Greeting of Sándor Balázs, Member of the Hungarian Academy of Science on the occasion of his 80^th birthday

Nowdays it is generally expressed opinion of the leading scientific circles that the purposefully planned biotechnological actions of the 21st century will be indispensable of realizing the sustainable technical development in the supplementation of the increasing population, especially those who suffer privation, thus the long-distance interests of mankind will be met without impairing the world's ecological integrity. In 1989 Robert Bud gave account of the fact that the father of the term "biotechnology" was the Hungarian agricultural engineer, Karl Ereky. Recently, we have explored and found some important biographical sources and scientific documents which had been published by Károly (Karl) Ereky, the which, however, have already been forgotten. This article expands on that more contextual treatment to explore the man and his doctrine. It draws upon Hungarian and private sources as well as on German publications.

Based on the experiments, an assessment was made to determine for green pepper the amount of nutrients extracted by unit weight of fruit and plant parts not meant to be consumed (foliage, stem, root), i.e. the specific nutrient requirements of pepper. A further objective was to find out to what extent nutrient accumulation in individual plant organs was influenced by differences in production technology and soil conditions.

Pepper, despite being among the vegetables consumed in largest quantities, does not play an important role as a nitrate source due to the low nitrate accumulation capacity of the cultivars grown in Hungary. Iii the classification of the average nitrate levels or that of the detected hazardous levels it can be sorted into the very 'favorable' class not exceeding 200 and 500 mg/kg respectively. The different elements of the production technology, this way the N supply, do not influence significantly the amount of nitrate accumulated within pepper fruits.

To reserve the fertility of soil is the basic condition of successful cultivation. The field specific nutrient supply, based on soil tests is very important in both economy and ecology aspects. Spice pepper plants have high nutrient demands. Proper nutrient supply has importance not only from the point of potential yield levels, but make a major contribution to quality. This is the reason which necessitates the rational development of nutrient supply as an the elements of the production technology. Our objective was to offer a contribution to this job through our nutrient trials. Experiments on the nutrient supply of spice pepper were set up in the 2005 growing season in order to decide whether yields and fruit composition parameters of pepper could be increased by means of increased K fertiliser closes with lower N:K ratios. Several forms of potassium were used, as well as applying microelement top dressings in the single treatments. It was found that higher K doses lead to increased yields, and the influence on dry matter and pigment content proved beneficial too. Potassium applied in the form of patentkali seemed to be better than in that of potassium-sulphate.

Peat is the most favourable and usable medium in vegetable and ornamental plant forcing but because of the intensive exploitation peat resources decreased significantly all around the world. As peat-reserves run out the use of pine bark, composts and other organic materials spread in horticultural growing. In this study we compared the suitability of peat-based media to pine bark and two types of composts. We examined the effect of different organic materials on the growth and yield of green pepper (Capsicum annum L., variety Danubia). We found that the most developed plants were grown in peat-based media and pine bark. The average fruit weight was the highest in low moor-high moor peat mixture and pine bark. The plants which were grown in composts fell short of our expectations.

Carrot production in Hungary is getting more important these days. The condition of the quality insurance is to choose the proper variety of carrot and store on optimal conditions therefore measuring firmness and matter parameters are very important. Four varieties of carrots were measured (Bangor, Olympus, Napa and I3olero). The roots were stored in unsealed polyethylene bags at 4-10 degrees Celsius and 95% relative humidity. The vegetables were measured three times: at harvest, after I .5 months of storage and after four months of storage. The samples were tested by non-destructive acoustic. Stillness measuring method during the 112 days experiment for firmness. In laboratory were measured weight loss, dry material -NO3 and sugar content as an important matter parameters.

The firmness change as a function of storage time are the following: First part of the storage (after 60 days), the Napa variety changed least in the case of acoustical parameter, at the same time its weight Foss and dry material content were not rise significantly, while its sugar content increased with 50%. The l3olero variety had the highest changes of sugar content during storage. During the second storage period, the softening speed of all samples was increased. The Bolero had the highest average mass loss (32,7%) and NO₃ content changes as well. All measurements showed the largest changes for the Bolero variety. The highest percentage of dry material content was found by the Bolero and Napa varieties (18-20%).

In this experiment, we found that the Bolero variety showed the greatest loss in compressibility during storage. If both firmness and weight loss results are considered, the Napa variety is found to be the most storable variety in sort period. The Bangor variety was found to be the best for long-term storage.

