25 YEARS OF ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERSPECTIVES IN HAZELNUT BREEDING IN ROMANIA

The specific ecological conditions in Romania and the country's social needs lead to the launching of a hazelnut breeding program 25 years ago. In order for this program to be viable and obtain good results, S.C.D.P. Valcea was chosen. This research station is located south of the Carpathian mountains, in the Oltenia region, at a latitude of 45°N, in an area where the average annual temperature is 10.2°C and the rainfall is 715 mm. At the station a collection of 6 Corylus species, 45 cultivars of different origins and 19 biotypes were established. The breeding program was initially based on clonal selection carried out on the ‘Imperiale de Trebizonde’, ‘T.G.D.L.’, ‘Red Lambert’ and ‘Cosford’ cultivars and later on also on intraspecific and interspecific crosses. The genetic variability was very much improved as a result of obtaining 5,500 hybrids, 60 clonal selections and 25 bud variation selections. The results of the breeding program were materialised in the acquisition of the first Romanian hazelnut cultivars: ‘Valcea 22’, ‘Cozia’, ‘Romavel’ and ‘Uriase de Valcea’. Three of the cultivars are for table use and one (‘Romavel’) has a dual use (table and industry). The cultivars are productive and are better adapted to the environmental conditions of Romania.