SELECTION OF OPTIMAL VARIETIES OF APPLE TREE OF DIFFERENT MATURATION DATES IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE AZOV ZONE OF THE ROSTOV REGION

Currently, financial success in the market can be provided by varieties of fruit crops that have a complex of economically valuable and adaptively significant characteristics, at the same time, characterized by high yield capacity, proper presentation, transportability and the ability to long-term storage. The key to the cost-effective maintenance of an apple orchard is determined by rational technology, proper care of trees, and the correct selection of varieties. It is worth noting that the average yield capacity of apple fruits on the Don in the years before the reforms did not exceed 40-50 kg/ha. The low yield capacity is explained by the lack of an irrigation system in the orchards, the use seed, strong-growing rootstocks as the main, the rare standing of trees (250-300 tree/ha) in the orchard, an unsuccessful choice of varieties. The determination of the most suitable varieties for the selected climatic zone became the purpose of the research. So, in 2012, in the conditions of the Azov zone of the Rostov region, an intensive type orchard was planted on an area of 84 hectares, in which eight apple varieties of different ripening periods were placed. When laying the garden, mainly new varieties with increased resistance to diseases and pests were used. The rootstock of seedlings is weakly growing, vegetatively propagated M9 (paradizka 9, EM 9). Tree planting scheme is 3x1 m (3m2 /tree, 3333 tree/ha). In the course of our work, the fertility of these varieties, yield capacity, the influence of climate and temperature on trees, as well as resistance to diseases and pests were analyzed. Based on the obtained data, optimal varieties of various maturation periods for cultivation in the Azov zone of the Rostov region were established.