Soluble solids (Brix°), carbohydrate, organic acid, lycopene, polyphenols and HMF content of indeterminate round type tomato Lemance F₁ fruits were measured in six ripeness stages from mature green to deep red stage. Color of fruits was determined by CIELab system. The L*, a*, b* values were received directly and used to calculate from which the a*/b* and the chroma were calculated. The Brix', carbohydrate, lycopene and HMF content were the highest in the 6¹¹¹ stake (deep red). Carbohydrate contents constitute nearly 50% of the Brix°. The mature green stage had the lowest acid content but in subsequent stages it was fundamentally unchanged. Polyphenol content changed little during fruit ripening. Lycopene content changed significantly during maturation and accumulated mainly in the deep red stage. Analyses showed that a*/b* was closely correlated with lycopene and can be used to characterize stages of maturity in fresh tomatoes.

Mycological investigations have been made since 2001 in all characteristic forest types in Central Börzsöny Mts., North Hungary. Among the near 500 macrolungi species documented 8 protected and 32 rare taxa occurred. Present paper concerns 13 of these taxa: 3 critically endangered, 7 endangered and 3 vulnerable in Hungary. Near the summarisation of the European habitat preference a Hungarian habitat characterisation were made for each species based on all Hungarian documented occurrence data. Majority of the species have similar habitat preference in Hungary to the European one, but some exceptions were noted. Boletus pinophilus is a typical species of deciduous forests with acidic soil, not documented from coniferous stands. Pluteo.v umbrosus prefers undisturbed forest stands with high quantity of dead wood in Hungary and did not occur in parks. Trichoma psammopus fructified in lower altitude in deciduous and mixed forest stands (always connected with Larix). Sonic species were rarer in Hungary, than in other European countries, caused by lack of their original habitats: Boletus pinophilus, 11rclJrclloin concrescens, Tremella encephala, Tricholoma aurantium, Iwo species — Boleros torosus anti Amanita lirielopallescens — were touch common in Hungary than in Europe. Two taxa —Amanita vaginata var. alba, Tremella encephala — are new From Hungary.

The Spent mushroom compost means the remained soil without sporophores after the productive.period. The leftover can't be used for mushroom growing again (Gy6r1i, 2001). Unfortunately spent musnroom compost still has bad judgment, as it would be garbage, but on the contrary it is a significant and valuable material, which is full of organic residue, a perfect soil structure improver, nutrition supplement and propagating medium. In our experiment we took the following mediums: control material with 50% flat moor peat and 50% high moor peat (Novobalt) content, 100% spent compost, 50% spent compost and 50% control medium, 25% spent compost and 75% control medium. On the day of plantation and after the forcing experiment we took sample from the control medium  and from all mixtures.

In the course of research aimed at the development of non-sticky, easy-to-use alternative trap designs for the capture of selected beetle pests, a newly designed "hat" trap, codenamed CSALOMON® KLP+, was compared with conventional trap designs. In the case of the western corn rootworm (WCR) Diabrotica v. virgifera (Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae) the new KLP+ traps baited with pheromonal or floral baits were equally sensitive as the former PAL or PALs sticky "cloak" designs, but the KLP+ traps catch capacity and selectivity was much higher. When baited with the floral WCR bait, the KLP+ trap proved to be more sensitive in capturing female \VCR, than the former sticky PALs trap design.

In capturing cabbage flea beetles (Phyllotreta spp., Coleoptera, Chrysomelidae), the new KLP+ trap design baited with allyl isothiocyanate performed better than the previously used VARL+ funnel traps in all respects studied.

In conclusion, the new KLP+ trap design, baited with the respective attractants, appears to be advantageous to use for the trapping of both WCR and cabbage flea beetles, and can be recommended for use as a trapping tool in plant protection practice in the detection and monitoring of these pest Coleoptera.

Blackspot, caused by the fungus Marssonina rosae (Diplocarpon msae), is one of the most devastating and widespread diseases in garden roses, and it has as yet not been fully characterized in molecular terms. In this initial study we used RAPD analysis to investigate the genetic diversity among and within a few geographically diverse groups of single-spore isolates of M. rosae. DNA was extracted from in vitro­grown mycelia of 1 I single spore isolates grown on PDA medium. High levels of polymorphism were detected among the isolates. They clustered into three distinct groups: Group !consisted of isolates from eastern North America plus a European isolate (Germany), Group 2 included isolates from southern Sweden, and Group 3 included the isolates from Manitoba, Canada. The greater similarity of the environmental conditions in eastern North America and Europe as compared to the Canadian prairies suggest that. climate and weather could be key factors in influencing the potential race structure of M. rosae. However, variations among closely situated sites, e.g. southern Sweden, also occurred.

A variety trial has been accomplished to study the flowering performance of some modern roses. Blooming time and blooming intensity were studied in Hungarian and Western European varieties. 120 Floribundas, polyanthas and climbings were observed. Our work shows that valuable Hungarian varieties can be found in all the three studied classes. The best Hungarian climbing roses at blooming intensity were `Futótűz', `Rozalia', ‘Sarolt and 'Szent Erzsébet emléke'; best floribundas were ‘Báthory István emléke', 'Munkács', 'Szent Margit emléke; and the best Hungarian polyanthas were `Csinszka', `Domokos PáI Péter emléke'. Some really good flowering Western-European rose varieties have also been found, the best ones were 'Clg. Gertrude Westphal' climbing, 'La Sevillana' floribunda and 'Beauty of New South Wells', 'Happy' polyanthus. 'La Sevillana' and 'Picasso' were in strong bloom for the longest time.

