About Our Cover divided into separate states, and access to germplasm resources is limited. Thus, Ukraine is interested in developing its own germplasm Small- and Tree-fruit Research repository system. The 13 fruit- research centers consist Centers in Ukraine of botanical , institutes, filials (the Ukrainian name for a particularly large re- PROLOGUE science) and vegetable production, because search station), and research stations. The two many Ukrainians, whether in a city or in a rural botanical gardens and three institutes have the The dissolution of the former Soviet Union area, have their own plot of land on which they largest organizations and the most personnel (FSU) in 1991, and the subsequent formation produce as much of their own food as possible. and funding. Each of these five units is inde- of the Newly Independent States (NIS) and the Because their subsistence depends on their pendent of the others. However, methodologi- Baltic States, ended Soviet isolation from the individual capability to produce their own cal leadership comes from the Institute of rest of the world. It also opened the doors to an horticultural products, many Ukrainians are in Kiev (Kyiv in Fig. 1), the increased exchange of scientists and scientific tied inextricably to the land. As we traveled largest horticultural research unit in Ukraine. information. Ukraine is one of 12 states that through the villages in Ukraine, virtually ev- This institute controls the budget, the number constitute the NIS. Ukraine was the FSU’s ery house had at least one fruit tree planted in of scientists and support personnel, and the main producer of many small and tree the yard. type of research projects conducted at the two fruits. For example, 30% of all apple In Ukraine, there are 13 major fruit-crop filials and six research stations that we discuss area of the FSU was located in Ukraine, and research centers in diverse geographical loca- in this article. Control of the filials and re- this area produced 40% of the apples con- tions (Fig. 1). The primary intent of the re- search stations is exercised through semian- sumed in the FSU. search directors in establishing the centers was nual reviews of the progress and future direc- The soils and climate of Ukraine, other to identify specific production areas with ap- tions of each unit. Information about these than the area near the Black Sea, are similar to propriate soil and climate for each crop. At this centers is summarized in Table 1; species those of Iowa, and for that reason, the College time, nearly all are produced in each discussed in this article are listed in Table 2. of at Iowa State Univ. (ISU) has region of the country, but crops will be pro- pursued the development of scientific ex- duced only in designated regions once systems BOTANICAL GARDENS changes with Ukraine. The central scientific to transport commodities within and out of organization for agriculture in Ukraine is the Ukraine are developed. A secondary intent in Central Botanical Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences, establishing the 13 research centers was to headed by Olexiy O. Sozinov. Administrators develop a system of outlying research and The Central , also known from the academy and the Institute of Horti- extension centers that could help local grow- as the Botanical Garden of the Academy of culture in Kiev have visited the United States ers of small-fruit and tree-fruit crops. These Sciences, contains a pomology section, but the and ISU, and personnel from the College of research centers work closely with the public, major purpose of the garden is general public Agriculture and the Dept. of Horticulture at and upon privatization of the collective farms education and appreciation of by the ISU have visited Ukraine. Now, these organi- from the FSU, these centers will work with citizens of Kiev. The garden has an excellent zations are exchanging scientists and scien- large commercial producers of these fruit crops. collection of ornamental plants and tree-fruit tific information. This report details a recent Ukrainian horticulturists are working to , with exhibits on fruit tree topiary trip to Ukraine by R.J.G., D.J.H., and M.V.K. establish their own fruit crops germplasm re- and espalier systems. It also has an outstand- To a Ukrainian, horticulture means all pository system. The intent is to establish each ing walnut collection. The main focus of its aspects of fruit science and ornamental horti- of these in the appropriate region for the given research is the selection, breeding, propaga- culture only; vegetable production and fruit, with only several “acclimatized” species tion, and introduction of alternative crops. are separate disciplines. Because of being held in any one repository (similar to the Contact: Tatjana Mikhajlovna food shortages in the FSU, most horticultural U.S. Dept. of Agriculture system). During the Cherevchenko (director), Central Botanical research at this time is devoted to fruit produc- time of Soviet influence, the fruit germplasm Garden, Timiryazevska st. 1, 252014, Kiev- tion technology, with little effort devoted to repository for all fruit crops was the Vavilov 14, Ukraine; phone 011-7-044-295-41-05 or ornamental horticulture. To the average Ukrai- Center for Industry in St. Petersburg, 011-7-044-295-26-27. nian, the most popular and necessary form of Russia, and its local stations. The FSU now is (continued on p. 1393) agriculture consists of horticulture (as fruit

Received for publication 4 Oct. 1994. Accepted for publication 6 Oct. 1994. Journal Paper no. J-16050 of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Ex- periment Station, Ames. Project no. 0186. Travel to several of these institutions was supported in part by a grant from the Newly Independent States/Baltics Research Exchange Program of the Iowa Agricul- ture and Home Economics Experiment Station. The cost of publishing this paper was defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. Under postal regula- tions, this paper therefore must be hereby marked advertisement solely to indicate this fact. 1Associate Professor of Horticulture. 2Doctoral Student. 3Director. 4Deputy Director. 5Biotechnology Laboratory Director.

