New studies of wild-growing grapes of Kuban: ecology, morphology, variability

The purpose of this scientific work was to find and study the variety of wild grapes as future promising sources of selection and valuable traits on the example of the territory of the natural reserve «Red Forest”. Analysis of modern scientific literature on the study of Vitaceae Juss. family biodiversity showed that there is practically no scientific information on agrestic Kuban forms and autochthones of grapes. This article represents the beginning of a new large research work on the study of wild Kuban grapes under study in the territory of Krasnodar Krai, in particular, in the state natural reserve “Red Forest”. The following methods were used in the work: route reconnaissance (during expeditions), traditional geobotanical and ampelographic, analytical. 5 isolated populations of agrestic grapes have been found on the territory of the “Red Forest” nature reserve. For the first time, these forms were studied and described by the ecological and geographical growth conditions and morphological traits of vegetative and generative spheres of grape plants. Significant variability of some indicators has been revealed. The presence of damage by pests and diseases was not visually detected. Hypothetically, these isolated grape populations may belong to Vitis vinifera ssp. Silvestris Gmel. or its variation var. Tipica Negr. (wild forest grapes). Samples were taken for further genetic analysis. This research was carried out within the framework of the RFFR grant project (contract No.19–416–230025).