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At present, the Romanian market is dominated by foreign eggplant cultivars, the most widely used being the ‘Aragon’ and ‘Mirval’ hybrids. Taking into acount this major deficiency in this Solanum species regarding the autochthonous genotypes since 1996, Vegetable Research and Development Station Buzau Breeding Laboratory started an intensive breeding program for eggplants, finalised until now with the establishment of a valuable germplasm collection consisting of 208 genotypes structured by their genetic stability.

A study was established on the Eastern part of the Romanian plain on loam-sandy soil, to determine the adaptation of some new apricot cultivars grafted on two rootstocks. Apricot trees were produced by micro-grafting scion material ex vitro on micro-propagated rootstocks, in February and grown in 4 litre pots in Italy at Vitroplant Italia. The six scion cultivars: ‘Flavorcot’, ‘Sweetcot’ and ‘Tomcot’, grafted on Ishtara and ‘Farbaly’, ‘Farfia’ and ‘Farhial’ grafted on Mirobolan 29 C, were planted July 2009 at 4.0 x 2.0 m. Trees were trained to a four-wire-trellis fixed to concrete poles. The orchard was protected against hail with a black net. In the second year after planting, three shoots per tree were chosen as leaders and trained vertically to form the axes of a parallel trident canopy. By winter and summer pruning, the strong lateral shoots, were eliminated. The inter-row was naturally covered with a mixture of perennial grasses and mowed mechanically. Tree growth was reported as trunk and axes cross sectional area, number and shoots length per tree, typology of the fruit branches, etc. The highest values of the TCSA were recorded on cultivar ‘Farfia’, grafted on Mirobolan 29 C (30.5 cm2) and ‘Sweetcot’, grafted on Ishtara (25.8 cm2) and the lowest (20.1 cm2) on ‘Farbaly’ and ‘Farhial’, both grafted on Mirobolan 29 C. Additionally, data was collected on fruit number, fruit size and yield per tree. The highest yield per tree in the third leaf was produced by ‘Farfia’ (15.0 kg). Three productivity indexes were compared. Ishtara seams to influence positively the fruit size. The biggest fruit were recorded on ‘Flavorcot’ with a mean of 107.1 g. While the planting is still young, the parallel trident system shows promise regarding ease of management, sustainability and efficiency for the new apricot cultivars introduced in Romania.

According to Scientific Research Programs started in 1995 and continued in 2009, approved by the Commission for Scientific and Technological Collaboration between Romania and the People`s Republic of China, some important collaboration themes were established. Identification, breeding and propagation of walnut for the tolerance at biotic and non-biotic stress factors, germplasm exchanges of walnut, testing the biological material in different ecological condition of the two countries, study of the quality parameters of nuts and establish post-harvest technologies were the main topics of the Sino-Romanian collaboration. Within the agreement, seven Romanian walnut cultivars (scions) were sent to China and were grafted for studying the various types of growth habits and cultivation techniques. Five fruit cultivars, ‘Sibisel precoce’, ‘Sibisel 44’, ‘Orastie’, ‘Geoagiu 65’ and ‘Germisara’ were planted in three different locations in Shanxi Province: Fenyang, Yangqu and Xinzhou. The other two cultivars were studied for wood production. The results show that ‘Orastie’ had the best rate of grafting survival. The grafting compatibility was good in general excepting ‘Geoagiu 65’. All Romanian cultivars begin to leaf and blossom later than the Chinese ‘JinLong no. 2’, control cultivar. Those cultivars are extremely advanta-geous for China for breading new late-flowering cultivars resistant to late spring frosts. ‘Geoagiu 65’ proved to have higher vigor, being recommended for inter-cropping or for slope plantation. All the Romanian cultivars proved to have a higher yield in the first ten years than the ‘Jin-Long no. 2’ and meet the requirements of the walnut nut quality standard GB/T 20398-2006. Even so, there were some postharvest problems regarding the fruit aspect, in some years, fruit kernels becoming blackish. The common experience will continue by testing new walnut cultivars.

