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Perennial adventitious species Asclepias syriaca L. which originates from Northern America is spread across Serbia, and especially Vojvodina, along the banks of waterways and borders of floodplain forests. Based on floristic and phytocenological studies in Bačka, the presence of ass. Asclepiadetum syriacae Lániková in Chytrý 2009 stands, in which A. syriaca is present with the highest degree of presence (V) and with substantial covering value (2850), can be confirmed. The study shows ecological analysis of stands of mentioned association for basic environmental factors (moisture -- F, reaction -- R, nutrients -- N, humus -- H, aeration -- D, light -- L, temperature -- T, and continentality -- K) based on floristic composition of stands and their ecological indices, considering population and every species coverage in a stand. Given that a combined scale for population and coverage of species in stands, along numerical, has descriptive marks, modification of evaluated values according to Westhoff & van der Maarel scale which is completely numerical was conducted, which enabled data processing. The obtained results of the ecological analysis point to favorable ecological conditions for development of stands of this association, which can help predict the possible directions of spread of this invasive species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During four years (2007-2011), resistance of weeds species Xanthium strumarium L. to ALS inhibitors was studied. Seeds of plants for which there existed possibility of resistance occurrence to herbicide imazethapyr were collected from different localities in south Banat, with a long history of ALS inhibitors use in weed control. Studies were performed in Petri dishes assays (Clay and Underwood, 1990), plant studies (Moss, 1995) and testing ALS enzyme activity in vivo (Lovel et al., 1996 a, b). In the trials, as a susceptible standard population of Xanthium strumarium L. from ruderal sites was used. Resistance index was determined in regard to the susceptible population. By comparative analysis, populations R1 and R2 from the site of south Banat increased resistance to the studied herbicide belonging to the ALS inhibitor group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cereal grains, which represent the cultivated grasses fruits, supply almost half of the total caloric requirements for humans and provide more nourishment compared with any other class of the food. Out of many cereals used for food, maize, rice, and wheat are the most important food resources for humans, representing 94% of the total cereals consumption. According to the data of the Republic Institute of Statistics for the year 2018, the harvested areas of corn amount to 906,753 hectares. The production of about 7 million tons was achieved with an average yield of 7.7 t/ha according to the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Serbia. Serbia is still among the ten largest exporters of wheat and corn in the world for the period of 2014/15–2017/18. More precisely, it ranks seventh in the export of corn. Utilization of maize products for food animal nutrition (1000 t) is 491,48, and for industrial processing (1000 t) 278,862 expressed as the total consumption (1000 t) is 769,910. Therefore, a total of 103 samples of maize products were analyzed for the presence of toxins, i.e., tropane alkaloids (TAs). The samples were collected from the retail stores in the Republic of Serbia in 2021 and analyzed for the presence of atropine and scopolamine (33 corn grits, 39 polenta, and 31 semolina samples). Therefore, the Recommendation 2015/976/EU on the monitoring of TAs in food was adopted by the EU Commission to obtain more occurrence data on TAs in food. The monitoring extent, however, is restricted because reliable analytical methods and appropriate sensitivity are limited. There was a limit of 1 g/kg for each atropine and scopolamine in cereals containing millet, sorghum, buckwheat, or their derivatives. All the samples were analyzed by the LC-MS/MS. The LOQ was set at 1.0 μg/kg. Out of the total 103 tested samples, 32 samples (31.1%) were contaminated with atropine and scopolamine in concentrations above the LOQ. The highest concentrations of the studied TAs were observed in a semolina sample-atropine: 58.80 μg/kg, scopolamine: 10.20 μg/kg. The obtained results indicate that the TAs concentrations are above the LOQ which can be considered potential human and animal health hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weedy-ruderal species Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. (fam. Asteraceae) is in the phase of fast and intensive spread on the territory of the Republic of Serbia, to which it has been introduced from the neighboring European countries. It belongs to adventive floristic element and it is believed that it was introduced into Europe in 1800 from North and Middle America together with contaminated clover seed (Priszter, 1960). On the territory of Vojvodina, the northern part of the Republic of Serbia it was found on the banks of the river Danube, near Petrovaradin, Sremski Karlovci and Novi Sad, as well as near Bogojevo, Odtaci, Bač and Bačka Palanka. It has been spreading northwards near Kula, Begeč and Futog in the region of Bačka, as well as in central and south Banat. As problem of adventive and invasive weeds is not of local character and that spread of such species is determined quite late, when they already become problematic, terrain monitoring, as well as exchange of information between stations that monitor these processes are important. Studies performed in the period 