting and its marketing, about 25-35% are products not sold on time, non-standard products, which are not inferior in nutritional value to the standard and stripping products. Such products are discarded or partially sold by agreement. Processing this part of the crop by solar-air drying is one of the ways to reduce crop losses and make the cultivation technology low-waste and resource-saving.Materials and methods. On the basis of the All-Russian research institute of irrigated vegetable and melon growing – branch of Precaspian agrarian federal scientific center of the Russian academy of sciences (FSBSI “PAFSC RAS”), work was carried out to study the quality of dried eggplants of the institute's selection that were not realized in due time and cleanup collection. For work, they took the fruits of the varieties Nizhnevolzhsky, Panther, Almazny, Astrakom. The goal of the work is to ensure the protection of unsold marketable products, as well as the fruits of the stripping collection from spoilage and obtaining a new product with good nutritional and taste properties, which makes the eggplant growing technology low-waste. Before and after drying, the main chemical substances were determined: the amount of sugars, dry substances, ascorbic acid, nitrates.Results Our results prove that from each ton of unsold products, you can get from 80 to 106 kg of complete dietary products. Ready-made dried eggplants contain, depending on the variety, from 21.17 to 23.86% of the total sugar, the amount of ascorbic acid ranges from 1.63 mg /% to 2.61 mg /%. The amount of nitrates is 7.6-10.2 times less than the permissible (1200 mg / kg) level. Solar-air drying is low-cost, since its storage and transportation requires fewer containers and vehicles. The amount of dried products is reduced to the original, depending on the grade and weight of the loaded raw materials per square meter by 9.4-12.5 times.

The article presents a brief history of the establishment of the Laboratory of Plant Breeding and Seed Production of Solanaceae Crops of FSBSI FSVC. The process of development of tomato, pepper, eggplant and physalis breeding is shown from the beginning of the establishment until the present time. Practical selection of Solanaceae crops in FSBSI FSVC is directly connected with the name of Academician VASKhNIL A.V. Alpatyev, who is the founder of scientific research on thermophilic crops. On the basis of conducted scientific researches the technique of creation of cold-resistant, early-ripening cultivars of tomato was developed, including influence of certain conditions on parental forms and hybrid material from its first generations to increase adaptability to new, not characteristic conditions of selected material. Subsequently, this technique was applied to the breeding of sweet pepper, eggplant and physalis. Interspecific hybridisation was used to enrich the gene pool of Solanaceous crops. As a result of distant hybridization, the following cultivars were created: the original tomato cultivar Severyanin with large parthenocarpic fruits on 1 and 2 racemes; an anadrous mutant for use in breeding; ultra-rapid, short-stage forms for obtaining heterosis effect; the cultivar Vkusny with increased content of dry matter in fruits. On the basis of interspecific hybrid of Ph. ixocarpa x Ph. angulata, the cultivars Dessert and Lakomka, characterized by high yield and resistance to diseases, high content of sugars, pectin and absence of bitterness, are created. Types of pepper Capsicum chinense, C. frutescens and C. annuum were used to create resistant forms to viral diseases. Involvement of wild eggplant species (Solanum aethiopicum, S. macrocarpon) to the breeding process allowed to obtain hybrid combinations with flavonoids content 1,3 times higher and phenolcarboxylic acids 1,6–1,7 times higher than in S. melongena.The development of theoretical bases ofSolanaceae crops breeding for resistance to biotic and abiotic stressors, as well as for high quality production, allowed to create a series of cosmopolitan cultivars, which at present are in demand, both in production and as a source material. The current scientific priorities are to use innovative biotechnology and molecular marking methods to accelerate the breeding process and improve selection efficiency.

Relevance. The presence of valuable biologically active substances, carbohydrates, organic acids and others in the eggplant fruits makes the culture one of the vegetables with the highest antioxidant activity. The VIR collection of eggplant includes 830 accessions from 70 countries of the world. The study of new acquisitions in the VIR collection presupposes a comprehensive assessment of the received material according to morphological, biological and economically valuable characteristics. The main objective of the study was to assess the variability of the biochemical parameters of egg-plant fruits in technical ripeness; as well as determination of the best accessions by the chemical composition of fruits and the content of biologically active substances.Materials and methods. The study of 19 accessions of eggplant accessions was carried out in 2020 in a winter greenhouse in Pushkin and Pavlovsk Laboratories of VIR (St. Petersburg). The morphological description of the accessions and the assessment for biological and economically valuable traits were carried out in accordance with the methodological guidelines and the VIR classifier. Biochemical analysis was carried out in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology of VIR in the phase of technical ripeness of fruits in terms of: dry matter content, sugars, total acidity, ascorbic acid, pigments and anthocyanins.Results. As a result of this study, the amplitude of variability in the content of dry matter (6.44- 8.68%), sugars (1.78-3.72%), ascorbic acid (5.92-21.08 mg/100 g), titrated acidity (0.10-0.31%), chlorophylls (0.52-15.13 mg/100 g), carotenoids (1.19-6.99 mg/100 g), β-carotene (0.11-0.52 mg/100 g) and anthocyanins (12.94-1031.40 mg/100 g) in eggplant fruits. Accessions with a high content of biologically active substances in fruits in technical ripeness were identified: Russian hybrids Bourgeois F1, Azhur F1; local accessions from Armenia: k-3156, k-3159, k-3161.