Methods of work I. Methods of selection and

Michurin breeding plant

I.V. Michurin is an outstanding scientist-breeder, one of the founders of the science of selection of fruit crops. He lived and worked in the district town of Kozlov (Tambov province), which was renamed Michurinsk in 1932. Working in the garden from a young age was his favorite thing. He set himself the goal of his life to enrich the gardens of Russia with new varieties and achieved the realization of this dream, despite incredible difficulties and hardships. He developed original practical methods for obtaining hybrids with new properties useful for humans, and also made very important theoretical conclusions. Having set himself the task of promoting southern varieties of fruit trees in central Russia, Michurin first tried to solve it by acclimatizing these varieties in new conditions. But the southern varieties grown by him froze out in winter. A change in the conditions of existence of an organism alone cannot change a phylogenetically developed stable genotype, moreover, in a certain direction. Convinced of the unsuitability of the acclimatization method, Michurin devoted his life to breeding work, in which he used three main types of influence on the nature of the plant: hybridization, education of a developing hybrid under various conditions, and selection. Hybridization, that is, obtaining a variety with new, improved characteristics, was most often carried out by crossing a local variety with a southern one, which had a higher taste. At the same time, a negative phenomenon was observed - the dominance of the characteristics of the local variety in the hybrid. The reason for this was the historical adaptation of the local variety to certain conditions of existence. Michurin considered the selection of parental pairs to be one of the main conditions contributing to the success of hybridization. In some cases, he took parents for crossing, distant in their geographical habitat. If for parental forms the conditions of existence do not correspond to their usual ones, he reasoned, then the hybrids obtained from them will be able to more easily adapt to new factors, since there will be no one-sided domination. The breeder will then be able to manage the development of a hybrid that adapts to new conditions.

This method was used to develop the pear variety Bere Zimnyaya Michurina. As a mother, the Ussuriyskaya wild pear was taken, distinguished by small fruits, but winter-hardy, as a father - the southern variety Bere Royal with large juicy fruits. For both parents, the conditions of central Russia were unusual. The hybrid showed the qualities of the parents necessary for the breeder: the fruits were large, mature, had high taste, and the hybrid plant itself tolerated cold up to -36 °.

In other cases, Michurin selected local frost-resistant varieties and crossed them with southern thermophilic ones, but with other excellent qualities. Carefully selected hybrids Michurin brought up in Spartan conditions, believing that otherwise they will have traits of thermophilicity. This is how the Slavyanka apple variety was obtained by crossing Antonovka with the southern Ranet pineapple variety. In addition to crossing two forms belonging to the same systematic category (apple and apple, pear and pear), Michurin also used the hybridization of distant forms: he received interspecific and interspecific hybrids. He obtained hybrids between cherry and bird cherry (cerapadus), between apricot and plum, plum and blackthorn, mountain ash and Siberian hawthorn, etc.

Under natural conditions, foreign pollen of another species is not perceived by the mother plant and crossing does not occur. To overcome non-breeding during distant hybridization, Michurin used several methods.

Pre-vegetative rapprochement method

An annual cutting of a hybrid rowan seedling (scion) is grafted into the crown of a plant of another species or genus, for example, to a pear (rootstock). After 5-6 years of nutrition due to the substances produced by the stock, there is some change, the convergence of the physiological and biochemical properties of the scion.

During the flowering of mountain ash, its flowers are pollinated with the pollen of the rootstock. In this case, crossing is carried out.

Mediator method

It was used by Michurin when hybridizing a cultivated peach with a wild Mongolian bean almond (in order to promote the peach to the north). Since direct crossing of these forms was not successful, Michurin crossed the legume with the semi-cultivated peach of David. Their hybrid was crossed with a cultivated peach, for which it was named an intermediary.

Pollination method with a mixture of pollen

IV Michurin used various versions of a mixture of pollen. A small amount of the pollen of the mother plant was mixed with the pollen of the father. In this case, its own pollen irritated the stigma of the pistil, which became able to perceive foreign pollen as well. When the flowers of an apple tree were pollinated with pear pollen, a little apple pollen was added to the latter. Part of the ovules was fertilized with their own pollen, the other part was foreign (pear). Non-breeding was also overcome when the flowers of the mother plant were pollinated with a mixture of pollen of different species without adding pollen of their own variety.

Essential oils and other secrets secreted by foreign pollen irritated the stigma of the mother plant and facilitated its perception.

Through all his many years of work on the development of new varieties of plants, IV Michurin showed the importance of the subsequent upbringing of young hybrids after crossing.

When raising a developing hybrid, Michurin paid attention to the composition of the soil, the method of storing hybrid seeds, frequent transplantation, the nature and degree of nutrition of the seedlings, and other factors.

Mentor Method

In addition, Michurin widely used the mentor's method developed by him. In order to bring up the desired qualities in a hybrid seedling, the seedling is grafted onto a plant that has these qualities. The further development of the hybrid is under the influence of substances produced by the plant-educator (mentor); the desired qualities are enhanced in the hybrid. In this case, during the development of hybrids, a change in the properties of dominance occurs. Both the rootstock and the scion can be a mentor. In this way Michurin bred two varieties - Kandil-Kitayka and Bellefleur-Kitayka.