2008-2010 on over 400 ha of non/agricultural and ruderal areas on the territory of the city of Novi Sad, A. artemisiifolia was determined on over 200 locations. Studies were carried over on uncultivated and green areas, and for mapping and distribution of the species, modified method of Brauen-Blanquet (1951) was used. For data processing the specially designed software program Ambrosia Spot Marker (Konstantinovic et al, 2008) was used. During growing season, monitoring of this species was performed because it?s spatial spread, as well as the occurrence of retro vegetation after mowing or chemical control. During the period of studies, Ragweed is found in over 200 locations in 21 urban areas of Novi Sad. Mapping, determination of abundance and coverage of this invasive species during vegetation period from April to October in the three-year study, showed that the highest number of A. artemisiifolia was 50 plants per m². For each city area maps were made in the program Ambrosia Spot Marker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weeds are predominantly of low nutritional value, unpleasant smell and taste and influence on yield and fodder plant seed quality deterioration. As quarantine weed species economically the most important are perrenial ones such as (Cirsium arvens., Sorghum halepense, Convolvulus arvensis) and species from Cuscuta genus. In fodder plants adventive species that are of exceptional biological potential, of high competitive capabilities, adaptive and agressive are also distributed. In our conditions the most problematic adventive species are predominantly from Asteraceae family (Ambrosia artemisiifolia, Iva xanthifolia, Xanthium strumarium, Erigeron canadensis). All cultural practices that enable good soil preparation, timely and quality sowing, as well as later cropping represent basic measures of fodder plant protection from invasive and quarantine weeds. With the aim of their control, treatment can be perfomed in the phase of the 1-3 trifoliate leaf or after first cutting with some of the following herbicides: bentazone, imazethapyr, cletodim, diquat and fluazifop-p-butile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of the QuEChERS extraction followed by the LC-MS/MS analytical method was evaluated in terms of Alternaria mycotoxins recovery from the wheat. The alternariol (AOH), tentoxin (TEN) and alternariol monomethyl ether (AME) were analyzed using the ESI+ (electrospray positive ionization) by multiple reactions monitoring mode (MRM). In order to determine the recovery, the blank wheat samples were spiked at two spiking levels (0.01 and 0.1 mg/kg) in six replicates. The obtained average recoveries and precisions (expressed as the RSDr, %) were as follows: 107.6% (RSDr of 6.84%) for alternariol, 108.0% (RSDr of 6.78%) for tentoxin and 110.1% (RSDr of 6.50%) for alternariol monomethyl ether. The results of this study were in accordance with the Commission Decision 2002/657/EC and Commission Regulation (EC) No 401/2006. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gypsy moth (Lymantria dispar (L.) is one of most important defoliating pests of deciduous trees. Due to increased environmental demands, the use of plant-based preparations is gaining in importance as a control option for this pest in forestry, agriculture and horticulture. The aim of this study was to evaluate antifeeding and insecticidal activity of 0.5, 1 and 2% extracts of Ailanthus altissima bark and leaves, and Morus alba leaves, against L. dispar larvae under laboratory conditions. Antioxidant capacity of plant extracts was determined, as well as the content of phenolic compounds by spectrophotometric and HPLC-DAD methods. Antifeeding and insecticidal effects were tested in a "no-choice" test. The highest content of all bioactive phenolic compounds was in A. altissima bark and M. alba leaf extracts. The lowest leaf consumption after 24 and 48 h was in A. altissima bark (5.03, 9.30%, respectively) and M. alba leaf (1.44, 3.22%, respectively) extracts. A. altissima bark and M. alba leaf extracts expressed strong antifeeding activity. After 24 h, all extracts expressed slight insecticidal effect (2.25-17.50% of mortality). The mortality increased after 48 h in treatments with A. altissima bark extract, at all applied concentrations (40.0-57.50%) and M. alba leaves at 1 and 2% concentrations (30.0-62.50%). Our results indicate that extracts of A. altissima bark and M. alba leaves may act as effective low-cost natural protectants able to control the presence of gypsy moth in ecosystems. Extracts of A. altissima bark and M. alba leaves expressed strong antifeeding activity and significant insecticidal effect on gypsy moth larvae, at all applied concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest in tropane alkaloids (TA) as food contaminants is increasing. A sensitive and selective LC-MS/MS method was applied for the analysis of corn puff samples from the Serbian market. Only atropine was quantified in 22% of the samples. In case of scopolamine, although not quantified, it was detected in 22% of the samples. Whether the acute reference dose (ARfD) could be exceeded was checked on a case-by-case basis for the individual products under assessment. Due to their low body weight and relatively high snack consumption, preschool children were at the highest risk of TA exposure. Assuming that the average consumption is 50 g of corn puffs per day, the sample with the highest concentration of TAs (2.05 µg/kg, 1.58 µg/kg of atropine) could contribute with 32.0% to the ARfD, of which 24.7% owing to atropine. If the same amount of corn puffs is consumed by older age classes, corresponding