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Comparative study of plum cultivars belonging to different taxons during 1980-1996
13-19.Views:153The program of the Research Institute of Cegléd, comprises the acclimation and selection of 7 Prunus-species and 39 cultivars grafted on Myrobalan C. 679 (P. cerasifera) seedling stocks. In addition two varieties have been investigated on three different rootstocks each: Myrobalan C. 174 (P. cerasifera), Bitter almond C. 449 (P. arnygdalus var. amara) and Sweet almond C. 471 (P. amygdalus var. dulcis). Fruits of commercial quality are produced maroly on some cultivars of P. salicina-, P. italica- and P. cerasifera character. Authors explain the three possible causes of low yields experienced in non-European plums:
1/ unfavorable environmental conditions
2/ lack of irrigation and
3/ superficial information concerning the variety, rootstock and adequate traditions as well as growing practices.
A rather tight correlation has been stated between blooming dates and the main ripening period. However, the early blooming time alone cannot be considered as the cause of low productivity. The decay of plum trees is attributed to special ecological requirements and phytosanitary problems of the foreign plum cultivars. The analysis of regression revealed stochastic relations involving several other characters too, which facilitate the planning of cross-combinations in the breeding program.
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New in vitro micrografting method for apple by sticking
79-83.Views:267The requirements for in vitro micrografting in apple are described. In vitro multiplicated shoots of cv. Royal Gala were the sources of rootstocks and scions after different pre-treatment, respectively. Oxidative browning of cut surfaces could be inhibited by the use of antioxidant mixture during grafting process. Scion base cut in v-shape was stuck by 1% agar-agar solution into the vertical slit of rootstock. There was no any displacement and the rate of fused and further developed grafts was 95 percent. Agar-agar between the rootstock and scion made the transport of different materials possible and hold the graft units together until the fusion took place. Fusion was proved also by histological studies. Some of in vitro micrografts were planted and acclimatisated and the survival was 100 percent.
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Comparative evaluation of different valerian (Valeriana officinalis L.) lines
63-66.Views:177Research project to establish a Hungarian valerian cultivar with acceptable production, biological and chemical properties of five promising Valeriana officinalis L. lines were studied. The populations were not homogeneous especially with regard to leaf shape and colour. Line 'IV/1' showed the strongest vigour, was characterised by the highest root-yield (381.79 g/plant), volatile-oil (0.60 m1/100 g) and valtrat content (1.15%). However, the highest valeric-acid content (0.20%) was measured in another line, 'I/5'. According to our results, the above-mentioned lines (1/5', 'IV/1') could be the basic material of breeding work in the future.
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Irrigation management of a peach orchard
19-24.Views:257The research field was at Siófok, in Hungary, which is situated in the South East side of Lake Balaton. The physical characteristic of the soil is sandy loam and loam and the peach orchard is irrigated. Mainly Sweet Lady (early ripening), Red Heaven (medium ripening) and Weinberger (early ripening) species were installed. In order to achieve the optimal developement level of trees and maximal yield amount and fruit diameter (Sweet Lady 60–75 mm, Red Heaven 60–70 mm, Veinberger 50–60 mm) continous water and nutrient supply is required. The irrigation modeling was set by CROPWAT 8.0 based on the climatic, crop and soil data inputs of the last 10 years. Based on the results, large amount of water is needed for optimal growth of fruit trees, particularly in the summer months, in case of active ground cover (+) and bare soil (–) as well. The irrigation requirement of a tree was found maximum 4 l/hour in certain cases. This irrigation intensity can be achieved – calculated with 12-hour operating time – by using continuous water NAAN Tif drip tube with 2 l/h flux on 3 atm pressure with 16 mm pipe diameter. If lower irrigation intensity is required irrigation can be controlled by the decreased the operation time.
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Field trials with non-bactericide products to control fire blight in apple orchards
55-60.Views:141Recently, novel strategies and chemical agents for prophylactic protection against the bacterial (Erwinia amylovora) disease fire blight are being sought. Resistance-inducing compounds, such as prohexadione-Ca represent promising alternatives. Prohexadione-Ca is the active ingredient of the bioregulator Regalis, currently being introduced in several European countries and overseas. Another product used in this study was Biomit Plussz, a leaf fertiliser providing harmonic supply of nutrient elements, the complete supply is assumed to improve the tolerance against diseases.
