S19 - Session O2 - Blackcurrant (Ribes nigrum L.) breeding and achievements at the National Institute of Horticultural Research in Skierniewice, Poland

Authors: Stanislaw Pluta *, Lukasz Seliga, Edward Zurawicz

New and modern applied breeding of blackcurrant ( Ribes nigrum L.) has been conducted at the Department of Horticultural Crop Breeding of the National Institute of Horticultural Research in Skierniewice, Poland for 35 years. It is financed from the state budget by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. This program includes breeding for resistance, fruit quality and adaptation. Newly bred cultivars should be characterized by high productivity, good suitability for various methods of fruit management (processing, freezing, fresh consumption), good adaptation to Polish climatic and soil conditions and various cultivation technologies - industrial cultivars for picking fruits by different harvesters and dessert cultivars for trellising crop cultivation. In addition, new cultivars should be less susceptible or resistant to the most dangerous diseases and pests. Traditional crossing (hybridization) method is applied in breeding program. During the 35 years of blackcurrant breeding work, 10 cultivars ('Tisel', 'Tiben', 'Ores', 'Ruben', 'Tines', 'Gofert', 'Polares', 'Tihope', Polben 'and' Polonus ') were released and registered in the national list of the COBORU. Most of these cultivars have also been covered by Community protection law within the territory of the EU countries. In addition, three cvs. ('Gofert', 'Polares' and 'Tihope') obtained the plant patent in the US in 2016. Polish blackcurrant cultivars have gained great recognition among Polish and foreign growers. The available data show that the share of Polish cultivars in commercial plantations in our country is currently over 80%. Blackcurrant cultivars bred at the Institute in Skierniewice and implemented for the fruit production are an important carrier of biological progress, which contribute to possess the high position and competitiveness of Polish horticulture while maintaining environmental protection requirements and the principles of safe food production, in accordance with the current EU regulations. The research was carried out as part of the special-purpose subsidy of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development - Task 3.7: " Production of initial materials of blackcurrant with dessert-quality fruit, useful for trellising system cultivation and resistant to gall mite, leaf and shoot diseases ".