HYBRID CONDIMENT PAPRIKA BREEDING AND ADAPTATION OF PRODUCTION SYSTEM IN HUNGARY

In the last decades the condiment paprika sector has been in an increasingly critical situation in Hungary. The process was accelerated by the economic and social changes of the 1990s and the changes related to the accession to the European Union. As a result the profitability was persistently decreasing as well as the number of the producers, thus the quantity of the raw material available for Hungarian originated milling product was reducing. In our opinion this negative tendency can only be bridled by involving hybrid condiment paprika species in the production and also by the parallel usage of forcing production technologies, and in an optimal case the tendency can be reversed.
The aim of this project was to increase the profitability for paprika producers by contributing to the extension of the genetic base of paprika production with the breeding of hybrid paprika and by the development of the relevant technologies. The result of ten years work is three new condiment paprika cultivars: ‘Sláger F₁’ (hot), ‘Délibáb F₁’ (non-hot) and ‘Bolero F₁’ (non-hot) and a description of an adapted production procedure.