In Hungary, the floribunda and polyantha classes had good flowering intensity to the almost the same extent, floribundas had stronger, and polyanthas had longer flowering waves, but the ever-blooming ability of the climbing roses was moderate in the dry midsummer.

The Hungarian cultivar Sorbus redliana 'Burokvölgy' was proliferated on Murashige and Skoog (MS, 1962) medium with half-strength macroelements and 100 mg/1 meso-inositol, 20 g/1 sucrose, 11 g/1 agar-agar. Different combinations of kinetin (KIN), metatopolin (mT), benzyladenine (BA), benzyladenine-ribosid (BAR) and indolebutiric acid (IBA) were tested, and pH was adjusted to 5.6 every case using KOH. The cultures were incubated at 20-24 °C in 8/16 hours dark/light photoperiod for 50-52 days. The main aim of our research was to find the optimal growth regulator and its optimum concentration. Purthermore, to determine the chlorophyll contents of the in vitro propagated plants' leaves. During the proliferation, the highest number of shoots were observed in the case of using BA + IBA, and on the medium containing 0.75 mg/I BA + 0.05 mg/1 IBA 8.93 shoots were found. The addition of KIN + IBA decreased the number of shoots and increased the sizes of leaves — the widest (11.2 mm) and longest (17.8 mm) leaves were obtained on the medium containing 1.00 mg/I KIN + 0.05 mg/1 IBA. The longest shoots (36.46 mm) were found in the case of applying 0.75 mg/1 BAR + 0.05 mg/I IBA. The BA + KIN + IBA combination resulted the shortest shoots. Sometimes not only shoot regeneration but spontaneous rooting was observed during the multiplication. The highest chlorophyll content (1.569 mg/g total chlorophyll, 1.132 mg/g chlorophyll-a, 0.437 mg/g chlorophyll-b) was obtained in the presence of 1.0 mg/I KIN + 0.05 mg/1 IBA.

During 2003-2004 six "traditional" herbaceous plant species (Sedum reflexum, Sedum acre 'Aureum', Sedun spurium„Sedum floriferum, Festuca glauca) and six "new" plant species (Sedum pulchellum, Prunus tenella, fivericum polyphyllum, CeraiTtignIct plumbaginoides, Dianthus plumarius and Phlox subulala) were tried on four different types of roof insulation on the 100 m large experimental extensive green roof of the Building K of Corvinus University Budapest, at Villányi street, Budapest. According to the results obtained so far, the viability and good decoration values of all the "traditional" plants were proved. From the six "new" plants Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, Dianthus plumarius and Sedum pulchellum (with some restrictions) proved to be suitable. A significantly poorer development was showed by the remaining "new" species (Phlox subulata, 1-1yericum polyphyllum, Prunus tenella) than the "traditional" ones. As for the different types of roof insulation, the best was with the direct order of layers, and drainage layer with water storage capacity.

In our research project under cultivation we examined 4 cultivars ('Soroksári 40', 'Lutea , 'Goral', 'Bona') and 28 wild populations of chamomile assuring all of them the same environmental conditions. Plant height, flower-diameter, essential-oil content, and the main terpenoid and flavonoid composition were analysed. The aim of our study was to establish the genetic background of breeding a new cultivar as well as encircle those natural habitats that give chamomile drug with the best quality.

In the case of plant height populations from the Great Hungarian Plain were lower than plants from Transdanubia and the control cultivars. Between the wild and the standard individuals we found significant differences with relevance to the flower-diameter. With regard to the essential oil content the populations were very heterogeneous even those, which came from the same habitat. Populations form Transdanubia and Nagyiván reached the essential oil level of the cultivars (0.721-0.931 gi100g), and 75% of the examined plants exceeded the minimum requirement of the PhHg VIII.

According to the essential oil composition our previous statement was confirmed that in the populations of Transdanubia and Northern part of Danube—Tisza Mid Region the main component is bisabolol-oxide A (30-41.2%), while plants native to the territory cast of the river Tisza are mainly characterised by a-bisabolol (32.3-48.4). In some samples the ratio of bisabolol-oxide B was more than 10%. The chamazulene content was higher in the cultivars selected to this component (above 20%), than in the wild populations (varied between 1.22 and 17.2%). Populations originated from the central part of Hortobágy region had extremely high apigenin content (10-13 mg/g), but in the case of chlorogenic acid, hyperoside and quercitrin we did not find any differences affected by the origin.