HAZELNUT CULTIVATION IN UKRAINE

Hazelnut is practically a new culture in Ukraine and was studied mainly in the Ukrainian Forestry and Land Reclamation Research Institute by a small group of scientists till 1985. Later the Ukrainian Horticultural Research Institute was included in a breeding work. The main objective of this work was to breed the varieties not only adapted to the conditions of Ukraine but yielding more than the known varieties of good cropping capacity and economic characteristics. During our investigation we have used acclimatization and distant hybridization methods.

The acclimatization lies in the fact that nuts of South Ukrainian and West-European varieties were sowed in steppe regions of Ukraine. Then seedlings were kept in a nursery during two years. After this we selected seedlings which were the most developed and uninjured by frosts, pests and diseases. The most winter hardy and productive bushes were selected after coming into bearing. Observations have been conducted for 10–15 years.

Nuts were analyzed for percent kernel, fat and protein content. Bushes which met all the requirements were propagated with vegetative methods and became new varieties. The plants obtained were given to state and farm scale trial.

Using hybridization method several varieties of hazelnut were crossed with European, Turkish and other species of filbert. Hybrid nuts were sowed in a nursery or in selection fields. The subsequent technique was analogous to that which was used for the selection of varieties with acclimatization method.

In hybrids which were obtained from crossing of European filbert with hazelnut of South origin the traits of European filbert were dominant. It depends on the local environment and one crossing is insufficient for the change of hereditary traits and characters in hybrids.

So repeated crossings of hybrid forms were conducted in our institute.

Thus, we obtained more than 30 varieties with cropping capacity of 7 and more kilograms from one bush. Below we give characteristics of some varieties.

Lozovskoi urozhainy. Height of bush at the age of 15 is 4 m, diameter 6 m, the number of nuts in a cluster is 2–12, nuts length is 2.1 cm, width 1.6 cm, thickness 1.2 cm. Weight of 100 nuts is 155 g, percent kernel 49%, fat content 65%, protein 16.7%, yield from one bush is 9 kg. Lozovskoi sharovidny (Globe-shaped). Height of bush is 3.5 m, diameter 5 m. Cluster consists of 2–5 nuts. Height of nut is 2 cm, width 1.8 cm,