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Fruit production and research in Hungary - An overview
7-11.Views:1240Hungary is traditionally a food producer country. 63% of its total land area can be cultivated. Horticulture is one of the fundamental agricultural branches. The country has a moderate continental climate, with a mean temperature of 10 °C. The average hours of sunshine ranges 1,700 to 2,100 hours. Under the geographical condition in the Carpathian Basin the chemical composition of the fruits has a good harmony. The total fruit acreage is 97,000 ha with a crop of 800,000 to 900,000 tons yearly. In 1982 1,934,000 tons of fruit crop were produced since then it has decreased. The most important fruits are apple, European plum, sour cherry and raspberry. The percentage of apple reaches almost up to 60%. In the new plantings sour cherry, apple and black elderberry is popular. The most important fruit-producing region is situated at the North-eastern part of the country. More than 40% of Hungary's fruit production is concentrated there. In ranking the 2nd place is taken by fruit growing area in the middle of Hungary, where the production of stone fruits and small fruits has a considerable proportion.
In the 70s and 80s of last century there was a developed research structure and wide range of research activity in Hungary. From that time the research capacity has considerably decreased first of all in the field of technological development. The main research area is fruit breeding and variety evaluation.
Fruit scientists and fruit grower specialists are held together by the Hungarian. Society for Horticultural Sciences which has a membership in ISHS. Fruit researches and scientists having academic degree are belonged to the Horticultural Board of Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
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Comparative analysis of peach and nectarine cultivars based on their ecological and biological indicators
7-26.Views:656Natural conditions other than the ecological conditions of the Chinese gene center (as 34-38° latitude and 600 to 2400 m above sea level), mainly dry subtropical, i.e. Mediterranean effects, facilitated the development of new forms and varieties (Scorza & Okie, 1991; Faust & Timon, 1995). Probably the primary cause of nectarines, this could also be the primary cause of mutations (probably about 2000 years ago) (Roach, 1985; Surányi, 1985). During the long domestication of peaches, its natural occurrence increased, which was greatly enhanced by its ecological and mutational ability and the organoleptical values of its fruit (Hedrick, 1917; Roach, 1985; Scorza & Okie, 1991; Faust et al., 2011). Through the Ellenberg-Borhidi model and its refinement, the author has demonstrated the suitability of peaches in a broad climate zone based on the relative ecological and biological values of 700 varieties. Among the varieties, clone cultivars and hybrids were Hungarian selected and crossed form, because the diverse environmental conditions of the Carpathian Basin and the past and present size of cultivation were representative (Faust & Timon, 1995; Timon, 2000). It can be concluded from the present relative ecological data that the average standard deviation is below 12% for both peach and nectarine varieties, but the relative biological values were very different. Comparison of cultivars or classical (downy) peaches (n = 562) and nectarines (n = 138) in terms of environmental values confirmed the difference in heat demand and salt tolerance of the two groups of varieties. The pictures of the paper also demonstrated the rich diversity of this fruit species, and after analyzing the apricot and plum varieties (Surányi 2014, 2018), the peculiarities of the relative ecological and biological values of peaches were confirmed.
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Floral biology of tree fruit rootstocks
153-161.Views:371The modern nursery industry requires seed sources of a high quality and regular quantity year by year. Besides the seed sources of processed cultivars (Bartlett pear, Shipley, Elberta peach) special seed orchards are planted with selected seed trees producing high quality and genetically determined seed (hybrid seed or inbred lines). Seedlings are still the most common commercial source of rootstocks for stone fruits (almond, apricot, peach, plum, prune and walnut). Although clonal rootstocks are spreading, usage of seedlings is still predominant at stone fruits and nuts. For successful seed production and planning of seed orchard the knowledge on floral biology, flower fertility, pollination, blossom time of trees (selected clone or cultivars) used for seed production is essential. In this field very little systematic research was carried out most of the papers were published in the second half of the 20th century. Our mini review gives an overview on the importance of flower fertility in the mating systems applied in seed orchards, and the research results on floral biology of fruit tree rootstocks propagated by seed (Prunus avium, Prunus mahaleb, Prunus armeniaca, Prunus cerasifera, Prunus insititia, Prunus amygdalus, P persica, P amygdalopersica, Pyrus pyraster, Pyrus communis and Pyrus betulifolia) over the last decades.
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Evaluation of a simple fruit tree structural model
123-126.Views:291A simple three element tree structure model of Lang, 2006 was tested in plum orchard using two different inertia fruit tree shakers. The first was a slider crank type one; the second had rotating eccentric weights. The parameters of both were chosen to give similar frequency and amplitude output in average orchard conditions. Orchard experiments were carried out shaking the trees with both machines at several frequencies and shaking heights. The measured acceleration and amplitude values were plotted on diagrams together with the calculated acceleration and amplitude curves of the fruit tree-shaker machine model. Choosing the right fruit tree parameters, such as apparent spring constant, damping coefficient, reduced trunk mass and coefficient of elasticity of the trunk the measured and calculated values coincided well. This proves the ability of the fruit tree model for optimising the shaker parameters to any given orchard.
