Fruit growing
and viticulture of South Russia

Annotation

The paper considers the biological peculiarities of two the most winter-hardy species of bird cherry - Prunus padus L. and Prunus virginiana L., as well as of their hybrids of the first and subsequent generations and the known ornamental forms and varieties. We used the following for crossbreeding: Prunus padus L. 'Nezhnost' with pink petals, Prunus padus L. 'Colorata' with lilac-pink petals and red leaves in spring, and selected ungraded genotypes with various types of vigour and crown forms, as well as local specimens with very long clusters and big flowers. For crossing Prunus virginiana we used the 'Schubert' cultivar with red leaves in summer and autumn and selected multi-flowered specimens with long clusters. We created and officially registered three hybrid cultivars - 'Purpurnaya Svecha', 'Sibirskaya Krasavitsa' and 'Krasnyi Shater' with 'Schubert'-type red leaves differing in their crown form and vigour. New cultivars are being tested in the State Commission of the Russian Federation - 'Oblako' (Prunus padus L.), of medium growth with very big white flowers, and interspecific hybrids: 'Stroynaya', of strong growth with 'Schubert'-type red leaves but pink flowers, and 'Krasnyi sezon', a cultivar of low growth with red leaves year-round. The group of new genotypes with explicit ornamental qualities, that candidates for new cultivars, was prepared. We singled out the new genetic sources for breeding usage. For Prunus padus L., intraspecific crossing of the best specimens can result in highly ornamental and easily propagable cultivars. Prunus virginiana L. should be used to transfer certain the highly ornamental characteristics to hybrids. Interspecific crossing increases the diversity of characteristics of the hybrids and allows one to obtain their new original combinations. The paper discusses the promising trends in breeding of bird cherry for various ornamental characteristics and offers the brief descriptions of the origin and ornamental qualities of some created cultivars and hybrids.