Chronica - Acta Horticulturae

Maritsa Vegetable Crops Research
Institute: 75 Years of Service
Stoika Masheva, Miroslav Michov, Galina Pevicharova and Dimitrina Kostova
Scientia Cum Praxis
Scientific Studies with Practical
Application
Maritsa Institute, founded in 1930, has
developed over the years as a leading center
for vegetable research in Bulgaria.
Combining scientific studies with practical
application, the Institute has yielded remarkable
successes in different fields including
the development of vegetable hybrids,
improvement and stabilizing of local forms
and accessions to high-yielded and highquality
cultivars, and amelioration of vegetable
growing technologies. Prominent
researchers from Maritsa Institute have created
close links to agricultural universities
and educational institutions to transfer
modern horticultural methods and knowledge.
Looking forward to Bulgarian membership
in the European Union, Maritsa
Institute has developed fruitful collaborations
with related institutions in member
countries. The Institute will join the
European Research Area focusing on transferring
European knowledge and technology
and to further develop the Maritsa
Institute as a leader and promoter of
Vegetable Crops Improvement Linkage for
Bulgaria and the Balkans.
INTRODUCTION
Historical Background
Bulgaria is a country with a long tradition in
vegetable growing, due to favorable climatic
conditions, as well as to the great diversity of
vegetable forms and accessions with unique
and desirable properties. For centuries,
Bulgarian gardeners were well known in
Europe, especially in the Danube regions of the
Austrian Empire. Even today, fine restaurants in
Vienna buy their fresh vegetables from the
Bulgarian vegetable market. Together with
other agricultural branches, vegetable growing
made considerable progress in Bulgaria at the
end of the 19th century, enriching local traditions
with modern methods. However, it was
realized that advances in modern agriculture
could not be developed without science. As a
result an Experimental Agricultural Station,
mainly devoted to vegetables, was established
in Plovdiv on 1st April 1930. The nucleus of the
Station was built on the ground of a large private
farm with excellent fertile soil. Later the
Maritsa Main Entrance House, built in 1960. It is surrounded by rare and valuable
dendro species and comprises mainly administrative and library premises, some labs, and
offices of researchers. The other Units are scattered in an Arboretrum, in smaller buildings.
Institute was named the Maritsa Vegetable
Crops Research Institute, after the famous
Maritsa river, the ancient Hebros, which rises
from Rila Mountain, transverses the town of
Plovdiv, and irrigates the province of Tracia, until
it reaches the Aegean Sea. The first successes
came soon. In 1932, Professor Hristo Daskalov
and his research team carried out profound
theoretical investigations on heterosis and
released the first F1 tomato hybrids the same
year. Due to its excellent quality, this hybrid
remained in production for more than 30 years.
Several years later heterosis breeding was
applied successfully to eggplant, pepper, and
cucumber. The Institute also played a significant
role in elaborating the theoretical basis for
hybrid seed production and its application into
practice. At that time Bulgaria became a world
leader in yield and total production of hybrid
seeds. In 1950, total production was 10,000-
12,000 kg of tomato hybrid seeds, with yields
of 200-250 kg/ha. During this early stage, laboratories
for quality control and technological
analysis were established, striving to evaluate
unique local germplasm collected from all over
the country and preserved in the Institute.
In a period of 75 years more than 300 cultivars
and F1 hybrids were created and widely spread
throughout the country. Some of them, because
of their valuable characteristics, were exploited
in foreign breeding programs. Maritsa
Institute also became famous as a pioneer of
new technologies in vegetable production. The
unique and traditional Bulgarian method for
vegetable growing on “phytarion” (flat level
areas surrounded by low dikes), was mechanized
and adapted for bean, pea and later for
processing tomato, red pepper, and potato. The
Institute was also a pioneer in greenhouse vegetable
production and constructed the first
greenhouses for tomato and cucumber.
Furthermore, the Institute developed the first
plant tissue culture laboratory for potato and
flower crops, established an international
station for potato breeding and cultivar maintenance
with German participation, elaborated
technology for biological pest control, and utilized
hydroponics systems for vegetable growing.
For years the Institute has been a coordinator of
scientific research from several local experimental
stations established on different climatic
zones and soil types: in Negovan (on flowers
and leaf vegetables), in Samokov and in
Smolian (on potato), in Gorna Oriahovotsa (on
onion and cucumber). Many leading scientists
from Maritsa Institute are invited by the
Agricultural University of Plovdiv as prominent
lecturers and teachers to a new generations of
horticulturists and agonomists in the fields of
genetics, breeding, and agrotechnology. The
research groups of the Institute are involved in
international collaborations with corresponding
institutions in The Netherlands, Italy, France,
England, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Poland,
ISHS • 24