PROCEDURES FOR THE PRODUCTION OF VIRUS-FREE STOCKS OF SMALL FRUITS IN HUNGARY

The production of virus-free propagation material of small fruit plants in Hungary is the responsibility of the Research Institute for Fruit Growing and Ornamentals and of its Research Station at Fertöd.
Selected clones of each variety are tested for virus infection by bio-assay, and virus-free plants are used for propagation if the general level of infection does not reach 80 per cent.
If it exceeds this level, the viruses are eradicated by heat therapy, meristem culture or by a combination of the two.
Heat therapy is done by the Plant Protection Centre of the Research Institute.

Shoot tips of heat-treated plants are either rooted in sand (raspberries) or grafted to virus-free rootstocks (redcurrants and blackcurrants). Healthy plants resulting from this programme are grown on in screenhouses in disinfected soil, and the resulting stocks form the basic material of the Central Nuclear Stock.
Virus-free plants from the Central Nuclear Stock are delivered to Nuclear Stock Plantations which in their turn provide commercial estates with certified virus-free material according to their demands.

II International Symposium on Small Fruit Virus Diseases

S. Achmet, L. Kollányi, A. Porpáczy, K. Szilágyi

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1980.95.11