Influence of water conditions on the growth and development of Pennisetum L. species and cultivars in the South of the Amur region

The article presents the results of three years of research (2020–2022) on the effect of weather conditions on the growth and development of 4 species and 7 cultivars of the genus Pennisetum L. in the Amur Branch of the Botanical Garden-Institute of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Blagoveshchensk). The weather conditions during the years of observation differed among themselves in the temperature regime and the nature of the distribution of precipitation, favorable and unfavorable periods for the growth and development of the studied plants. As a result of the research, it was found that 7 cultivars of P. glaucum and 2 species (P. setauceum, P. villosum) have completely passed all phases of development. The Jade Princess cultivar was excluded from further study, since it formed an insignificant number of seeds that did not correspond to a small sample. The species P. alopecuroides and P. orientale were also excluded in 2021–2022, as they did not go through all the phases of development. It was noted that all cultivars of P. glaucum require high daytime (30°С) and nighttime (not less than 25°С) temperatures in summer and a uniform amount of precipitation throughout the growing season. Excess moisture increases the period of plant growth, which adversely affects their productivity and decorative effect. The amount of precipitation for the growing seasons of the three years of research varied and exceeded the norm of the long-term average data, the highest deviation of 322 mm was noted in 2020. The air temperature in September 2022 was significantly different from the indicators of 2020–2021, and amounted to 6.5°С against the norm of 12.5°С, which probably led to the early completion of the growing season in all the studied species. The highest plant heights throughout the entire study period were observed in P. glaucum cultivars Majestic Violet (121 cm) and Purple Candles (122 cm). All studied cultivars of P. glaucum are recommended to be grown only in private farms. A high degree of resistance to adverse conditions, decorativeness during flowering, the ability to form full-fledged seeds, in the species P. setauceum and P. villosum, reflect the degree of their plasticity, indicate the success of the introduction and the prospects for landscaping the region.

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