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The purpose of the study is the application of the method of multi-criteria estimation to select the initial material of various direction of maize breeding. The studies were performed in the year of 2017–2018 in two different regions of trials, in the arid area of the ARC “Donskoy” (Zernograd) and in the moisture area of the All-Russian Research Institute of Maize (Pyatigorsk). 10 parental forms of maize hybrids ‘Alpha M’, ‘Almaz M’, ‘Avrora S’, ‘Milena M’, ‘Istok S’, ‘Mirt M’, ‘Malvina S’, Raduga S’, Maya M’, ‘Prestizh M’ used as testers in breeding programs were taken as initial material. The studied forms were characterized by a diversity in the value of their main economically valuable traits. Significant variability was identified in infertility of plants (V = 56.0%), smut infection (V = 46.4%) and fragility of a stem below a cob (V = 43.4%). Average variability was identified in grain productivity (V = 14.8–18.2%), drought resistance index (V = 10.5%), harvesting moisture of grain (V = 18.6%). The use of the complex of main economically valuable traits for the integrated assessment (SD), taking into account the specified contributions (Rk) and weight coefficients (Wi), made it possible to rank the initial material according to its value for various areas of selection. There have been identified the testers ‘Mirt M’, Maya M, ‘Istok S’ with the best integral values (SD = 2.63–5.65) for breeding on drought tolerance. ‘Istok S’, ‘Milena M’, ‘Avrora S’ (SD = 2.14–4.07) have been recommended as the testers in breeding programs to breed the varieties with low harvesting moisture of grain. There has been identified a universal tester ‘Istok S’ which is suitable for various directions of maize breeding. Thus, the multi-criteria estimation can be used in the breeding process to select initial material that meets the requirements of the planned breeding directions.

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Background: The gut visceral musculature plays essential roles in not only moving substances through the lumen but also maintaining the function and physiology of the gut. Although the development of the visceral musculature has been studied in multiple model organisms, how it degenerates is poorly understood.Results: Here, we employ the Drosophila midgut as a model to demonstrate that the visceral musculature is disrupted by intrinsic and extrinsic factors, such as aging, feeding, chemical-induced tissue damage, and oncogenic transformation in the epithelium. Notably, we define four prominent visceral musculature disruption phenotypes, which we refer as "sprout," "discontinuity," "furcation," and "crossover" of the longitudinal muscle. Given that the occurrence of these phenotypes is increased during aging and under various stresses, we propose that these phenotypes can be used as quantitative readouts of deterioration of the visceral musculature. Intriguingly, administration of a tissuedamaging chemical dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) induced similar visceral musculature disruption phenotypes in zebrafish larvae, indicating that ingestion of a tissue-damaging chemical can disrupt the visceral musculature in a vertebrate as well.Conclusions: Our study provides insights into the deterioration of the gut visceral musculature and lays a groundwork for investigating the underlying mechanisms in Drosophila as well as other animals.

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