STUDY OF PERSIMMONS, JUJUBE AND PAPAW IN THE CONDITIONS OF THE FOOTHILL ZONE OF THE NORTHWESTERN СAUCASUS

The climate in the foothill zone of the Republic of Adygea, located on the northwestern slope of Caucasian ridge, is favorable for growing fruit crops, including those originating from the subtropical climate. Due to the climate warming in the republic, especially in winter, it has become possible to consider introduction of thermophilic subtropical fruit crops into the foothills of Adygea, which contributes to the expansion of their cultural range, including fruit species diversity in the region. In order to study the possibility of cultivating non-traditional subtropical crops in the foothill zone of the Republic of Adygea, researchers from Federal Research Centre the Subtropical Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences are studying the growth and development of persimmon, common jujube and papaw associated with weather conditions. At the same time, the Program methods and methods of cultivar study for fruit, berry and nut crops are used, ed. by E.N. Sedov. The paper analyzes meteorological parameters in introduction area, provides long-term study of persimmons, common jujube and papaw, describes their features of phenology, growth and development in new climatic conditions, and also considers the prospects for growing unconventional subtropical crops in the foothill zone of the Republic of Adygea. According to the assessment of agro-climatic resources in the area, it has been found that the conditions during winter-spring period and insufficient moisture supply in July and August are the most stressful for persimmon, common jujube and papaw plants. Testing of various cultivars, hybrids and promising forms and introduced plant species under new conditions allows us to note that kaki persimmon cultivars ‘Nikitskaya bordovaya’ and ‘MVG Omarova’, common jujube cultivars – ‘Ta-yang-tsao’ and ‘Yuzhanin’ and trilobate papaw cultivars ‘Sochinskaya 11’, ‘Sochinskaya 12’ and ‘Valentina’, as well as promising breeding papaw forms F-6/0 and F-8 have shown the greatest adaptability, possibility to form a fine fruit harvest and to be involved in fruit growing in the region.