CRITERIA FOR HARVESTING PLUMS AT THE OPTIMUM MATURITY FOR ROMANIAN VARIETIES OF THE FRESH FRUIT MARKET

Plum breeders and growers from Romania want to improve status of the plums for fresh consumption. Plum fruit quality depends on physical and chemical properties (shape, size, skin colour, bloom, taste and flavor, fruit soluble solids content and acidity, stone adherence), but, also, the optimum time to harvesting for the fresh fruit market. Optimum fruit maturity of plum varieties can be achieved by the fruit colour and firmness. For this reason we have studied seven new Romanian plum varieties (‘Alina’, ‘Carpatin’, ‘Roman’, ‘Pitestean’, ‘Sarmatic’, ‘Tita’ and ‘Tuleu timpuriu’), cultivated in field trial of the Genetics and Breeding laboratory in Research Institute for Fruit Growing Pitesti. Fruit skin color was measured by Konica Minolta chromameter model CR 400 based on the Hunter L, a, b-system. Fruit firmness was measured with non-destructive penetrometer Qualitest HPE equipped with a plunger of diameter 0.10 cm2. In addition to these two criteria were also measured others, such as: fruit size, fruit color and fruit soluble solids content.For statistical analyses DUNCAN test was used. Fruit colour ranged from red (Roman) to dark blue (Piteștean). According to the colour chart CTIFL, plum varieties were classified as group 4 - light blue (‘Alina’, ‘Carpatin’, ‘Roman’, ‘Tuleu timpuriu’) 5 - blue (‘Sarmatic’ and ‘Tita’) and 6 - dark blue (‘Piteștean’). After firmness, varieties were grouped into two groups: group 2 - beginning of maturation (‘Carpatin’, ‘Roman’, ‘Sarmatic’, ‘Tita’, ‘Tuleu timpuriu’) and group 3 - optimal harvest time (‘Alina’ and ‘Piteștean’). Regarding the other criteria, like fruit weight and soluble solids content, it can be said that all studied varieties are suitable for fresh consumptio

Education and Wage Inequalities under a Counterfactual Scenario of Minimum Wage

The main purpose of this paper consists in quantifying the impact of a minimum wage adjustment upon wage inequality in Romania. In general, rigorous minimum wage impact assessment upon wage distribution is quite difficult to be conducted mainly because of data access limitations to longitudinal information available at individuals’ level. In this paper an innovative approach is proposed for building a counterfactual scenario through the use of quarterly survey micro-data provided by the National Institute of Statistics. The period analysed in this paper regards the time-interval Q2 2014-Q3 2014. There are several reasons for this choice. First, there were data availability restrictions and second, it was necessary to identify two consecutive periods corresponding to a window-frame right before a minimum wage adjustment and immediately after it took place. In order to check the impact on gender wage inequalities, a 1:1 matching procedure was applied in order to build two distinct gender groups of individuals that are similar in observable characteristics. Both socio-demographic and economic factors are considered. When comparing the changes registered right after the minimum wage adjustment, we noticed a reduction in gender wage inequalities, as males’ chances to earn more in comparison to females drop

THE STUDY OF NATIVE SMALL FRUITS BIOTYPES

The breeding programs of the European countries are based on biotypes from wild flora, because they are the true sources of genes. These genes are able to print in the future cultivars resistance to diseases, pests and climatic stress, and also fruits with the best flavor and phytoterapeutic resources. In this aim, Research Institute for Fruit Growing Pitesti-Maracineni conducted numerous studies of exploring the wild flora in different areas of the country. Following these expeditions were identified numerous biotypes of cornelian cherry, rosehip and seabuckthorn. All these native biotypes were subjected to studies of phenology, productivity, and quality of fruits. These researches identified the highest productivity in the following biotypes: MS-40 (cornelian cherry), RC-CN (rose hip) and MPR2P3 (seabuckthorn)

