ONTOGENIC CHANGES IN THE BALANCE OF CYTOK ININS AND ESTER OIL CONTENTIN ONTOGENY OF THE MINT

The introduced HB-74 strain of the mint was shown to have a high adapt ation potential in the middle zone of Russia. The yield of ester oil i n this variety was twice-thrice that in the Krasnodarskaya 2 variety. Qualitative differences of cytokinins have been shown in the leaves of the studied varieties: zeatin, zeatin-riboside and isopentenyladenosi ne in HB-74 vs. isopentenyladenine, isopentenyladenosine and zeatin-ri boside in Krasnodarskaya 2. The highest level of cytokinins in the lea f was noted in the both varieties at the phase of flowering onset and the lowest one before leaf fall at the phase of defloration. Similar q uantitative changes were also characteristic for the ester oil yield d uring ontogenesis. We propose that direct correlation between the leve l of endogenous cytokinins and the ester oil content is related to a h igh attracting potential of cytokinins affecting the input of the este r oil components into the leaf and generative organs.