exposure contributions to the ARfD would progressively decline, down to 8.4% for adult population. The study revealed no health risk from TAs exposure through the consumption of the corn puffs in Serbian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality of milk plays a key role in its wide consumption but also of its involvement in a large series of derived products, such as yogurt, cheese, butter, and ice cream. An effective LC-MS/MS method has been validated for the determination of 81 different pesticide residues in milk samples. The analyses comprised 44 milk samples collected during 2019. From all inspected pesticides, only metalaxyl (present in 11.36 % samples), bifenthrin and metolachlor (9.09 %), dimethoate (4.55 %), prochloraz and thiacloprid were detected in 2.27 % of analysed sam-ples. The detections of trifloxystrobin and bifenthrin were above the maximum residue levels (MRLs). The Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/1135 standardizes the MRLs for dimethoate and omethoate in certain products, but a MRL for dimethoate residues in milk has not been estab-lished jet. All the other pesticide detections were below the MRLs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Milk and dairy products are the oldest and most widely consumed nutritious foods worldwide. They are highlighted as a source of high-quality proteins and the most important sources of bioactive peptides. Milk proteins have high nutritive value and remarkable medicinal properties. They are known as potential health-promoting ingredients of functional foods, and the dairy industry has already commercialized many milk proteins and peptide-based products which can be consumed as part of a regular daily diet. Besides, cheese is highly susceptible to contamination by pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms, which results in a decrease in its shelf life and cause serious risks to the consumers' health. Nowadays, the food industry is continuously becoming more specialized towards meeting consumer needs and demands. Consumers demand safe products, which are also preferably free of synthetic additives. Therefrom to the need to search for natural additives has emerged. Botanicals and their extracts came to an interest as a natural alternative for cheese preservation and quality enhancer. Some substances have demonstrated good effects against most pathogens of cheese such as Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella spp. Nevertheless, it is not quite clear do the botanical addition affect cheese quality characteristics. This review aims to present the effect of added botanicals such as medicinal plants, herbs, spices and essential oils to cheeses in the function of protection against pathogens and spoilage microorganisms, as well as for their influence on the cheese quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) was one of the earliest domesticated plant species. Biological classification (taxonomy or systematization) manifests evolutional relationships between taxons according to trait similarities. When it comes to taxonomy, hemp is one of the most controversial plant species due to significant effects of environmental conditions on hemp phenology and expression of quantitative traits as well as different levels of gender expression observed in hemp plants. Controversial taxonomy of hemp has gone through several phases throughout history. The attitude on the number of species within the genus Cannabis and the criteria used in taxonomic units division were under dispute. Initially focused on morphological characteristics and geographical origin, the approach was greatly amended by the development of molecular and biochemical techniques. The main cause of taxonomic uncertainties is the inbreeding ability of all wild Cannabis populations, resulting in continual variability of quantitative traits. The aim of the paper is to review the history of Cannabis classification including different approaches to this scientific issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary conditions may favor development of parasitism in practice. Orobanche spp. (broomrape) is holoparasitic flowering plant at the root of a large number of crops that greatly reduce the yield in dry, warm, temperate and semi-arid regions. The problem of pathogenic organisms is focused primarily on fungi, nematodes, bacteria and viruses. These organisms certainly cause economically significant damages on plants, and the fact that parasitic flowering plants are economically significant pathogens can be surprising. Roots of parasitic plants develop primarily on annual plants on which parasitic seedlings form haustoria and thus gain a functional root system. In order to create connection between the host and the parasite, some kind of stimulus is needed. The substance for stimulation of connecting the host and the parasite is highly unstable, so the distance between the parasite seed and the root of the host plays a vital role in creating a contact. Cuscuta campestris Yuncker - field dodder has always been known as a plant without root and chlorophyll, i.e. parasitic plant that is completely dependent upon the host. It is generally accepted that water and inorganic nutrients are absorbed through the xylem between the host and the parasite, and organic compounds are transported through the phloem of the host, so that the parasite adapts it by phloem connections. This view has been accepted by almost all reference works and textbooks. The research has proved the existence of chlorophyll A and B in very small quantities in Cuscuta campestris in relation 2.5:1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]