On 15-17 February the General Annual Meeting of Russian Academy of Agricultural Science was held where the result of researches for 2006-2010 had been summarized up and new research plan for 2011 was drawn up.

Expanding the range of leafy and salad vegetables and extension of their production and consumption are indicators that can characterize the state and prosperity of the nation. The great value and indispensable of vegetables in human's diet are that they are the sources of vitamins, sugars, organic acids, mineral salts, microelements and biologically active matters which determine the taste of food and its assimilation in human's body.

The main arm of the each producer is to preserve vegetables and then to use them completely. That is why it is important to study the storage longevity of tomato fruits collected by harvesting machine affecting on the quality of final products.

Exogenous factors affecting on the expression of apomixis in cabbage have been identified. Apomictic seeds developed into embryoids were observed in three cabbage varieties such as Jana, Lazurnaya and Lesia (Ukraine). Thus, it was possible to induce an incomplete organogenesis of parthenogenesis seeds originated from these four varieties of cabbage. The occurrence of apomixis was provoked by the synergitic effect of plant growth regulators and alien pollen applied simultaneously as an aqueous mixture of gibberellins and cytokinin applied on the base of the pistil, while the alien pollen (Chinese radish - Loba) was placed on the stigma of castrated cabbage buds 2-3 days before they disclose.

The ideas for plant sanitary diagnostic using modern computer technology and internet service were discussed in this article. Digital photos, multimedia resources and FAQ website can serve the agronomist with summarized information concerning plant protection and methods for damage prevention in the area of crop cultivation.

The perspective of utilization of in vitro culture of unpollinated ovules for development of dihaploid lines of pumpkin is described in the article. The ovules of five hybrids were cultivated on CBM medium. The following combinations of growth regulators for gynogenesis induction were used: a) 0.2 mg/L of thidiazuron and 0,0001 мкМ of epibrassinolide; b) 2 mg/l of 2,4-D. The frequency of embryo development depended on cultivation medium and genotype. The maximum amount of embryos developed from unpollinated ovules of one ovary was 6-9 ones.

The main achievements of vegetable breeding research in different institutions of Russian Federation and the priorities and prospects were highlighted in the article.

In October, 6-16 The XII Russian Agricultural Exhibition «The Golden Autumn 2011» took place at All-Russian Exposition Center. Within scheduled program of the exposition the roundtable conference was held «Problems of Plant Breeding, Agricultural Crop Seed Production in Marketing Condition».

The morphological marker characteristics of the flower and cytological features of microgametogenesis and microsporo-genesis in sterile plants have been studied to identify and select plants bearing Ogura male sterility type. As result of analysis of hybrid plants and inbreeding progenies based on male sterile form of Japanese radish the three groups of progenies were observed with 100 % of sterile plants, all of them are to be the initial breeding lines for production of radish hybrids F1.