Latvia State Institute of Fruit-Growing                    

Valentīna Surikova

State Plant Protection Service

The International Union for the Protection of new Varieties of Plants (UPOV)

The DUS Testing Laboratory at the Latvia State Institute of Fruit Growing was established in 1999. The task of the Laboratory is to perform DUS (distinctness, uniformity, stability) testing according to UPOV guidelines and Minister Cabinet Rules of the Republic of Latvia.

The DUS Testing Laboratory does the testing of:

Apples (Malus domestica Borkh.)
Pears (Pyrus communis L.)
Sweet cherries (Prunus avium L.)
Sour cherries (Prunus cerasus L.)
Domestic (European) plums (Prunus domestica L.)
Japanese plums (Prunus salicina Lindl. and other diploid plums)
Black currants (Ribes nigrum L.)
Raspberries (Rubus idaeus L.)
Gooseberies (Ribes uva – crispa L.)
Red and white currrants (Ribes sylvestre Lam.)
Grapes (Vitis L.)
Peaches (Prunus persica (L.) Batsch.)
Apricots (Prunus armeniaca L.)
Japanese quince (Chaenomeles L.)
Lilacs (Syringa L.).

The collection of reference varieties consists of about 300 apple 240 pear, 110 domestic plum, 60 diploid plum, 51 raspberry, 52 black currant, 46 red and white currant, 23 gooseberry, 20 Japanese quince, 82 sweet cherry, 20 sour cherry, 7 peach, 6 apricot, 47 grape and 50 lilac cultivars.

Since its founding, the DUS Testing Laboratory has completed tests of 37 fruit plant cultivars of Latvian breeding. 
At present tests are performed for 21 apple varieties (including 6 of Latvian breeding), 7 plum, 5 black currant, 2 raspberry, 15 sweet cherry and 2 pear varieties.