GENETICS AND PLANT BREEDING

PEACH

Objectives of peach breeding:

-        Increase in: fruit quality and weight, firmness, sugar content, acids, improving fruit color, shape, etc.

-        Increase in: fruit yield;

-      Improving the assortment ripening period, plant vigor and fruit aspect (appearance).

-       Resistance to frost, drought, pests and diseases;

     The national collection of peach contains 855 of autochthonous and worldwide genotypes and has the following structure: 62% peach, 33% nectarines and 5% clingstone and brugnones. Most of the accessions are standard but there are dwarf, semidwarf and compact accessions as well.

31 cultivars were obtained, modernized, diversified and they enlarged the existing assortment. These cultivars consist of:

8 peach cultivars: Raluca, Cecilia, Puiu, Craita, Filip, Florin, Monica, Vasilica.

4 clingstone cultivar, especially designed for processing: Catherine sel.1, Mimi, Iustin and Minodora.

10 nectarine cultivars: Cora, Delta, Romamer 2, Costin, Melania, Marina, Creola, Naica, Liviu, Liana.

2 brugnone cultivar (for industry): Valerica (semidwarf) and Anemona

7 ornamental peach and nectarine cultivars from which 4 are standard: Alizeu, Giuvaer, Purpuriu and Zefir and 3 dwarf: Paul, Dan and Livia.

Other hybrids and selections were registered for testing at the ISTIS Bucharest and are supposed to become new cultivars aiming at improving and enriching the present day cultivars.

RSFG Constanta is a maintainer for 41 cultivars:

 - 21 peach and clingstone cultivars: Springold, Springcrest, Cardinal, Jerseyland, Redhaven,Collins, Southland, NJC 108.

- 15 nectarine and brugnone cvs. and 7 ornamental peach and nectarine cvs.

Researcher:

Dr. GAVAT Corina, E-mail: corina_gavat@yahoo.com

APRICOT

 Objectives of apricot breeding:

        -   Resistance to frost, drought, pests & diseases;

        -   Increase in: fruit yield and its stability in time, self compatibility, conversion degree of vegetative buds and flower buds;

        -   Increase in: fruit quality, fruit color and weight, firmness, sugar content, acids, etc.

        -   Improving the assortment ripening period, plant vigor and fruit setting.

     Breeding results:

- New cultivars obtained: Fortuna, Auras, Cristal, Danubiu, Amiral, Orizont, Augustin, Ceres, Euxin, Histria,Traian, Tudor, Elmar and Ovidius.

- Cultivars promoted in the regional and national fruit assortment: Dacia, Sulmona, Goldrich, Umberto, Best Ungary, Mamaia, Neptun, Sirena, Selena, Harcot, CR 2-63, NJA 42, Litoral,

- Technologies: modernizing the technology to establish and exploit graft-branch mother plantation for peach and apricot.

Researchers:

Dr. OPRITA Vladut-Alexandru - E-mail: olaviani@yahoo.co.uk

ROOSTOCK BREEDING AND PROPAGATION

OBJECTIVES:

1) Obtaining new rootstocks with high-value biological characteristics:

a) Identifying and selecting valuable genotypes from wild and cultivated fruit tree flora;

b) Establishing and enriching the germplasm fund and its investigation to find the best genitors;

c) Creating new rootstocks by intra and inter-specific hybridization and self pollination;

d) Designing and studying the hybrids field;

e) Studying rootstock elites in competition crops in nursery and orchard, in combination with more than one cultivar.

2) Improving and rationalizing some technological sequences.

3) Propagation and circulating virus-free fruit tree nursery material.

4) Studying Romanian and worldwide valuable rootstock adaptability to local soil and climate conditions in order to properly zone them.

RESULTS:

Breeding of spricot and peach rootstocks

· Identifying and selecting from wild and cultivated fruit tree flora:

-50 peach genotypes

-70 wild apricot and apricot genotypes

-20 myrobolan genotypes

-5 almond-peach genotypes

· Establishing the germplasm fund – with 155 accessions

· Character genitors were selected

- Creating new rootstock genotypes: 2000 intra- and interspecific hybrids F1, C1, F2.

- 13 elites were registered for testing

- 8 rootstocks homologated, from which:

               - 5 generative rootstocks for peach:

- T16,  in 1982

                                    - Tomis 1,  in 1997

                                    - Tomis 79, in 1997

                                    - Tomis 28, in 2004

                                    - Tomis 39, in 2004

                        - 2 generative rootstocks for apricot:      

                                    - Constanţa 14, in 1997

                                    - Constanţa 16, in 1997

                        - 1 vegetative rootstock for apricot                                   

- Apricor, în 2006 (collaboration with RIFG Pitesti-Maracineni)

Trees propagation

- Homologated technological sequenences for:

               - optimizing the planting distance in field 1;

               - vegetative multiplication for Oblacinska cv.sour cherry by suckers

               - chemical defoliation of apricot and peach trees in nursery

               - extra-root fertilization in nursery for sour cherry.

- Homologated technologies to:

                        -  establish, maintain and exploit graft-branch mother plantations

                        -  establish, maintain and exploit seed mother plantations.

- Producing and supplying the nursery with fruit stones, young trees, graft-branches and trees from the selected genotypes.

Researcher:

Dr. CAPLAN Ion - Director, e-mail: caplan_john@yahoo.com