Ecological aspects of regional fruit production development in the Samara Region

Fruits and berries previously perceived as a pleasant addition to the main human meal are considered today as a leading component of a healthy diet, a source of various vitamins, minerals, biologically active secondary plant metabolites, which are components of functional food products. Until now, the per capita consumption of fresh fruits by the population of our country remains insufficient, the predominance of imported fruits in the diet has not stopped. In the Samara Region private gardens rather than industrial orchards (for which the unambiguous predominance of the apple tree is inherent) remain the main producers of fruits (cherries, plums, apricots, etc.) and raspberries. Further development of regional fruit growing in the Samara Region has undoubted prospects. In the presence of weather features that negatively affect the development of fruit crops, the climate of the region is characterized by a sufficient level of heat supply, localities suitable for fruit crops cultivation are presented in its soil cover, and their assortment recommended for the Middle Volga region is quite diverse and continues to expand. The authors of the paper using materials from foreign scientific publications demonstrated examples of the analysis of processes used in modern literature that combines ecological and economic approaches in relation to agroecosystems activities (ecological footprint EF, carbon footprint CF and water footprint WF). The use of approaches to assessing the water and carbon footprint of agroecosystems, which have not yet become widespread among specialists in our country, opens up prospects for analyzing the existing conditions and developing a strategy for ecological and economic extension of regional fruit growing.