sodininkystė ir daržininkystė 32(3–4)

SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF THE INSTITUTE OF HORTICULTURE,LITHUANIAN RESEARCH CENTRE FOR AGRICULTURE ANDFORESTRY AND ALEKSANDRAS STULGINSKIS UNIVERSITY .SODININKYSTĖ IR DARŽININKYSTĖ. 2013. 32(3–4).Orchard Plant Breeding, Genetics, and BiotechnologyResearch at the Institute of Horticulture, LRCAFDanas Baniulis 1 , Dalia Gelvonauskienė 1 , Rytis Rugienius 1 ,Audrius Sasnauskas 1 , Gražina Stanienė 1 , Inga Stepulaitienė 1 ,Birute Frercks 1 , Sidona Sikorskaitė 1 , Vanda Lukoševičiūtė 1 ,Ingrida Mažeikienė 1 , Jūratė Bronė Šikšnianienė 1 ,Šarūnė Morkūnaite-Haimi 1 , Perttu Haimi 1 ,Vidmantas Bendokas 1 , Bronislovas Gelvonauskis 2 ,Tadeušas Šikšnianas 1 , Vidmantas Stanys 11Department of Orchard Plant Genetics and Biotechnology,Institute of Horticulture, Lithuanian Research Centre forAgriculture and Forestry, Babtai LT-54333, Kaunas distr.,Lithuania, e-mail d.baniulis@lsdi.lt2Plant Gene Bank, Ministry of Environment, Kėdainiai district,LT-58343 Akademija, Lithuania.Institute of Horticulture of Lithuanian Research Centre for Agriculture and Forestry(IH, LRCAF), is a scientific research institution engaged in horticultural plant collection,evaluation, breeding and research. This review presents achievements in breeding and researchon temperate fruit species at the Institute. As horticulture in Northern Europe presentsspecific challenges, a history of horticultural science in Lithuania that laid the foundationfor establishment of the Institute and directions for breeding and research activities has beenoverviewed. Horticultural plant breeding has been the major activity at the Institute, focusedon black currant (Ribes nigrum), gooseberry (Ribes uva-crispa), strawberry (Fragaria annanassa;Fragaria vesca), tree fruits (Malus domestica; Pyrus communis), sweet cherry (Prunusavium), sour cherry (Prunus cerasus), plum (Prunus domestica), and other crops. From theseefforts, the IH, LRCAF has developed over 90 new improved cultivars. Scientists have focusedon improving cold hardiness, resistance to diseases and pests, and yield as well as shippingand shelf life qualities in tree fruits. Research is also concentrated on fruit quality, plantdevelopment and biotechnology applications aimed at ensuring high quality of reproductivematerial for fruit plant production practices. The preservation of genetic resources is alsoa primary goal at the Institute. At the present time the collection of temperate fruit speciesincludes over 1 800 advanced accessions.Key words: breeding, Fragaria, germplasm, Malus, Pyrus, Prunus, Ribes.21