Species of the genus Lathyrus L. are known as forage and medicinal plants, widely used in traditional medicine and homeopathy. The content of protein, essential amino acids and carotene in their green biomass is higher than in other annual leguminous plants traditionally cultivated in Russia. Until now, the requirements for the crop's quality were reduced to a high content of protein and dry matter in seeds and herbage. In-depth biochemical analysis of accessions from the collection of plant genetic resources will significantly improve selection of source materials for breeding. Such tasks can be solved using gas chromatography with mass spectrometry in plant diversity studies. In view of the above, our goal was to analyze organic acids, free amino acids and secondary metabolites in green biomass of Lathyrus to facilitate comprehensive assessment of its forage and pharmacological value. We analyzed 32 accessions of Lathyrus sativus L., L. tuberosus L., L. sylvestris L., L. vernus (L.) Bernh., L. latifolius L. and L. linifolius (Reichard) Bassler from the collection of the Vavilov Institute (VIR). The studied Lathyrus accessions had significant interspecific and intraspecific variability both in the composition (presence) and number of the identified compounds. The analysis of plants across different years confirmed that biochemical parameters depended on weather conditions. The colder and drier conditions of 2012 contributed to the accumulation of organic acids (mean: 890 mg/100 g), free amino acids (mean: 201.59 mg/100 g), and secondary metabolites (mean: 84.14 mg/100 g). The range of variability for organic acids ranged from 140 to 2140, for free amino acids from 11.8 to 610, and for secondary metabolites from 4.4 to 224.6 mg/100 g. Grass pea accessions with high organic acid, free amino acid and secondary metabolite contents were identified: k-900 (Colombia) for organic acids (2140, 610 and 178 mg/100 g); k-51 (Georgia) and k-959 (Afghanistan) for free amino acids (401.29 and 540.63 mg/100 g); k-893 (Eritrea) for secondary metabolites (199.39 mg/100 g), etc. They can serve as source material for the development of cultivars for different uses (forage and medicinal).

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UDC 546.682.54~131In recent years, indium oxide is finding practical applications [1-3]o Under reducing conditions, the chemical composition of indium oxide is subjected to changes (with respect to the oxygen content) [4,5]. Defect formation occurs in its lattice. In poly~ crystalline indium oxide specimens, a deviation from the stoichiometric composition affects their structural and electrophysical properties [6,7]. The available publications on the structural and electrophysical properties of polycrystalline indium oxide do not delineate the reasons for the phase transformations in its structure.This paper deals with a study* of the structural and electrophysical properties of polycrystalline indium oxide specimens during the process of heating in air in the 25-1600~ range and in vacuum in the 25-I000~ range.Specimens weighing 1.8-2.0 g and measuring 5 • 5 x 20 mm were made from "ultrapure" indium oxide using the hot pressing method. The optimum pressure regimes were selected according to the published data [8]~The specimens were studied under CUKa-radiation using a DRON-0,5 diffractometer. Indium oxide specimens were studied using the high-temperature x-ray diffraction method in the 25-IIO0~ range in air and in vacuum. The heating rate was 10~ and the duration of holding the specimens at a fixed temperature was 20 min. The lattice parameters of the cubic phases of indium oxide were determined (error • nm) from a plot of the profiles of the (400) and (622) lines. The lattice parameters of monoc!inic and hexagonal modifications of indium oxide were determined with an error of • nm,When heating the specimens in air, measurement of the electrical resistivity was simultaneously carried out using a special attachment to the diffractometer; the measurement was based on the change in the voltage when adc current of 10-15 mA is passed through the specimens. For this purpose, holes were drilled in the end faces of the prismatic specimens for *The author is grateful to Yu. A. Mal'tsev and V. L. Markov for the help rendered in carrying out the experiments.

