A Century of Interspecific Hybridization and Introgression in Tobacco

Prof. Apoloniusz Berbec’s research activities cover two principal fields: cytogenetics of interspecific Nicotiana hybrids and tobacco breeding. These two major areas complement and strengthen each other in his fundamental and applied studies. He and his associates have made several novel Nicotiana hybrids and re-examined a few others for their potential as sources of usable germplasm for cultivated tobacco. Under his scientific leadership several successful transfers of disease resistance factors from wild Nicotiana species to cultivated tobacco were made. Prof. Berbec also shows a keen interest in the wild Nicotiana species as sources of cytoplasmic male sterility to be deployed in tobacco hybrid cultivars. At his research unit, he created a collection of cytoplasmically male sterile forms of tobacco. He has studied the alloplasmic accessions for their agronomic merits and expanded the collection by developing several novel alloplasmic combinations.  Prof. Berbec’s breeding strategies have drawn, directly or indirectly, on gene introgression and on deployment of cytoplasmic male sterility.  He has developed and released to farmers a number of tobacco cultivars, Poland’s first F1 hybrids of flue-cured tobacco that combine introgressed monofactorial resistance to diseases and cytoplasmic male sterility for improved performance. Prof. Berbec served, until his retirement in 2018, as full professor at the Institute of soil Science Plant Cultivation, State Research Institute in Pulawy, Poland. Until 2023, he was also editor in-chief of the Polish Journal of Agronomy. In the capacity of plant breeder and agronomist, he continues working part-time for his research establishment.