Tasks of the Research Institute of Nyíregyháza of the University of Debrecen ATK involve the establishment of the genetic background of leguminous crops, which fit into the local landscape and are producible in high quality, development of their technology and involvement of new species into industrial production. We have a dual task; on the one hand it is to always produce new, better species which fulfil market demands and on the other hand, high-level realization of the maintenance breeding of already existing varieties. Our dry pea breeding activities have launched in 1985, during the "Protein Programme"; initially it started with naturalization. Currently we have two naturalized varieties. Hanka is a yellow variety, while Irina is a green dry pea. They are suitable for both human nutrition and foraging. The varieties are remarkable for their yield security, high yield potential and excellent endurance.
The Research Institute of Nyíregyháza has been dealing with the breeding of green peas since the 1970s, which resulted in a wide range of high quality varieties. In terms of maturity, these varieties follow each other by 3-5 days, forming a breed line. The difference between the maturity time of the earliest (Léda) and the latest (Zsuzsi) variety is 21 days. Thus, by means of the segmented cultivation applied by producers, 30 days of constant production can be achieved. Our varieties are the following (in the order of maturity): Léda, Zita, Zeusz, Lora, Zsuzsi ("pea family of Nyíregyháza "). Their fertility is excellent; mechanical harvesting is easy due to their endurance and stability. Their excellent drought tolerance and resistance to Fusarium oxysporum are favourable attributes for their production. They are modern varieties in terms of their processing by the preserving industry, their grain size is small and medium, and their freshness is retained for a long period. The colour of the freshly harvested grains dark green and they are suitable for processing by the preserving industry and for cold storage.
A new crossing-based breeding programme was launched in 2002. The aim of breeding is to produce high quality, enduring and resistant pea varieties, which belong to the super early maturity group, and which are dark green, medium or small grained, delicious, securely producible.
Our Institute has been dealing with the breeding of autumn forage peas since 2000. The foundation of the breeding was the cooperation with the Agrobotanical Institute of Tápiószele. Our additional breeding objectives: frost resistance (even up to -12 - -18 oC), tolerance towards diseases, excellent endurance and yield potential.
Autumn lentil was introduced in our Institute in 2000 as well, in the scope of the cooperation with the Agrobotanical Institute of Tápiószele. Stem height is an additional important selection criterion besides frost resistance, as a low stem makes mechanical harvesting difficult. Size and colour of grains are also important attributes.