Pigment Composition of Juniper Needles During Introduction to the Nizhny Novgorod Volga Region. P. 28-43

Complete text of the article:

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UDС

635.92:632.937.31:582.477.2

DOI:

10.37482/0536-1036-2026-2-28-43

Abstract

The varietal specificity of representatives of the genus Juniper (Juniperus L.) in the pigment composition of needles during introduction to the Nizhny Novgorod Volga region was studied. The relevance of the work is due to the urgent need to create effective urban landscaping systems that ensure the stabilization of the environmental background in urbanized areas. The object of the study was reproductively mature plants of ornamental forms and varieties representing a number of species in the genus under consideration. The accounting plants are located at the experimental site with coordinates 56°14'30" N, 43°57'16". The subject of the study was the content and ratio of plastid pigments in the needles of the tested plants. The primary information was collected by a stationary field and laboratory method using an SF-2000 spectrophotometer with GRASS GIS 7.6.1 / QGIS 3.4 software. The absorption spectra of chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, and carotenoids were recorded at wavelengths of 665, 649, and 452.5 nm, respectively. The concentrations of these substances were calculated using the Wetstein and Holm equations for 96 % ethanol. A noticeable phenotypic heterogeneity of the compared forms and varieties in the pigment composition of the assimilation apparatus has been established. Thus, in terms of the total amount of photosensitive pigments, the results of the typical form of Cossack juniper (2.86±0.072 mg/g) significantly exceeded the corresponding parameter of the Mint Julep variety (2.30±0.078 mg/g). The phenotypic differences recorded in the experiment turned out to be significant for all the characteristics of the photosynthetic apparatus under consideration, as revealed by the analysis of variance: F exp = 8.14...47.78 (F05/01 = 1.98/2.60). The effect of intersort differences in the formation of phenotypic dispersion was determined in the range from 23.16±2.85 % (total amount of pigments) to 63.89±1.34 % (proportion of chlorophyll-a in the total pigment composition). Cluster analysis with the construction of dendrograms grouped the studied cultivars into 3 clusters of different sizes.

Authors

Natalia N. Besschetnova^1*, Doctor of Agriculture; ResearcherID: H-1343-2019,
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7140-8797
Vladimir P. Besschetnov¹, Doctor of Biology; ResearcherID: S-5889-2016,
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5024-7464
Nikolai A. Babich², Doctor of Agriculture; ResearcherID: G-7384-2019,
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7463-2519
Andrei S. Vilcov¹, Assistant; ResearcherID: NVM-7287-2025,
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-4586-1957

Affiliation

¹Nizhny Novgorod State Technological University, prosp. Gagarina, 97, Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation, 603107; besschetnova1966@mail.ru*, lesfak@bk.ru, and.vilckow@yandex.ru
²Northern (Arctic) Federal University named after M.V. Lomonosov, Naberezhnaya Severnoy Dviny, 17, Arkhangelsk, Russian Federation, 163002; forest@narfu.ru

Keywords

juniper, Juniperus L., needles, pigment composition, chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b, carotenoids, analysis of variance, cluster analysis

For citation

Besschetnova N.N., Besschetnov V.P., Babich N.A., Vilkov A.S. Pigment Composition of Juniper Needles During Introduction to the Nizhny Novgorod Volga Region. Lesnoy Zhurnal = Russian Forestry Journal, 2026, no. 2, pp. 28–43. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.37482/0536-1036-2026-2-28-43

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