Breeding and variety evaluation of bramble fruit in Hungary

The most important small fruit crop in Hungary is raspberry. The main aim o f Hungarian growers is to make their bramble fruit production more profitab le. For this reason it is necessary to change the variety collection of ras pberry and blackberry. The introduction of new bramble varieties from other countries encounters difficulties because Hungary has a continental climat e. The winter hardiness of raspberry and blackberry varieties is the most i mportant limiting factor for cultivation. On the basis of variety investigations made by the National Institute for A gricultural Quality Control the following varieties were registered in rece nt years: 'Willamette' (1991),'Zeva Herbsternte' (1997),'Dirksen' (1995) an d 'Hull Thornless' (1996). Some other cultivars, 'Autumn Bliss', 'Lucana' a nd 'Nessy' will be registered in the near future. The breeding of Rubus spe cies in Hungary was started in Fertod at the Experimental Station of the In stitute of Horticultural Research in the second half of the 1930s. The pres ent material derives from a breeding program started twenty years ago. The major aims in breeding have been to improve winter hardiness, yield and fru it quality. The other important objective has been to improve resistance ag ainst cane diseases. Two cultivars from this program have been registered: the summer-fruiting variety 'Fertodi zamatos' (1986) and the dual-cropping variety 'Fertodi ketszertermo' (1994). Several elite selections of summer-f ruiting raspberries are near cultivar status.