Scorzonera tau-saghyz Lipsch. et G.G. Bosse is an endemic rubber producing plant, growing in mountain regions in South Kazakhstan. The rubber content in plants and the quality of biopolymer has an important impact on industrial rubber production. The results of this study showed that the amount of rubber in S. tau-saghyz roots fluctuates between 7.74% and 38.75%. The amount of synthesized and deposited rubber biopolymer particles depends on various factors such as physiological age of plant, origin, temperature, moisture and environmental conditions. We optimized the extraction method of natural rubber by using n-hexane as a solvent for direct extraction. This method allows extracting the maximum amount of rubber from 3‒4-year-old plants. NMR results show structural links of natural isoprene rubber in the root extract sample. There is a clear relationship between methyl, methine and methylene protons which corresponds to isoprene rubber structure. The samples having strongly marked singlets that are inherent for rubber functional groups confirms the stereospecific structure of rubber. Good solubility of the root extract in deuterated chloroform can characterize the low molecular weight of the polymer. NMR characterization of rubber, extracted from S. tau-saghyz roots, is reported for the first time. Regeneration in vitro provides an important opportunity for endemic preservation by rapidly increasing the number of plants. The best regeneration of adventitious shoots was obtained on MS medium containing 5.5 μM kinetin and 0.5 μM NAA. The plants were successfully acclimatized in a glasshouse with 75% of S. tau-saghyz plantlets, respectively surviving after transfer to ex vitro conditions.

In this paper, the effect of an organic fertilizer, namely, “vermicompost tea” (VCT), on the germination of seeds of the rare wild species Scorzonera tau-saghyz Lipsch. et & G.G. Bosse was studied. S. tau-saghyz is an alternative rubber plant to Hevea brasiliensis, and it was widely distributed and grew well in the northwestern spur of the Tien Shan in the pre-war years (1931–1943). In recent decades, the number of wild species of S. tau-saghyz in natural populations has declined sharply due to climate change and the impact of anthropogenic factors. In this context, it has become necessary to restore the number of wild species. One of the critical phases in the restoration of surviving S. tau-saghyz populations and domestication is seed germination. The approaches that have been explored to increase seed germination, such as stratification and seed dressing with ethyl mercuric chloride, have not yielded good results. The current study covered 4 and 8 h short-term seed treatments with 1, 5 and 10% VCT. The priming of S. tau-saghyz seeds with 10% VCT was found to significantly increase germination from 39.0 (in the control) to 76.7% and to improve seedling vigor, mean germination time, and seedling weight. The combination of soaking the seeds in 10% VCT for 8 h and cultivating the seedlings in soil with 20% vermicompost further improved both germination and seedling growth. The vermicompost incorporation lengthened the main root, which normally accumulates rubber, and it increased its crude biomass by 1.6 times compared to that of the control.

Fusarium head blight, caused mainly by Fusarium graminearum is one of the most damaging diseases of wheat. Breeding durable disease resistance cultivars rely largely on continually introgression new resistance genes, especially the genes with different defense mechanisms, into adapted varieties. The main objective of this research was to evaluate three spring wheat cultivars grown in Kazakhstan and the mutant lines of spring wheat (M3 generations) developed on their genetic background by irradiation treatment (100 and 200 γ rays) for their resistance to Fusarium head blight disease and to use PCR-based DNA markers, such as SSRs markers to investigate genetic diversity in wheat germplasm. Significant differences in tolerance phenotype to Fusarium head blight were found among wheat cultivars and mutant lines. Comparing parent cv “Zhenis” M3 mutant lines, № 6(15), № 6(16) and 22(1) had the highest means of Fusarium resistance at 15-day after the inoculation. M3 mutant lines, №89(4) developed on base of cv. “Almaken” can be identified as FHB-tolerant. Three M3 mutant lines obtained on genetic background of cv. “Erithrospermum-35” №110(1), №129(3) and №150(5) had higher level of Fusarium tolerance then parent cultivar. A total of 21 SSRs loci were used to determine genetic diversity among M3 spring wheat lines and non-mutagenized plants

In recent years, due to the increasing anthropogenic load on the environment, research has inten-sified to identify local plants-phytoremediators of heavy metals. In the article have been considered the phytoremediation capacity of lawn grasses and sunflowers to adsorb heavy metals such as zinc, cadmium, lead, and copper from the soil on the territory of the Ulbi metallurgical complex in the city of Ust-Kamenogorsk. Currently, the search for plants that accumulate heavy metals is actively underway. Based on a review of literature data, among species with the ability to phytoremediation, sunflower plants (Heliantus annuus L.) and a grass mixture of different species belong to Poaceaefamily (Agropyron repens (L.) P. Beauv. (wheatgrass),Bromus inermis Leyss. (brome), Agrostis alba L.(bentgrass) and Dactylis glomerata L. (urchin) were used as research objects. The choice of objects of study is also justified by the fact that sunflower has a large vegetative mass and, accordingly, its ab-sorption and accumulation capacity for heavy metals is higher, and lawn grasses grow everywhere and their accumulation capacity, as the results of experiments have shown, is also large. The correlation between the degree of soil contamination with heavy metals and the intensity of their entry into plants was shown. Thus, the content of zinc in the soil can be reduced by 22.5%, cadmium by 31%, lead by 40.7%, copper by 29.4% due to adsorb capacity of phytoremediators. It has been established that the intensity of absorption of heavy metals is higher in corn plants compared with plants from the grass mixture. The experimental results may be useful for the development of technology for phytoremedia-tion of soils contaminated with heavy metals.

The in vitro culture response of anthers, originating from high yielding and resistance to lodging F1 soft wheat hybrid plants selected under drought conditions, was investigated. The spikes were collected when the microspores were at the mid-uninucleate stage and after 3 days at 40 C for cold pre-treatment, the anthers were cultured in N6 and Gamborg- Eveleg B5 (B5) solid medium. Progeny from 17 different F1 families were used and 9 of them responded to in vitro anther culture and 7 of them produced fertile green plants. Doubled haploid green plants were fertile and produced seeds. Induction of aploid development depends on genotype, stage of male gametophyte development, composition of nutrient media and conditions of cultivation. The effect of the composition of media and different genotypes on wheat anther culture was investigated. From the genotypes produced regenerants, the high yielding genotypes from local breeding collection of wheat produced more albino plants (35.2%) compared to high yielding genotypes from CYMMIT collection (24.92%) ones. Independent of culture medium composition a ratio of doubled haploid/haploid was 4.57:1 and a ratio of haploid/aneuploid was 18.5:1, in particular 81.28 % of green plants were doubled haploid, 17.76% were haploid and the rest (0.96%) were aneuploid