To cultivate the keeping quality in the hybrid, Michurin planted several cuttings of late-ripening varieties into the crown of the Bellefleur-Chinese hybrid seedling. The result was good - the Bellefleur-Chinese fruits acquired the desired qualities - late ripening and keeping quality. The mentor's method is convenient in that its action can be regulated by the following methods: 1) the ratio of the age of the mentor and the hybrid; 2) the duration of the mentor's activity; 3) the quantitative ratio of the foliage of the mentor and the hybrid.

For example, the intensity of the mentor's action will be the higher, the older his age, the richer the crown of foliage and the longer he acts. In breeding work Michurin attached great importance to selection, which was carried out many times and very harshly. Hybrid seeds were selected according to their size and roundness: hybrids - according to the configuration and thickness of the leaf blade and petiole, the shape of the shoot, the location of lateral buds, winter hardiness and resistance to fungal diseases, pests and many other signs, and, finally, the quality of the fruit.

The results of IV Michurin's work are striking. He created hundreds of new varieties of plants. A number of apple and berry varieties have been advanced far north. They are highly palatable and at the same time perfectly adapted to local conditions. The new Antonovka six-gram variety gives a yield from one tree up to 350 kg. Michurinsky grapes withstood the winter without dusting the vines, which is done even in the Crimea, and at the same time did not reduce their market indicators. Michurin showed with his works that the creative possibilities of a person are endless.

Ivan Vladimirovich Michurin (1855-1935) - an outstanding breeder and practitioner, the author of 300 varieties of fruit and berry crops. At the beginning of his career, I.V. Michurin was engaged in acclimatization according to Grell's method, grafting southern varieties into the crown of hardy and cold-resistant varieties in order to achieve their adaptation to new conditions. But it was impossible to change the genotype of southern varieties by this method. Michurin became convinced of this by testing about 200 foreign varieties: after 35 years not a single tree remained of them, although Michurin lived and worked in the relatively mild climate of the Black Earth zone of Russia (Kozlovsk, now Michurinsk, Tambov province).
Convinced of the futility of attempts at simple acclimatization, I.V. Michurin began to develop new breeding methods based on hybridization, selection and education (the impact of environmental conditions on developing hybrids). When implementing them, he used a variety of approaches (many - for the first time in world breeding practice), the most important of which are as follows.

Biologically distant hybridization- crossing representatives of different species to obtain varieties with the desired properties or crossing representatives of different genera. For example, Michurin crossed Vladimirskaya cherry with white Winkler cherry. During further work with hybrids, he developed the Krasa Severa cherry variety, which had good taste and winter hardiness. When crossing cherry with bird cherry, Michurin received a hybrid called cerapadus. He also obtained hybrids of blackberries and raspberries, plums and thorns, mountain ash and Siberian hawthorn, etc.

Geographically distant hybridization - crossing of representatives of contrasting natural zones and geographically distant regions in order to impart the necessary qualities to the hybrid. For example, the well-known pear variety Bere Zimnaya Michurina was obtained as a result of hybridization of the wild Ussuri pear and the southern French variety Bere-Royal.

Mentor Method - one of the methods of "education" of hybrids, developed by I.V. Michurin. It is based on the fact that the characteristics of the developing hybrid change under the influence of the scion or rootstock. Michurin used this method in two versions. In the first case, the hybrid seedling served as a scion, and it was grafted onto an adult fruiting plant (stock), the properties of which were desired to be obtained from the hybrid. In the second case, a cutting of the variety was grafted into the crown of a young hybrid seedling (stock), the characteristics of which would be obtained from the hybrid.
This method was applied by Michurin, for example, when creating the Bellefleur-Chinese apple variety. In the first year of fruiting of the hybrids, it turned out that their fruits were small and sour. To direct the further development of the hybrid in the right direction, Bellefleur cuttings were grafted into the crown of young trees. Under the influence of cuttings, the fruits of the hybrid began to acquire the taste of Bellefleur.
The influence of the mentor should be seen as a change in dominance during the development of the hybrid. In this case, the mentor promoted the phenotypic manifestation (dominance) of genes obtained from the Bellefleur variety, without changing the genotype of the hybrid.

Mediator method was applied by Michurin for distant hybridization. It consists in using the wild species as a mediator to overcome non-breeding. By crossing the wild Mongolian almond with the wild David peach, Michurin received the Mediator almond, which he later used to cross with the cultivated peach. The hybrid peach he received acquired winter hardiness, thanks to which it was moved north.

Mixing pollen was used by Michurin to overcome interspecies non-interbreeding (incompatibility). The essence of the method was that when pollinated with a mixture of its own pollen and pollen of a different species, its own pollen irritated the stigma of the pistil, and it perceived foreign pollen.

Exposure to environmental conditions... When "educating" young hybrids Michurin used changes in the methods of storing seeds, the nature of nutrition and soil properties, exposure to low temperatures, and used frequent transplants. As a result, the hybrids were tempered and could withstand adverse environmental conditions.

Selection- multiple and strict selection of plants by size, shape, winter hardiness, immune properties, quality, taste, fruit color, etc.
Most of the varieties obtained by I.V. Michurin, was a complex heterozygote. To preserve their qualities, they are propagated vegetatively: by layering, grafting, etc.

Vegetative propagation is in one way or another characteristic of many plants, but the group of vegetatively propagated plants usually includes only those plants for which this form of propagation is the main one.