Treatments' effects of both of these products were compared to the effectiveness of treatments with antibiotics repeated twice, three or four times a season.
In the years of 2001 and 2002, the effectiveness of both Regalis and Biomit Plussz in reduction of incidence of shoot blight was similar, or proved to be superior to the check treatments consisting of repeated sprayings of antibiotics. Last year (2003) treatments of streptomycin resulted — although within the same magnitude — in a somewhat better control of shoot blight than sprayings with the other compounds.
As regards severity of blossom blight, inconsistent results were recorded concerning both Regalis and Biomit Plussz.
In general, prohexadione-Ca is less efficient for controlling flower infection by E. amylovora as compared to shoot infections, since successful prophylactic treatments are difficult to carry out early in the season. The highest effectiveness in fire blight management can, therefore, be achieved by using prohexadione-Ca (as preventive protection) in combination with streptomycin or other suitable antibiotics (as curative protection).
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Effects of indole-3-butyric acid levels and activated charcoal on rooting of in vitro shoots of apple rootstocks
25-28.Views:290Rooting responses of rootstocks cvs. JTE-F1, M. 26 and MM. 106 were studied to different concentration of IBA in root induction media and to presence of activated charcoal in root elongation media. High rooting rate (>90%) could be achieved in cvs. JTE-H and M. 26, while cv. MM. 106 showed weak rooting ability at each IBA level tested. Increasing IBA content depressed the rooting only in cv. M. 26. Presence of activated charcoal decreased considerable the rooting rate in cv. M. 26 and decreased the number of roots in cvs. JTE-H and M. 26. These cultivars developed longer roots on media containing activated charcoal, while cv. MM. 106 did not showed any reaction for it.
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The situation of horticultural family farms in Hajdu-Bihar County
105-108.Views:162The main aim of this research work is to study horticultural farms in Hajdú-Bihar County, that mobilize labour and capital for the sake of agricultural production, namely family farms. During this study work we tried to chart the main characters, the conditions of functioning, their profitability and its use possibilities, their external contacts and the resource of information of these farms, beside this to investigate the relationships between these parameters. Parallel to this we tried to compensate the relatively high deficiency of information by empirical research work. This deficiency is the characterization of farmers and the inducement of farming and its conditions both on the level of county and state. By our empirical research work we have made a comprehensive position paper that shows the conditions of farms and farmer populations, as well. Two hundred questionnaires were evaluated. The percentages of horticultural farms were 25% from all questionnaires. Above all this paper is looking for the answer to the following questions: How and by which sources do farmers develop and extent their farms? How do farmers see their own future, what kind of aims do they have?Who will stop and who will go on producing? The collected information on the whole may help to make much more flexible legislatives and administrative regulations, although the survey covered only one county.
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Consumer preference for apples: the role of attributes influencing the choice and consumption
37-43.Views:349Consumers consider good quality fruits to be those that look good, are firm and offer good flavour and nutritive value. Nowadays, consumers are, however, increasingly interested in food qualities which cannot be discovered by looking, tasting or smelling the products but their roles are not yet really cleared up. Therefore the objective of this study was to explore the importance of selected kinds of attributes (taste, size, colour, cultivar, origin and price) in fluencing the choice of apples of customers. In accordance with several authors, fruit qualities (taste, size and colour) seemed to be the major attributics influencing the choice of apple independently of people's age and gender. However, the size of fruit had lower importance with increased age. Generally, females gave higher importance rating for most attributes than did male. The price was getting more important for consumer's choice with age which can be connected with their socioeconomic situation. The origin of fruit and the cultivar did not have important influence on consumer's choice. Authors also investigated the preference of consumers for six selected apple varieties ('Jonagold', 'ldared', 'Royal Gala', 'Golden Reinders', 'Braeburn' and 'Granny Smith'). and pointed out the role of the origin in fruit quality and in choice of apple in the case of 'Granny Smith' cultivar. Apple fruit samples from Austria, Argentina, Chile, Hungary and South Africa were involved in this study. Authors evaluated fruit quality parameters of above cultivars and compared them to consumer preference. Consumer preference usually represented the quality attributes of the fruit well. It is also concluded that degree of liking of apple cultivars varies through gender and age. Children and young consumers preferred 'Royal Gala', 'Granny Smith and 'Braeburn' mostly. In spite of 'Idared' is one of the cultivars grown on the largest area in Hungary, the lowest preference ratings were given for it in both gender categories. Middle-aged consumers (between 25 and 50 years or age) preferred crispy apples with red or blemished skin color ('Royal Gala' and 'Jonagold'). 'Jonagold' and 'Idared' were the most preferred cultivars for the consumers above the age of 50 likely because of their relatively low price, as price plays a significant influencing role in the purchase of these consumers. The relatively expensive and soury 'Granny Smith' appeared not really preferred by this age group. In spite of the significant differences in instrumentally measured fruit quality parameters among 'Granny Smith' fruit samples from different countries, consumers did not give significantly different preference rating scores for those.
