ЭлБиб

CONTRIBUTION MADE BY LUKYANENKO'S

WORK TO HUNGARIAN WHEAT PRODUCTION

AND THE MARTONVASAR WHEAT BREEDING

PROGRAMME

BEDO

L. SZUNICS

L. LANG

A g r ic u ltu r a l R e s e a r c h I n stitu te o f th e H u n g a r ia n A c a d em y

o f S c ie n c e s , M a rto n v a s a r, H u n g a r y

Introduction.

Hungarian wheat production profited from

the results of Lukyanenko’s wheat breeding activities in two

ways, both directly and indirectly. The direct effect was exerted

from the early sixties to the mid-seventies when varieties

developed by the excellent breeder were widely grown in

Hungary. The second, indirect effect resulted from the use of

varieties selected by Lukyanenko as initial breeding stock.

The first varieties developed in this way were registered in

the early seventies, but this effect will continue to be felt for

a long time to come. The practical and scientific significance

of this influence is immeasurable.

The twentieth century history of Hungarian wheat

production can be divided into several periods. These include

highly successful periods such as that when the Bankiiti wheat

varieties bred by Laszlo Baross were grown, making Hungarian

wheat production famous for both quality and yield potential

in the 1930s. For a long time, however, this period was not

followed by a further upswing, partly due to the damage

sustained during the second world war and partly by the

agricultural policy introduced in the early fifties, as a

consequence of which Hungary, which had previously been a

wheat exporter, was obliged to import grain. The production

of the wheat varieties bred by Lukyanenko, however, opened

up a new era in the twentieth century history of Hungarian

wheat production and breeding, which can be listed without

any doubt among the successful periods.

H istorical trad ition s.

The close links between wheat

breeding and production in Hungary, Russia and the Ukraine

did not begin in the twentieth century. Originally the links

must have developed spontaneously and led only later to

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