Vegetatively propagated plants include: potatoes, onions, garlic, almost all fruit trees and berry bushes, most flower and ornamental perennials, etc. In all these plants, the varieties are essentially nothing more than a group of plants derived from one original vegetatively propagated plant. Such varieties are called clone varieties and even just clones (the Greek word “clone” in Russian means “branch”). Our famous researcher on the genetics of vegetatively propagated plants, TV Asseeva, wrote in 1929; "Among our cultivated plants there are a number of those that under normal economic conditions do not reproduce sexually ... what such plants call a variety is, in essence, only a collection of countless independently existing branches of one initial specimen."

All the characteristic features of the selection of vegetatively propagated plants are determined by the specific properties of the clone varieties. Indeed, when breeding new varieties in vegetatively propagated plants, the task is not to create a population or a pure line that steadfastly transmit its positive properties to the seed offspring, but to obtain an individual plant that has economically valuable properties that are interesting for the breeder. If such a plant can be obtained, then its positive properties are easily fixed by obtaining vegetative offspring, which gives rise to a new clone variety. The instability of sexual offspring in such a variety is of little interest to the breeder, since the variety is reproduced vegetatively.

The breeding of vegetatively propagated plants has two main ways: 1) the creation of new clone varieties by selection in a variegated source material, which is a mixture of a number of different clones (local varieties and varieties or hybrid families), and 2) breeding new varieties by improving old varieties - clones by selecting economically valuable mutations.

In vegetatively propagated plants, complex vegetative, often sterile interspecific hybrids, triploids and plants with other chromosomal deviations from the norm, plants with double flowers, parthenocarpic (i.e. seedless) plants, etc., can be isolated and fixed as new varieties.

In this regard, such techniques as distant hybridization, experimental production of polyploids, and artificial induction of other mutations in vegetatively propagated plants are of particular importance.

Let us now turn to an examination of the main forms of selection in vegetatively propagated plants.

A) Direct use of the variety of forms that exist in nature and culture.

This primitive form of selection is widely used in the initial introduction of new vegetatively propagated plants into culture, as well as in the first stages of selection aimed at improving commercial varieties that are a variegated mixture of different clones. In this way, a number of new varieties were obtained for apple, plum, apricot, peach, citrus, onion, garlic and other plants. Particularly interesting results were obtained in the study of world collections collected by the All-Union Institute of Plant Industry, from which it was possible to isolate a number of valuable varieties that are widely used in production. But in forms that have already undergone thorough breeding study, the selection of new varieties is unlikely.

B) Obtaining new varieties by sowing seeds from free pollination.

This form of selection has given rise to very many widespread varieties of vegetatively propagated plants. For example, the famous Burbank Seedling potato, which at one time was the most popular in the United States, was obtained in this way (Burbank, 1955).

Most of the old varieties of fruit trees probably also originated from selective seedlings grown from seeds formed in the fruit as a result of free pollination.

The first Russian breeder A. T. Bolotov obtained all the varieties of apple trees bred by selecting the best seedlings obtained from seeds that arose as a result of free pollination. But Bolotov already clearly understood the significance of the paternal parental form for the quality of seedlings. He paid great attention to the varieties surrounding the tree on which the seeds arose, giving rise to seedlings. These varieties could participate in the pollination of the flowers of a neighboring tree (Bolotov, 1952).

IV Michurin at the beginning of his activity quite widely practiced sowing seeds isolated from fruits that developed from free pollination. Based on his personal experience, he came to the conclusion that all varieties of fruit and berry plants can be divided into three groups. Some, under any conditions, poorly transmit their positive qualities to the family offspring that arise during free pollination. Others produce high quality offspring with free pollination only when there are no wild varieties of the same species blooming at the same time nearby. And finally, the third give good offspring from free pollination under any conditions.

However, IV Michurin considers it inexpedient to use seeds obtained from free pollination in breeding, even if the variety produces high-quality seedlings of the cultivated type with free pollination. The fact is that in breeding, the main task is usually not to obtain a plant in general with a cultivated appearance and edible fruits, but to obtain plants with completely definite combinations of economically valuable traits, previously outlined by the breeder.

C) The use of hybrids obtained by artificial crossing of different varieties.

Since sexual reproduction ceases to play a decisive role in the preservation of vegetatively propagated forms during the struggle for existence, they often have a significant reduction in sexual reproduction, various recessive lethal and semi-lethal hereditary factors accumulate, and complex heterozygosity arises. In intervariety crosses of vegetatively propagated plants, the first hybrid generation is usually very heterogeneous, and complex splitting is observed in it along a number of economically valuable traits. Therefore, when crossing varieties and varieties of vegetatively propagated plants, it is impossible to predict in advance what the appearance of the hybrids and their hereditary structure will be. Most often, such hybrids vary greatly according to the most important economic characteristics and are good material for selection. For many vegetatively propagated plants, obtaining hybrids between varieties with complementary economically valuable properties and selection in the first generation of hybrids is the main form of selection.

Many of the best potato varieties are obtained by selection in the split first generation obtained from intervarietal crosses. An example of such varieties is the widespread variety Lorkh, selected by A.G. Lorkh when crossing the varieties Epicurus with Alma, and many others.

A number of other vegetatively propagated plants have approximately the same picture. However, in the first generation, it is not always possible to find plants with a combination of economically valuable traits desirable for the breeder, and then one has to resort to selection in the next generations of hybrids.

D) The use of hybrids of the next generations, obtained either by self-pollination, or by crossing with one of the original forms or other varieties.