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Applicability of 3D laser scanning in precision horticulture
55-58.Views:362Due to the technological development, remote sensing instruments and methods have become widespread in all segments of life (from precision agriculture through architecture to medicine). Among the innovative development of remote sensing instruments the 3D laser scanner is of outstanding importance. Horticultural applicability of terrestrial laser scanning technique is a new innovation in the precision agriculture. The structure of trees and branches, the canopy extension, the fruit yield, which can help to recognize some biophysical parameters, can be determined. The examination was carried out with Leica ScanStation C10 terrestrial laser scanner in the Study and Regional Research Farm of the University of Debrecen near Pallag. In this article the measuring principle, the parameters and horticulture applicability of the terrestrial laser scanner are presented.
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Assessment of apple varieties based on consumer judgement on their fruits of organic production for fresh consumption
87-90.Views:257The lack of information is often cause of the insufficiency of attributes being developed and appears on the new commodity characterising its utility. Neither own nor other information is presented. For improving this handicap, we endeavoured to praise apple products grown by biological methods and explain their properties as taste, skin, colour, consistency, and size. In addition, we explore the relation between general impression and the individual properties. The scrutiny starts with collecting of primary data on 9 samples taken from biologically grown apple varieties kept over 60–90 days in a store and offered to the consumers. The test is based on an organoleptic assessment (records are registered in a questionnary). The individual judgements are processed and coefficients of correlation between the traits (taste, skin, size, colour) calculated. The validity of the mathematically proved relations is considered to be decisive judging the preferences in consumption of fruits.
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The expression of the primigenic dominance in the flowering and fruit set of selected apple cultivars on different growth inducing rootstocks
27-31.Views:245Authors investigated the expression of the primigenic dominance in the flowering and fruit from open and self pollination of four apple cultivars ('Gala Royal', 'Golden Smoothee', Pink Lady' and 'Vista Bella') during two consecutive years in Western Hungary on three different growth inducing rootstocks (M. 9, MM. 106 and seedling). There were not significant differences in the effect of the rootstocks on the flowering order in a flower cluster. Significant difference in the fruit set in open pollination was found among individual flowers in a cluster, mostly between the king bloom and the second flower. The rate of the fruit set from self-pollination was very low without any significant difference among individual flowers in the cluster.
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Comparison of pear production areas from yield risk aspect
25-28.Views:271There are three main pear production regions in Hungary. The most relevant is theWest-Transdanubian (Zala, Vas and Gyôr-Moson-Sopron counties), where up to 30% of total pear production occurs. The second most productive region is Pest County, where pear is grown mostly in gardens and garden plots, resulting in 15-20% of Hungarian production. In the northern Hungarian region (Bodrog valley in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén, Heves and Nógrád counties), the microclimate is perfect for optimal pear production. In our analysis, we focused on four plantations that are dominant in pear production in Hungary. Two of them are situated in south-western Hungary, one of them is in South Transdanubia and one is in North Hungary. Considering the personal attitude of the decision maker towards risk, the best alternative is ‘Williams’ in Alsóberecki, as the yield risk is the lowest with this variety, while the second best alternative is ‘Bosc Beurre,’ also produced in Alsóberecki. This is an irrigated area, and this fact evidently decreases the yield risk. The highest risk is in Bánfapuszta and in Zalasárszeg, for the non-irrigated ‘Williams’ variety. The highest yield with the lowest risk can be obtained with irrigation. Nevertheless, in the case that relevant data are available, and by incorporating cost and expected profit data, the stochastic dominance method is suitable for financial risk assessment, as well.
