Work on the introduction of lingonberry berry plants was started in the Central Botanical Garden of the Academy of Sciences of the BSSR in the early 80s of the last century by the staff of the laboratory of mobilization of plant resources. The first crop involved in the research was large-fruited cranberry Oxycoccus macrocarpus (Ait.) Pers. By order of the director of the Central Botanical Garden, academician N.V. Smolsky, a site simulating the conditions of a cranberry plantation was specially prepared in the Central Botanical Garden to assess the adaptive potential of the new crop and the possibility of its cultivation in Belarus. The head of the laboratory of mobilization of plant resources Kudinov M.A. and junior researcher Sharkovsky E.K. from the Main Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences (Moscow) obtained cuttings of 8 varieties: Early Black, Frankliv, Wilcox, Bergman, Beckwith, Howes, Mac Farlin and Stevens. The varieties were planted in separate plots surrounded by ditches filled with water. The plots themselves were also prepared accordingly: the soil from the site was removed and replaced with high-moor peat, the surface of the plots was mulched with a 6-7 cm layer of coarse-grained sand. The first 9 highbush blueberry bushes donated by the GBS employees were also planted here. Since 1972, large-scale introduction studies of the cranberry genus have been carried out at the Central Botanical Garden. The theoretical prerequisites for the introduction of the North American species are being studied, and in the experimental plot not only the varieties of large-fruited cranberry are being studied, but also the selection and evaluation of forms of the local species - four-petal cranberry - is being carried out. As a result of the research carried out over 5 years, the prospects of cultivating large-fruited cranberry in Belarus were proven, and the collected materials served as the basis for the candidate's dissertation of E.K. Sharkovsky. At the same time, Academician N.V. Smolsky and the staff of the Central Botanical Garden, head of the laboratory Kudinov M.A., junior researcher Sharkovsky E.K. and others, carried out work to popularize the cranberry culture and develop technology for its industrial cultivation. Since 1976, after the death of Academician N.V. Smolsky, the Central Botanical Garden was headed by Sidorovich E.A. and further work on the introduction of lingonberries continued under his leadership. The research of Kudinov M.A., Sharkovsky E.K., Sherstenikina A.V., Shapiro D.K. and others proved the prospects and substantiated the need for plantation cultivation of large-fruited cranberries in Belarus. The result was the construction of the first industrial plantation of large-fruited cranberries in the USSR in the Gantsevichi district of the Brest region, which was put into operation in 1980. The finished facility was transferred to the Gantsevichi forestry enterprise, the scientific work was carried out by 3 employees of the laboratory of mobilization of plant resources of the Central Botanical Garden: engineers: Yunkevich Nikolay Mikhailovich, Kononovich (Kurlovich) Tatyana Vladimirovna and laboratory assistant Rabtsevich Nadezhda Nikolaevna. The main problem in laying out the plantation of large-fruited cranberries was the lack of planting material. A collection of varieties from the Central Botanical Garden was transported to one check (No. 2), with an area of 1 hectare out of 10 prepared ones. During the first year, cuttings of the available varieties were carried out and they were gradually planted in strips over the entire area of the check. Negotiations were held on purchasing cuttings in the USA for laying out the remaining 9 checks. With great difficulty, in 1982, cuttings of two varieties were delivered: Ben Lear and Stevens, which were immediately planted on the plantation. The material received was enough for 4 checks. A year later (in 1983), 3 more varieties were purchased and planted on the plantation (1 ha each): Searls, Piligrim and Mac Farlin. Later, the plantation served as a mother plant for laying out new cranberry plantations in the BSSR and RSFSR. In the