The cooperation of Hungarian professionals with Chinese, Thai, South-Korean, Taiwanese and Brazilian colleagues should deserve much more attention than actually done. We refer to the transfer and adaptation of production technologies as well as biotechnological developments in vegetables, fruits, ornamentals and medicinal plants from the Temperate Zone to the tropical and subtropical regions. According to our information Hungarian colleagues involved in extension work are highly esteemed on the same level as Japanese, Chilean, Italian and French colleagues. We could state that immigration of investors, local enterpreneurs as well as those coming from expansive regions of Europe, North America and oversses, representaives of supermakets keeps to be accelerated by the increasing confidence triggered also by the successful management of profitable plantations, vineyards and fruits initiated first about 15 years ago.

For Hungary, the presence and achievements of Hungarian horticultural expertise in tropical and subtropical zones yielded unequivocal advantages. Therefore, the next actual step of development would mean the organisation of a network of the "Units of Horticultural Mission" in the tropic and subtropic countries. We are convinced that those Units will stimulate the traffic of technologies as centers of transfer within and between the regions and contribute to the increasing influence of professionals on the production and trade of horticultural commodities. The introduction and testing of new varieties of vegetables, fruits, medicinal plants (as well as ornamentals), the development of the growing technologies, adaptation and acclimation of Temperate Zone germ plasm representing the general trends of advanced production will be the most important tasks of the Mission with a sufficient oversight upon the whole world. It is taken as a fact that Hungarian horticulture and breeding is competitive on the world market. We are ready to contribute to the development of horticulture on a worldwide scale. The Hungarian R & D will be attentive in the future to manage the accumulated capacities by information and mediating needs and offers to the volonteers of the profession. The reality of the above propositions are amply proved by successes of the Agroinvest Co and of other professionals registered in abroad.

To keep on the top of the world list of the profession we have to follow up the international trends by our permanent presence on the most important centers of administration and production of the world in order to hold on the hot line of the Hungarian administration competent in financing the R & D activities. We need specialists which are open minded, speak languages, familiar with the tricks of informatics, economics and politics, competent in deals, able to make decisions, etc. The education and training should be strenghtened to he conform with those trends. That proposal involves also the need to follow up the activities of the transnational companies, the regular, active participation on international conferences, the permanent attention paid to electronic informations available in the worldwide networks as well as the printed periodicals of horticulture. It is also related to the attraction of investors to the developments aimed within the country as well as abroad. At last but not at least we have to keep in mind that the work performed abroad by the Hungarian professional is a kind of "para-diplomatic mission" which cannot be substituted by any other, sometimes very expensive activity charged on the officia erliplomatic missions. The benefit of it is, however, valid to the whole country because false stereotypes developed during the last 50 years cannot be abolished otherwise.

Progenies (total of 1,114 seedlings) from crosses representing all possible genotypic combinations between 4 male-fertile and 1 male-sterile apricot parents were scored for the male sterility trait. Crosses between putative heterozygous normal cultivars yielded 25% of male-sterile seedlings, which supports a previous hypothesis that male sterility is controlled by a recessive allele of one nuclear locus. Crosses between those parents and putative homozygous normal cultivars did not produce any male-sterile tree. Finally, the proportion of male-sterile progeny in crosses between a male-sterile and two male-fertile cultivars depended on the genotype of the male parent. When it was heterozygous approximately 50% of the progeny was sterile, whereas when a homozygous fertile parent was used, no male-sterile progeny was obtained. These results confirm a previously proposed model, in which the male sterility trait in apricot is controlled by a single recessive gene.

Approaches based on the daily rhythm of apple flowers provide a new stage in nectar research, where the synchronous functioning of sexual organs is studied. In the flower biological studies the insect attraction of flowers was also studied. The two most important factors of insect attraction are the pollen- and nectar production of the flowers. From 1993 to 1998 we studied the food, that flower had to offer for the pollinating insects at different times of the day.

Studies were carried out on 'Idared', one of the hybrids of 'Jonathan' apple cultivar. The fruit of 'Idared' is bigger than the fruit of `Jonathan'. It is bright red, transportable, has a bigger productivity and is not subject to Jonathan-spots. Concerning its inner characteristics, it is juicy, the flesh consistency is better than that of 'Jonathan', but its acid/sugar ratio is worse (Sansavini et al. 1981).

Rooting ability of in vitro apple shoots of 'Red Fuji' grown on proliferation media with different hormone content were tested at three IBA levels in root induction media. Rooting percentage could be slightly increased with an increase in IBA concentration in proliferation media. The highest IBA concentration (3.0 mg 1^-1) in root induction media showed strong inhibitory effect on rooting capacity of in vitro shoots. The highest rooting percentage (95%) could be achieved by shoots grown on proliferation media containing TOP or BA+KIN as cytokinins before rooting.