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Description of new sour cherry cultivars and cultivar candidates bred in the Research Institute for the Fruit Growing and Ornamentals
81-82.Views:127Description of new sour cherry cultivars and cultivar candidates bred in the Research Institute for the Fruit Growing and Ornamentals
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Morphological examination of Hungarian apricot rootstock varieties
59-63.Views:239Apricot seedlings are one of the most widely used rootstocks in apricot growing of Hungary. The National List of Hungary contains 7 apricot seedling rootstocks varieties. The production of apricot graft on seedling rootstock takes 3 years from the seed production to the complete graft and requires more space. It is important to provide the trueness to variety name during this process. In the genus Prunoideae not only the plant but also the stone should have typical characteristics. It seems to be useful to examine the morphology of stone. The observed varieties were 'Tengeribarack C.1300', 'Tengeribarack C.1301', 'Tengeribarack C.1650', 'Tengeribarack' C.1652', 'Tengeribarack C.145', 'Tengeribarack C.1426' and 'Tengeribarack C.2546`.1t seems to be the most suitable characteristic to make a distinction between these varieties by stone, the ratio height of stone to lateral width of stone, the ratio of height of stone to ventral width of stone, the ratio of lateral width of stone to ventral width of stone and the ratio of ventral zone to ventral width. From not measured characteristic seems to be most utilizable to make distinction: the fusion of dorsal groove margins, the shape of apex, the presence of a mucro of the apex, the shape of stalk end in lateral view and the texture of lateral surfaces.
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Assessment of apple varieties based on consumer judgement in integrated production for fresh consumption
71-74.Views:234In a former paper we treated the same relation comparing varieties frown in the biological or organic system of growing, now the tests have been performed with samples grown by the integrated system. The scores registered properties as taste, skin, colour, consistency and size. In addition, we also explored the relation between general impression and the individual properties.As first purpose, we started with collecting primary data on 15 samples taken from fruits grown by the integrated method and kept over 60–90 days in a store, then offered to the consumers. The test is based on an organoleptic assessment (records are registered in a questionary). The individual judgements are processed and coefficients of correlation between the traits (taste, skin, size, colour) calculated. The validity of the mathematically proved relations is considered to be decisive in judging the preferencial consumption of fruits.
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Inhibition and recovery of germination and growing ability of seedlings under and after osmotic stress induced by polyethylene glycol in 8 pea genotypes
53-59.Views:133Germination and early seedling growth of eight pea genotypes were examined under and soon after different (5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%) PEG treatments. Seeds were germinated on PEG solution for 3 or 6 days and then further germinated and cultured on filter paper moistened by water for 3 and 6 days. The length and fresh weight of shoots and roots of seedlings were measured and used for evaluation of genotypes. Roots were less inhibited by osmotic stress than shoots similarly to other plant species. The variability among the genotypes was the greatest in the case of shoot growth at 5% PEG treatment and in the case of root growth at 15% PEG treatment. Results suggest that growing responses of genotypes after cessation of stress are more suitable for the evaluation of their osmotic tolerance, than their responses expressed during in vitro stress conditions. Genotypes with relatively high or low osmotic stress tolerance, respectively, could be distinguished with 6 days after recovery from 3-day-long 15% PEG treatment concerning the rate of shoot weight to root weight.
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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:184The 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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Relationship between several meteorological factors and phenological features of pear cultivars
67-73.Views:218The aim of this paper was to investigate the fl owering characteristic of apples and their relationship to meteorological parameters. The trees observed are grown at Újfehértó, Eastern Hungary in the plantation of an assortment (gene bank) with 586 apple varieties. Each of the varieties were observed as for their dates of subsequent phenophases, the beginning of bloom, main bloom and the end of bloom over a period between 1984 and 2001 during this period the meteorological data-base keeps the following variables: daily means of temperature (°C), daily maximum temperature (°C), daily minimum temperature (°C), daily precipitation sums (mm), daily sums of sunny hours, daily means of the differences between the day-time and night-time temperatures (°C), average differences between temperatures of successive daily means (°C). Between the 90th and 147th day of the year over the 18 years of observation. The early blooming varieties start blooming at 10–21April. The varieties of intermediate bloom start at the interval 20 April to 3 May, whereas the late blooming group start at 2–10 May. Among the meteorological variables of the former autumnal and hibernal periods, the hibernal maxima were the most active factor infl uencing the start of bloom in the subsequent spring.
