EVALUATION OF REGIONAL CULTIVARS IN A PEAR GENE BANK IN HUNGARY

There are 250 pear cultivars in our pear gene bank in Hungary. The gene bank was planted in 1981 in Keszthely. This town is on the western part of the Lake Balaton. Among these pear cultivars we can find a lot of Hungarian regional cultivars. There are currently tested there. Many regional cultivars have the same name as the country or the orchard where they were found. We used the same name in our gene bank as well. These variations were compared with each other and we examined and compared them in each year. The following characteristics are being examined from the beginning till now: phenophases, phonological features of pear cultivars, beginning of bloom, full bloom and the end of bloom, length of the blooming period, fertility examination, fruit set from open pollination, seed content of fruit, ripening (picking) time, fruit morphology characteristics (weight, size, shape, etc.), quality parameters of the fruits (dry matter of fruit, acidity, etc.), frost tolerance of buds, frost damage during the blooming time, sunburn damage on fruit. In recent years the climate change has become increasingly important. In our fruit growing research we therefore consider how it has changed phenology. We also look at the impact of extreme weather conditions that cause damage in plantations. In particular we examine the fruit consumption values of the regional cultivars.