The variety of forms in the first generation depends on a variety of combinations of traits determined by hereditary factors for which the original forms are heterozygous. However, the most important traits for the breeder are often associated with hereditary factors that are homozygous in the original forms. According to such characteristics, splitting is absent in the first generation. If the breeder is not satisfied with the combination of traits observed in the first generation, then it is necessary to resort to obtaining the next hybrid generations. The most natural way to obtain them is self-pollination of plants in the first generation or crossing them with each other, that is, getting the usual second generation. In some vegetatively propagated plants, this route has been quite widely used.

Thus, one of the most famous potato varieties, Early Rose, was obtained by self-pollination of the hybrid Chilean pomegranate variety. Several other widespread potato varieties are also self-pollinated and first-generation hybrid crosses. But this form of selection is fraught with the danger of the onset and accumulation of depression, which is usually observed during inzukhta. This danger for vegetatively propagated plants is especially great, since they have especially favorable conditions for the accumulation of recessive lethal and semi-lethal mutations. These mutations, passing into a homozygous state during inzuchta, can easily cause a sharp weakening of plants in the offspring.

This phenomenon can be quite clearly demonstrated by the example of potato breeding. The homeland of the potato is Central and South America, where there is a wide variety of wild and cultivated species, varieties and varieties of potatoes. Potatoes were introduced to Europe in the 16th century in a relatively small number of samples, which served as the starting material for the work of the first potato breeders. As a result, at the beginning of the 19th century, all European potato varieties turned out to be morphologically very uniform and had a sharply reduced resistance to various diseases and a reduced ability for sexual reproduction.

In 1842, an epidemic of potato rot broke out, engulfing all of Europe and North America. At one time it seemed that this disease would nullify the entire potato crop. And only as a result of the heroic efforts of two breeders - Goodrich in the USA and Paterson in Scotland, who widely used a number of varieties and varieties obtained from Central and South America in their breeding work, it was possible to obtain new varieties resistant to potato rot, and thereby save potato culture.

However, many modern potato varieties are nevertheless closely related to each other and, when crossed, give a rather similar offspring, of little interest from an economic point of view and often showing more or less pronounced depression. These negative consequences of blood cultivation had an especially strong effect on potato breeding in the USA, where, due to the peculiar requirements of the market, which highly appreciated the characteristic features of the Early Rose variety, all varieties and forms not related in their origin to the Early Rose were simply thrown out of the culture as non-standard, not meeting market requirements. As a result, the hereditary diversity (gene pool) of modern American potato varieties has become very narrow. It became very difficult to get something outstanding, since almost all practically valuable combinations have already been realized within the existing complex of genes. All this led to a kind of crisis in potato breeding in the United States. Phenomena of the same order also take place in the countries of Western Europe.

AP Gern (1934) writes the following about this: “The consequences of the loss of most of the gene pool for Europe will be the same as for America. In the presence of a close relationship between modern potato varieties, it becomes more and more difficult to find such combinations of traits that would not repeat the existing ones and would surpass them in a number of points. In Europe, the difference in national tastes and the wider national economic use of potatoes so far ensures the preservation of somewhat greater genetic diversity than is the case in America, but still this base is close to its exhaustion. " To overcome these difficulties, breeders who worked with potatoes began, during intervarietal hybridization, to cross varieties of different origins that did not have common ancestors. But within the varieties of the United States and Europe, which are closely related to each other, the selection of such combinations was very difficult.

In this regard, the discovery by expeditions of the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing of a huge variety of cultivated and wild forms of potatoes in Mexico and Central and South America and their involvement in the field of breeders' activities aroused keen interest and made a kind of revolution in potato breeding (Veselovsky, 1934; Yuzepchuk and Bukasov, 1929; Broili, 1921; Müller, 1935).

Thus, the largest English breeder and expert on potatoes, R. N. Salaman, back in 1943 in his article "Recent Research on Potato Breeding" (Salaman, 1943), clearly raised the question of the great importance of new forms found by expeditions of the All-Union Institute of Plant Industry for the creation of new varieties of potatoes and wrote that the potato now "has become promising in the sense of the possibility of creating forms that meet the most diverse requirements."

RN Salaman noted that the main task of potato breeding when crossing old cultivated varieties with newly discovered forms is to create varieties that are immune to diseases and pests, having at the same time increased productivity and increased starch content.

Soviet breeders in the 20s and 30s widely launched work on interspecific hybridization of potatoes. At a number of stations, tens and hundreds of thousands of seedlings obtained by distant hybridization were grown. Despite a number of difficulties associated with the presence of a number of negative "savage" traits in hybrids of the first generation and with a sharp weakening in hybrids of subsequent generations of such positive traits as frost resistance and resistance to a number of fungal diseases, in this way it was possible to obtain a number of seedlings that showed great promise and to develop several new varieties resistant to late blight and some other potato diseases.

However, even in those years, there were voices from the followers of T. D. Lysenko who objected to the widespread use of distant hybridization and suggested replacing it with vegetative hybridization and directed education of hybrid seedlings (Maksimovich, 1940). These breeders pointed out that many of the promising seedlings obtained by distant hybridization, during vegetative propagation, quickly lose their positive qualities, and believed that directed education can prevent the deterioration of hybrid seedlings.