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The role of insurance in the damager mitigation of fruit orchards
117-122.Views:172Hungary faced many natural disasters in 2007. Due to the estimation of the Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, the amount of natural disasters that occurred in Spring 2007 (frost, hailstorm and drought in April and May) is about 100 billion HUF. Frost and drought caused damage on about 250 thousand hectares of arable land. Currently, there are four insurance companies dealing with agricultural insurances in Hungary. Their income was nearly 20 billion HUF in 2003, whereas it barely exceeded 6.6 billion HUF in 2004. The reason behind the significant decrease of insurance fee is the state provision made in 2004 stopping fee subsidisation which originally started in 1996, enabling farmers to require a 25-30% reimbursement of the amount paid for insurance. Launching a state subsidisation again would greatly increase the number of agricultural insurances. The law about the national agricultural mitigation system passed last Autumn. This provision declares that the mitigation of agricultural damage that cannot be insured on a business-like basis is based on the common risk-taking by the state and the farmers. The introduction of this system is explained by the fact that the mitigation of damages through disaster can only be carried out if those affected also take part in it, according to EU rules.
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Scheduling of ornamental plant production
76-86.Views:136The production of ornamental plants represents an important branch of our horticulture. The growing area is relatively small (round 2800 ha), the production value, however, a rather large. Notwithstanding, its financial balance is inactive because the demand surpasses the supply copiously.
The most popular plants are as follows: carnation, gerbera, rose, bulbous flowers, chrysanthemum, other cutflowers, cutgreens and Gypsophyla — their total production value makes up to Ft 8-9 billion. The area of ornamental nurseries — about 800-900 ha — is to be found mostly on the western part of our country.
Our accession to the EU will have undoubtedly an impact on our ornamental plant production. We must take into account, that in greenhouse production the specialization extends all over the world, field production over a limited region. Our chances will not deteriorate by joining the EU. The buyer — chiefly because of ecological purposes — will prefer the domestic product to the foreign one. By the way, our products will be competitive, as far as quality or price is concerned, with those of western Europe. Last but not least, we may hope a greater saleability of home-bred, special varieties and cultivars, the so-called "hungaricums", both in the domestic as well as export markets. It is anticipated that we will have a good turnover with potted ornamental plants and flower seedlings. Our nursery products will become marketable too.
To exploit the opportunity, of course, the necessary conditions are to be created. First of all, we need development in research, with special regard to breeding, at the same time in education, in extension service, in the training of experts, on a high level. Some tasks can be solved, no doubt by improvement of the organisation within the branch. At the same time the state subsidy is indispensable in order to promote both the technical and the research activities. State subsidy is also necessary to build up more advantageous conditions of sales like in some foreign countries (e.g. the Netherlands).
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Effects of tuberization conditions on the microtuber yield and on the proportion of microtuber tissues
91-96.Views:121The production facilities of large-sized microtubers in three potato varieties (cv. Desiree, BorO, Gfilbaba) and the effects of the applied tuberization conditions on the proportion of microtuber tissues, especially on the perimedullary region were investigated in present work. In vitro tuberization was induced on explants with 2 or 5 nodes layered on MS medium supplemented with 8% sucrose. Induced cultures were exposed to short days (8 h) for 2 weeks, then to total darkness for further 11 weeks. For volume calculations of different tissue regions, the formula for ellipsoids (V=4/37c1/8/w2) was used. The number of large-size tubers (> 8 mm, up to 16 mm) reached 53%, 59% and 44% in cvs. Desiree, Giilbaba and Bore, respectively, which indicate that the size of microtubers could be increased by appropriate sucrose support and explant type. Microtubers produced on hormone-free medium have well-developed perimedullary region, and its volume rate seemed to be important in the final size of tubers. The increase in the rate of volume of the perimedulla was connected to the increase of tuber size until tubers reached 12 mm diameter. In microtubers larger than 12 mm in diameter, the volume rate of the pith was increased.
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Effects of crop load on tree water use in apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.)
29-31.Views:128Sap flow rate measurements were carried out during two consecutive ('on' and 'off') years in an apple orchard cv. 'Florina' M.26 to analyse the effects of various crop load on tree water use. Sap flow rate was measured by thermal dissipation method in trunks of nine trees from June to the harvest. Crop load was between 0.2-9.0 fruits • cm -2 of trunk cross section area (equal to 0.5-35.0 fruits•m-2 of leaf area), trunk diameter varied between 4.7-8.7 cm.
Total leaf area was estimated by leaf counting or using shoot girth and leaf area relationship. In both years, fruit growth rate was determined by measuring diameter of 280 marked fruits with 7 days frequency. Fruit volume calculated as a function of fruit diameter based on a previously determined relationship.
