Ecological Peculiarities and Chemical Composition of Vaccinium Vitis-Idaea L. in the Cis-Baikal Conditions

The paper considers ecological attributes of Vaccinium vitis-idaea L., an agriculturally important species, described on the basis of processing 90 geobotanical pictures by the scales of soil moistening, salinity and pH, and insolation in the Cis-Baikal region. The environmental performance index for Vaccinium vitis-idaea cenopopulations is found to be within the range from 29.2 to 56.8 %. In the Cis-Baikal conditions the species achieves its potential well under the scale of soil salinity (by 56.8 %) and pH (by 50.0 %) and, to lesser extent, under the scale of soil moistening (by 34.3 %) and that of insolation/shade (by 29.2 %). New data enlarge our understanding of ecological diversity of the species cenopopulations and can be used as justification for monitoring plant communities, determining potential species wealth of phytocoenoses and assessment of plant material for introduction. The findings obtained let us conclude that leaf-bearing cowberry shoots are rich in macro and micro nutrients, have a high content of essential food factors what widens the scope of this raw material use and makes it possible to recommend using Vaccinium vitis-idaea L. in the development of innovative preventive remedies and food products.