After 1948, the scope of work on distant hybridization was sharply reduced, and work on directed education and vegetative hybridization was dramatically expanded (Chmora and Arnautov, 1953). At the same time, the main attention was paid to creating the most favorable conditions for the seedlings (fat background) in order to ensure the maximum yield, since it was believed that such yield would be preserved in the future. At the same time, they forgot that varieties bred against a fat background, when grown in production conditions against a much poorer background, sharply reduce their yield.

At present, when the ineffectiveness of the method of vegetative hybridization has become obvious to everyone, interest in distant hybridization in potatoes has increased again and interspecific crosses are beginning to be produced on a wider scale.

In the works of I. V. Michurin, the method of distant hybridization in the selection of fruits occupied a central place; on the basis of this method, he created an integrated synthetic approach to the problems of selection of vegetatively propagating forms. In this integrated approach, a number of methods were harmoniously synthesized and served as the basis for his breeding activity.

A rigorous analysis of this issue is especially necessary now, since many authors incorrectly presented the methods of IV Michurin's work. First of all, this concerns the role of vegetative hybridization, which is often described as almost the main method of Michurin's practical work.

In order to establish the real significance of different methods, to reveal their subordination in Michurin's breeding practice, there is only one reliable way. It is necessary to analyze, based on the materials of IV Michurin himself, how the best varieties were created by him.

The analysis is based on the study of the following materials: 1) data on the pomological description of varieties; 2) "List of new varieties of fruit plants bred by IV Michurin and subject to reproduction"; 3) "List of new varieties of fruit plants bred in the Kozlovsky garden nursery"; 4) "Inventory of plant material by IV Michurin", compiled by PN Yakovlev on behalf of IV Michurin.

As a result, data were collected on the breeding origin of 265 varieties and forms, which fall into the following 5 groups.

Varieties and forms obtained by hybridization (individual outstanding seedlings among first generation hybrids, from free crossing of first generation hybrids with other varieties, from repeated crossing of hybrids to cultivar).

We will give a list of varieties and forms obtained by hybridization, compiled by us on the basis of documents and materials left by IV Michurin. Apple trees: Anisovka, Antonovka yellow, Antonovka saffron, Bellefleur-record, Bellefleur-phoenix, Bessemyanka Michurinskaya, Bolshak, Borsdorf-Chinese, Daughter of Cinnamon, Calvil anise, Kandil-record, Chinese anise, Chinese golden early, Cream-Chinese, Komsomol Visant, Red Standard, Pendant-Kitaika, Paradizka Michurinskaya, Paradox, Pepin No. 4, Pepin-Kitaika, Pepin saffron, Pomon-Kitaika, Soviet, Ribbed, Renet sugar, Northern Buzhbon, Slavyanka, Taezhnoe, Truvor, Flava, Chelebi-Kitaika , Arkadovaya kitaika, Saffron-kitaika, Northern autumn saffron, Yakhontovoe, Sinap Michurina, Evolution, Seedling Kandil-kitaika, Winter Siberian, Winter sugar Renet, Severe Chuvash, No. 2009, hybrid Winter white Calvil X Chinese apple, Izumrud, Sina Green-leaved hybrid, Nedzvetsky hybrids - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Antonovka-tablet, Winter sweet, Brother Arcade of winter, Bellefleur-Chinese hybrid, Winter arcade, Salicil-Chinese, mestizo of Paper Reneta with Antonovka Kamenichka, Renet Michurina, Sharov ik, Easter anise, Calvilik, Pouring white autumn, Cinnamon Chinese, Antonovka sweet, Hermes, hybrid Kronsel X Bellefleur-Chinese, Anniversary turnip.

Pears: Bere winter Michurina, Bere kozlovskaya, Bere Pobeda, Room, Proletarian, Bere October, Russian Moldavka, Russian Esperen, Bergamot Kozlovsky, Sugar surrogate, Bere Tolstobezhka, Bere shallow, Bere autumn, Melisa, hybrid Saint-Germain X Thinkoveka, Dwarf, new pear variety, 1st sister Bere Michurina, Diana variegated, Lakovaya, Bere Ross, Bakhold's hybrid pear, Sister Bere winter Michurina, Kilbas bottle X Tsarskaya pear.

Quince: North.

Rowan: Black, Hybrid, Liqueur, Burka, Pomegranate, Michurinskaya dessert.

Cherries: Cherry bastard, Nadezhda Krupskaya, Ideal, Combine, Myrtle, Monomakh, Lazyabkaya, Black consumer goods, Polfir, Serving, Fertile, Michurina, Almond, Grace, Ultra-fruited, Grape, Hero of the early, Magma, Marked, Pioneer No., Vole, Tserap 1, Cerapadus is large, Cerapadus is sweet.

Plums: Oriental beauty, Transparent yellow, Golden Renklode, Kolkhoz Renklode, Peach, Renklode reform, Renklode of thorns, Apricot bastard, Caraway Renklode, Sweet turn, Dessert turn, Kozlovsky Prunes, Aghallon Ranclode, Nizvetzha, Rosy, Pereklode

Currant: Kyzyrgan.

Almond: Mediator, Michurin's almond.

Nut: Gretsky, Voloshsky.

Grape: Northern White, Northern Black, Northern Blue, Russian Concord.

Actinidia large Michurina; Improved Blackberry Strawberry; raspberry Arabka, raspberry Fairy; gooseberry Black negus; rose Queen of light; early ribbed melon, Cucumber melon, Kommunarka melon; lily Violet; tobacco Yellow Michurin.

