OLD CIRCASSIAN ORCHARDS - A SOURCE OF VALUABLE BREEDING CHARACTERISTICS
The paper deals with the old Circassian orchards. It also presents the findings of the academician Zhukovskiy about the fact that the genesis of the common wild and domesticated fruit crops of Eurasia first occurred in the Caucasus. Furthermore, there is some information about the consequences of the Caucasian war for the Circassian orchards. The conservation program is reviewed. What is more, the paper brings the number of selected cultivars and promising forms of common hazel, walnut and sweet chestnut for the period from 2006 to 2017. Finally, the paper investigates the collections of nut crops growing on the lands of the Adygei Branch of the Russian Research Institute of Floriculture and Subtropical Crops.