Page 128 - Zbornik_Konf_2019

https://doi.org/10.15414/2019.9788055220703

4 International Scientific Conference Abstracts Book
th
PRESERVATION AND PROSPECTS OF USE OF THE OLD FRUIT TREE CULTIVARS

Andriy Prokopiv , Narcyz Piórecki , Elżbieta Żygała
2
2,3
1
1 Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Botanical Garden, Lviv, Ukraine;
E-mail.: andriy.prokopiv@lnu.edu.ua
2 Arboretum and Institute of Physiography in Bolestraszyce, Przemyśl, Poland
3 Department of Tourism and Recreation, University of Rzeszów, Poland
Preservation of natural-cultural heritage requires protection and introduction into the
culture of old cultivars of fruit trees. Today’s efforts to gain high crop yields lead to the
impoverishment of plant cultivar diversity, particularly of local varieties which have passed
the test of time. Detection in old gardens and private farmsteads of ancient varieties which
equal or exceed the modern foreign ones in taste qualities and are disease- and pest- resistant
may help develop not only a database but also a nursery garden to accumulate and keep
genetic resources which are likely to be lost under different circumstances.
The above tasks are important in terms of preserving the diversity and gene pool of
cultivated plant forms. As of today, old rural gardens and crofts can be found to hold some
cultivars of apple and other fruit trees dating back as far as to XII–XX centuries. Bringing these
varieties to light can be achieved through a thorough fruit tree inventory at various localities
of a given region, with the subsequent establishment of the base collection. This will make an
important step towards conservation of biological diversity of cultivated forms and their
introduction into gardening. The planting material (cuttings) is needed to create a bank of old
varieties by means of grafting followed by the monitoring of their growth under controlled
conditions.
The above measures are necessary to combine with educational and popularization
activities among the rural population. It is important to bring to farmworkers the knowledge
of old fruit tree varieties and encourage them not to eliminate but maintain these varieties in
gardens and farms. Learning about old fruit cultivars, their preservation, and the use of
ancient recipes of their processing will appreciably enrich today’s cultivar assortment and
provide the basis for future selections.
Implementation in 2009–2011 of the mutual Polish-Ukrainian research project
'Inventory of Old Fruit Trees on the Territory of Eastern Galicia' by the Arboretum and
Institute of Physiography in Bolestraszyce (Poland) and Botanical Garden of Ivan Franko
National University of Lviv (Ukraine) enabled to supplement and broaden the existing
collection of historical apple tree cultivars based on material from different regions in Eastern
Galicia (currently the territory of Poland and Ukraine) and to collect the authentic planting
material of apple varieties preserved in some farms and private gardens. The established
collection is unique and serves a bank of genetic material for further selection, and thus it
needs additional protection. It is important not only to preserve the old apple-tree variety
collection based at the Arboretum in Bolestraszyce but also to enrich it with varieties which
are still absent and which, due to qualities such as resistance to pathogens and pests and
broad climatic tolerance, will significantly contribute to gardening in the region.

Keywords: old cultivars, fruit trees, collection.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Polish National Commission for UNESCO.

|128 4 International Scientific Conference Agrobiodiversity Nutrition, Health and Quality of Human and Bees Life
th
September 11–13, 2019