History and current hop research and hop cultivation in Deštnice
Radislav Fencka, Chmelař s. r. o., Deštnice, ing. František Kroupa, ing.
Josef Svoboda, CSc., V. F. Humulus s. r. o. Žatec
In the south-east part of Louny district there is a village of Deštnice which is known to a hop public as a village with a long tradition of hop growing and in 20th century also as a place of work of dr. Karel Osvald, who here in Deštnice laid grounds for current hop cultivation.
The oldest mention of Deštnice is from 1368 when it was a seat of knight Jindřich of Bezděkov. Name of village is probably connected to the rates of precipitation that were here in the middle-ages. Fort and farm in Deštnice which are mentioned in writing changed owners very often, Bohuslav Hasištenský of Lobkowicz demolished the fort in 1522 , and joined Deštnice to its manor in Líčkov. In 1555 Jiří Popel of Lobkovicz joined Deštnice to its Mecholupy manor. In 1653 Deštnice was owned by Karel von Paar, who probably finished construction of the whole farmstead as you can now see it in the historical part. Next mention of Deštnice comes from 1754 when there was a one-wheel mill here, a game-keeper's house on the road to Nedvidkovo, a palace and a farm. In 1863 Deštnice was bought by Žatec burgess, Anton Dreher, who along with Měcholupy manor acquired also the farm in Deštnice and surrounding land such as Nový Dvůr, forests in direction from Deštnice to Nedvídkovo etc. Furthermore he owned Měcholupy brewery which was founded before 1654 and was in operation until 1926. The name of this particular brewery gave name to one type of beer of the largest USA brewery -"MICHELOB". Anton Dreher further established an export brewery in Žatec in 1898, which finished brewing in 1946.
Hop growing in Deštnice goes back according to written evidence to the end of 17th and beginning of 18th century when hops as well as grape-wine were grown here. By the end of 18th century European vineyards were destroyed by American beetle and hops remained the most important plant and according to written evidence from 18th and 19th century belonged to the best in the region.
With founding of Czechoslovakia in 1918 and the first land reform the farm in Deštnice became state-owned and later in 1925 a breeding facility for wheat and hops was created here. The original farm in Deštnice with an acreage of approx. 150 ha belonged to Dreher. In 1925 it was taken over by the Land Office and 1 00,5 ha were set f aside for an agriculture research station. Of this acreage 51 ha was arable land, 29 ha hop-yards and 20,5 ha pastures. Dr. Osvald, a native of nearby village Domoušice, moved to Deštnice in 1926 and there he began his work which was completed by breeding Osvalďs clones no. 31, 72 and 114 which were the base for fine aroma hops in the Saaz region. The first head of the research facility was ing. Vojtěch Zicha, who stayed at this post until 14th September 1927. The year 1927 can be marked as a date of foundation of state guaranteed research for the area of hops.
As an assistant in plant cultivation ing. Karel Osvald was entrusted by the Ministry of agriculture with management of the breeding work at the test agriculture station in Deštnice on 1st January 1926. Under his management the first selection work in hops was started in 1927. In 1928, when ing. Karel Osvald had already successfully finished his thesis for his doctor's degree, he was appointed an inspector at Biology institute of State research agriculture institutes in Prague and he was also entrusted with the management of the breeding work in Deštnice. In 1931 he was transferred to Deštnice and in January 1932 in the age of 33 he was appointed a head of Research agriculture station in Deštnice. In 1936 the name of Research station in Deštnice, was by request of Hop Association in Žatec changed to Hop research station.
In 1938 by a decision of the Ministry of agriculture, which was implemented in 1939, the Hop research station was moved to Rakovník, where under difficult conditions dr. Osvald moved also all the biologically valuable material. In May 1945 dr. Osvald took over the farm in Deštnice again. Hop research station was moved to Žatec on 9. 7. 1947.
In 1948 the Deštnice farm came under the trust of State farms with headquarters in Ústí nad Labem. State farm Deštnice was created during the delimitation in 1960 and after its renaming to State farm Libořice it remained in operation until 1992. On 1st October 1992 company CHMELAŘ, s.r.o. was established on part of the original Deštnice farm area. This company began its operations with 65 ha of (hops and 550 ha of arable land. Today the company is working on 99.5 ha of hop-yards and 505 ha of arable land. With regards to difficult situation the age of hop-yards was on average approx. 17 -19 (years. Only in 1996 when first new hop-yard construction took place in Sádek and some of the oldest hop-yards were taken down an improvement of the average hop-yard age began. The company focused on planting of virus-free Osvald clone 72. Currently out of 99.5 ha of hops owned by the company 28.8 ha is virus-free hops, part of these hop-yards have been planted with virus-free material of Osvalďs clones 31 and 72 which had been prepared by V.F.Humulus, s.r.o.
V.F.Humulus, s.r.o. is currently also operating in Deštnice. This company was established in 1994 in order to carry out research in hops focusing on preparing virus-free hops of original Osvalďs clones 31, 72 and 114 of Saaz semi-early red-bine hops. The seat of the company is Žatec, Deštnice the area of farm of Chmelař, s.r.o. - original workplace of dr. Karel Osvald and a place of the first hop research institute was however chosen as the place for test hop-yards and research laboratory. It is a traditional hop growing location which due to its character fulfils the needs of finest Saaz aroma hops. Test hop-yards and research laboratory were build in 1997 .The company would like to follow the interrupted tradition of research and breeding of fine aroma hops in Deštnice.
First virus-free plants were acquired in co-operation with a foreign partner by means of tissue cultures of hops in 1995. First field 0,5 ha test was established in the spring 1997 for the purpose of observation of virus-free clones 31,72 and 114 as well as their not treated check plants. Currently two-year results have been released, which are very promising, this is also proved by all observations and analysis independently checked by ÚKZÚZ Brno, hop department in Žatec. Work under way this year involves foundation of choice plantings of maintenance breeding of virus-free clones as well as so called standard hops. Suitable locations of individual Osvalďs clones were currently chosen where a positive selection of suitable plants will take place.
Laboratory was gradually equipped and staffed to enable all the work associated with treatment of so called standard clones using method of tissue cultures, propagation of hops using in-vitro method including subsequent checking of health situation using ELlSA method and in co-operation with Japanese partner also using methods PCR and DIG. At the same time the laboratory provides analysis of plant material to search for virus diseases and also quality hop analysis on commercial base for interested customers. Work in the sphere of in-vitro plant propagation is also provided on commercial base. In this area first contacts have been made, several of which seem promising. Considerable part of laboratory is equipped for work in the in-vitro area including fully equipped cultivation room which can hold 70 000 plants. The room is also equipped with air-conditioning and special illumination which create ideal conditions for growth and development of plants.
