Pomegranate (Punica Granatum L.) in Azerbaijan

The review article describes the current state of pomegranate growing in Azerbaijan. Pomegranate is a very ancient breed and culture of prehistoric times. It was taken into culture directly from nature, from endemic forms. In the origin of the pomegranate culture, conscious selection, plant domestication, and hybridization, which contributed to the development of new forms, played a major role. The presence of large thickets of pomegranate, their widespread distribution, the diversity of many original local varieties of high quality, reflecting extremely careful selection in specialized areas, point to Azerbaijan as the region of its formation. The Azerbaijani subtropics are rich sources of crop production; they can reliably enrich fruit growing with valuable original varieties of pomegranate. Currently, when mastering the methods of modern selection with their enormous prospects, it is possible to update aging varieties in a shorter period, improve them, and using the accumulated source material, create new productive and high-quality varieties that satisfy all production requirements.