Front cover: The red currant, Ribes rubrum L., is representative of the red, black, and white currant and other small fruits studied at L’viv. Photo- graphed by David J. Hannapel at the L’viv filial. Fig. 1. Map of Ukraine that shows major cities, botanical gardens, institutes, filials, and research stations.

1214 HORTSCIENCE, VOL. 29(11), NOVEMBER 1994 (continued from inside front cover) Table 1. Characterization of the 13 small-fruit and tree-fruit research centers in Ukraine. Scientific personnel Avg Approx. Tech. & General General annual Research center Year area No. suppl. climate soil rainfall Temp Type Name Location founded (ha) labs. DSc PhD personnel type type (mm) sumz Botanical garden Central Kiev 1946 250 10 4 40 60 Mild Gray 610 3020 Botanical continental forest Garden Nikita Nikitay 1812 1000 11 2 30 63 Dry Sandy, 500 3900 Botanical subtropical black, Garden HOCx Institute Inst. of Melitopol’ 1937w 3500 10 1 46 57 Sharp Sandy, 443 2730 Irrigated (1970) continental gray Horticulture forest Mliev Inst. Mlievv 1918w 2500 7 0 20 28 Sharp Deep 610 3020 (1989) continental black, HOC Inst. of Kiev 1930 2200 17 7 95 140 Mild Gray 610 3020 Horticulture continental forest Filial L’viv L’viv 1959 800 3 1 8 20 Continental Gray 670 2695 forest Donets’k Artemivsku 1938 1500 7 0 32 40 Sharp Deep 480 3230 continental black, HOC Research station Prydnistrovska Prydnistrovskat 1970 450 2 0 14 14 Mild Deep 624 3100 continental black, HOC Podil’ska Podil’skas 1969 800 2 0 7 10 Mild Deep 544 2825 continental black, HOC Crimean Symferopol’ 1932 1500 8 0 28 36 Mild Sandy, 501 3635 continental black, HOC Krasny Kut Krasny Kutr 1968 600 2 0 14 12 Sharp Deep 528 3070 continental black, HOC Chernihiv Chernihiv 1996 1200 N/A N/A N/A N/A Sharp Gray N/A N/A continental forest Sevastopol’ Sevastopol’ 1935 230 4 0 7 33 Mild Light 501 3635 continental clay zTemperature sum corresponds to the sum of the number of degrees the daily average temperature is >5C during an entire year. yNear Yalta. xHOC = high organic content. wEarlier year was foundation as a research station and year in parentheses is year converted to an institute. vNear Cherkasy. uNear Donets’k. tNear Chernivtsi. sNear Vinnytsia. rNear Kharkiv. Nikita Botanical Garden Ukraine; phone 011-7-0654-33-55-97 or 011- Contact: Fedir Kalenich (director), Insti- 7-0654-33-55-30; fax 011-7-0654-33-53-86. tute of Irrigated Horticulture, Vakulenchuk st. Nikita Botanical Garden was established 99, 332311, Melitopol’, Zaporizhia Oblast, in 1812 and is located just east of Yalta in the INSTITUTES Ukraine; phone 011-7-06142-3-13-78. Crimea. Its program focuses on the breeding and selection of nearly all fruit and ornamental Institute of Irrigated Horticulture Mliev Institute crops, and it is a major repository for apple, apricot, peach, plum, sweet cherry, and walnut This institute is located in Melitopol’, in This former research station was the first species. Scientists breed apricots, Prunus southeastern Ukraine, and as its name implies, fruit research station in the FSU (established dominicata, sweet and sour cherries, peaches, all crops are grown on irrigated land. Its re- in 1918); it became an institute in 1989. It is the pears, quince, and apples. Collaborative work search specialties are the breeding, selection, smallest of the three institutes, but it is well with U.S. scientists in botanical gardens has and production technology of sweet cherry known because it was established and devel- been established, mostly as a mechanism for and other stone fruits, with a small amount of oped by the most famous of Ukrainian po- germplasm exchange. The garden also intro- research dealing with pears and apples. This mologists, Lev Symyrenko (Fig. 2). duces subtropical fruit and nut species into the center has developed many Ukrainian culti- Symyrenko worked almost his entire profes- region, and it has large breeding and selection vars of sweet cherry, such as ‘Melitopols’ka sional career in this geographical area. He programs for these crops. With the removal of Rannya’, ‘Prysadybna’, and ‘Bigaro selected many apple cultivars used in the FSU, political barriers in the NIS/Baltics, scientists Aratovskogo’, and it possesses an excellent including ‘Symyrenko’, one of the most popu- at Nikita Botanical Garden are eager to ex- collection of sweet cherry germplasm. One lar cultivars in Ukraine, Russia, and eastern change information and share germplasm with successful research project conducted at this Europe because of high yield and excellent collaborators throughout the world. institute was the development of the technol- dessert quality. This institute now specializes Contact: Adolf I. Lischuk (director), Nikita ogy to obtain dukes, an interspecific hybrid in the breeding, selection, screening, Botanical Garden, 334267, Yalta, Crimea, between sour cherry and sweet cherry. and production technology of apple, pear, black

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