Nutrition is a source of energy, and building material for the human organism. The quality of food has an effect on the quality of individual life. Minerals and vitamins participate in various catalytic and regulatory functions of the main metabolic processes: absorption, transport, redox and biosynthesis of organic compounds, genetic information transfer, etc. Regular consumption of dietary fibers like β-glucans and oat-specific phenolics, antioxidants, and avenanthramides, stimulate innate and acquired immunity, prevent cancer, obesity, reduce glucose, total cholesterol and triglyceride blood levels and regulate the expression of cholesterol-related genes. Thus, all those compounds are vitally important for the normal functional status of the human body. A deficiency in one or another essential nutrient causes disruptions in human metabolism, thus leading to serious illnesses. Plants are the main source of essential nutrients that are bioavailable for humans. One of the most popular groups of staple crops are the small grains crops (SGC), so these crops are most often used for biofortification purposes. Exploiting the potential of plant resources, biofortification is a long-term strategy, aimed at increasing the number of essential micro- and macronutrients in major food sources and ensuring their bioavailability. The most productive way to implement such strategy is the active use of the possibilities offered by collections of plant genetic resources, including SGC, concentrated in various countries of the world. The collections of plant resources contain both cultivated plants and their wild relatives that possess the required composition of micro- and macronutrients. A complex scientific approach to studying plant germplasm collections, together with agricultural practices (soil enrichment with fertilizers with a required composition), genetic biofortification (traditional breeding, marker-assisted selection or genetic engineering tactics), and their combinations will lead to the development of new biofortified cultivars and improvement of old ones, which can be used to solve the problems of unbalanced nutrition (malnutrition or hidden hunger) in different regions of the world.

A b s t r a c tPeculiarity of chemical composition of Brassica rapa L. crops (high water content and low content of fats) determine their low-calorie character. They are notable for relatively high content of carbohydrates and proteins, including all essential amino acids. Biochemical composition varies greatly among B. rapa members. We are the first to carry out a multifactor evaluation of valuable morphological and biochemical traits of B. rapa accessions from the core collection of Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR, 96 samples) in eco-geographical study (South China and Leningrad region of Russia) under field trials and under a greenhouse conditions. By means of the developed SSR (simple sequence repeats) markers which are in linked disequilibrium with QTL of morphological and biochemical traits, the molecular genetic analysis was firstly carried out in leafy, rooted, and oilseed B. rapa genotypes from the VIR core collection. As a result, new genetic sources for quality parameters have been found among the samples investigated. In average, the samples did not differ noticeably on plant morphology (leaf length, leaf width, petiole size, hairiness, colour) in field tests when growing in South China and in Leningrad region, whereas in a greenhouse at higher plant density the leaf size decreased, e.g. in Chinese cabbage, pak-choi, wutacai, and turnip the leaves were 5-12 cm longer and wider in the field tests. Under field trials, we revealed the significant and high significant correlations between dry matter (DM) and ascorbic acid (AA) level (r = 0.51, p < 0.05), DM and chlorophyll a (Chla) content (r = 0.59, p < 0.05), DM and carotenoids (Cd) (r = 0.55, p < 0.05), DM and carotins (Cn) (r = 0.67, p < 0.05), DM and -carotene (-C) (r = 0.59, p < 0.05), DM and protein (P) level (r = 0.49, p < 0.05); Chla and Chlb (r = 0.93, p < 0.001), Chla and Cd (r = 0.59, p < 0.05), Chla and Cn (r = 0.49, p < 0.05), Chla and -C (r = 0.99, p < 0.001); Chlb and -C (r = 0.92, p < 0.001); Cd and Cn (r = 0.49, p < 0.05), Cd and -C (r = 0.63, p < 0.05); Cn and -C (r = 0.49, p < 0.05). In the greenhouse, the significant and high significant r values were as follows: r = 0.59 (p < 0.05) for DM and AA, r = 0.58 (p < 0.05) for DM and Chlb, r = 0.53 (p < 0.05) for DM and Cd, r = 0.71 (p < 0.001) for DM and Cn; r = 0.59 (p < 0.05) for AA and Chlb, r = 0.83 (p < 0.001) for AA and Cd, r = 0.58 (p < 0.05) for AA and P; r = 0.74 (p < 0.001) for Chla and Chlb, r = 0.67 (p < 0.05) for Chla and Cn, r = 0.95 (p < 0.001) Chla and -C; r = 0.48 (p < 0.05) for Chlb and Cd, r = 0.87 (p < 0.001) for Chlb and Cn, r = 0.64 (p < 0.05) for Chlb and -C; r = 0.63 (p < 0.05) for Cn and -C. The semi-headed Chinese cabbage Syaobaikou and Dunganskaya, pak-choi Mayskaya, and especially Ching Pang Yu Tsain with a distinctly high level of chlorophylls and carotene, are indicated as new promising genetic sources for valuable biochemical parameters under both field and greenhouse conditions. Their indices in the field trials and greenhous...

