Estación Experimental La Mayora




The Experimental Station La Mayora is a Spanish Government research institute that belongs to theAgricultural Science Section of the Spanish Council for Scientific Research (C.S.I.C.), an autonomous administrative organization of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education. It is located in Algarrobo-Costa, at 40 km from Málaga, at the coastal area of the Axarquia region. La Mayora estate was purchased in 1960, and the Experimental Station inaugurated in 1968. It was initially a collaborative venture with Germany, but later it became completely integrated into the C.S.I.C. The property has a extension of 51 Has, divided in 31 plots. It has 16,460 m2 of standard plastic greenhouses and 3,000 m2 of high-tech glasshouses (environmentally controlled) and 5 insectaries with 30 m2. The recent construction of 2 water reservoirs guarantees the water supply for orchards and greenhouses. The main buildings are the residence, the Fruit Tree Building and the Central building where Management office and research laboratories are placed. The Institut is organized in 2 departments: Dpt. of Plant Breeding and Dpt. of Subtropical Fruit Trees and Phytopathology, integrating 5 research groups: Plant Breeding, Plant Tissue Culture and Biotechnology, Subtropical Fruit Trees, Mycology and Virology and a Plant Nutrition laboratory. The research lines developed at La Mayora are included in the scientific programme of the C.S.I.C.. Some of these lines are solely followed in Spain in La Mayora, due to the exclusive subtropical climate of this coastal area which favours the culture of vegetable crops under plastic greenhouses (tomato, melon, watermelon...) and subtropical fruit trees (avocado, cherimoya, mango,...). These species have a high productive potential and a enormous social and economical importance in the country. Important efforts are devoted to solve agricultural problems which affect these subtropical crops. So, problems related to the quality of water and diseases induced by fungi or viruses are under current study. Other interests are the selection of vegetable and fruit tree varieties adapted to the subtropical environment. With these objectives, a multidisciplinary approach is followed, integrating methods of classical plant breeding, agronomy and phytopathology, all backed up by molecular biology and tissue culture biotechnologies. From the administrative point of view, the research groups are organised in just one department, the Dept. of Subtropical Hortofruticulturae. The financial support is provided by different institutions, both public (C.I.C.YT., E.U., I.N.I.A.) and private (Cajas de Ahorro, F.I.A.P.A., several companies). Our projects have produced transferable results to companies (patents, new vegetable varieties). Other results have been published in specialized scientific journals and communications to national and international scientific meetings. La Mayora collaborates with public and private research centres, both in Spain and in other countries. As a result of these relationships, collaborative research projects and researchers exchange have taken place. Other activities in La Mayora are the organisation of national and international scientific meetings and specialized scientific courses.

	See location Map	See Reports	Research Plan	Publications