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Studies on the insect pollination of fruit tree species and on closely related topics in Hungary: a bibliography of research publications
157-161.Views:327In the past decades fruit production has become more and more intensive and so the interest towards the bee pollination of fruit trees has increased in Hungary. Thus insect pollination research has become more intensive in the eighties and in the nineties. Recently, high density fruit orchards are planted of dwarf trees at more and more farms in Hungary and these need highly controlled growing practices involving insect pollination, too. This is a new challenge of insect pollination research in Hungary. So it seems to be worth to compile a list on research publications having been appeared so far to create a basis to the ongoing new research. Besides papers strictly on the insect pollination of fruit trees publications on some closely related topics, first of all on the nectar production and on other flower characteristics of fruit tree cultivars that directly influence bee activity have also been included on the list.
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The effect of the limitation of insect pollination period on the fruit set and yield of temperate-zone fruit tree species
90-95.Views:3418The duration of effective bee pollination period was limited by caging flowering branches for shorter or longer time in blooming fruit trees in a number of experiments during the past decades. In the case of self-sterile fruit species and cultivars (apples, pears, quinces, some plums, some sour cherries) even partial limitation of the effective duration of bee pollination period significantly reduced the fruit set and the yield. In the case of self-fertile apricots the effect of the total and also the influence of partial limitation of bee pollination period was the same as in the case of the mentioned self-sterile fruits. On the other hand, in the case of another self-fertile fruits (some plums, some sour cherries), the effect of partial limitation of bee pollination period was usually small, but complete (or incomplete but strong) limitation of be pollination usually resulted in a strong reduction of yield. This means that not only self-sterile but also self-fertile fruits clearly depend on insect (bee) pollination. This is because pollen dehiscence of anthers and the receptive period of stigmas do not overlap in time within the individual flowers. Stigmas in self-fertile trees, therefore, need pollen carried by bees from another flowers of the same tree (or compatible pollen from another trees). Accordingly, additional bee pollination (moving bee colonies to the orchards in flower) is needed to all kinds of temperate-zone fruit tree species when bee visitation of plantations is not abundant enough for some reasons.
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Effects of different pollination treatments in genotypes of Prunus salicina Lindl.
141-146.Views:228The low productivity in the Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lindl) is related with self-incompatibility characteristics, so other species or varieties that act as pollinators need to be present to improve fruit production. The objective of this work was to study the efficiency of pollination in different genotypes of P. salicina using treatments of natural self-pollination, cross-pollination with P. armeniaca cv. Giada and open pollination. These treatments were evaluated through viability techniques and in vitro and in vivo germination of pollen grains; the growth of pollen tubes along the pistil was also observed. Genotypes used in this study showed differences for each one of the pollination treatments. Some genotypes showed signs of self-sterility and interincompatibility with P. armeniaca cv. Giada, while others showed partial self-fertility characteristics or pseudocompatibility. Moreover, some genotypes showed a higher affinity coefficient with cv. Giada and these will be indicating a possible intercompatibility. These studies will be an important contribution breeding and selection of intra and intercompatible genotypes to be used in commercial orchards.
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The effect of cooling irrigation on the blooming dynamic of plum
57-59.Views:905The objective of the present study is to explore the effect of cooling irrigation (aspersion) on the beginning of bloom and on the micro-climate of the plantation. The results show that the water sprayed in the orchard by micro-jet influenced decisively the temperature of the plantation. At higher temperatures (around 20 °C), the drop of temperature may attain 5–7 °C. A low relative humidity of the air may increase the relative effect, The frequent repetition (20 minute intervals) may keep the temperature low also in the buds. The beginning of bloom may delayed for more than ten days. The dynamics of blooming was characterised by a logistic curve in the treated as well as in the control plot. In the treated plot, the curve was steeper than in the control in spite of equal temperatures measured in the plots. Under our (Hungarian) climatic conditions, the method is successfully used to delay blooming dates. The main result is the diminution of the frost damage in the spring and the security of yield. The costs and water requirement should be calculated later.
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Chemical analysis of the pollen of plum varieties
25-26.Views:1061The chemical composition, amino acids and carbohydrates, of the pollen has been analysed in varieties grown in Hungary during the years 1993 at Kecskemet and 1995 at Cegléd and Pomáz. The distinction of 17 amino acids and 7 carbohydrates has been achieved. The aim of the study was to find criteria for the distinction of varieties.
The total content of amino acids varied between 15.53 and 20.54 %. The highest ratios represented the asparagine and the glutamine acids. The relative content in other amino acids was between 2 and 7 % of the total. The less frequent were cysteine and valine.
