FEATURES OF VEGETATION OF INTRODUCED APPLE TREE VARIETIES IN THE SOUTH-EASTERN FOOTHILLS OF DAGHESTAN
The article shows the complexity of the geomorphological conditions of the territory of the Republic of Daghestan, which makes it necessary to solve the issues of science-based placement of horticulture, taking into account vertical zoning. In the conditions of the South-Eastern foothill subprovinction, observations were made, and regularities of the main phenological phases of development of promising apple varieties of domestic and foreign selection were revealed. According to the results of phenological observations, the average dates of the onset of the main development phases are established. The observed environmental stress factors that do not depend on the variety are included in the average indicators calculation for a number of years, since they reflect the biological characteristics of the variety in certain soil and climatic conditions. Apple varieties were grouped by the dates of the beginning of the blossom vegetation. The first group of varieties has an early start of blossoming on April 14-17 (Majesti, Geneva), the second group - April 18-20 (Carmen, Civt-11) and the third group has a blossom period of April 22-24 (Liberty, Idored, Fujii, Golden Delicious, Champion Reno). It is established that in the conditions of the South-Eastern foothill province of Daghestan, the average date of vegetation for apple varieties occurs in the end of the second decade of March. The passage of the terms of phenophases largely depends on the varietal characteristics. Phenological observations have shown that the duration of vegetation of apple varieties depends on the biological characteristics. On average, during the years of observation, the shortest vegetation period was found in the introduced variety of Civt11 - 221 days, and the longest - in the variety of Liberty - 239 days, in the varieties of Geneva, Majesti, Carmen, Idored, Champion Reno, Fujii, Golden Delisches the duration of the growing period was from 231 up to 237 days. The average duration of the growing season for all apple varieties was 233 days.