Researchers from the Buzau Plant Genetic Resources Bank (BRGV) won gold medals and a cup at the 2025 Galati Innovation and Research Fair UGAL INVENT for the 'Savarsin' basil variety, the 'Bot de vulpe' onion variety, the 'Penteleu' Jerusalem artichoke species, the 'Gloria' and 'Simila' tomato varieties and for research on the origin and evolution of the local Buzau onion population.

The team made up of researchers Costel Vinatoru, Bianca Musat, Camelia Bratu, Genina Negosanu and Matilda Popescu also received a certificate of excellence at the event.

'We participated in the innovation fair with six scientific papers. These are biological creations developed by BRGV Buzau. They are the result of many years of research and have of course been certified and entered in the national and European official catalogues. These scientific papers competed in this event and were successful. They were rewarded with gold medals and for all our work we were also awarded the grand prize, the Gold Cup,' BRGV director Costel Vinatoru told AGERPRES.

The gold medals were awarded for scientific work in the field of vegetable growing focusing on recently obtained and improved varieties as well as on specialist papers.

'These are recently developed tomato varieties and we also have a Jerusalem artichoke variety. This variety has the strongest vegetative mass. Besides producing a large quantity of edible tubers in the soil it has a very large aerial vegetative mass which can be used to produce pellets for heating systems and the flowers can be used in medicinal products. We also have a ‘Savarsin' basil variety, a red edible variety with a distinctive fragrance. Since the basic resource was received from the Royal Administration at Savarsin we wanted to acknowledge the place where we obtained the basic material for improvement by giving the variety this name. We also refer to the ‘Bot de vulpe' onion variety, the oldest creation cultivated in the Buzau area from the water onion group. Both on the genetic side and in research and breeding such studies were behind the works that were awarded at the Innovation Fair,' the BRGV director added.

Through UGAL INVENT, inventors and researchers can gain national and international visibility with the event facilitating interaction between innovators, academia, industry representatives and the public sector. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Florin Zafiu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)