Werner Hunnius

Werner Hunnius (born January 26, 1929 in Hildburghausen / Thuringia , † August 3, 1983 in Munich ) was a German crop scientist . He worked at the Bavarian State Institute for Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Weihenstephan and was considered an outstanding expert in all areas of potato research .

Professional background

Werner Hunnius attended high school in Hildburghausen until 1947 and completed a two-year agricultural apprenticeship on Bavarian farms after graduating from high school . From 1949 to 1952 he studied agriculture at the Technical University of Munich-Weihenstephan . After graduating as a qualified farmer , he worked as a scientific assistant at the local institute for soil science and animal nutrition and received his doctorate in 1954 with the dissertation " The effects of different physiological fertilization on some factors of soil fertility ".

In 1957, Hunnius joined the Bavarian State Plant Breeding Institute in Weihenstephan as a research assistant . In 1964 he was appointed head of the "Potatoes" department at this institute, which was renamed the Bavarian State Institute for Natural Resources and Life Sciences in 1972 . From 1979 until his untimely death he was head of their plant protection department.

Research services

Hunnius was a recognized expert in all areas of potato research . In the first years of his activity at the Bavarian State Plant Breeding Institute in Weihenstephan, he worked in the "Potatoes" section to develop the basics of the scientific and practical problems in potato cultivation. From 1965, as head of the "Potatoes" department, he carried out a variety of field tests . The cultivation technique, problems of fertilization, influences of the weather on tuber yields, starch and protein content, questions of virus transmission and, in connection with this, the production of plant material were the focus.

Hunnius published the results of his research work primarily in the magazine "Der Kartoffelbau", in the "Zeitschrift für Acker- und Pflanzenbau", in the "Bayerische Landwirtschaftliche Jahrbuch", in the "Kali-Briefe", and in the international journal "Potato Research" ". He summarized his profound specialist knowledge of all aspects of modern potato production in the book " Verwertungsgerechter Kartoffelbau " published in 1971 .

In 1976, Hunnius completed his habilitation at the Technical University of Munich-Weihenstephan with the text "On the problem of interferences between different virus types in potatoes" and received the Venia legendi for the subject of crop production . From 1981 he held lectures on "Plant Virus Diseases" in Weihenstephan.

From 1973 to 1983, Hunnius was chairman of the committee for potato breeding and planting production of the German Agricultural Society and from 1978 a member of the advisory board of the Federal Research Center for Grain and Potato Processing in Detmold . Due to his expertise in the field of potato research, he was also appointed to several international organizations. From 1978 to 1981 he was President of the European Society for Potato Research . The German Agricultural Society awarded him the Max Eyth Medal in Silver in 1981 .

Publications (selection)

• The effects of different physiological fertilization on some factors of soil fertility . Diss. Fac. For Agr. Techn. Hochsch. Munich 1954. Typescript.
• Bruno Arenz and Werner Hunnius: Basics and technology of growing seed potatoes . Bavarian Agricultural Publishing House Munich 1959.
• Recyclable potato cultivation . DLG-Verlag Frankfurt am Main 1971.
• Development of the starch content as the potatoes mature . In: Zeitschrift für Acker- und Pflanzenbau Vol. 139, 1974, pp. 97–110.
• Factors influencing quality in seed potato production . In: Potato Research Vol. 17, 1974, pp. 466-489.
• Position and development tendencies of potato cultivation in the Federal Republic of Germany . In: Kali-Briefe (Büntehof) Vol. 12, 1975, subject 3.
• The protein content of the potato depending on the variety and the environment . In: Kali-Briefe (Büntehof) Vol. 13, 1976, subject area 11.
• On the problem of interference between different types of virus in the potato . Habil.-Schr. Techn. Univ. Munich 1976.

literature

• Manfred Munzert: Obituary for Dr. habil. Werner Hunnius . In: Der Kartoffelbau Vol. 34, 1983, p. 291 (with picture).
• Bärbel Schöber: Dr. habil. Werner Hunnius † . In: Potato Research Vol. 26, 1983, pp. 408-411 (with picture; obituary in English, German and French).

Web links

• Literature by and about Werner Hunnius in the catalog of the German National Library