SOME RECENT ACHIEVEMENTS IN FRUIT BREEDING IN ROMANIA

An apple, pear, plum and cherries breeding program, started in 1967 at the Research Institute for Fruit Growing, Pitesti, having as a main goal, the release of new cultivars with superior characteristics than the already existing ones. During this time, for each particular species, specific objectives have been established according to their agrobiological particularities and technological progress, increasing the available gene fund and knowledge accumulation. In this article is presented a synthesized overview of the objectives and breeding activities developed in the last years, which resulted in the registration of new cultivars as ‘Rebra’, ‘Rustic’, ‘Nicol’, ‘Colmar’ and ‘Colonade’ at apple, ‘Paradox’, ‘Paradis’ and ‘Paramis’ at pear, ‘Roman’, ‘Robelle’ and ‘Agent’ at plum, ‘Superb’, ‘Sublim’ and ‘Spectral’ at sweet cherry, ‘Rival’ and ‘Stelar’ at sour cherry. In addition, is provided the description of the main biological characteristics, technological particularities and possible use of the new cultivars.