Features of Lonicera caerulea L. reproductive biology

Blue-berried honeysuckle ( Lonicera caerulea L. s. L.) of the Honeysuckle family ( Caprifoliaceae ) is a high-quality berry plant which has been actively cultivated in recent years in various countries with temperate climate. Blue-berried honeysuckle is valued for ultraearly fruit ripening, as well as high content of antiscorbutic vitamin and biologically active phenolic compounds with antioxdidant, immunomodulating, antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, antiallergic and other activities widely used in medicine, cosmetic surgery, food industry and agriculture. Variation of reproductive ability of L. caerulea cultivars and selections in different conditions of introduction in Russia and abroad prevents realization of potential fruitfulness of industrial plantations. For the purpose of finding out possible causes of decrease in fruit set and weight, morphological full-value of pollen, self-fertilization and interpollination were assessed, self-incompatibility of this species cultivars was studied. Blue-berried honeysuckle cultivars of various ecological-geographical and genetic origin widespread in West Siberia and north-east China were studied, which belong to the subspecies L. caerulea subsp. altaica (Pall.) Gladkova (syn. L. altaica Pall.), L. caerulea subsp. venulosa (Maxim.) Worosh. (syn. L. edulis Turcz. ex Freyn), L. caerulea subsp. kamtschatica (Sevast.) Gladkova [syn. L. kamtschatica (Sevast.) Pojark., L. caerulea var. kamtschatica (Sevast.) Pojark.]. Self-pollination and interpollination of 8 honeysuckle cultivars (Salyut, Berel', Goluboe vereteno, Zolushka, Tomichka, Parabel'skaya, Pamyati Gidzyuka and Kamchadalka) were studied by data of field research in 1999-2002 on the experimental plot in Novosibirsk. Cytoembryologic research, including that of microsporogenesis products and possible meiosis disturbance of 19 honeysuckle cultivars, was conducted from 1999 to 2014. The results obtained showed a decrease in pollen fertility to 0.8 % connected with anomalies in meiosis. Significant variations in fruit set (0.9-64.0 %), weight and seed quantity were determined by the genetic control of self-incompatibility under self-pollination and in different variants of cross-pollination of blue-berried honeysuckle cultivars. As morphological manifestations of self-incompatibility, anomalies in growth of pollen tubes in style tissues after transpollination of closely related cultivars and autogamy were determined. The main causes of loss cultural plantations productivity of blue honeysuckle may be low pollen fertility in some cultivars L. caerulea subsp. altaica and partial self-incompatibility with the cross-pollination varieties due to their closely related origin. The cultivars for effective pollination of blue-berried honeysuckle plantations were selected (selection from different families). For varieties that are derived from the parent form Start - Goluboe vereteno, Sinyaya ptica, Lazurnaya, Zolushka, Gerda, Berel' best pollinators may be cultivars derived from the initial form of Del'fin - Tomichka, Parabel'skaya, Pamyati Gidzyuka, Vasyuganskaya, Narymskaya. It is necessary to include additional cultivars of pollinators when planting high-yielding varieties Barhat, Salyut, Berel' or new cultivars produced with their involvement which are characterized by low pollen fertility