Julius-Kühn-Institut Institute for Breeding Research on Horticultural Crops

Vegetables, medicinal and aromatic plants as well as ornamental plants are in focus of our research. For important species from these usage groups, we conduct breeding research in advance of plant breeding by breeding companies (pre-breeding). All research topics are aimed at efficient, sustainable and resilient horticulture with healthy and high-quality plants.

We investigate and develop the diversity of plant genetic resources for food and horticulture. Wild species, old landraces and cultivars are analyzed for their value-giving properties. In addition to the methods of conventional breeding research, which are still important today, the latest biotechnological and molecular biological methods are used for the evaluation. Project-related ecological approaches are also pursued. In this way, the diversity of horticulturally used species is increased.

More than 400 plant species are used for horticultural purposes. Due to the large number, only selected species can be intensively investigated. The choice is based on current requirements of horticulture. Due to the variety of the processed plant species, the institute is able to flexibly apply the methods to further horticulturally important crops.

The institute has two outstanding areas of expertise. We are a sought-after partner in national and international plant breeding research. In the competence area 'Apiaceae', the expertise on species from the Umbelliferae family is bundled. In the methodological field, the focus is on 'Interspecific and intergeneric hybridization'. Here it is especially the expertise in the comprehensive fields of sexual and somatic hybridization. The institute has the know-how to develop pre-breeding material from genome-wide new recombination’s for various horticultural crops.