Relationship between the biometric indicators of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco cones and seeds in the Central Chernozem Region

The species composition of Russia's forests is quite limited and is represented by several coniferous forest-forming spe-cies. One of the ways to increase the biodiversity of forests is to use fast-growing, highly productive introductions, such as Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco. The experience of introducing this species indicates that it can be culti-vated in many forest zones. This study was conducted to investigate the generative sphere in two regions of the Central Black Earth Region (Voronezh and Kursk). The complex introduction study of the species began with the establish-ment of the relationship between the biometric indicators of cones and seeds. The purpose of the work is to modify traditional methods of propagation and develop detailed recommendations for introducing P. menziesii into various types of forest plantations in the Central Black Earth Region as a companion species. The number of Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco specimens from which the cones were collected ranged from 8 to 10, and the age of the trees was approximately 30-40 years (Kursk Region) to 65 years (Voronezh Region), with a total of 100 cones collected from each location. When analyzing the size of cones and seeds, we calculated the coefficient of variation (CV) between batches of seeds and cones, the Pearson correlation coefficient (r), and used regression analysis (the determi-nation coefficient R2). There were strong positive relationships between the length of cones and the number of full-grain seeds r= 0.923, and a strongly negative relationship between the length of cones and the number of empty seeds r= -0.750. The correlation between the width of the cones and the number of full-grain seeds is slightly less than r= 0.833, and the correlation between the width of the cones and the number of empty seeds is r= –0.651. The coeffi-cient of variation for all three collection points reaches high values of variability in the length of cones - 37.0 %, the width of cones – 20.3 %. The variability of seed length with a wing (18.4%) and seed width (6.1 %) correspond to me-dium and low variability. The biometric parameters of cones and seeds are also approximated by a second-order pol-ynomial function.