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Overwintering capability and spring population size of honeybee colonies (Apis mellifera L.) in Hungary
153-156.Views:107Honeybee races and ecotypes of different genetic background have different population development in spring. Some of them can reach the necessary population size by the beginning of Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust) blooming period. There were significant differences in the spring population development between the colonies of different genetic background. The Italian races (A. m. ligustica) and their cross-breeds over-wintered poorly in Hungary, their spring population was low and they collected small amount of Robinia honey. The Austrian improved Carniolan (A. m. carnica) colonies over-wintered well, they had the largest spring population in both years. There was no significant difference between the size of the spring population of the same colonies of different genetic background in 1995 and 1996. The rate of the population development of the colonies was different in the two examined years. There was strong correlation (r = 0.8) between the spring population size and the Robinia honey yield, and between the mid-April population size and the Robinia honey yield of the colony groups of different genetic background. Spring population size also important in the effective pollination of fruit tree species that bloom earlier than the black locust trees.
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The impacts of different habitats on the development of Telekia speiosa (Schreb.) Baumg.
31-32.Views:169Telekia speiosa (Schreb.) Baumg. is a 100-150 cm high bushy perennial, which has yellow flowers and smells good. According to the descriptions (Farkas, 1999), it can be detected in two smaller areas within Hungary, namely in the Bükk hills and on the Szatmár-Bereg Plain. By the time of writing this paper, the population around Tiszabecs has already got extinct. Therefore, it is a protected relict species. It is named in honour of Sámuel Teleki, chancellor of Transylvania.Within the frame of the experiment, the Telekia speciosa (Schreb.) Baumg. was planted to places differently illuminated (sunny, semi shadow, shade), then the morphological changes brought about the various light conditions were investigated. The experiment was launched with a stock sown in October 2008. The seedlings were planted to three beds with diverse light conditions. The area of each bed was 1 m2, and ten seedlings were planted per m2. The parameters investigated are as follows: the length of leaf blade, the width of leaf blade, the length of petiole, the number of leaves per plant, and the alterations of leaves. As a result of our research, we can state that semi shadow is the optimal habitat for the plant. Under such ecological conditions the highest leaf production was observed, the leaves were species specific, healthy and big. The mean number of leaves per plant was 6.6, the mean length of blade was 16.6 cm, the mean width of blade was 13 cm, while the mean length of petiole was 14.2 cm. In the shade the plants grew poorly and the size of leaves were smaller. The mean number of leaves per plant was 4.1, the mean length of blade was 8.6 cm, the mean width of blade was 7.1 cm, and the mean length of petiole was 9.4 cm. In the sunny habitat a similarly high leaf production was observed as in the semi shadow; however, the leaves had brownish spots, they shriveled, feel rough, so they revealed a reduced aesthetical value. The mean number of leaves per plant was 6.6, the mean length of blade was 17.8 cm, the mean width of blade was 11.3 cm, and the mean length of petiole was 13.1 cm.
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The uses of wolfberry (Lycium barbarum L.) as a fruit in an international breadth of view
7-13.Views:259Lycium barbarum is known exclusively as an ornamental plant in Hungary, and is planted so, as popular belief deem it a toxic plant. The plant’s fruit receives great respect in countries abroad, thus, due to its favourable content values the Lycium has achieved the title of ‘biological gold mine’. The last couple of years has seen the import of Lycium shrubs and its corresponding products, dried goods or in the form of various processed products which have been marketed and sold at extreme prices (under name of Goji, Wolfberry, Lifeberry). Our goal was to examine the similarities of the content values of wolfberry found in Hungary and those cultivated abroad. Along with Miklós Józsa the domestic Lycium population was surveyed based on foreign examples, between the years 2009 and 2011. Those defined sweet and largefruited were selected for further investigations to be set into a clone repository. This clone repository– which contains 67 different clones from a number of regions of Hungary – was established in the nursery of Dr. Miklós Józsa, located in the city of Szombathely. The phenological and morphological characteristics and the fruit ripening and quality indicators of plants in the clone repository were investigated. Six ‘best’ clones – selected based on flavour, disease-resistance and vegetative characteristics (plant size, fruit set, yield and fruit size) were analysed based on their content values. The control plant was a cultivar imported by a delivery service, found also in growing. In addition to the results of the selection, the results of the content values of the six selected ‘best’ clones (total soluble sugar content, glucose-fructose ratio, carotene content, FRAP value) is documented in this paper. Further, based on the resulting information the possibilities of the fruit’s utilization are suggested. Significant differences were measured in the vegetative characteristics of the clones (plant size, fruit set, yield and fruit size) and of those of
its inner content values. The resulting properties are considerable in regards of the plant’s introduction into cultivation and also utilization. Based on growing characteristics, more favourable clones were selected than the foreign varieties already in growing. Those clones selected by us have had similar or better content values than foreign breeds. The investigation of these content values is still in progress. -
Characteristics of fruit producing enterprises according to the data of farms taking part in the test farm system
41-45.Views:107Fruit 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.
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Prediction infection risk on the basis of weather-related factors and Erwinia amylovora colonization in apple and pear flowers
39-54.Views:156Current infection risk prediction models utilize environmental parameters and field records, but do not take into account the estimated inoculum potential within the orchard. The object of this study was to survey the accuracy of three simple prediction methods under Hungarian climatic conditions, which could easily be used by the farmers. We also tested whether the accuracy of infection risk predictions can be improved by taking into consideration the incidence and/or rate of flower colonization by Erwinia amylovora.