One of the major current problems of the apricot culture is to have low vigour, compatible and biotic and non-biotic stress tolerant rootstocks for the new released varieties. The Romanian breeding programme has recently released few new rootstocks: Apricor, Cs 6 (interspecific hybrids of Prunus armeniaca × Prunus cerasifera), RoP8801003 ((Prunus besseyi x Prunus americana) × Hackmann) and Mirobolan dwarf, a low vigour selection of Prunus cerasifera. In order to obtain a uniform planting material, clonal propagation is essential. The paper presents some preliminary results regarding the rooting capacity of the new rootstocks. The softwood cuttings were treated with three different commercial mixtures of rooting hormones: Rhizopon, Radistim 2 and Germon. As rooting substrates, sand and sand + peat were used. The rooting percentage and the quality of formed roots were strongly influenced by genotype and by rooting hormones, separately and on interaction. The two rooting substrates didn't significantly influence the root formation, but the interaction of the genotype and rooting substrate was very significant.

Using a 23-year weather record in Moara Domneasca area (Romania), a typical meteorological year (TMY) was calculated by applying a Finkelstein-Schafer statistical method. The characteristics of TMY were then compared with the recent recorded meteorological data for 2007 and 2008. The resulting climate data in the studied area and their influence on the floral biology, including the fruit formation, are presented for a few Romanian apricot varieties. The climate conditions of the last years were more extreme than TMY and their effect on floral biology is discussed.

A trial was carried out to evaluate the influence of N-(2-chloro-4-pyridyl)-N′-phenylurea (CPPU), a diphenylurea derivative cytokinin, on kiwi productivity, on carbohydrate accumulation and metabolism and on post-harvest fruit performance. CPPU (20 ppm) was sprayed on fruitlets inside the canopy 2 weeks after full bloom (AFB). CPPU influenced fruit growth soon after treatment and, at harvest, treated fruit weight and, consequently, yield per vine were about 25% higher than the control. During fruit growth, soluble sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose) were higher in treated fruits than in the control ones. In the first period of fruit development glucose was the most abundant carbohydrate and CPPU treatment increased the fruit glucose content significantly. During the period of starch accumulation, treated fruits showed a higher starch content and a higher ADP-glucose pyrophosphorylase activity. Starch accumulation started earlier in treated fruits than in the control ones. At the end of the growing season the degradation of starch in treated fruits started earlier and/or was faster than in the control ones, so that at harvest treated and control fruits contained the same amount of starch. As a consequence, treated fruits at harvest had higher contents of soluble sugars. This indicates that CPPU induced faster and/or advanced fruit ripening. The chlorophyll content was higher in CPPU treated fruits. During storage, the differences in carbohydrate content disappeared and treated fruits performed as well as control ones, maintaining good quality for up to 6 months.

The researches were done between 2012-2013, many observation and assessments being carried out in strawberry field, on the incidence (F%), severity (I notes; I %) and damages degree (DD%) of diseases which affect the strawberries foliage: Mycosphaerela fragariae - leaf spot, Podosphaera aphanis - powdery mildew and Diplocarpon earliana - leaf scorch. Under the environment of South-central of Roumania, the most tolerant cvs. on the Mycosphaerela fragariae - leaf spot were: ‘Cambridge Favourite’ (GA%=0.00-0.06) and ‘Mira’ (GA%=0.00-0.86). As regard the behavior on the Podosphaera aphanis - powdery mildew attack, the most tolerant cvs. were ‘Cambridge Favourite’, ‘Onebor’, ‘Idea’ (GA%=0.00) and ‘Elsanta’ (GA%=0.00-1.70). The most tolerant cvs. on the Mycosphaerela fragariae - leaf spot were: ‘Benton’, ‘Mira’, ‘Idea’ (GA%=0.00) and ‘Cambridge Favourite’ (GA%=0.00-0.03). ‘Mira’ and ‘Onebor’ are still used in strawberry breeding