Kultursorten

Kultursorten (cultivars) are cultivated varieties of plants that have been developed through selective breeding and are propagated to maintain their characteristic traits. They are distinguished from wild relatives and traditional landraces by planned, uniform traits such as growth habit, yield, fruit quality, or disease resistance. The concept is central to plant breeding and seed industries and is widely used in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry.

In many countries, cultivars can be protected by plant variety protection or breeders’ rights, enabling the breeder to control commercial exploitation. International guidelines from the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) influence national laws. To be granted protection or listed in official catalogs, a cultivar typically must meet criteria of distinctness, uniformity, and stability (DUS).

Cultivars are developed by crossing and selecting parent plants over several generations. After release, seed or propagating material is produced under quality control and, where required, official certification or listing ensures varietal purity and identity. Farmers may cultivate registered cultivars under license or guidelines; saving seeds for some crops may be restricted depending on jurisdiction and license terms.

Each cultivar receives a unique name, often protected or registered; marketing materials refer to the cultivar name together with the species name. Cultivars are chosen for traits such as yield, flavor, appearance, or stress tolerance and may be adapted to regional growing conditions. In German usage, the term covers both seed-propagated crops and vegetatively propagated ones.

Note: In other scientific contexts, Kultursorten may also refer to defined microbial strains kept in culture collections, designated by strain numbers and used in research, industry, or teaching.