Research - development

PEPPER AND PAPRIKA BREEDING

ZKI always considered the breeding of peppers a priority. Our important objective is to provide delicious peppers for the market for the consumer to enjoy. To this end, we are staying up to date with the latest international and domestic trends in our work. Our breeding is mainly centered around the segments and production regions of internationally dominant pepper varieties. 

We strive to maximize productivity and yield of our hybrids. It is important for us that producers are able to enter the market with resistant hybrids, thus using as few chemicals as possible in a sustainable way.

Great emphasis is placed on the production of hybrids that are resistant to diseases caused by virus and bacteria.  We base our activities not only on the needs of the fresh market, but also on the demands of the processing industry. For us, the satisfaction of the grower, trader and processor who is using our hybrids is both a pleasure and a goal.

The main pepper segments that are included in our breeding programs are: white conic type, blocky, capia, light and dark green hot peppers, tomato peppers and apple shape peppers. In addition to peppers, the breeding of high-quality paprika varieties is also an important task. Our varieties have excellent content values and high yields, and are suitable for grinding or for other uses of the processing industry.

CUCUMBER BREEDING

ZKI’s cucumber breeding now is dealing only with developing parthenocarpic (fruit setting without pollination) varieties. Pickling cucumber varieties, especially spined pickling cucumbers, continue to be in the focus of the breeding. In the last few years, we have also started breeding beth-alpha type  varieties to increase our seed markets. This type of cucumber is grown in large areas throughout the Mediterranean and in the Central and Middle East. 

The breeding continue to focus on the earliness of our varieties, as well as on the high quality and high yield of the varieties. In addition to this, in line with ZKI’s decades-long tradition, we take great care to ensure that more and more varieties of our portfolio have genetically determined disease resistance to virus, bacterial and fungal diseases, especially to downy mildew and powdery mildew.

We have a new breeding direction towards varieties resistant to abiotic stresses. Among these, the first is developing varieties which can tolerate higher soil salinity without damage.

WATERMELON BREEDING

The breeding of watermelons at ZKI gained new momentum in the early 2000s. During this period, it has resulted in a number of varieties which have found high producer and consumer satisfaction. This is due to the decorative exterior color, the exceptionally high quality of the flesh color, the consistency, the taste, the sugar content and the aroma that is present in all of our varieties. The main direction of our breeding activity is the production of early varieties with strong fruit set, high yield, as well as high quality and taste. Our preferred segments are the striped diploid (with seeds) and triploid (low seed content) hybrids,which are resistant to different races of Fusarium. 

In the recent years, we have paid special attention to stress tolerance, i.e. that our varieties are able to produce high yields, and good quality fruits, even under different weather and growing technology conditions.

GREEN PEA BREEDING

Since 1951 our green pea breeding have been taking place at the Institute’s Újmajor site. We consider developing varieties with better than average stress tolerance to be essential, and our testing environment helps us in achieving this goal. Our breeding programs include varieties with different seed sizes in the full maturity range. We focus on dark green seeded wrinkled pea varieties. 

Our resistance breeding is working in different directions, in addition to powdery mildew, downy mildew and Fusarium resistant varieties, we also work on developing virus-resistant varieties. 

Our main goal is to produce internationally competitive varieties with stable, high-yield, and excellent stress tolerance.

PLANT PATHOLOGY GROUP

BACTERIOLOGY AND MYCOLOGY

The work of the bacteriology and mycology unit helps the work of the resistance breeding.

Pathogens needed for the artificial infection of breeding plant populations are always obtained from the most important production areas of the given species and also from international gene banks. By using these pathogen isolates, we ensure the excellent resistance of our varieties to the given disease.

One of our important tasks is to find those resistance sources, which are essential for developing genetically resistant varieties to the given plant pathogenic bacteria and fungi. For every new resistance source an artificial infection and symptom assessment method, appropriate to the host-pathogen relationship, will be developed.

 

We carry out our research at the ZKI Zrt.’s plant pathology laboratory and at different growing equipments, using microbiological laboratory and pathological methods.

 

Among the plant pathogenic bacteria, we focus primarily on Xanthomonas campestris pv. vesicatoria (leaf spot disease on peppers) and Pseudomonas syringae pv. lachrymans (cucumber angular leaf spot).

Regarding pathogenic fungi, we work on developing resistant varieties to Pseudoperonospora cubensis (cucumber downy mildew), Sphaerotheca fuliginea (cucumber powdery mildew), Cladosporium cucumerinum (cucumber scab), Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum (fusarium wilt of watermelon) and Colletotrichum orbiculare (anthracnose of watermelon), as well as on the maintenance of disease resistance levels in already existing varieties.

VIROLOGY

The withdrawal of insecticides in the recent years and the resulting increasing difficulty in plant protection means a new challenge for the breeding. In many cases, it is not possible to use chemical insecticides for vector control. The two pillars of effective prevention have now been reduced to the marketing of virus-free seeds and the use of varieties with adequate resistance.

Our company’s virology unit is an integral part of resistance breeding. It constantly monitors and examines the nature and properties of pathogenic viruses, thus understanding their function. An integral part of viral resistance monitoring is artificial viral infection, during which the resistance of variety candidates can be examined.

ELISA LABORATORY

Our ELISA laboratory is dedicated to help the providing of high-quality and safe seed production, manufacturing and sales. Our laboratory maps and filters out widespread viruses that are specific to a given vegetable species. 

In addition to supporting our breeding programs and our seed production, our ELISA laboratory provides external testing for our partners for required viruses.

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