SEARCH AND STUDY OF NEW KUBAN WILD GRAPES AND THEIR ECOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES
The wild forms of grapes in the forests of the State nature reserve «Utrish» are found for first time and studied. Several habitats of wild grapes, presumably belonging to the species of Vitis vinifera ssp, silvestris Gmel. or its varieties - var. tipica Negr. - typical wild forest grapes have been studied. A detailed description of the phytocenoses in which the studied forms of plants grow is carried out. Ecological and geographical characteristics of their habitats are given. The samples were taken for further genetic analysis. It is noted in the article that many research have been carried out on the study of wild plants and indigenous grape varieties in the Crimea, Daghestan, along the banks of the Don and others, but there is still no scientific data on the origin and presence of Kuban wild and indigenous forms of grapes. As for the territory of the Utrish reserve, as a unique place of ancient settlements, such studies will be conducted for the first time. Recently, the biodiversity of the Vitaceae Juss family markedly increases, at the same time there are new data on the expanding gene pool of cultural and wild grapes Vitis vinifera L. At the same time, there are new methods of polymorphism analysis of such diversity, but the problem of cultivated grapes origin remains unresolved. This article presents only the first scientific data on the ecological conditions of growth and morphological and biological features of the founded wild forms of grapes in the territory of the Utrish State reserve. It is important to note that this study is only the beginning of research work on the study of the origin of the Kuban wild grapes and identification among them of the sources, and in the future - donors of resistance to various biotic and abiotic environmental factors. The ultimate goal of this study is to include the selected sustainable wild forms in the breeding process and replenishment of the grapes gene pool.