Environmental and hereditary effects in plant nutrition: our collaboration with RISSAC Budapest

Dedicated to the memory of Prof. Dr. Imre Kádár: 1943 -2018

Abstract

Imre Kádár (29^th July 1943 - 1^st March 2018), a world renowned retired scientist in the field of agrochemistry and plant nutrition from the Research Institute of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry (RISSAC) of the Hungarian Academy of Science (HAS) in Budapest, passed away suddenly in March 2018. Our collaboration has about a 30 year-long tradition. Intensive collaboration started in connection with the beginning of the Homeland war in Croatia (1991-1995). Imre’s broad -minded soul was shown by his offer to make plant and soil analyses in RISSAC agrochemical laboratory for a price covering only the costs of chemicals and sample preparing. He made the offer after visiting Osijek and witnessing the total destruction of lecture rooms in the new building of Faculty and Institute, located on the southern outskirts of Osijek, and distanced only 0.5 km from the frontline. Until the end of 2012, we recorded about 6000 plant and soil samples for elemental analyses sent from the Faculty of Agriculture and Agricultural Institute Osijek to RISSAC Budapest. The outcome of this collaboration is numerous scientific and review articles. Until the end of 2016, Imre was included in 51 scientific, review articles and abstracts in total. Topics of our common articles can be divided into three parts: fertilization and liming effects on soil and plants, heavy metals and harmful elements in soil and plants, and hereditary impacts in maize nutrition. There is still unpublished data from the analyses made in RISSAC. We hope that, in the near future, some of the articles will be published including Imre in our team. Imre may have passed away, but his soul remains with us until our last breath. His rich legacy of development of environmental and genetic aspects of plant nutrition at the Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek and Agricultural Institute Osijek will be inspirational for many generations to come.