PLANT BREEDING IS A SOLUTION FOR IMPORT SUBSTITUTION IN VEGETABLE PRODUCTION

The vegetable production  is one of the economic sectors  that  provides  the  population  with  foodstuff  products with high biological values. To achieve independence in production  of the agricultural foodstuffs,  the part of imported  products should not be beyond 25 % from total volume of foodstuffs  fabricated. As a result of national breeding program, the varieties and hybrids adapted to different growing conditions, with resistance to  local races of pathogens, temperature stresses, and ground frosts were developed to provide the sustainable production of vegetables with high nutritional and medicinal qualities. The varieties and hybrids F1  of white  head cabbage that have been created for the last 5 years are distinguished from foreign ones by taste qualities, appropriate pickling characteristics with increased  sugar,  and  decreased  cellulose  contents. The local onion varieties combine long shelf life, early maturing, well bulb formation, high dry matter content (18-20%) and ability to form the bulb for one year. The cucumber  is  the  traditional  vegetable crop  in  Russia and very profitable for greenhouse enterprises. Breeders have developed bee-pollinated and parthenocarpic hybrids well adapted to local growing conditions and  suitable  for   open  field   cultivation   in  different regions of Russia. Parthenocarpic heterotic hybrids of the  multi-propose  use, corresponding  to  the  modern variety model with high productivity, early-ripening, bunch ovary disposition, resistance to abiotic stresses, and  most  harmful  diseases. The carrot  and  red  beet varieties with  high nutritional  qualities, long shelf-life, ecological plasticity that are widely used for seed production have been created. The varieties of nightshade crops have been developed to cultivate in NonChernozem zone, Far East, Western Siberia, the Middle Belt of Russia and the south of Russia, are also suitable for different greenhouse complexes located in different light zones of the Russia. Wide application of varieties produced through national vegetable breeding programs can provide the population with our own products of high quality.