Genetic resources of black currant in large-fruited breeding

Requirements for modern cultivars of black currant based on large-fruited sign are increasing. If until recently berries with an average mass of 1.2 g were considered acceptable for production, they were already classified as large-fruited, but by now this level has already been increased to 1.5 g or more. The purpose of the researches was to search the best initial genotypes, donors and crossing combinations to increase the mass of berries in the hybrid posterity of black currant. The researches were carried out in 2019-2023 at the breeding and collection plots of the Kokino Base Station of the Federal Research Centre for Horticulture (Bryansk region). 24 cultivars of black currant, 3 elite, posterity of 12 combinations of crossings and 2 populations from free pollination included researches material, a total of 798 hybrids were studied. It was found out that the largest fruits were formed by 33.3% of the studied genotypes: cultivars ‘Mriya-3’, ‘Dar Smol’yaninovoy’, ‘Strelets’, ‘Selechenskaya 2’, ‘Podarok Veteranam’, ‘Litvinovskaya’, ‘Debryansk’ and elite forms No. 8-4-6, 63-35-1. The crossing combinations Ben Hope?Litvinovskaya, 63-35-1?Litvinovskaya, Debryansk?Lentyay, Orlovskaya Serenada ? Barmaley and the population from free pollination of the cultivar ‘Debryansk’ turned out to be promising in the yield of very large-fruited posterity.