Zoe Tapu

Education

She graduated from the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine in Bucharest, earning the doctoral degree in agronomic sciences in 1974.

Career

She was described as a pioneer of durum wheat breeding in Romania. Since 1957 she worked at the newly founded Institute for Maize Breeding, and then at the Research Institute for Cereals and Industrial Crops, from 1962 to 1990, when she retired. In 1980 she received the Ion Ionescu de la Brad Prize of the Romanian Academy for her research on transgressive heredity in winter wheat.

She died from heart failure in Ploiești on 11 February 2013.

Dacia (1971) T. Mureșan, A. Iazagi, North. Ceapoiu, North. Eustațiu, Clemența Miclea, C. Țapu, Zoe Țapu Excelsior (1971) T. Mureșan, A. Iazagi, North. Ceapoiu, North. Eustațiu, Clemența Miclea, C. Țapu, Zoe Țapu Iulia (1974) North. Ceapoiu, North. Eustațiu, C. Țapu, Zoe Țapu, G. Ittu, M. Ionescu-Cojocaru, Floare Negulescu, T. Mureșan, A. Iazagi, Elena Oproiu, C. Milică Ceres (1974) North. Ceapoiu, North. Eustațiu, C. Țapu, Zoe Țapu, G. Ittu, M. Ionescu-Cojocaru, Floare Negulescu, T. Mureșan, A. Iazagi, Elena Oproiu, C. Milică Ileana (1974) North. Ceapoiu, North. Eustațiu, C. Țapu, Zoe Țapu, G. Ittu, M. Ionescu-Cojocaru, Floare Negulescu, T. Mureșan, A. Iazagi, Elena Oproiu, C. Milică Diana (1976) North. Ceapoiu, North. Eustațiu, C. Țapu, Zoe Țapu, G. Ittu, M. Ionescu-Cojocaru, Floare Negulescu, T. Mureșan, A. Iazagi, Elena Oproiu, C. Milică Doina (1977) North. Ceapoiu, North. Eustațiu, C. Țapu, Zoe Țapu, G. Ittu, M. Ionescu-Cojocaru, Floare Negulescu Topaz (1977) Zoe Țapu Rodur (1984) Zoe Țapu Pandur (1997) Zoe Țapu, P. Mustatea, North. Săulescu, G. Ittu, Mariana Ittu.

Achievements

• Proving the possibility of obtaining high yield cultivars from parents with low productivity (through heterosis), between 1967 and 1989, Zoe Țapu developed a research program for improving winter durum wheat, in order to obtain cultivars with fall resistance and high yield, using height-reduction genes from summer durum developed at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico. In order to achieve that, she used dwarf plants from International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, which survived to a mild winter, back-crossing them with Romanian durum wheat varieties. Repeated selection for cold resistance of semi-dwarf variants led to the creation of the first semi-dwarf winter durum wheat varieties, Topaz (1977) and Rodur (1984). This new type of wheat set the ground for further progress in durum wheat breeding in many countries.