With the support of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a pilot project is being implemented in Kazakhstan to create a system of nursery production of virus-free apple planting material. The project is designed for 2024-2026 and is aimed at reducing dependence on imports. Scientists have conducted a survey of apple varieties and rootstocks for viral diseases and obtained virus-free plants of domestic rootstocks "Zhetysu 5", "ARM-18", "B-16-20", "B-7-35", as well as varieties "Aynur", "Sultanat" and "Voskhod". 7,900 plants of 12 apple rootstocks and 2,200 plants of 20 foreign breeding varieties in demand on the world market were imported from the Netherlands.
The first virus-free mother nursery in the country with an area of 0.5 ha was laid on the basis of the Talgar branch of the Kazakh Research Institute of Fruit and Vegetable Production. Preparation of seedlings is underway for laying a mother garden on an area of 1.5 ha. In the future, the Institute plans to provide gardeners with certified virus-free planting material of rootstocks "M9", "M7", "V9", "MM106", "M111" and varieties "Granny Smith", "Gala", "Fuji", "Jonagold" and others.