Prof. Dora Boyadzhieva – author of valuable wheat varieties of national significance

One of the doyens of Bulgarian plant breeding, Prof. DSc Dora Boyadjieva, departed from the world of agrarian science at the age of 90.

Prof. Boyadjieva graduated from the Higher Agricultural Institute „Vasil Kolarov”, now the Agricultural University – Plovdiv, in 1957 and immediately began work at the „K. Malakov” Institute of Plant Genetic Resources in Sadovo, where her entire creative career unfolded. Owing to her great love for Sadovo and the numerous varieties she created, which participated in international exhibitions and were awarded prizes and distinctions, she was also proclaimed an honorary citizen of the town.

Her first achievements date back to the early 1970s, when, as part of a team, she bred high-yielding Bulgarian wheat varieties. Prof. Boyadjieva’s major contribution is the development of the wheat variety „Sadovo 1”, which for nearly 40 years served as the national standard in group B – wheats suitable for independent breadmaking with enhanced strength.

With its approval by the State Variety Commission in 1973 and its introduction in the country, grain yields increased on average by about 100 kg per decare. It is characterised by stable yield and remarkable ecological plasticity. 

She is also the author of the wheat varieties „Sadovo 552”, Momchil, the high-yielding Nikibo, Prelom, Boryana and the particularly popular in Turkey Yunak, which is drought-tolerant and suitable for extremely high temperatures and drought conditions. 

In 2014 the variety Nikibo became the winner in the category „Seeds and planting material” in the innovation competition at Agra 2014. It is exceptionally highly productive. These characteristics are inherited from one of its parents – the variety Prelom, in combination with good productive tillering and the formation of a dense stand. The variety has medium resistance to the causal agents of brown rust and stem rust. 

The greatest recognition for Prof. Boyadjieva as a scientist is her participation in writing the section on Eastern Europe in the World Wheat Book and the achievements of breeding. 

For her 80th anniversary Prof. Boyadjieva received a personal greeting from President Rosen Plevneliev, who ten years earlier had been a guest at the traditional Farmer’s Day at IPGR Sadovo. In his address he emphasized that her achievements have contributed to strengthening the authority of modern agricultural science, and that her work is an example for all young scientists.

We bid farewell to Prof. Dora Boyadjieva with the words of Chief Assistant Prof. Dr. Ivan Aleksiev from IPGR, spoken on Farmer’s Day 2024, dedicated to her 90th anniversary: „A great thank you to Prof. Dora Boyadjieva for everything she has done for science, for the Institute in Sadovo, for the town of Sadovo and for the people! I thank her from the bottom of my heart!”