There are 163 varieties and shapes in total.

Varieties obtained from individual outstanding seedlings, which appeared within the variety without the use of hybridization (mutations, algae).

Apple trees: Large tablet, Oleg, Renet Reshetnikova, Tablet aportovaya, Seedling of Kandylevaya seedling, Anise pear, Anise seedling, Chinese apple-tree Xiao-li, Calvil crimson, Seedling of aport Strelnikova, Mother of a Chinese woman, apple-trees Nedzvetsky, 4, Filya-1 Pomona, Popolevoe, Antonovka-sonfler, Ermak, Esaul Ermaka, Dessert Kitayka.

Pears: Butter Dilya, Limonka, Seed lemon, Pygmy, Second limonka, Moldavka seedling, Aurora, Coupon, Blankova's daughter, Oktyabrskaya.

Black currant: Ondine, Purple, Saffron, Black-fruited, Red-fruited, Amber-yellow round, Oval yellow, Crandal's seedling, Sorokovka, Grape.

Cherries: Ando, Griot pear-shaped, Zakharovskaya, Practical, Rogneda, Japanese cherry.

Cherries: First Swallow, Firstborn, Kozlovskaya 3, Biggarro Michurina.

Plums: Chinese, Cannery, Low-growing Renklod, Victoria, Egg northern, MOPR, Egg.

Apricots: 84, 86, 241, 242, Best Michurin, Mongol, Satser, Comrade, Severny, Chitasatser.

Blackberry: Eastern, Abundant; raspberry texas.

Grape: Seedling Malengr, Zeta pink, Eastern, Boar, Large, Siberian productive, Taigovy.

Actinidia: Harvest, Early, Late, Pineapple Michurina, Clara Zetkin.

Gooseberry Anibut; hazelnut, YuglansManchurik variety walnut; white acacia Baikal, white North acacia; melon 50 days old.

There are 88 varieties and shapes in total.

Varieties obtained by using rare sports deviations (somatic mutations).

Apple trees: Antonovka one and a half pounds; pears: Bere folk; cherries: Anniversary.

Only 3 varieties.

Varieties obtained by hybridization from individual individually selected seedlings of first generation hybrids with the additional use of a mentor.

Apple trees: Bellefleur-Chinese, Bellefleur-red, Kandil-Chinese, Champanrene-Chinese.,

Cherries: Beauty of the North, Tern sweet, Almond Morel.

There are 7 varieties and shapes in total.

Varieties obtained from distant seedlings, selected during sowing varieties with the additional use of a mentor.

Apple trees: Renette bergamot;

pears: Bergamot Novik.

Only 2 varieties.

Analysis of IV Michurin's varieties and forms according to the methods of their breeding shows with the utmost clarity that distant hybridization was the main method of his work. Michurin himself has repeatedly emphasized this circumstance (see above). NV Tsitsin constantly draws the attention of our science and the public to this most important provision of IV Michurin's teachings (see, for example, NV Tsitsin, Remote hybridization is the main method of Michurin's work. Izvestia, October 20, 1955 g .; proceedings of the conference but hybridization, held in 1958, and other works).

In the works of N.V. Tsitsin himself and his collaborators, distant hybridization of wheat with wheatgrass led to great practical achievements in the form of the creation of valuable varieties of grain crops.

Above, by analyzing the history of the origin of 265 varieties of IV Michurin, we saw that 163 varieties, that is, more than 60%, were created from individual outstanding seedlings obtained by hybridization. We included 10 varieties from seedlings of the second generation in this group of varieties, because the seeds were sown from fruits obtained from free pollination. PN Yakovlev's remark is correct: "The genetic meaning that we usually put into the term" second generation "will not be here, since the first hybrid generation is obtained from free pollination, and even very heterozygous material." This group also includes several varieties obtained by IV Michurin from backcrossing to a cultivar. In addition, it should be noted that for such crops as apple, plum, and some others, the specific weight of the hybridization method was especially high. Among apple varieties, 76 were obtained on the basis of hybridization and 23 without it; among plums, 18 and 6 varieties, respectively, were obtained, etc.

It should be noted that no matter how great the significance of the method of distant hybridization in Michurin's works, he nevertheless bred many varieties by selecting outstanding seedlings among the usual crops of varieties, without the use of artificial hybridization. Among the 125 varieties analyzed by us, 88, that is, 30-35%, were created by IV Michurin by this method. It should be borne in mind that here, too, the selection of hybrid forms is not excluded due to natural pollination by other varieties with complex heterozygosity of both the varieties themselves and possible pollinators. Three varieties were obtained from individual cases of sports deviations (somatic mutations) and among them Antonovka one and a half pounds, or 600 grams - the first variety among apple trees bred by IV Michurin (first fruiting in 1888).

All this shows that the methods used by IV Michurin in his work are completely clear and deeply substantiated. Michurin himself hated the ascription of knowledge of some secrets to him, the fact that in his work some special methods were used in the form of recipes, having learned which you can easily create new varieties. In the note “On Methods,” he writes: “When I receive requests for an explanation of my methods of brooding new, qualitatively improved varieties of fruit plants, I find it hard to understand why they consider my work to be based on some special methods. Meanwhile, in essence, all my successes depend only on the fact that, starting each case, I first considered the task set for myself in all its smallest details from all sides ... Here, in general, everything depends on deep attention to the matter, from labor, most importantly, from patience and, of course, from the knowledge accumulated through long experience ... Where is there any special method? Meanwhile, as you can see, everyone is looking for some kind of gibberish, a non-existent secret, having discovered which, every quitter hopes to complete the job without much difficulty. "

If we turn to the zoning of varieties of vegetatively propagating plants, except for fruit (according to data for 1963-1964), we will find that in all cases the leading role is played by the methods of genetics, and primarily by distant hybridization (table).