The article presents the results of studying the biochemical composition of the large worldwide vegetable crops collection of the Brassicaceae family, stored at the All-Russian N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Genetic Resources (VIR), St. Petersburg, Russia, consisting of 7303 accessions of different status (approximately 50% unique accessions) from 98 countries. Studied vegetable brassicas collection includes 1 representatives of all botanical varieties, agro-ecological groups and cultivar types of the species Brassica oleracea L. and related wild Mediterranean species, leafy and root vegetable crops B. rapa L., leafy and root vegetable accessions of Indian mustard B. juncea Czern. subsp. integrifolia (H. West) Tell. and subsp. foliosa L. H. Bailey, radish and small radish Raphanus sativus L., garden cress Lepidium sativum L., salad rocket Eruca sativa L.The application of complex analysis for the study of nutrient and biologically active compounds of economically important crops from six species of Brassicaceae family, which determine the quality of vegetables and feeds, also the search within each crop for sources of valuable biochemical traits for breeding use has been presented. The broadest variability of all studied traits between and within crops was revealed, the limits of natural variability were determined.The average values of the studied traits in six species within the family varied to varying degrees: they were similar in the studied species in terms of dry matter content %, protein, total acidity; differed between species to a moderate degree in terms of the content of ascorbic acid, carotene, and the amount of volatile phenolic compounds. The species differed to a very high degree from each other in terms of the average content of sugars (total, monosaccharides, etc.), carotenoids, β-carotene, chlorophylls a and b, anthocyanins, free amino acids, and free fatty acids. Studied crops, belongs toBrassica oleracea, has the highest total sugar content among the all studied crops. B. rapa leafy crops has the highest content of phenolic compounds; B. juncea -β-carotene and chlorophylls; Raphanus sativus -carotenes and anthocyanins; Lepidium sativum -the highest content of protein, total acidity, free amino acids; Eruca sativa -carotenoids and free fatty acids. 2 The maximum dry matter content was detected in the forage turnip B. rapa and Brussels sprout (B. oleracea), protein in leafy B. rapa crops and cauliflower (B. oleracea), total sugars and ascorbic acid in head cabbage (B. oleracea), carotenoids in L. sativum and E. sativa, carotenes, including β-carotene, chlorophylls, phenolic compounds, free fatty acids in B. rapa, anthocyanins in R. sativus, free amino acids in B. rapa and R. sativus.Among the studied variety types of each crop, sources of nutrients and biologically active substances were identified, including types with an optimal biochemical compounds composition for a balanced the human nutrition, which are proposed to be useful in breeding of the new cultivars for healthy diet and medical a...

Small radish and radish are economically important root crops that represent an integral part of a healthy human diet. The world collection of Raphanus L. root crops, maintained in the VIR genebank, includes 2810 accessions from 75 countries around the world, of which 2800 (1600 small radish, 1200 radish) belong to R. sativus species, three to R. raphanistrum, three to R. landra, and four to R. caudatus. It is necessary to systematically investigate the historical and modern gene pool of root-bearing plants of R. sativus and provide new material for breeding. The material for our research was a set of small radish and radish accessions of various ecological groups and different geographical origin, fully covering the diversity of the species. The small radish subset included 149 accessions from 37 countries, belonging to 13 types of seven varieties of European and Chinese subspecies. The radish subset included 129 accessions from 21 countries, belonging to 18 types of 11 varieties of European, Chinese, and Japanese subspecies. As a result of the evaluation of R. sativus accessions according to phenological, morphological, and biochemical analyses, a wide variation of these characteristics was revealed, which is due to the large genetic diversity of small radish and radish of various ecological and geographical origins. The investigation of the degree of variation regarding phenotypic and biochemical traits revealed adaptive stable and highly variable characteristics of R. sativus accessions. Such insights are crucial for the establishment and further use of trait collections. Trait collections facilitate germplasm use and contribute significantly to the preservation of genetic diversity of the gene pool.

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