«Minor crops include non-traditional, little-known, rare and alternative fruit plants that are either not yet included in the State Register or have only recently been added and are not yet widely cultivated. Interest in these crops is driven by their valuable chemical composition and high content of biologically active compounds. The institute maintains an extensive collection of such crops, including actinidia, black chokeberry, barberry, hawthorn, black elder, blackberry, blue honeysuckle, serviceberry, guelder rose, cornelian cherry, Chinese magnolia vine, sea buckthorn, golden currant, cultivated rowan, Japanese quince, bird cherry, mulberry, rosehip and grapes,» Alexander Taranov said.

According to him, varieties of ten new crops have been added to the list of recommended cultivars for commercial production. These include arguta kiwiberry (actinidia arguta), super-hardy kiwi (Actinidia kolomikta), rosehip and black chokeberry. The State Register has also been expanded to include new varieties of blue honeysuckle and sea buckthorn. In 2025, the Belarusian grape variety Muskat Minsky was submitted for state variety testing, while in 2026 the domestic grape variety Loret was added to the State Register.

«Some crops were considered minor until recently. Today, for example, blueberry plantations cover around 2,000 hectares, making blueberries one of our traditional crops. Sea buckthorn plantations currently occupy about 100 hectares, while blue honeysuckle is grown on approximately 50 hectares,» he noted.