STUDY ON WALNUT GENETIC RESOURCES FROM THE SPONTANEOUS AND CULTIVATED FLORA OF THE NORTHEASTERN AREA OF ROMANIA

Abstract

The aim of the paper is was to introduce the valuable features of some walnut biotypes selected from the spontaneous and cultivated flora (from the Moldova area) and homologated approved as new cultivars between 1994-2001 that improve the autochthonous walnut assortment with cultivars that have quality fruits, adapted to the climate conditions particular to the North-East of Romania. Analysing the bloom phenophase, it was observed that during the four years of study (2017-2020), the beginning and end of bloom for male and female plants flowers developed between 20th of April and 13th of May. The date when fruits maturated was the earliest for cultivar ‘Miroslava‘ on the 10th of September 2018 and the latest for cultivar ‘Anica‘ on the 25th of September 2020. Analysing the average production over four years, it can be observed that cultivars ‘Velniţa‘ (3.33 kg/tree), ‘Anica‘ (2.93 kg/tree), ‘Ovidiu‘ (2.85 kg/tree) and ‘Miroslava‘ (2.53 kg/tree) have recorded superior values in comparison with the witnesscontrol control cultivar ‘Jupâneşti‘ (1.88 kg/tree). In terms of fruits weight (g), statistically, cultivars ‘Miroslava‘ (14.3 g), ‘Anica‘ (13.1 g) and ‘Velniţa‘ (13.0 g) are highlighted with highly positive significant differences in comparison with the witnesscontrol control cultivar ‘Jupâneşti‘ (12.1 g). In terms of percentage of kernel’s weight from the fruit’s weight, the 4 four studied cultivars have recorded values over 50%. For each of the studied cultivars (‘Anica‘, ‘Miroslava‘, ‘Velniţa‘ and ‘Ovidiu‘) the shell’s colour (the endocarp) is was light brown, having the surface structure light to medium wrinkled and it breaks easily.