Christo Daskalow

Christo Stefanow Daskalow ( Bulgarian Христо Стефанов Даскалов ; born February 18, 1903 in Waglewzi near Veliko Tarnovo ; † May 4, 1983 in Sofia ) was a Bulgarian biologist .

Life

Daskalow studied agriculture at the Martin Luther University in Halle (Saale) . In 1928 he received a scholarship in plant genetics and breeding from the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture and joined the group of Herman Nilsson-Ehle in Sweden and later Arnold Scheibe in Berlin-Dahlem . In 1930 he returned to Bulgaria and worked as director of the research station in Knescha and department head of the research station in Sadowo .

In 1932 Daskalow studied the genetics of vegetables in the research station for vegetables and rice in Plovdiv , today the Maritza Vegetable Crops Research Institute . In 1946 he became a professor and in 1948 the first rector of the Agricultural University of Plovdiv . In 1948 Daskalow was elected to the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS) accordingly and in 1952 . From 1952 to 1978 he was director of the Institute for Genetics at BAS. At the same time he made a significant contribution to the development of biological and agricultural sciences in Bulgaria as President of the Academy of Agricultural Sciences and later as Vice President of BAS.

Daskalow's energy and scientific creativity expanded to include various vegetables, including A. Pepper and eggplant, but tomatoes remained his most popular research subject. For five decades Daskalov played an important role in the development of tomato genetics and breeding in Bulgaria. The results of his research proved to be equally important in theory and practice. Daskalov's scientific interest grew to a wealth of questions, the heterosis effect and its usefulness in tomato breeding was one of his most important research subjects. The idea of ​​using the genetic distance of the parents as an indicator in tracking the heterosis effect in tomatoes was reported by Daskalow in 1942. He found that breeding lines based on interspecific hybrid formation are characterized by a highly combined ability for economically important properties. On this basis, he came to the conclusion that the hybrids for the production of heterosis in early and total yield should contain lines from different sources. In 1932 Daskalow developed the first tomato hybrid "Saria × Komet" in the agricultural research station in Plovdiv, where the first quantities of the hybrid seeds were also produced.

The long years of research into heterosis, its causal factors and its application in practice ultimately led to the development of a large number of tomato hybrids, such as "No 10 × Bizo", "Triumph" and "Ogosta". From 1949 until the late sixties, the hybrid “No 10 × Bizo” was number 1 for early field production in Bulgaria. (In Europe and around the world, tomato hybrids began to take over the market in the late sixties and early seventies, and their use increased dramatically over the following decades.) He is co-author of "Cristy," which was between 1975 and In 1989 the most widespread tomato hybrid for early and mid-early field production in the country, when Bulgaria was the main exporter of fresh tomatoes of the Eastern Bloc (the exported quantities were mostly from Bulgarian culture) and an important producer of hybrid seeds (3-4 tons per year). In his activity Daskalow created 25 new varieties.

Another important and fascinating problem that Daskalow approached during his studies was finding ways to simplify the process of hybrid tomato seed production. To this end, it and its staff concentrated on detailed studies of different types of genetic male sterility. His colleagues continued this research after the death of Prof. Daskalow and during the last 20 years positional sterile (ps 2) mutants were successfully used in hybrid breeding. Currently, about 70% of the Bulgarian hybrids on the market that are widespread in the country have ps 2-sterile parent plants, which has significantly improved the productivity of hybrid seed production.

During the early 1970s, Daskalow encouraged the development of another research area - tomato genetics and breeding for high nutrient and market quality. On the basis of interspecific hybridization and mutated genes, he and his colleagues were able to develop successful breeding lines with high drought resistance and high levels of vitamin C and lycopene .

Daskalow was the preferred partner in the development of international projects. For a long time he was involved in projects with the Dutch company Sluis and Groot, together with various institutes from the Eastern Bloc countries. The results of Daskalov's research are presented in more than 150 scientific papers, book chapters and monograms, published in Bulgaria and abroad. His research results and achievements place him as the undisputed founder of the Bulgarian horticultural science and the genetic improvement of tomato, pepper, eggplant, watermelon bring him international recognition. This is proven by hundreds of citations from his work.

He became a member of the Academy of Sciences in Poland, Hungary, the former USSR, the Agricultural Academy of the former GDR, honorary doctorates from the Humboldt University in Berlin and the University of Horticulture in Budapest. One of his many talents was a love and talent for music and he often entertained himself and his colleagues playing the violin.

Daskalov was awarded the Dimitrov Prize as a hero of socialist work .

literature

• Daskalow, Christo Stefanow . In: Taschenlexikon Bulgaria , Bibliographisches Institut Leipzig 1983, page 51.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Daskalow, Christo (1942) Results from 13 crossings: Sol. Racemigerum × Sarya and Plovdiv. Breeder SIV / 5: 105-111.
2. ↑ Daskalow, Christo (1955) The heterosis and its exploitation in vegetable growing. German Agriculture 8: 2-6.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Daskalow, Christo; Yordanow, M. and Ognianowa, A. (1967) Heterosis in tomatoes. Bulg. Academy of Sciences Press, Sofia, Bulgaria.
4. ↑ Daskalow, Christo (1937) Contribution to the study of heterosis in tomatoes in relation to the production of heterosis for practice. Horticultural Science, XI, 2: 129-143.
5. ↑ Daskalow, Christo; Konstantinova, M .; Molle, E .; Baraliewa, D. (1990) Genetic studies on tomato quality. Bulg. Academy of Sciences Press, Sofia, Bulgaria.