Larger cuts made during the winter pruning of pome fruit orchards a number of serious problems: the wounds serve as entrances for several branch-infecting pathogens, the numerous water shoots formed around the cut edges consume assimilates, shade the developing fruits, make the canopy dense, reduce the effectiveness of the pest management and cause extra work during next seasons pruning work. These problems can be eliminated by using proper wound protectants, like Relaco, a new Romanian wound protectant to cover larger pruning cuts of apple, pear and quince trees.

The treaments by Relaco resulted in a significant decrease in both the number and total length of water shoots formed around the cut egdes.

Firmness tests were performed with peeled and entire fruits of Elstar and Jonagold apple cultivars for identification and comparison. The normal distribution of the tested population was acceptable (level: 95%). The green and the red sides did not show differences within the cultivar but they were different in firmness. There was not significant difference between the flesh tissue firmness values, however the firmness of the entire (not peeled) fruits was different. This result was caused by the effect of the peel. The variability of the firmness with Jonagold was caused by the peel, but such a result was not found with Elstar. The test of the peel effect would be interesting with different cultivars and a sequence according to the firmness can be estimated.

The degree of mechanically harvested fruit removal by shakers is determined by the displacement pattern, the frequency and the amplitude of shaker mechanism attached to the tree trunk. The displacement pattern is derived from the structural setup of the vibration mechanism, the frequency can easily be adjusted by the rev/min (rpm) of the rotating masses. More problems are arising in determining the dynamics of the tree-shaker system. Among others the amplitude of the attachment point and its components, the effective masses reduced to the attachment point.

Recent work gives some new insight into the tree-shaker dynamics including new calculation methods to determine the displacement components and the effective masses reduced to the attachment point. A fully new approach is given to include the vibrating soil mass into the total effective mass. The assumptions are supported and verified by laboratory and field measurements.

Fruit farming plays an important role within the Hungarian agriculture. The climatic conditions of the country make it possible to produce 20 temperate-zone fruit species, 14-15 of which are economically significant. The weight of the sector is high relative to the immobilised land, it is important in the field of employment and holding of rural population.

I examined the enterprise form, production size, revenues and profit of farms dealing with fruit production relying on the data of the agricultural test farm system of 1999. The proportion of croppers and entrepreneurs is significant among fruit producers. Their revenue realising ability is low, which depends on the production size too. But the polarisation of these farmers has started and a new level is being formed that is considerable from the viewpoint of value production.

The primer function of fruit and vegetable wholesale markets — which was the physical concentration of supply and demand previously — is changing gradually as consumer habits change and logistics functions (e.g. product manipulation, redistribution without the physical presence of the product) become more important with the technical development. Mainly individual growers sell their product to retailers at the Hungarian regional producers' markets and the Budapest Wholesale market on NagykOrosi Street, which is the largest wholesale market in Hungary regarding area, produce arrival and turnover. Parallel to the establishment of Producers' Organisations (P0) their market presence should be urged in selling their produce and also in ownership — and decision-making procedure — of the markets. The produce auction system and the on-line sales experiences of New Jersey State (USA) can contribute to the investigation of development possibilities and realization of development of Hungarian wholesale markets.

Two table grape varieties — Kósa and Narancsízű — were registered of the hybrids bred in the Research Institute for Viticulture and Enology in I lungary. Both varieties ripe early and are much in demand for the attractive clusters and flavours. As they are hybrids of Vitis vinifera they require similar growing conditions. In the same time with their qualification the two varieties are included in the variety list and allowed to be propagated.

The VirEl protein plays a key role in the transport of VirE2 protein from the bacterium to the plant cell during crown gall tumor induction by Agrobacterium. The virEl gene of A. tutnefaciens pTiA6 was cloned into the plant transformation vector pTd33 yielding pTd93virEl that was introduced into A. tuniefaciens EHA101 and used for tobacco transformation. The presence of the foreign DNA in the putative transgenic plants was confirmed by PCR analysis. Nine of the 41 transformed plants formed only small tumors following infection with the wild-type A. vitis octopine strain AB3. This property was inherited into the T1 generation. The expression of virEl gene in TI plants was demonstrated by Northern blot analysis.

