MORPHOLOGICAL AND REPRODUCTIVE FEATURES OF PHYSALIS spp. IN TEMPERATE CLIMATE

Physalis commonly known as the husk tomato is an important vegetable crop in the diets of many nations. Their fruits are used in the making of chilli sauce, jams, candied fruits, pickles and dressing for popular dishes. Fruits can be marinated and added to the cucumber, tomato, cabbage, apple, pear, plum for canning. Boiled fruit of Physalis is used to prepare fillings and decorations for cakes. The number of fruits set is variable. The lateral and sub-lateral branches produce more flower buds, but they do not produce harvestable fruits. The elimination of sub-lateral branches would be very important for restricting fruit set. The ‘Lakomka’ variety produces 53 commercial fruits, but only 22 of them reach biological maturity (41.5%). Such traits as “number of fruits per plant” and “average fruit weight" vary substantially Cv = 36.98% and Cv = 33.5%, respectively. At the same time, in the variety ‘Lakomka’ weight of matured fruits on plant (1.76kg) is 73.3% at the total fruit weight -2.4 kg. This is because of the weight of one ripened fruit on the plants that is greater than not ripened one. The same results we observed in the cultivars ‘L–Fioletovy’ and ‘Lejkiy’. Weight of ripened fruits on the plant is about 50% from the total weight in the varieties ‘Lacomka’ and ‘Korolyok’. The "number of fruits per plant” and “average fruit weight” were the most stable in varieties ‘Konditer’, ‘Lacomka 2’ and ‘Lejkiy’. Totally, 320-450 seeds are developed in the fruit, where productivity reaches to 7.4-15.5 g/plant, depending on the variety. Tomatillo is genetically highly variable. To become a viable commercial crop, it will be necessary to develop plants with uniform fruit size and to breed a determinant plant type suitable for mechanical harvesting with most of fruits maturing simultaneously on the plant.