ESTIMATION AND SELECTION OF CORIANDER INITIAL MATERIAL TO DEVELOP NEW VARIETIES FOR THE INSUFFICIENT HUMIDITY AREAS IN THE ROSTOV REGION

Coriander is a multi-purpose essential oil plant that has various growing purposes: to obtain essential and fatty oils, to use it as a spice and a green herb. Coriander is a leader in the production and consumption of essential oils. The largest cultivation region in Russia is the Central Blackearth Region. The current work has shown the possibility to grow coriander in the conditions of the Rostov region and has revealed the best genotypes adapted to insufficient humidity. There have been studied 124 coriander collection samples according to various economically valuable traits. There has been presented a range of their variation by the growing season duration from 84 to 106 days, by the plant height from 42 to 80 cm, by yields from 26.5 to 250 g m2, by essential oil percentage from 0.56 to 2.15%, by oil content from 18.9 to 25.4%, by oil yields from 21.4 to 56.5 g/m2, by 1000-kernel weight from 5.2 g to 7.4 g. The paper also shows the conditions to form their greatest values. There have been identified the samples “K-298”, “K-259”, “K-284”, “K-272”, “K-179” with the most valuable set of economic features that can be revealed under various conditions. There have been selected the coriander samples “K-428”, “K-298”, “K-284”, “K-272”, showing high seed yields under free flowering and under isolators. There has been established a fruit formation coefficient (0.16–0.45) taking into account free flowering and insulators, and there have been selected the samples showing a lesser degree of oppression under insulators (with a fruit formation coefficient of >0.3)