Progress in Japanese quinces breeding in Ukraine

The fruits of Japanese quinces (Chaenomeles ssp.) are rich in organic acids, vitamins C and P, pectin substances, aroma and they are suitable for processing. High yield, annual fruit-bearing, resistance to diseases and pests make Japanese quinces appropriate for modern organic horticulture. In Ukraine, breeding on Chaenomeles started in 1913. The academician Mykola Kashchenko selected some improved genotypes, and the first industrial plantation was established in 1937. Later, many institutions studied Japanese quinces. Kashchenko’s investigations were continued in the National Botanical Garden in Kyiv, and were culminated with the cultivars: ‘Karavaievskyi’, ‘Pomaranchevyi’, ‘Tsytrynovyi’, and ‘Vitaminnyi’. In 1981, in Bakhmut Experimental Station similar breeding program was started and four cultivars: ‘Nika’, ‘Nikolai’, ‘Nina’, and ‘Kalif’ have been developed. They, as well as the cultivars developed in the National Botanical Garden, were included to the National Register of Plant Varieties of Ukraine in 2001. The next breeding population on the base of Chaenomeles ×superba and Chaenomeles ×californica was created then. A lot of promising genotypes were selected out of 40 thousand hybrids. The best selections are thornless, large-fruited, think-fleshed, and very productive. Some of them were named: ‘Gold Calif’, ‘Maksym’, ‘Northern Lemon’, and ‘Tamara’, and two of them were registered in Poland since 2014. In 2017-2018, ‘Dimitrina’, ‘Graf de Ramok’, ‘Kandeya’, ‘Krasavytsia Madlen’, ‘Mimka’, ‘Perunika’, and ‘Stats-Dama’, developed by Nikita Botanical Garden, have been registered in Russia.