Aleksandra Savić

Considering the daily importance of vegetables in the human diet, breeders are expected to find faster and more accurate methods of creating new varieties of vegetables. To more precisely meet the demands of vegetable producers and consumers, breeders are increasingly combining hybrid and molecular techniques. The integration of hybrid and molecular breeding represents a logical step towards the development of efficient vegetable breeding strategies. For this purpose, the aim of this review is to point out several representative vegetable species (tomato, pepper, cabbage, lettuce, and cucumber) the possibilities, advantages, and disadvantages of the integration of hybrid and molecular methods of breeding. While conventional breeding techniques are based on selective breeding, mass selection, pure line selection, backcrossing, and hybrid breeding that exploit the effects of heterosis, advanced techniques such as phenomics, molecular markers, genome-wide association studies, and next-generation sequencing facilitate the identification and selection of desirable traits and improve nutritional quality. Breeding a new and promising vegetable cultivar can take 10 to 15 years before it becomes available for commercial production. Molecular techniques definitely represent a faster and more precise part of this mentioned integration. However, classical-hybrid breeding still develops stable, uniform, and marketable varieties without the high costs and significant access of advanced laboratory infrastructure, and without the regulatory barriers that accompany genetic engineering.

In this study, a total of 12 vegetable pea genotypes of different growing seasons were subjected to phenotypic characterization. The vegetable pea genotypes are a part of the collection maintained at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops Novi Sad. The plant material included 10 promising lines and two released cultivars, Tamis and Dunav. The trial was carried out in 2022. It was set up at the Rimski Sancevi site, as a randomized block design in five replications. A total of 14 agronomic traits were analyzed. The obtained research results revealed divergence in the investigated plant material. The statistical significance of all sources of variation was determined by the LSD test. The height of the first fertile node was found to be the most variable feature, with a coefficient of variation of 40.54%. The tested genotypes were clustered into two groups and two subgroups within the second group. The correlation analysis of the examined quantitative traits revealed the presence of several statistically significant positive and negative correlations. Some of the most significant positive correlations were established between the grain weight per plant and the number of grains per plant and the yield of technologically mature grain, while the pod width and the number of fertile nodes per plant had the most negative correlations with the other tested traits.

Grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) is a valuable grain legume known for its high protein content and rich essential amino acid profile. Its exceptional characteristics such as drought tolerance, high adaptability to extreme conditions, disease resistance, and low cultivation inputs, make it particularly suitable for cultivation by resource-poor farmers. However, the potential use of grass pea is limited due to the presence of anti-nutritional factors, including protease inhibitors, especially trypsin inhibitor. This study aimed to develop a rapid and reliable method for measuring TI activity in seeds of grass pea and to investigate the influence of genotype and environment on trypsin inhibitor (TI) activity in seeds of grass pea. A set of 25 grass pea accessions from seven European countries was cultivated in Slovenia at the Agricultural Institute of Slovenia, and a set of 12 grass pea accessions from the Serbian gene bank was grown in Serbia at the Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops. The TI activity varied considerably among the grass pea accessions studied, with values ranging from 26.7 to 90.3 TUI/mg. To further evaluate the effects of environmental conditions on TI activity, eight grass pea accessions originating from Serbia were grown in both Slovenia and Serbia. The TI activity of the accessions grown in Slovenia ranged from 26.7 to 81.0 TUI/mg, while the activity of the accessions grown in Serbia ranged from 40.3 to 57.0 TUI/mg. The correlation of TI activity between grass pea accessions grown in Slovenia and those grown in Serbia was 0.39, with genotype diversity being the largest contributor (55.9%). This study provides a valuable insight into the variability of TI activity in grass pea and shows the possible influence of environmental conditions on this trait. However, since the data are only from a one-year field trial, further studies are needed to fully evaluate the influence of different environmental factors on TI activity.

Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed) and A. trifida (giant ragweed) are very important weed species that are invasive in Serbia and are often found in agricultural regions. When these weeds are present at high densities, crop yields can be significantly reduced or even completely destroyed. Unlike A. artemisiifolia, A. trifida is locally present in the Central Backa region (Vojvodina province), and it is expected that its area of distribution will expand in the future. Starting from the assumption that future distribution of A. trifida could take on larger proportions than now, the aim of this study was focused on examining the interaction between these two species. Experiments were conducted using the replacement design model, in which Ambrosia trifida/Ambrosia artemisiifolia per m2, were planted as density ratios of 10/0; 8/2; 4/6; 6/4; 2/8, and 0/10, in a completely randomized block system with four replications. The vegetative parameters (height and dry mass) of A. artemisiifolia were measured in July, August and September over a period of two years (2016 and 2017), and the results were statistically analysed in the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS 23). In July 2016, the average height of A. artemisiifolia was in the range between 35.00 and 50.40 cm, in August it was from 68.00 to 95.50 cm, and between 83.75 and 99.80 cm in September. In the following season (2017), the corresponding values ranged from 56.19 to 78.50 (July), 98.38 to 125.50 cm (August) and 111.19 to 148.50 (September). An increase in the number of A. artemisiifolia plants and decrease in A. trifida counts per m2 caused an increase in the dry mass of A. artemisiifolia per plant. The dry mass of A. artemisiifolia ranged from 4.22 to 6.11 g/plant (July), 8.96 to 10.27 g/plant (August) and 7.04 to 19.53 g/plant (September). In the following season, these values ranged from 9.62 to 14.60 g/plant, 14.37 to 28.90 g/plant, and 23.43 to 40.47 g/plant in July, August and September, respectively. Minimum values of vegetative parameters were recorded in the treatment with 2 plants, and maximum in the treatment with 10 A. artemisiifolia plants/m2. This means that interspecific competition is more pronounced in this ragweed species than intraspecific competition.

Intensive vegetable production nowadays is a large ?energy consumer?. Producers look only at the economic side of such production, which is most often the excuse for its current realization. Intensive vegetable production is now reduced to cultivating several vegetable species, more often in the single-crop system. By thinking this way we bring the entire production into an unsustainable situation. Therefore, vegetable production in a greenhouse should be organized by growing preceding crops, main crops and stubble crops. Intensive vegetable production implies the maximally well-organized use of available land and resources. This includes proper crop rotation and cultivation practices, as well as knowledge of the market, as a possibility of placing excess production. With the good organization of crop rotation and the timely replacement of crops, we can transform a greenhouse into a useful place for vegetable production.

Macrophomina phaseolina (Tassi.) Goid has been reported as severe pathogen of many plants worldwide (Su et al., 2001), as well as in Serbia (Tančić et al., 2012; Tančić Živanov et al., 2018). However, there has been no formal report of the M. phaseolina causing dry root rot of chickpea in Serbia. In June 2018, first symptoms were registered on affected field plants grouped in patches on approximately 10% of chickpea plants in the area of 3 acres at Rimski Šančevi, Serbia. Withering and death of aerial parts, as well as root rot were observed on chickpea plants at the V6 growth stage. Cuttings from 5 chickpea plants with symptomatic root tissue were surface disinfected with 1% NaOCl solution for 5 min, rinsed three times in sterile distilled water, air dried on sterilized filter paper and plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and water agar (WA) amended with 100 mg/liter streptomycin sulfate (Sigma-Aldrich). After 7 days of incubation at 28°C in the dark, isolates were preliminary identified according their...

The characterization of 41 common bean cultivars and landraces from breeding collection of Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Novi Sad, Serbia, was done based on phenotypic traits and microsatellite markers. Phenotypic traits were chosen from Bioversity International descriptor list. In addition, main yield components were investigated. Analysis of phaseolin type revealed affiliation of cultivars and landraces to Mesoamerican or Andean gene pool. Cultivars and landraces demonstrated significant diversity level with regard to studied phenotypic traits. Identified variation showed high potential for developing new cultivars with desirable combination of traits. Principal component analysis based on phenotypic traits separated bean cultivars and landraces in two groups, which corresponded to Mesoamerican and Andean determined according to phaseolin type. Putative hybrids, with combination of traits between gene pools were also identified. Analysis of microsatellite data, using twenty-two SSR primer pairs, showed medium gene diversity in studied material. Microsatellite-based cluster analysis separated genotypes in two discrete clusters and several subclusters. No clear separation according to gene pool was found between the clusters, however grouping according to gene pool and patterns of phenotypic variation, following these gene pools, were observed within subclusters. Knowledge on detailed relationships of cultivars and landraces based on phenotypic and molecular data would facilitate identification of candidates for future breeding.