The Schroeder Institute in Uzbekistan: Breeding and Germplasm Collections

Autor: Thomas J. Orton, Edward G. Remmers, Joseph C. Goffreda, Mirmahsud M. Mirzaev, David E. Zaurov, C. Reed Funk, Uri M. Djavacynce
Rok vydání: 2004
Předmět:
Zdroj: HortScience. 39:917-921
ISSN: 2327-9834
0018-5345
DOI: 10.21273/hortsci.39.5.917
Popis: Central Asia was largely isolated from the western world from the early 1800s until 1991, when the former Soviet Union was dissolved. During this time, many research institutions were established to work on economically important crop species and to amass large and unique germplasm collections, including the Uzbek Scientifi c Research Institute of Plant Industry (former branch of VIR) and Uzbek Scientifi c Research Institute of Cotton Breeding and Seed Production. The Turkestan Agricultural Experiment Station (TAES) was established in 1898 in Tashkent Province, Republic of Uzbekistan (Fig. 1). Academician Richard R. Schroeder (Fig. 2) served as the director of TAES from 1902 to 1944. Initially, TAES focused on tree fruits; grapes (Vitis vinifera L.); various vegetables; fi ber crops, such as cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. and G. barbadense L.), kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), and hemp; (Cannabis sativa L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), cereal crops, and forage crops. Later, separate research institutes were established to focus on individual crops and initiate specifi c breeding programs. TAES was the fi rst institute in Central Asia established for studies of genetics/breeding and the cultural management of fruits, grapes, and nuts. Schroeder developed improved cultivars of cotton, rice, corn (Zea mays L.), and other crops (Schroeder, 1956). In tree fruits, he focused on improving cold-hardiness, resistance to diseases and insects, and yield. In 1911, Schroeder participated in the 7th International Congress of Arid Lands in the United States for cotton and orchard crops. While in the United States, he collected seeds of legumes, sorghum, and cotton cultivars and evaluated them in Central Asia. Shortly thereafter, Schroeder published an agricultural monograph that was widely distributed throughout the Russian Empire and, later, the USSR (Schroeder, 1913). Following Richard Schroeder’s death in 1944, his son, Alexander R. Schroeder, continued the apple (Malus ×domestica Borkh.) breeding program, developing and releasing cultivars that are still popular in Central Asia: ‘Renet Tashkentsky’, ‘Borovinka Tashkentskay’, ‘Tilly alma’, ‘Letnee polosatoe’, ‘Iskander’, ‘Ubileinoe Shredera’, ‘Navoi’, ‘Dastarhoni’, ‘Argus’, ‘Kalvil Tashkentsky’, and ‘Zimnee Shredera’. Later, Schroeder’s granddaughter, Elena Schroeder, joined the HORTSCIENCE 39(5):917–921. 2004. COVER STORY
Databáze: OpenAIRE