After preliminary investigations in 1999-2001, data concerning the weather-related infection risk were recorded in 5 apple and 1 pear orchards in 2002, and in 12 apple and I pear orchards in 2003. The weather data were processed by the easy-to-use risk assessment models of the mean temperature prediction line (MTL), Smith's Cougarblight 98C and Billing's integrated system (BIS), and by the MaryblytTM 4.3 computer-assisted model for reference. The population size of E. amylovora in the flower samples was estimated within an order of magnitude by PCR.
For all years and orchards tested, Maryblyt indicated 35 days on which there was an acute infection risk. The same days were indicated by all 3 methods in 23 cases (66%), 8 days were indicated by 2 methods (23%) and 4 days were indicated by 1 method only. A similarly good correlation was found for prediction of the date of the first massive infection risk: in 2003, for instance, there was a perfectly consistent prediction by all 4 models in 9 of the 13 participating orchards. A coincidental forecast was provided by 3 of the 4 models in the other 4 orchards.
The results indicate that any of the risk assessment models could provide an increased accuracy of the actual infection risk prediction if combined with an estimation of the incidence of Erwinia amylovora colonization in the open flowers. We found no convincing differences in the size of the epiphytic population in flowers of cultivars possessing high or low susceptibility to Erwinia amylovora.
We conclude that the easy-to-use methods tested could be used by the fanners to recognize weather-related risks, especially when coupled with an estimation of the proportion of the pathogen-infested flowers. This local prediction would provide rapid information (faster than the regional forecast systems) specifically for a given orchard.
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Acceptance of artificial nesting sites by pollinating mason bees in commercial fruit plantations (Hymenoptera, Megachilidae: mixed Osmia cornuta and O. rufa population)
43-46.Views:215During a four yeas long experiment a simple bee shelterswas found to be a propermethod to increase the size ofmixed natural populations of the early season Osmia cornuta and O. rufa under practical farm conditions. Instead of the number of pesticide applications the earliness of the flowering of the fruit species in the orchards was found to be themost important factor in the rate of acceptance of reed as nestingmediumby Osmias in the bee shelter. This relationship was negative and highly significant (r = –0.829, p<0.001). This means that much higher acceptance of artificial nestingmedia in bee shelters and consequentlymuch higher population increase of the two early seasonmason bee species can be expected in orchards with early than with late flowering fruit species. Mixed orchards or early flowering orchards surrounded by other orchards falling in bloom later consecutively may also be much favourable to mason bees because they can find continuous food (pollen) supply there for a much longer time during their period of activity than in orchards planted with a single fruit species and being apart from orchards of other fruit species.
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Rootstocks for Cherries from the Department of Fruit Science Budapest
63-66.Views:160Cherry rootstock breeding started at the Department of Fruit Science, SSU Budapest by the late 50-s and the activity can be divided into three main groups. In the first stage the activity was focused on collection of native mahaleb cherry (Prunus mahaleb L.) varieties lead by L. Sebők. After evaluation in the nursery and orchard tests there are four promising rootstock cultivars selected from this material: 'Korponay' used as self fertile seed tree, its seedlings are recommended for sour cherries. The mahaleb varieties 'Bogdány' (vigorous), 'Egervár' and 'Magyar' (medium vigour) are propagated by cuttings. The next project has started in 1979 with the aim to select self fertile mahaleb seed trees producing homogeneous seedling populations with reduced vigour. Inbred populations from isolated flowering self fertile trees were produced and planted out in 1980. The inbreeding of 'Korponay' self fertile P. mahaleb variety resulted in specimens with different fruit colour (yellow, red, black), fruit shape and size. From among them self fertile trees were selected with various growth characteristics. Seedlings of that self fertile mother trees (S2 population) were tested in seedbed, they showed homogeneous phenotype characteristics as liners in the nursery. As rootstock of 'Érdi bőtermő' sour cherry in the orchard most of the S2 lines proved to be less vigorous in comparison to SI popuplations. 'Érdi bőtermő' trees budded on certain S2 lines in the orchard are more productive than those on S1 ('Korponay' seedling). Characteristics of the S2 generation as seed tree were studied as well. We expect to get morphologically homogeneous seedling populations with different growth vigour and good productivity in the later inbred generations. In the last couple of decades the research activity concerning ground-cherry and its hybrids resulted in dwarfing rootstocks. Prunus fruticosa Pall. hybrids from the natural flora of Hungary were collected and artificial hybrids were created between P. fruticosa and mahaleb cherry. Most of them are in the initial tests, only one of them is before registration, named 'Prob', which is a dwarf rootstock for sweet cherry. By the screening of new hybrids medium vigorous or semi dwarfing and precocious rootstocks seem to be promising for the cherry industry.
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Effect of life cycle on the production of mullein (Verbascum phlomoides L.)
123-125.Views:134Aim of the present investigations was the optimalization of the production of the annual cultivar `Napfény' of Verlxiscum phlomoides L. Quantitative data on morphology (growth, leaf and flower size, branching) yield and content of active materials (mucilages, flavonoids) were studied at six sowing times.
We established, that sowing time may be one basic factor in the production of the annual variety. The major yield was obtained by sowing either late autumn (end of October) or early spring (middle March). At these plots the fresh mass of the flowers was 257-288 g/plant, the drug mass 28-29 g/plant, by 45-70% more than that of the mean of other treatments.
It was established, that under optimal cultivation conditions the annual form of mullein may reach higher individual yields than the plants of the indigenous wild growing population.