We see that when creating varieties in different crops of vegetatively propagated plants, the main factors are the actions of selection and crossing. The main place in the selection of these plants is occupied by Michurin's deeply developed method of using heterosis and vegetative hybrids, which genetically combine valuable properties. We see that out of 109 varieties of domestic breeding, the origin of which is well known (141 minus 27 introduced varieties and 5 varieties of unknown origin), 73 varieties, i.e. 67%, originated in this way. Crossbreeding of different forms, which, being complex heterozygotes, give a huge form formation already in the first generation of hybrids, allows you to find unique valuable genotypes. It is impossible to save them during sexual reproduction. However, by vegetative propagation, any such genotypic combination can be maintained and propagated as a variety.

On potatoes, one can especially clearly compare, on the one hand, the results of work on the classical methods of Darwinism and genetics, and on the other, according to the methods of T. D. Lysenko. At this object, the methods of vegetative hybridization and, loosening of heredity with obtaining tissue of different quality, in the case of their real significance, it would seem, should give especially effective results. In fact, of the entire varietal diversity, only in two cases there are dubious references to the role of vegetative hybridization.

After wheat, potatoes are the second largest source of carbohydrates in the global food balance. In 1963, the total area under potatoes was 24 700 thousand hectares, including 8 672 thousand hectares in the USSR. On average in wet weight, world potato production far exceeds the total yield of any cereal. We have seen that the overwhelming majority of the varieties currently released in the USSR have been obtained by hybridization and selection.

IV Michurin is an outstanding scientist-breeder, one of the founders of the science of selection of fruit crops. He lived and worked in the district town of Kozlov (Tambov province), which was renamed Michurinsk in 1932. Working in the garden from a young age was his favorite thing. He set himself the goal of his life to enrich the gardens of Russia with new varieties and achieved the realization of this dream, despite incredible difficulties and hardships.

He developed original practical methods for obtaining hybrids with new properties useful for humans, and also made very important theoretical conclusions.

Having set himself the task of promoting southern varieties of fruit trees in central Russia, Michurin first tried to solve it by acclimatizing these varieties in new conditions. But the southern varieties grown by him froze out in winter. A change in the conditions of existence of an organism alone cannot change a phylogenetically developed stable genotype, moreover, in a certain direction.

Convinced of the unsuitability of the acclimatization method, Michurin devoted his life to breeding work, in which he used three main types of influence on the nature of the plant: hybridization, education of a developing hybrid under various conditions, and selection.

Hybridization, that is, obtaining a variety with new, improved characteristics, was most often carried out by crossing a local variety with a southern one, which had a higher taste. At the same time, a negative phenomenon was observed - the dominance of the characteristics of the local variety in the hybrid. The reason for this was the historical adaptation of the local variety to certain conditions of existence.

Michurin considered the selection of parental pairs to be one of the main conditions contributing to the success of hybridization. In some cases, he took parents for crossing, distant in their geographical habitat. If for parental forms the conditions of existence do not correspond to their usual ones, he reasoned, then the hybrids obtained from them will be able to more easily adapt to new factors, since there will be no one-sided domination. The breeder will then be able to manage the development of a hybrid that adapts to new conditions.

In addition to crossing two forms belonging to the same systematic category (apple and apple, pear and pear), Michurin also used the hybridization of distant forms: he received interspecific and interspecific hybrids.

He obtained hybrids between cherry and bird cherry (cerapadus), between apricot and plum, plum and blackthorn, mountain ash and Siberian hawthorn, etc.

Pre-vegetative rapprochement method

During the flowering of mountain ash, its flowers are pollinated with the pollen of the rootstock. In this case, crossing is carried out.

Mediator method

Pollination method with a mixture of pollen

Non-breeding was also overcome when the flowers of the mother plant were pollinated with a mixture of pollen of different species without adding pollen of their own variety. Essential oils and other secrets secreted by foreign pollen irritated the stigma of the mother plant and facilitated its perception.

Through all his many years of work on the development of new varieties of plants, IV Michurin showed the importance of the subsequent upbringing of young hybrids after crossing.

Mentor Method

Both the rootstock and the scion can be a mentor. In this way Michurin bred two varieties - Kandil-Kitayka and Bellefleur-Kitayka.

Kandil-Kitayka is the result of crossing Kitayka with the Crimean variety Kandil-Sinap. At first, the hybrid began to deviate towards the southern parent, which could develop insufficient cold resistance in it. To develop and consolidate the sign of frost resistance, Michurin grafted a hybrid into the crown of Kitayka's mother, who possessed these qualities. Nutrition mainly with its substances brought up the desired quality in the hybrid. The breeding of the second variety Bellefleur-Kitaika was associated with some deviation of the hybrid towards the frost-resistant and early-maturing Kitaika. The hybrid fruit could not withstand long storage. To cultivate the keeping quality in the hybrid, Michurin planted several cuttings of late-ripening varieties into the crown of the Bellefleur-Chinese hybrid seedling. The result was good - the Bellefleur-Chinese fruits acquired the desired qualities - late ripening and keeping quality.