Education and Wage Inequalities under a Counterfactual Scenario of Minimum Wage

The main purpose of this paper consists in quantifying the impact of a minimum wage adjustment upon wage inequality in Romania. In general, rigorous minimum wage impact assessment upon wage distribution is quite difficult to conduct mainly because of data access limitations to longitudinal information available at individuals‘ level. In this paper an innovative approach is proposed for building a counterfactual scenario through the use of quarterly survey micro-data provided by the National Institute of Statistics. The period analysed in this paper regards the timeinterval Q2 2014-Q3 2014. There are several reasons for this choice. First, it concerns data availability restrictions and second, the need to identify two consecutive periods corresponding to a window-frame right before a minimum wage adjustment and immediately after it took place. In order to check the impact on gender wage inequalities, a 1:1 matching procedure was applied for the construction of two distinct gender groups of individuals that were similar in observable characteristics. Both socio-demographic and economic factors are considered. When comparing the changes registered right after the minimum wage adjustment, we noticed a reduction in gender wage inequalities, as males‘ chances to earn more in comparison to females drop

Aspects Regarding the Traceability in Temperature Measurements

The traceability of national standards to a reference measurement is essential to correctly translate the information about customer preferences described in international standards as a prerequisite which exists for the design of goods that comply with the expected characteristics. The traceability of national and reference measurement standards to the International System (S.I.) is achieved by: comparisons with the primary measurement standards of other countries and periodic calibration with respect to measurement standards of other international and national institutes of metrology, whose traceability to the SI is already proven and widely recognized internationally. This paper discusses how traceability is possible or it is ensured in temperature measurements, by using measuring instruments that are traceable at International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) [1]

Comportarea unor soiuri noi de măr la atacul focului bacterian

Fireblight -Erwinia amylovora Burill. Winslow is one of the most damaging for the apple culture in the many apple producing countries. Under ideal microclimate conditions it can destroy a young apple orchard in a single growing season, and by consequence it is very devastating not only for the apple production growing industry but for nurseries sector as well. In order to restrain and control the disease spread and damages, intensive researches are carried out in many fruit growing countries. This work aim was to assess the infection risks and early warning possibilities for the fire blight infections, under specific climatic conditions, using modern computer software, to assess the behavior of some new released and introduced apple varieties and to establish their susceptibility to natural occurred infections on active growing lateral shoots, in the latest years. According to the software forecast model, in the latest years, the infection risk with Erwinia amylovora on apples was high and very high from May to October. Under the given natural and technological conditions, the most sensitive apple varieties to fireblight attack were: Auriu de Bistrita (ROM) DD%=45.0; Dalinco and Dalinred (FRA) DD%=30-45.0; Topaz (CEH) DD%=35.0; Crimson Crisp and Idared (USA) DD%=35.0; Red Jonaprince (NL), Fuji Kiku Clone 8 (JPN) DD%=15.0.During the identified risk periods the apple trees need special prunings and preventive treatments with plant protection products including copper hydroxide and fosetil-aluminium, to keep them in good phytosanitary status. In order to better manage the fireblight disease, breeding o new tolerant or resistant apple varieties is always actual and a constant request

QUALITY OF SOME ROMANIAN CULTIVARS IN CORRELATION WITH CONSUMER PREFERENCES

The fruit quality is a complex of characteristics and traits, such as: fruit size, skin colour, the content of sugar, acids, vitamins, mineral substances, flesh consistence and succulence, flavor, etc. The objective of this study was to analyze fruit quality of apple, pear, plum, sweet and sour cherry cultivars in correlation with consumer preferences. The study was carried out at Genetics and Breeding Department of Research Institute of Fruit Growing Pitesti, Romania on 17 new cultivars of different fruit tree species: 4 apple cultivars (‘Romus 3’, ‘Romus 4’, ‘Rebra’ and ‘Rustic’), 4 pear cultivars (‘Monica’, ‘Paramis’, ‘Paradise’ and ‘Isadora’), 4 plum cultivars (‘Romanta’, ‘Romaner’, ‘Roman’ and ‘Agent’), 3 sweet cherry cultivars (‘Severin’, ‘Daria’ and ‘Superb’) and 2 sour cherry cultivars (‘Rival’ and ‘Tarina’). The following determinations were carried out: fruit size by weighing, flesh firmness with penetrometer non-destructive Qualitest, soluble solids content with digital refractometer and malic, citric and tartaric acids content with Minititrator Hanna Instrument, such as sensory evaluation of fruits using a scale from 1 (very low) to 9 (very good). The results have revealed that Romanian varieties were distinguished by the highest quality fruits. Thus, on the apple, ‘Rebra’ cv. has been distinguished by its large fruit, firmness and balanced taste. ‘Isadora’ pear variety can complement the winter assortment, being a variety of large and firm fruit. At plum, ‘Romanta’ cv. can be expanded in commercial culture for fresh consumption, and the ‘Agent’ variety for processing. ‘Daria’ sweet cherry cv. and ‘Rival’ sour cherry cv. have shown large and attractive fruits. These results could useful for breeders, farmers and market

