Background. Adding new plant varieties to the VIR collection is an important effort to preserve the diversity of worldwide bioresources. The millet collection at VIR is formed through the study of acquired accessions, aimed at identification of biological features that have emerged under certain conditions. Such germplasm may be recommended for use in breeding practice. Studying new accessions makes it possible to predict long-term development of the collection.Materials and methods. The study was carried out at Yekaterinino Experiment Station of VIR, Tambov Province, in 2017–2019. New millet accessions added to the VIR collection served as the research material. The study was based on the descriptors and guidelines for Panicum miliaceum L. developed at VIR.Results and conclusions. An assessment was made for such agronomic characters as the growing season, plant height, grain size, grain yield, and resistance to bacteria. The identified accessions exceeded the reference (cv. ‘Gorlinka’) in a number of traits. Earliness was observed in k-10479 (‘Dozh’), k-10481 (‘Zapadnoye’), k-10324, k-10325, k-10478 (‘Nizhnevolzhskoye’), k-10275 (‘Kvartet’), k-10306 (‘Volga 59’), k-10322 (‘Soyuz’), k-10473 (‘Yarkoye 120’), and k-10474 (‘Kavkazskiye zori’). Low plant height was recorded for k-888, k-10324, k-10306, k-10474, k-10479, k-10326, k-10481, and k-10480 (‘Kamyshenskoye’). Large grain size was shown by k-888, k-10325, k-10306, k-10324, k-10479, k-10475 (local), k-10322, k-10473, k-10480, and k-10481. High grain yields under the conditions of the Central Black Earth Region of Russia were demonstrated by the accessions from Belarus (cv. ‘Zapadnoye’, k-10481) and from Chelyabinsk Province (local cultivar, k-888). Medium and strong resistance to bacterial pathogens was observed in k-888, k-10275, k-10473, k-10474, k-10324, and k-10325. The selected accessions can serve as source material for the development of new millet cultivars.

Possible causes of melanosis in millet have been studied for a long time, and numerous efforts have been made to breed resistant cultivars, but still there are no sources of high resistance to this disease. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the most important results of research into the nature of melanosis in millet, a disease without outward manifestation on plants or seeds, and search for ways to reduce its harmfulness. Although the disease’s infectious nature has been confirmed by all researchers, no one has succeeded in identifying the causative agent of melanosis. It is assumed that melanosis may be provoked by both bacteria and fungi as well as through their complex effect on a plant. Weather conditions conducive to a spread of infection have not been identified either. According to some reports, dry and warm weather increases the risk of infection and spreading of the disease; according to others, more humid and warm conditions are to blame. A possible effect of millet grain shape on the level of disease manifestation has not been clearly explained, but there is evidence that the degree of floral scale closeness and thickness as well as the grain size do enhance mechanical protection of seed from infection. When floral scales are tightly closed, coarsehulled fine grains are as much protected from exposures as possible, which may add to the plant’s defense against the infection. Selecting plants with better developed grain-enclosing scales would help to breed proso millet cultivars resistant to melanosis. The infection can be transmitted by insects, wind or rain from any crop fields infested with the microflora that causes the disease. Its causative agents are specific to a definite area of millet cultivation, which is determined by the temperature regime and indirectly confirmed by conflicting data concerning the effect of air temperature and precipitation on the development of melanosis. The duration of the growing season, in its turn, can also have an impact on the development of damage under the husk of millet grain. Early-ripening millet forms are more resistant to the disease.

107 образцов проса и 38 образцов других просовидных культур из коллекции ВИР им. Н. И. Вавилова, выращенных в 2005 - 2007 гг. в условиях юга Нечерноземной зоны РФ (Орловская обл.), изучены на содержание белка, крахмала, масла. Для 6 образцов проса и 3 районированных образцов просовидных (чумиза, могар, пайза) определен жирно-кислотный состав масла. Выделены образцы с высоким содержанием белка и масла для использования в селекции cортов просовидных культур кормового и пищевого назначения.

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