The research results on heat and drought resistance of the local grapevine cultivars of Crimea during 2023–2024 are presented. The criteria for assessing the cultivar resistance included plant water balance (determined by measuring the water potential of leaves and their water-holding capacity); growth processes (determined by measuring shoot length and leaf area); and yield (determined by the weight of the harvest per vine). An assessment of yield depression due to stress is provided. It has been reliably established that plant water status influences the growth, development, and formation of the grape harvest. The data obtained as a result of the research allowed us to identify the following varieties that are the most resistant to heat and drought: ‘Asma’, ‘Tergulmek’, ‘Alburla’ and ‘Kok Pandas’.

The drought resistance of 16 hybrid forms of Chaenomeles was determined. The average field score ranged from 3.8 to 5 points, the total water content in the leaves was within 53.2–64 % and the water deficit was 7.6–25 %. An assessment of the water-holding capacity revealed that by the end of the first hour of forced dehydration, the leaves of the studied samples lost on average 14–27.6 % of water, and after 3 hours, losses amounted to 31.4–53.7 %, reaching sub-lethal values in some of them. The proportion of leaves that restored turgor varied widely: from 21.2 to 93.3 %. In 7 hybrids, 62.5–79.2 % of leaf tissue was restored. The best indicators of the whole complex of drought resistance parameters were shown by the hybrids НП5-16/3, НП5-13/4, НП5-5/1, НП5-3/1, recommended for further testing.

The indicators of pollutant emissions from the operating burning rock dump of the A.F. Zasyadko mine (Donetsk, Donetsk People’s Republic) have been determined and their dispersion in atmospheric air within the sanitary protection zone has been modeled. At a distance of 100 to 1000 m from the dump, the maximum permissible concentration for sulfur dioxide exceeded 2.8 times, carbon monoxide 2.8 times, and that of hydrogen sulfide 2.5 to 3.5 times. For nitrogen oxides, there was no excess of the maximum permissible concentration within the sanitary protection zone up to 1000 m. A positive correlation between the concentration of pollutant emissions in the atmosphere and the distance from the rock dump was revealed, which is caused by the processes of turbulent diffusion, which ensures the transport of pollutants.

The article discusses the stages of work on the formation of a phyto-purification system of mine wastewater at a mining enterprise: from the selection of species to the period of their use in the phyto-purification process. The phyto-purification system was created in the form of a system of artificially floating islands on a settling pond and a pilot phyto-purification system in the form of lagoons. The results of studies of the phytoremediation ability of coastal aquatic plants in relation to wastewater from a mining enterprise are presented. Special attention is paid to the peculiarities of clonal micropropagation of phytoremediant plants.

Climate change is accelerating the growing season beginning for horticultural plants in Donbass. This increases the risk and damage from returnable spring frosts. Frosts were observed in 2024 in Donetsk Botanical Garden until the end of the first ten days of May, causing widespread damage to horticultural crops. Quince, dogwood and peach varieties selected at the Donetsk Botanical Garden suffered less significant damage or those comparable to other collection varieties. When establishing commercial fruit crop plantings in the region, it is necessary to consider such risks and select a terrain location conducive to the preservation of orchard plantings, establish protective forest belts from hazardous directions and create frost-resistant infrastructure.

Essential oils of plants of the genus Citrus L. (Rutaceae) possess significant nutritional and pharmacological potential, making it important to study their component composition. GC-MS was used for the first time to study essential oils from the leaves and peel of Ponderosa lemon (Citrus × pyriformis Hassk.), cultivated indoors at the Donetsk Botanical Garden. It was found that the oil yield from the leaves (0.20 %) was 1.5 times lower than that from the peel (0.30 %). The component composition of the oils differed significantly: citral predominated in petitgrain oil from the leaves (66.94 %), while D-limonene was the main component in the peel oil (63.65 %). The obtained data were compared with literature sources and demonstrate the influence of cultivation conditions on terpenoid biosynthesis.

The results of research on stimulation of barberry cuttings (Berberis thunbergii DC) using vacuum infiltration technology for their forced saturation with water are presented. When soaking cuttings in a vacuum infiltrator in a rarefied medium (0.2 atmosphere), an increase in their weight by 7.1 % was recorded compared to the control (soaking in distilled water at atmospheric pressure) and twice as intense formation of axillary leaves. The nitrogen content of the treated and untreated cuttings was not significantly different. In the variant with vacuum infiltration, a statistically significant decrease in the content of phosphorus and potassium in the plant material and an increase in the content of disaccharides were noted, which indicates the intensification of biochemical processes.

For the first time, 5 alien plant species were discovered in the territory of Donbass: Allium denudatum Redoute, Melissa officinalis L., Reynoutria × bohemica Chrtek & Chrtkova, Spiraea japonica L., Symphyotrichum × salignum (Willd.) G.L. Nesom. New localities have been identified for 10 sparsely distributed alien species: Abutilon theophrastii Medik., Celtis caucasica Willd., Consolida orientalis (J. Gay ex Gren. & Godr.) Schroedinger, Echinocystis lobata (Michx.) Torr. & A. Gray, Elodea canadensis Michx., Impatiens parviflora DС., Phytolacca americana L., Sisymbrium irio L., Solanum zelenetzkii Pojark., Symphoricarpos albus (L.) S.F. Blake. According to the degree of naturalization, 2 species are ephemerophytes, 2 are colonophytes, 6 are epecophytes, and 5 are agriophytes. The greatest danger to natural ecotopes is Elodea canadensis.

In the autumn of 2025, the dangerous alien invasive fungus Cryptostroma corticale (Ellis & Everh.) P.H. Greg. & S. Waller (Ascomycota: Pezizomycotina), the causal agent of sooty bark disease of maples, was recorded in artificial plantings in Donbass (Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics). Abundant sporulation of the fungus was observed beneath the bark of Acer platanoides and A. pseudoplatanus. All infested trees died during the current year, despite having successfully produced foliage and fruits during the spring-summer period. The characteristic bark peeling of trunks and branches, typically associated with the disease, was not observed. In the detected foci, the incidence of the disease reached 15 % in Donetsk and up to 30 % in Lugansk. The article provides descriptions of disease symptoms as well as brief morphological and ecological-biological characteristics of the pathogen.

In the south of the European Russia, the leafhopper Metcalfa pruinosa (Say, 1830) (Hemiptera: Flatidae) has been registered to undergo larval development on 467 vascular plant species, representing 92 families across 4 plant divisions. In the Donbas region 295 species from 74 families have been recorded as host plants for the leafhopper, in Krasnodar Krai – 222 species from 63 families, in Crimea and Sevastopol – 73 species from 34 families, in the Kherson region – 30 species from 16 families. The most preferred and frequently infested species in most of the surveyed regions include Juglans regia L., Morus alba L., Celtis orientalis L., Prunus cerasus L., Laburnum anagyroides Medik., Robinia pseudoacacia L., Acer negundo L., Cornus mas L., Catalpa bignonioides Walt., Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall, Syringa vulgaris L., and several species of the genus Ulmus L.