Our general conclusion was that the thiamine amounts of 0,6 and 3,0 mg/1 added prior to wine fermentation, resulted in higher free-S0₂ level in comparison to the control. Furthermore, among the yeast strains examined in our experiments, Uvaferm BC strain produced the highest free-S0₂ content under the conditions mentioned before. As regards the dynamics of reductone and SO, production, the concentration of the previous one was practically identical in the middle and at the end of the fermentation while the SO₂ content — both free- and total — was lower at the end. Thiamine addition did not cause any difference in the organoleptic properties of wines as proved by sensory analysis.

Authors investigated the effect of fruit load on the composition of colour substances and of reservatrol in red wines of some grape varieties grown in Hungary. The content of both, anthocyanin compounds and reservatrol showed practically the same responses to fruit load and the same profile in all the varieties studied. Determination of these compounds solely is not sufficient to identify the respective grape variety.

In addition to successes achieved in certain varieties in resistance breeding based on a defense reaction of host plants involving hypersensitive tissue destruction, resistant varieties putting a very strong selection pressure on pathogens have selected more and more aggressive types of pathogens. The never-ending race between plant and pathogen resulting from this can only be controlled by a defense system characterised by a different strategy. In each of the plant species that we bred a defence system was found, which contrary to hypersensitive reaction strives to keep the tissues at all costs and is not pathogen specific. This is implied in the term general defense system.

With a view to further enhance the reputation of Hungarian spice pepper it was necessary to improve resistance to the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris pv.vesicatoria, the most dangerous pathogen of pepper varieties. From among the familiar resistance genes in Hungary only the gene Bs-2 could provide sufficient protection against the aggressiveness spectrum of the bacterium species X.c.pv. vesicatoria. The first results of the resistance breeding are the spice pepper varieties Kaldom and Kalorez. In addition to the Bs-2 gene attempts are also being made at building in a gds gene into pepper, a gene creating a general defense system, a different strategy towards Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria.

Milk thistle (Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn) has been used in medicine since ancient times, but it has been cultivated as a medicinal plant only in recent decades. The ripe fruit of milk thistle contains flavonoids, which are used to prepare anti-hepatotoxic drugs. The main purpose of this study was to substantiate the effects of irrigation and row spacing on growth, seed yield and the content of active substances (silybin and silymarin) in milk thistle. The results showed that the suitable amount of irrigation was 20 mm and the appropriate row spacing was 25 cm.

Two urban stress tolerant Tilia clones were selected by the Department of Floriculture and Dendrology. The mother trees of the Observed clones were found in an alley of linden trees, settled on a traffic island of a busy two-lane road.

Tilia hybrid 'Saint Stephen' has a beautiful cone-shaped crown, the leaves are bright green and they keep their green colour for much longer time than the leaves on the other trees in the alley. In the nursery the Tilia hybrid 'Saint Stephen' was budded on T. cordata, T. platyphyllos and T. argentea and it had good compatibility with every rootstock. The average height of the one year old buddings was 200 cm and the buddings kept their good growing capacity in the following years as well. They had an outstanding growing capability comparing with the other Tilia cultivars.

Tilia platyphyllos 'K3' clone has similar cone-shaped crown. The growing vigor and urban stress tolerance seems to be better than Tilia hybrid 'Saint Stephen'.

In vitro culture conditions were experimented for the relatively sensitive, but very esthaetic "Caribe" variety of carnation with uniformly dark violet flowers. Regeneration of new plants from shoot apex meristems can be significantly improved by the combined addition of very low amounts of indolebutiric acid, benzyladenine and gibberelic acid, dissolved in the Murashige-Skoog nutrient medium. Callus formation as a prerequisite for the induction of somaclonal variability can be achieved successfully with certain molar ratios between 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and benzyladenine. Acclimation of the obtained mericlones to the ex vitro conditions was also evaluated.

Hydroculture was established in the early 40's. This technology became wide-spread in 60's. Because of economic considerations it played little role in Hungarian ornamental plant growing. The forthcoming joining of the EEC as well as the strict enviroment protection regulations, this technology is likely to spread in our country and like in most of the West European countries, cut flowers will be grown in hydroculture. Closed systems match the most strict environmental regulations. Calla can be well adopted to this technology because of its origin and water demand.

We have studied three growing methods: PUR-agrofoam, container and soil-heated, of which soil-heated proved to be the best significantly.

The Buda Arboretum of the Szent István University is situated in the western-middle part of the city of Budapest. It contains 1640 taxa of woody plants on an area of 7.5 ha. The sheltered position and the urban micro- and meso-climate is favourable for warm-loving, even subtropical plants, of which many species not simply stay alive, but flower, bear fruits and are spreading by seedlings in suitable spots. These instances call our attention to the possibilities that urban climate offers for landscapers, but also to over 110 species, which can be garden escapes in the future. Full list of plants, which tend to escape in the Arboretum is given in the paper.