The Middle Urals is a region of risky agriculture. Apple cultivars of more southern origin are usually unpromising due to insufficient level of hardiness, so there is a need to develop and deploy local apple-tree cultivars. The staff of Sverdlovsk Horticultural Breeding Station released a new apple cultivar, ‘Sverdlovchanin’. This cultivar is notable for high winter hardiness, productivity (average yield is ca. 18.0 t/ha), and low fruit shedding rate at harvest maturity. Its fruits are beautiful, uniform, yellow, roundish, weighing 110 g (maximum 205 g), with a very good sweet and sour dessert flavor. The ripening time under the conditions of the Middle Urals is usually late September, and fruits can be stored until the end of February. The author of this cultivar is L. A. Kotov The apple cultivar ‘Sverdlovchanin’ was included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements of the Russian Federation in 2018.

Expanding the assortment through the development of new highly adaptable cultivars is the main task of pear breeding in the Middle Urals. The most significant agronomic traits are winter hardiness, high fruit yield, and good fruit quality. The zoned pear assortment for the Middle Urals includes six cultivars. Six more cultivars now undergo the State Variety Trials. One of them is the new pear cultivar ‘Tais’ (breeding number DL-33-104), the result of crossing Dyuymovochka × Zhanna d’Ark. Cv. ‘Tais’ has been in variety studies at Sverdlovsk Horticultural Breeding Station (Yekaterinburg) since 2006. The new cultivar is characterized by good winter hardiness and productivity. The average yield at the age of 10–14 years is 9.42 tons per hectare, while the maximum yield is 19.81 t/ha. Fruits are yellow, with a good sweet taste, weighing 94 g. The content of dry matter is 11.9%, sugars 9.0%, and titratable acids 0.4%. According to the results of long-term research, the new pear cultivar ‘Tais’ was submitted to the State Variety Trials in 2017.

As part of the research there have been developed and published nomenclatural standards of 12 pear varieties bred by Sverdlovsk Horticultural Breeding Station: Berezhenaya (WIR-101392), Gvidon (WIR-101393), Dobryanka (WIR-101394), Zarechnaya (WIR-101395), Permyachka (WIR-101397), Raduzhnaya (WIR-101398), Rozovyy Bochonok (WIR-101399), Sverdlovchanka (WIR-101400), Sultan (WIR-101402), Talitsa (WIR-101404), Fleyta (WIR-101405), Chusovaya (WIR-103944). Plant material for nomenclatural standards was selected in the collection of the originator organization with the participation of the creators of these varieties. The herbarium sample of the nomenclature standard of each cultivar is represented mainly by two herbarium sheets containing parts of one plant collected during two periods: fruit and annual shoots ‒ in the fall 2019, flowers ‒ in the spring 2020. The herbarium label indicates: the herbarium number of the sample in the VIR Herbarium, the scientific name of the species, the name of the variety, the origin (the name of the organization in which the variety was created), the place of reproduction (where the plant was grown), the harvest dates, the names of collectors. Herbarium sheets are supplemented with photos of fruits and flowers. Nomenclatural standards are made in accordance with the recommendations of the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants (ICNCP), registered in the database "VIR Herbarium" and included in the type collection of Herbarium of cultivated plants of the world, their wild relatives and weeds (WIR). According to the same rules, herbarium samples of 3 elite pear forms (Limonadnaya, Sretenskaya, Tais) were made, registered and included into the Main Fund of the VIR Herbarium. After registration of copyright documents for cultivars, these samples can be assigned as nomenclatural standards. In total, 27 samples in the amount of 27 herbarium sheets were transferred to the herbarium collection. A digital image of herbarium specimen is available in the database «VIR Herbarium» (http://db.vir.nw.ru/herbar/gerb).

Sverdlovsk Horticultural Breeding Station specializes in the development of fruit and berry cultivars for the Middle Urals. One of its tasks is pear breeding for high winter-hardiness, high yield, and good fruit quality. Ten new pear cultivars and improved forms of local breeding were selected as the material for this study versus the reference cultivars ‘Talitsa’, ripening in summer, and ‘Berezhenaya’, ripening in late autumn. Observations were conducted across the decade of 2009–2019. The cultivars ‘Letnyaya zolotistaya’, ‘Chusovaya’, ‘Berezhenaya’ (ref.), ‘Sultan’, and breeding form DL-33-307 were found to possess resistance of flowers to late spring frosts. Cvs. ‘Letnyaya zolotistaya’, ‘Berezhenaya’ (ref.) and ‘Sultan’ were early-fruiting; cvs. ‘Talitsa’ (ref.) and ‘Chusovaya’, breeding forms ZS-IV-5-11, DL-33-307, DL-II-31n-207, ZS-II-15-18 and ZS-IV-5-19 were mid-fruiting; breeding form ZS-IV-15-38, late-fruiting. An early onset of full fructification at the age of 10–11 years or more, combined with high yield at the same age, was observed in cvs. ‘Berezhenaya’ (ref.), ‘Sultan’, ‘Letnyaya zolotistaya’, and breeding form ZS-II-15-18. New cultivars ‘Letnyaya zolotistaya’ and ‘Sultan’ were highlighted for a combination of valuable traits: earliness, high yield, and high growth rates in the plantlet stage. Cv. ‘Letnyaya zolotistaya’ had attractive good-tasting fruits, weighing 76 g, ripening in summer. Cv. ‘Sultan’ yielded nicelooking and good-tasting fruits, weighing 129 g, ripening in winter. Cv. ‘Chusovaya’ was identified for its nice-looking fruits with a very good taste.

изучение особенностей биометрических параметров деревьев уральских сортов груши. В результате изучения выделены среднерослые сорта Тонковетка уральская, Заречная, Радужная, Добрянка, Низкорослая (4,5-5,5 м); сильнорослые-Талица, Гвидон, Пермячка (более 5,5 м). Округлая форма кроны отмечена у деревьев сортов Гвидон, Тонковетка Уральская, Заречная; пирамидальная-у сортов Пермячка, Радужная, Добрянка, Низкорослая; узкопирамидальная-у сорта Талица. Ключевые слова: груша, сорта, биометрические параметры, форма кроны, схема посадки. Summary. The study of the peculiarities of biometric parameters of trees of the Ural pear varieties is carried out. Trees of pear varieties Tonkovetka uralskaya, Zarechnaya, Raduzhnaya, Dobryanka, Nizkoroslaya are medium-sized (4,5-5,5 m); trees of pear varieties Talitsa, Permyachka, Gvidon are strongly tall (more than 5,5 m). Varieties Gvidon, Tonkovetka Uralskaya, Zarechnaya have a rounded shape of the crown; varieties Permyachka, Raduzhnaya, Dobryanka, Nizkoroslaya have a pyramidal shape of the crown; variety Talitsa has a narrow pyramidal shape of the crown.