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Numerous molecular systematic studies within Brassicaceae have resulted in a strongly improved classification of the family, as morphologically defined units at and above the generic level were often found to poorly reflect phylogenetic relationships. Here, we focus on tribe Alysseae, which despite its size (accounting for about 7% of all species) has only received limited coverage in previous phylogenetic studies. Specifically, we want to test phylogenetic hypotheses implied by current tribal and generic circumscriptions and to put diversification within tribe Alysseae into a temporal context. To this end, sequence data from the nrDNA ITS and two plastid regions (ndhF gene, trnL-F intergenic spacer) were obtained for 176 accessions, representing 16 out of 17 currently recognized genera of the tribe, and were phylogenetically analysed, among others, using a relaxed molecular clock. Due to large discrepancies with respect to published ages of Brassicaceae, age estimates concerning Alysseae are, however, burdened with considerable uncertainty. The tribe is monophyletic and contains four strongly supported major clades and Alyssum homalocarpum, whose relationships among each other remain uncertain due to incongruences between nuclear and plastid DNA markers. The largest genus of the tribe, Alyssum, is not monophyletic and contains, apart from A. homalocarpum, two distinct lineages, corresponding to sections Alyssum, Psilonema, Gamosepalum and to sections Odontarrhena and Meniocus, respectively. Clypeola, whose monophyly is supported only by the plastid data, is very closely related to and possibly nested within the second Alyssum lineage. Species of the genus Fibigia intermingle with those of Alyssoides, Clastopus, Degenia, and Physoptychis, rendering Fibigia polyphyletic. The monotypic genera Leptoplax and Physocardamum are embedded in Bornmuellera.

Nine new microsatellite markers (SSR) were isolated from Salvia officinalis L. A total of 125 alleles, with 8 to 21 alleles per locus, were detected in a natural population from the east Adriatic coast. The observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity, and polymorphic information content ranged from 0.46 to 0.83, 0.73 to 0.93 and 0.70 to 0.92, respectively. New microsatellite markers, as well as previously published markers, were tested for cross-amplification in Salvia brachyodon Vandas, a narrow endemic species known to be present in only two localities on the Balkan Peninsula. Out of 30 microsatellite markers tested on the natural S. brachyodon population, 15 were successfully amplified. To obtain evidence of recent bottleneck events in the populations of both species, observed genetic diversity (H$_E$) was compared to the expected genetic diversity at mutation-drift equilibrium (H$_{EQ}$) and calculated from the observed number of alleles using a two-phased mutation model (TPM). Recent bottleneck events were detected only in the S. brachyodon population. This result suggests the need to reconsider the current threat category of this endemic species.

Pseudomonas syringae is the main pathogen responsible for bacterial blight disease in pea and can cause yield losses of 70%. P. syringae pv. pisi is prevalent in most countries but the importance of P. syringae pv. syringae (Psy) is increasing. Several sources of resistance to Psy have been identified but genetics of the resistance is unknown. In this study the inheritance of resistance to Psy was studied in the pea recombinant inbred line population P665 × 'Messire'. Results suggest a polygenic control of the resistance and two quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance, Psy1 and Psy2, were identified. The QTL explained individually 22.2 and 8.6% of the phenotypic variation, respectively. In addition 21 SSR markers were included in the P665 × 'Messire' map, of which six had not been mapped on the pea genome in previous studies. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V., Financial support by AGL2008-01239, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación GEN2006-27798-C6-3-E/VEG and Junta de Castilla y León ITACyL 2004/845 projects is acknowledged.

Amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) markers were used to assess genetic relations of 32 Thymus populations belonging to seven species of genus Thymus, section Serpyllum, from Serbia. The collected species belong to three subsections: (1) Alternantes Klokov (Th. pulegioides L.), (2) Isolepides (Borbas) Halacsy (Th. glabrescens Willd., