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Large-flowered vetch (Vicia grandiflora Scop.) is widely present in many Eurasian wild floras, where it has significance in improving grassland communities and environment-friendly uses as a cover crop and green manure. The main goal of this study was to assess the possibility of transforming large-flowered vetch into a field crop and assess the basics for its breeding. A small-plot trial was carried out in three consecutive growing seasons 2005-2008 in Novi Sad, including twelve large-flowered wild populations collected at various sites in Serbia and France from 2002 to 2004 and multiplied ex situ during subsequent years. The population MM 02/01 of Serbian origin had the highest three-year average proportion of plants surviving winter (0.96). The smallest average number of days from sowing to first flower was in the population MM 03/10 (199 days). The population MM 03/08 produced the highest forage dry matter (8.0 Mg ha(-1)) yield stage between full flowering and forming first pods. The highest seed yield was in the population MM 03/10 (2,084 kg ha(-1)). Forage dry matter yield was significantly correlated to main stem length (r = 0.932), number of fertile nodes (r = 0.710), number of internodes (r = 0.640) and number of leaves (r = 0.604). Seed yield was significantly correlated to number of pods (r = 0.930), number of seeds (r = 0.883), number of stems (r = 0.882) and number of fertile nodes (r = 0.768). Our study confirmed that large-flowered vetch may represent a stable and quality source of forage in temperate regions such as the Balkans, as well as that it may have its place in various crop rotations and farming systems. At the same time, the existing phenotypic variability offers a solid basis for further improvement of this species.

Annual legumes represent one of the basic elements of the agriculture of Serbia. Until recently, only annual forage legumes such as pea or vetches were autumn-sown in Serbia and other neighbouring regions of the continental Balkan Peninsula. During the last decade, the first crucial steps in the development of autumn-sown grain legumes were made, with emphasis on dry pea, faba bean and dual-purpose vetches. The winter forage pea cultivars developed in Serbia are generally characterised by prominent winter hardiness and a rather extended growing season, usually beginning with sowing in early October and ending either by cutting for forage production in late May or harvesting seeds in mid-July. One of the strategic advantages of recently released cultivars of autumn-sown dry pea is their significantly improved earliness. The Serbian winter dry pea cultivar Mraz, newly registered in Serbia and developed from hybrids between French and Serbian autumn-hardy materials, is regularly at least a week earlier than winter barley, so many farmers will not have to choose between pea and cereals due to limited harvesting resources. The initial material for pre-breeding autumn-sown faba bean in the conditions of Serbia consisted of both collected local landraces of Serbia and populations from France and Germany. The preliminary results of their agronomic performance showed that they have a great potential for high grain yield in the conditions of Serbia. Promising results in breeding winter hardy cultivars were achieved with several vetch species, as well as with lentil and grass pea, and will be continued with more species including Medicago truncatula.

The identification of genomic regions affected by phenotypic selection during breeding is important for elucidating the genetic basis of complex traits underlying adaptation to a specific target environment. This study investigated the soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) adaptation in Central-East European environments by a hitchhiking mapping approach and pedigree analysis. Population genetic principles were applied to microsatellite markers using multiple outlier detection tests. The analyzed populations comprised ancestral and elite varieties. Genetic diversity parameters showed significant differences between the populations. Eight markers were considered as strong positive selection candidate loci, indicating regions involved in the adaptation. Bottleneck tests provided no evidence of population bottlenecks for the candidate positive selection loci, suggesting that selection might shaped the pattern of genetic diversity in these regions. Co-localisation of the candidate positive selection loci and previously mapped quantitative trait loci (QTLs) revealed a high level of agreement between the identified QTLs and the traits expected to be under selection during soybean breeding. The identification and differentiation of selectively important QTLs have practical importance for future breeding programs, aiming at developing varieties for a specific target environment.