NEW CURRANT CULTIVARS

The aim of this work was to evaluate six new currant cultivars ‘Jesan’, ‘Fokus’, ‘Koral’, ‘Orion’, ‘Rubigo’ and ‘Vitan’. The cultivars originated from the breeding programme of Velke Losiny, Czech Republic. Cultivars were evaluated in Research and Breeding Institute of Pomology Holovousy Ltd. The plantation was established in 1997 at a spacing of 3×1.5 m. Three bushes were planted per cultivar. The evaluation was focused on vegetative characters (shape of the bush, intensity of growth, fruiting spurs), fruit characters (size of cluster and fruits, fruit colour, fruit quality) and economic characters (yields, demand for pruning, type of harvest). A summary description of the selected cultivars is provided.