Variety Management in Hungarian Wheat Production

Bedő, Zoltán – Láng, László

Keywords: wheat production, variety management, variety registration, plant breeding rights, plant breeding, Q10, Q16

Significant changes have occurred in the variety management of wheat production during the last decades, which plays an important role in the Hungarian agriculture. Beside the conventional factors, regulations of EU membership, new plant breeding technologies, new marketing system and the changing crop production influenced the variety management in wheat production.
Traditionally, the agroecological environment is favourable for wheat growing in Hungary, and it is a comparative advantage that the growing conditions are suitable for both high yield and good quality production. However, the stability of wheat production is endangered by the frequent extreme weather conditions, the extremely high number of varieties involved in the production, as well as the low technological management. One of the possibilities of wheat sector development is the production of special products with higher added value. Achievement of this aim is realistic if a closer collaboration between the wheat growers and the industrial and/or commercial sector would be elaborated and they would jointly determine the suitable variety with good quality traits, the production traceability requirements, as well as the pricing of special quality products.
According to the UPOV regulations, the patent law as well as the Hungarian Seed Law the Hungarian plant variety registration and variety protection is compatible with the EU laws. The number of varieties multiplied in seed production has increased significantly, the Hungarian farmers are not prepared yet to select the right varieties. We can find more varieties which are on the EU list - without any experimental background and production experience in Hungarian environments - than varieties on the National List. It would be recommended to increase the prestige of the national variety registration system by introducing a recommended variety list, similar to the German practice.
The seed industry together with plant breeding has been moved into the private sector during the last few decades worldwide. Large international consortia have been established to improve the efficiency of the innovation in the field of plant breeding with the participation of the multinational companies and the public sector.

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