The mentor's method is convenient in that its action can be regulated by the following methods: 1) the ratio of the age of the mentor and the hybrid; 2) the duration of the mentor's activity; 3) the quantitative ratio of the foliage of the mentor and the hybrid.

Remote hybridization - crossing representatives of different species, or genera, in order to obtain varieties with the desired qualities. For example, to breed an intergeneric hybrid - cerapadusa pollen of a wild species, Japanese bird cherry, was applied to the stigmas of pistils of a cultivated species, cherry ideal ( cherry ideal x Japanese bird cherry = cerapadus). Thanks to the hybridization of geographically distant wild and cultivated forms, we have obtained varieties with good taste, for example, a cultural intergeneric hybrid - the Bere Zimnyaya Michurina apple tree ( wild pear Ussuri x Bere piano = Bere winter Michurina).

Mentor Method- control of dominance through grafting, the use of rootstock and scion, which transfers its qualities to a new variety.

The stock is a cultivated plant, and the scion is a stalk or peephole of a wild plant. A stalk, or a peephole, is grafted onto a stock - a nurturing plant with useful qualities. For example, geographically distant forms were used to breed the Bellefleur-Chinese apple tree variety: the cultivated yellow Bellefleur apple tree, whose homeland is the east of North America and the wild species - Kitayka Ussuriiskaya, whose homeland is the Far East. Yellow Bellefleur (stock) x Ussuri Chinese (scion) = Chinese Bellefleur - decaying, late-ripening variety.

Polyploidy- an increase in the number of chromosomes in a cell, a multiple of the haploid set. With polyploidy, triploid (3n), tetraploid (4n), etc. cells appear. Usage colchicine made it possible to obtain a significant number of polyploids. In this case, cells can arise in which each chromosome is represented three times (3n - triploids), four times (4n - tetraploids), five times (5n - pentaploids), 6 times (6n - hexaploids), etc. Polyploidy is accompanied by an increase in plant size , its organs, the size and weight of seeds, their biochemical composition, etc. With polyploidy, deviations from the diplodine number of chromosomes in somatic cells and from the haploid number in sex cells are observed. Polyploidization changes physiological processes, and leads to an increased content of valuable chemicals in plants. Polyploids are resistant to disease.

There are two types of polyploidy: autopolyploidy and allopolyploidy.

Autopolyploidy- a multiple increase in the number of sets of chromosomes of the same species. For example, the autopolyploid range of wheat:

n	2 n	4 n	6 n	8 n

2 n = 14 (single grain wheat)

4 n = 28 (durum wheat)

6 n = 42 (soft wheat)

Autopolyploid series- a group of related organisms in which the sets of chromosomes make up a series with an increasing number of chromosomes, a multiple of the haploid one.

High-yielding wheat varieties were bred by the breeder P.P. Lukyanenko (Bezostaya-1) and breeder V.T. Craft (Mironovskaya-808). These varieties are referred to as soft polyploid wheat (6n = 42). Their ears and grains are very large, the stems are strong. Among berry crops, a very high yield and large fruits are produced by polyploid large-fruited strawberries (8n = 56).

Allopolyploidy - this is a doubling of the number of chromosomes in a sterile diploid hybrid.As a result, hybrids are obtained - allotetraploids(amphidiploids). Allopolyploidy is of great practical importance.

G. D. Karpechenko in 1924 received an interspecific fertile hybrid of rafano-brassica (kapredka). Its receipt was carried out in two stages.

Stage 1 – before colchicine treatment

P ♀ cabbage x ♂ radish

At the first stage, a sterile cabbage-rare hybrid was obtained in F1. The non-viability of its gametes is due to the absence of pairs of homologous chromosomes, violation of the conjugation of chromosomes, since the radish chromosomes do not have homologues among the cabbage chromosomes.

Stage 2 – after treatment of a sterile hybrid with colchicine and artificial duplication of chromosomes

G. D. Karpechenko treated the sterile cabbage-rare hybrid with colchicine, a drug that caused polyploidization - the doubling of chromosomes, due to their nondisjunction during the formation of gametes.

As a result of polyploidization, diploid (unreduced) gametes(G: 2n = 18 and 2n = 18). When merging (joining) such diploid gametes (2n = 18 and 2n = 18) in F 2, amphidiploid - 4n = 36, which is an interspecific fertile hybrid of Raphanobrassica, which has formed pairs of homologous chromosomes and viable gametes.

The use of the method of distant hybridization made it possible to obtain interspecific hybrids of wheat and rye, named triticale with high productivity and winter hardiness. For example, when crossing hexaploid wheat (6 n = 42) with diploid rye (2n = 14) and further doubling the number of chromosomes, a triticale hybrid was created.

The genotype of hexaploid wheat contains 42 chromosomes (n = 7, 6n = 42). Hexaploid wheat gametes contain 21 chromosomes (42: 2 = 21), and rye gametes - 7 chromosomes (2n = 14, n = 7). After the fusion of wheat (n = 21) and rye (n = 7) gametes, a sterile hybrid was obtained, in the genotype of which the number of chromosomes was 28 (21 + 7). After chromosome doubling, a fertile hybrid, triticale polyploid, was obtained, the number of chromosomes in the genotype of which was 56.