Biodiversity and conservation prospects of local and introducted berry plants in Lithuania

Abstract

Collections of introduced species, cultivars and clones, as well as landraces, breeder's lines and wild local samples of Actinidia kolomikta, Vaccinium oxycoccus, V. macrocarpon and Viburnum opulus were established in Kaunas Botanical Garden, Lithuania. Female specimens of A. kolomikta ('Lande', 'Paukstes Sakarva' and F1), together with the male sample M3, were proposed for permanent conservation and samples of 'Pavlovskaja', VIR-1 and Krupnoplodnaja, for temporary conservation. The best cultivars of Vaccinium macrocarpon were 'Stevens', 'Ben Lear', 'Black Veil', 'Bergman', 'LeMunyon', 'Washington' and 'Bain 10'. Breeder's lines BL-10, BL-15, AR-2 and NSV-108, as well as cultivars 'Searles', 'Wilcox' and 'Franclin' also offer good possibilities for selection. Vaccinium oxycoccus samples with large berries and stable morphological characteristics, such as 96-Z-13, 96-K-03, 96-Z-11, 96-K-09, 96-Z-8, 96-K-08, 96-K-10, 96-K-11, 96-K-12, 97-J-05, 96-Z-10, 96-K-06, 97-J-01 and 96-K-02, were mostly fitted for permanent conservation in the field gene bank (FGB) collection. The cultivars 'Leningradskaja otbornaja', 'Kijivskaja sadovaja' and 'Krasnaja grozd' cultivars and the local wild snowball-tree sample P1 were mostly fitted for conservation in the FGB collection.