RESULTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL TEST OF PILOT BLACK CURRANT VARIETY

The purpose of the study is replenishment of the assortment of black currant for the Volga-Vyatka region. The blackcurrant variety Pilot was bred in the conditions of the Middle Urals, at Sverdlovsk horticultural breeding station. It was obtained from free pollination of Valovaya variety. Pilot variety was tested in five regions of the Russian Federation - in the system of state variety testing and in various scientific and educational institutions under scientific cooperation agreements. The studies were carried out according to the "Program and Methodology for the Study of Fruit, Berry and Nut Crops" (Oryol, 1999). In 2021, Pilot variety deservedly replenished the assortment of black currant for cultivation in the Volga-Vyatka (4) region,it is also suitable for cultivation in other regions of the Russian Federation. Pilot variety can serve as a starting material for further improvement of the blackcurrant assortment. Brief morpho-biological description includes: the variety is winter-hardy, drought-resistant, high yield, in some years up to 240 dt/ha. The bush is medium or tall, semi-spreading;medium-term flowering, medium-late ripening of berries, self-fertility - 66%, a variety with high resistance to powdery mildew and bud mites. The leaves are little affected by septoria. Fruit raceme is medium. Berries are with an average weight of 1.5 g, maximum - 5 g, black, rounded, relatively one-dimensional. The taste is sweet and sour, the skin is dense, but not rough, the separation is dry. The nomenclature standards for blackcurrant varieties selected by Sverdlovsk Horticultural Breeding Station, including the Pilot variety (WIR-54127), included in the Herbarium of Cultivated Plants of the World, Their Wild Relatives and Weeds (WIR) have been published in co-authorship with the staff of FSBSIFederal Research Center All-Russian Institute of Plant Genetic Resources.