Total leaf area of trees ranged from 4.4 to 19.5 m2 and it was closely related to trunk cross section area. At high crop load the fruit growth rate peaked in August with 0.51.tree-l.day-1 and the leaf area specific total fruit volume reached 61 m2 before the harvest.
There was a linear relationship between total leaf area and daily water use, while the leaf area specific water use was influenced by crop load rate. The relationship was described by piecewise linear regression with the breakpoint at crop load rate of 12 fruits•m2 of leaf area. At low crop load the slope of the fitted regression line was less than at high crop load rate.
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Improvement of the grapevine variety ‘Kadarka’ by the selection of new clones
57-63.Views:183Red wine culture in Hungary was developed due to the grapevine variety ‘Kadarka’, originated from the Balkans, from the 16th and 17th centuries. ‘Kadarka’ was the first grapevine variety cultivated on the largest area in Hungary until the 1950’s, but its production area has been reduced significantly in the past decades. In the period of Hungarian grapevine reconstruction (from the 1960’s), the selection of the grapevine varieties and clones was determined by the system of cultivation (large growing space, large load and mechanized technology) that was based on the aspects of quantity. It did not promote the majority of the autochton and regional grapevine varieties to remain competitive. ‘Kadarka’ is a grapevine variety having an extraordinary variability in forms; however, a considerable part of its old stocks has disappeared. Nowadays, only two of its high yield clones are cultivated. ‘Kadarka’ becomes more differentiated from other, red wine producing, grapevine varieties, more preferred and newly requested by the fine aroma, spice, unique harmony of its wine less rich in tannin. The new market and environmental challenges in the field of wine production necessitate the preservation and improvement of the biological basis. In 2001 the Institute of Viticulture and Enology Pécs analyzed an old stock having a variability in forms in order to preserve the development and variability of the biological basis of ‘Kadarka’. Clones of great biological value were selected from it, with which the quality and yield security of ‘Kadarka’ can be increased. In 2010 and in 2012, six clones were submitted for state approval.
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Vegetative Indicators of sour cherry cultivars and resistant clons
55-58.Views:190Sour cherry is a hungaricum. Hungary has several excellent and self fertile sour cherry cultivars. Hungarian sour cherries have a name for fruit quality and they are suitable for fresh consumption. Today breeding is focused not only on fruit quality, but also on disease resistance. The new, investigated cultivars have these characteristics too. But growth characteristics are also very important because they contribute to successful production. The vegetative and generative properties of the cultivars are different. If a cultivar is very productive, the ignorance of cultivar-specific pruning may result in the decrease in tree condition and fruit quality. The properties of producing fruiting wood greatly determine the renewal capabilities of cultivars. Knowing these properties is essential in case of sour cherries, the fruit species that requires a lot of sunlight and tends to produce bare wood. The research of candidate cultivars until now focused on fruit quality. Our aim was to investigate the vegetative characteristics of the resistant ‘bosnyák’ cultivar group in detail, defining the growth characteristics of these cultivars.
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The effect of spring frosts on the nectar production and the bee visitation of fruit trees
86-89.Views:222Fruit tree species suffered very strong spring frosts in 1997 in Hungary. This caused partial or total damages at buds and flowers depending on site and time of blooming. It was demonstrated at a number of experiments that frost and cold weather also strongly affected the nectar production of surviving flowers. No or very little amount of nectar was measured in flowers first of all of early blooming fruit tree species (apricot) but also of pear and apple in some places. In spite of this fact intensive honeybee visitation was detected in the flowers of fruit trees that suffered partial frost damage only at those sites where honeybee colonies were placed in or at the experimental plantations and the lack of sufficient amount of nectar did not affected bee behaviour seriously on fruit flowers. This means that bad nectar production failed to affect bee visitation of fruit trees definitely. The reason for this was the fact that not only fruit trees but another early bee plants (wild plants, too) suffered frost damage. Accordingly, in lack of forage bees intensively searched for food at blooming fruit trees with some living flowers. Consequently, there was an acceptable yield at those plantations where bud and flower damage was not complete. Accordingly, intensive bee visitation (that is moving additional bee colonies to overpopulate fruit orchards with honeybees) can be an effective tool to decrease or eliminate the detrimental effect of spring frost on the yield of fruit trees where bud or fruit damage is not too high.