Sverdlovsk schoolchildren created "ogurtyk" and "tomatofel."

      Students of school No. 137 in the village of Shabrovsky in Yekaterinburg have grown unusual plants - "ogurtyk" and "tomatofel" - as part of an agronomic experiment on grafting vegetable crops. This was reported by Svetlana Bashkirtseva, a biology and chemistry teacher and head of the "Growth Point" center, to RIA Novosti.

      The first experiment involved grafting a cucumber onto the root system of a pumpkin. The students grew seedlings in advance, and after the third leaf appeared, they performed the grafting. As a result, they managed to obtain six viable plants, which were planted in a greenhouse. The "ogurtyks" grew faster than regular cucumbers and appeared sturdier due to the strong roots of the pumpkin. The harvest turned out to be good, but the taste of the fruits was less intense, which the participants of the experiment noted as a drawback.

      Later, the students conducted a new experiment - grafting a tomato onto a potato, resulting in "tomatofel." This experiment was less successful: only one plant survived, yielding a small harvest - tiny tomatoes grew above ground, while small tubers formed underground.

      According to Bashkirtseva, such plants cannot be considered hybrids, as they are not obtained through crossbreeding but through grafting. The seeds of "ogurtyk," for example, will produce regular cucumbers. Despite the fact that the participants of the experiments have already graduated from school, their work remains an exemplary example of an enthusiastic scientific approach.