Economic and biological assessment of Vaccinium angustifolium ait. in Udmurtia

The work is devoted to the comprehensive study of a new plant for the territory of the Udmurt Republic - Vaccinium angustifolium. Narrow-leaved blueberry is a promising berry shrub for cultivation in Central Russia. The plant is characterized by high winter hardiness and the ability to withstand temperature drops down to –40 °С, it can grow on poor, acidic, waterlogged soils. The aim of the work was to identify the biological characteristics and productivity parameters of V. angustifolium when introduced under the conditions of the Udmurt Republic. The studies were carried out using widely accepted methods. Phenological features, plant growth and development, productivity, frost resistance and winter hardiness were studied, an integral assessment of the viability and prospects of introduction was given. Morphometric characteristics of plants in 2020: plant height – 40.6±3.2 cm, crown diameter – 59.4±3.3 cm, average productivity – 854.7±60.1 g, average berry weight – 0,97±0.10 g. In the conditions of Udmurtia, blueberries showed stable growth with minimal damage to annual shoots and fruit buds in winter. With prolonged low negative temperatures in December in the absence of snow cover, the highest degree of freezing in individual plants was 2 points (weak freezing). According to the long-term assessment of winter hardiness in the field of Udmurtia, narrow-leaved blueberry can be attributed to the group of winter hardy. The use of the integral scale has shown that the introduction of V. angustifolium is promising (prospect group II – promising).