ISHS Acta Horticulturae 800: X International Pear Symposium
PEAR GENETIC BREEDING TO IMPROVE THE ROMANIAN VARIETIES |
| Authors: | N. Branişte, N. Andrieş, V. Ghidra |
| Keywords: | Pyrus communis, breeding, cultivars |
| Abstract:
In Romania, pear culture ranks third place after plum and apple, in terms of fruit production, amounting to 10% of the annual total yield of fruits. With regard to the economic importance of this fruit, great efforts have been made, aiming at cultivar improvement both by introducing valuable foreign cultivars and also by breeding new cultivars as well. The first hybridizations were started in 1960 at the Fruit Research Station Voinesti (Dambovita) and were aimed at developing some high quality cultivars with increased resistance to scab, fire blight and pests. Therefore, the first interspecific crosses between cvs. of P. communis (namely: 'Josephine de Malines', 'Olivier de Serres', 'Doyenne d'Hiver' and 'Passe Crassane') and biotypes of Pyrus serotina (introduced in 1953 from Korea) were performed. Since then, the breeding work has been continued in other fruit research stations such as: Bistrita, Cluj and Pitesti. To reach our objectives, during the 1960–2005 period, controlled crosses were made as follows: about 600,000 flowers at Voinesti, 200,000 flowers at Cluj, 350,000 flowers at Pitesti, 100,000 flowers at Bistrita. During this period, following selection work, 24 new cvs. were registered, enriching the available assortment for propagation in the nursery and for establishing commercial orchards. This paper describes the objectives, research methods and achievements of the breeding programs in Romania. | |
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