Replenishing the biodiversity of cultivated plants with new varieties of Paeonia hybrida

Abstract

The article presents the results of breeding studies with representatives of the generic complex Paeonia L. at the South-Ural Botanical Garden-Institute of Ufa Federal Research Centre of Russian Academy of Sciences. The goal of the work is to create local highly decorative varieties of P. hybrida hort. for the climatic zone of the Republic of Bashkortostan with good resistance to diseases and pests, high winter hardiness and heat resistance. Beginning in the 1950s of the 20th century, a collection fund of the complex of Paeonia family was formed in the botanical garden of the city of Ufa. This made it possible to select parental forms with specified decorative characteristics for hybridization. In 1999-2000, garden employees carried out crossbreeding combinations between certain varieties of Paeonia, and also collected seeds from free pollination. As a result, by sowing the resulting seeds in open ground, about 200 seedlings were grown from forced pollination and 22 from free pollination. When the hybrids reached the generative phase of development, they were carefully selected according to the main decorative characteristics (color, doubleness, flower size) and samples were selected that were superior to the parent varieties or were especially noticeable in one of them. The selected hybrids, upon reaching the period of full and mass flowering, were evaluated according to the method of the State Variety Test of the Russian Federation. Already from them, 11 especially interesting hybrid seedlings, distinguished by their decorative characteristics, were selected for transfer to the state variety plot for breeding testing. Descriptions of new varieties of P. hybrida hort. are given (‘Bashkirskaya Zhemchuzhinka’, ‘Bashkirskiy Suvenir’, ‘Geliya’, ‘Kruzhevo Sada’, ‘Minzifa’, ‘Pamyati A.S. Sakharovoy’, ‘Ural’skaya Fantaziya’, ‘Ufimskiy Val’s’, ‘Ufimskiy Rassvet’, ‘Yubileynyy YuUBSI’, ‘Yantarnoye Ozherel’ye’), included in the State Register. All cultivars bred in the botanical garden are resistant to adverse weather conditions, pests and diseases, winter-hardy and drought-resistant. They are recommended for inclusion in the range of cultivated plants used for landscaping in populated areas of the Republic of Bashkortostan and in central Russia in general.