Biodiversity of wild fruit species of Serbia

Several field collecting trips in the 2009-2011 period confirmed that forest fruit species are an inexhaustible genofond of extremely important varieties that yield fruit of excellent quality and high nutritive value, with wide range of applications, including nutritional, medicinal and food production. The aim of this work was to develop long term interactive and integrated strategy for selection of wild fruit species through different breeding methods, as well as popularization of selected products and their integration into intensive fruit growing. The most important morphological, ecological, and biological characteristics were studied and presented for Cornus mas, Sambucus nigra, Morus sp. and Rosa sp. For each studied fruit species, advanced selections for cultivar release has been reported.