same year, a new laboratory of the Central Botanical Garden (laboratory of introduction of fruit and berry plants) was created at the Gantsevichi Scientific and Experimental Library, headed by N. N. Ruban, and the staff was replenished with new employees: Morozov O. V., Bosak V. N., Bosak T. I., Kusenkova V. A., Pyatnitsa F. S. and others. The cultivation of large-fruited cranberries on an industrial plantation fully confirmed the findings of Belarusian scientists and allowed for the expansion of research. Thanks to this, the industrial culture of cranberries was developed and supported by state structures. The Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the BSSR and the USSR Ministry of Meliovodkhoz of August 22, 1986 approved a comprehensive program "On the organization of industrial production of large-fruited cranberries in the Byelorussian SSR", developed on the basis of the results of long-term research on the introduction of cranberries conducted in the BSSR. Nine research and survey institutions from nine ministries and departments of the BSSR and the USSR were involved in the implementation of the program. From that time on, a layout scheme and construction schedule for industrial plantations of large-fruited cranberries were developed for the period up to 2000 on an area of 5,000 hectares. At the Gantsevichi scientific and experimental base and industrial cranberry plantation near the village of Selishche, Pinsk district with a total planting area of 47 hectares, the parameters of the optimal structure of specialized farms and processing industries were worked out, the most promising varieties were assessed and selected, methods of propagation of varieties, characteristics of the water-air regime of soils, ways of optimizing mineral nutrition of plants, measures of complex protection of plantations from weeds, diseases and pests were studied. In parallel, in 1982, research began on the introduction of highbush blueberry. The first blueberry varieties were obtained from the Main Botanical Garden of the USSR Academy of Sciences in 1980: 45 bushes (Earlyblue - 10 years old, the rest - five years old) of 8 varieties (Blueray - 19, Dixie - 8, Rancocas - 1, Coville -7, Earlyblue - 1, Herbert - 5, Bluecrop - 3, Berkeley - 1. The bushes were planted in check No. 1 of the cranberry plantation. In 1981, the collection was replenished with another 130 bushes of four to five years of age (Blueray - 11, Dixie - 29, Coville - 26, Herbert -28, Scammel - 19, Bluecrop - 7, Rancocas - 5, Berkeley - 2, Atlantic - 1, and No. 13 - 2, which were also planted in check No. 1. In 1982, work began on propagating blueberries with lignified cuttings. By 1984, the entire check was planted with its own planting material. In 1986, all young bushes of the collection were transplanted to the field, and the old bushes obtained in 1980-81 were used to establish a mother plantation, which still exists. In the spring of May 1987, Kurlovich T.V. brought unrooted lignified cuttings of blueberry varieties from the GBS, planted in a greenhouse for rooting. In the fall of 1987, Kurlovich T.V. and Ruban N.N. brought rooted cuttings of blueberry varieties from the Latvian Botanical Garden (14 varieties, 6 pcs. each), which were planted in a greenhouse for overwintering. In the fall of 1987, Ruban N.N. brought cuttings of 5 lingonberry varieties from the Warsaw Agricultural Academy (Koralle - 40 pcs., Masovia - 9 pcs., Erntesegen - 5 pcs., Erntedank and Erntekrоne - 2 pcs. each. During the winter and spring of 1987-1988, the cuttings took root in the heated greenhouse of the Gancevica NEB, and then the varieties were propagated and planted in the collection area for introduction studies. In 1988 (13.06) the obtained and overwintered seedlings were used to plant a collection plot of blueberries behind the film greenhouses to the left of the road, which still exists. In 1988, the following were planted: Latvian seedlings of the varieties Atlantic - 6 bushes, Bluecrop - 5 bushes, Herbert - 5 bushes, Delight - 4 bushes, Weymouth - 3 bushes, Thiefblue - 4 bushes, Concord - 4 bushes, Coville - 3 bushes, Stanley - 4 bushes, Woodard - 3 bushes, Blueray - 3 bushes, Earlyblue - 3 bushes, Berkeley - 3 bushes and Rancocas - 3 bushes; seedlings from the GBS varieties Weymouth - 2 bushes, Berkeley - 2 bushes, Jersey - 2 bushes, Rubel - 1 bush, Pioneer - 5 bushes, Atlantic - 1 bush, Burlington - 1 bush, Concord - 6 bushes. In the same year (4.08.1988) seedlings of the varieties available in the old mother plantation were planted in the collection plot: Rancocas - 5 bushes, Blueray - 5 bushes, Coville - 5 bushes, Herbert - 5 bushes, Dixie - 5 bushes, Berkeley - 5 bushes, Earlyblue - 5 bushes, No. 13 - 5 bushes. In rows 9-11 (after highbush blueberry, 19 bushes of hybrid seedlings from pollination of blueberry with marsh pollen of the Bluray variety (Kurlovich, 1986) were planted). In May 1989, Kurlovich T.V. brought 4 bushes of V.myrtillus from the Main Garden and planted them in the collection plot, and Ruban N.N. brought cuttings of 32 new varieties of large-fruited cranberry from the Warsaw Agricultural Academy, which were planted for rooting in a greenhouse, and in the spring of 1990 they were transplanted to the collection plot. In August 1989, rows 13-23 were planted with seedlings of existing varieties of highbush blueberry, as well as rooted cuttings of medium-sized blueberry forms (brought by Ruban N.N. from the Warsaw Agricultural Academy, and (26.09) on the 23rd row of the collection plot after the top of the river received from Irkutsk, 2 bushes of Vaccinium hirtum were planted. In 1990, on the 23rd row, the following were planted, obtained from the Latvian Botanical Garden: V. arctostaphylos - 3 bushes, V. japonicum - 3 bushes, V. hirtum - 2 bushes, V. caesium - 3 bushes, V. fragile - 3 bushes, V. angustifolium var. laevifolium - 4 bushes. On the 24th row (from the road) the Bluedzhey variety is planted - 6 bushes (brought by Ruban N.N. from Poland), the Rubel (1 bush) and Jersey (1 bush) varieties received from the Latvian Botanical Garden. By the beginning of perestroika (1990) in the BSSR a number of plantations were put into operation in collective farms and forestry enterprises of the republic: the village of Dyatlovichi in the Luninets district, in the Berezovsky forestry enterprise in the Brest region, the Lelchitsy forestry enterprise in the Vitebsk region, etc. The establishment of cranberry plantations began in the RSFSR as well. But perestroika and the collapse of the USSR almost completely stopped the development of cranberry growing as a branch of agriculture. Nevertheless, the study of this crop, as well as research on the introduction of cranberries and other types of lingonberry crops: blueberries and lingonberries, continued. By that time, the lingonberry collection of the Gantsevichi Scientific and Economic Library included: 39 varieties of large-fruited cranberries, 24 varieties of highbush blueberries, and 5 varieties of lingonberries. Later, the employees of the laboratory of introduction of fruit and berry plants of the Central Botanical Garden conducted not only scientific research, but also searched for new varieties and replenished the collection, which served as the basis for selecting the most promising varieties, laying mother plants, and introducing lingonberry crops into production. In December 1996, N. N. Ruban brought rooted cuttings of 10 varieties of blueberries from Poland, planted in a greenhouse for overwintering. On March 11, 1997, these varieties were planted in the collection (rows 25-30): Bluetta - 10 pcs., Jersey - 9 pcs., Berkeley - 10 pcs., Bluecrop - 10 pcs., Earlyblue - 10 pcs., Northland - 10 pcs., Weymouth - 10 pcs., Dorrow - 10 pcs., Blueray - 10 pcs., Bluejay - 10 pcs., Herbert - 10 pcs. In the same year, the first production plantings of highbush blueberries began (Baranovichi forestry, Milovidy, as well as private farms: Stepanyuk M.L., Ruban N.N., Barysheva V.B.). In 1999, a new collection plot was laid out (for sorting) with varieties purchased in Germany: Hardyblue - 36 bushes, Nelson - 36 bushes, Coville - 36 bushes, Elizabeth - 37 bushes, Caroline Blue - 37 bushes, Blue Rose -37 bushes, Croton - 37 bushes, Darou 33 bushes, Duke, Jersey, Blueetta, Patriot, Bluecrop, Northblue, Northcountry. Kurlovich T.V.