EVALUATION OF SOME LOCAL PLUM ACCESIONS FOR FRUIT QUALITY TRAITS

Twenty five local plum accessions originating from national plum collection located at RIFG Pitesti were studied to assess fruit quality traits for selecting some potential genitors to be used in the breeding programs. Studies show that some local plum varieties can be used in breeding work to improve fruit quality, such as: ‘Galbene mari aurii’, ‘Mirabele mari locale’ and ‘Uriase de Sibiu’ for fruit size, ‘Grase’ and ‘Jambon’ for high content of soluble dry weight, ‘Vanat de vara’, ‘Rosior timpuriu’ and ‘Uriase de Sibiu’ for firmness, and many genotypes for tolerance to Plum Pox Virus

EVALUATION OF SOME NEW PLUM CULTIVARS FOR FRESH CONSUMPTION IN CORRELATION WITH CONSUMER PREFERENCES

In Romania, plums are the major fruit species, the most varied in native and cultivated varieties and the most adapted to a soils and climatic conditions. Regarding the assortment, the local varieties have been always predominantly which are designated for distillation, but also some valuable plum cultivars like ‘Tuleu gras’, ‘Stanley’, ‘d’Agen’ and ‘Anna Spath’ which were grown for mixed utilization. From this reason, one of the objectives in plum breeding program is to obtain the cultivars with fruit quality designated for fresh consumption. Following an ample breeding program initiated 60 years ago the old assortment was gradually replaced by new varieties for the fresh market. By for, 40 plum varieties have been obtained in 4 research centres: Pitesti, Valcea, Bistrita and Voinesti. Over the period 2012 – 2014 some pomological characteristics were studied in 10 new plum cultivars (‘Alina’, ‘Carpatin’, ‘Pitestean’, ‘Roman’, ‘Romanta’, ‘Tita’ – from RIFG Pitesti and ‘Dani’, ‘Geta’, ‘Iulia’, ‘Romaner’ – from RSFG Bistrita). Studies were conducted on some fruit properties (size, shape, skin colour, bloom, taste, flavor, stone adherence, defect of skin caused by Plum Pox Virus, in order to select the table cultivars incorrelation with consumer preferences. Based on the results of research and panel test the best characteristics for fresh consumption were manifested ‘Carpatin’, ‘Tita’, ‘Alina’ and ‘Iulia’ cultivars, which presented large fruits and very good taste. ‘Roman’, ‘Romanta’ and ‘Geta’ cultivars presented large fruits and good appearance but the fruits content in soluble solids were low

Effect of Metaxenia on the Fruit Quality of Scab Resistant Apple Varieties

AbstractFruit quality of apples is influenced by the metaxenic pollen effect of the pollinators. At RIFG Pitesti, the flowers of two scab resistant cultivars (’Topaz’ and ‘Dalinette’) were hand pollinated with other apple cultivars: one scab resistant (’Priam’) and two scab susceptible (’Golden Delicious’ and ‘Idared’). Morphological parameters of fruit (diameter, weight, seed number, skin colour) and quality parameters (firmness, refraction) was investigated at the harvesting time in the Genetic and Breeding Department in order to prove the metaxenic effect. ‘Topaz’ fruits obtained from pollination with ‘Priam’ and ‘Golden Delicious’ were recorded good size parameters (diameter, weight) and flesh quality (firmness and refraction). In case of ‘Dalinette’ fruits, among cultivars used as pollinator, ‘Idared’ caused the biggest fruits with flesh firmness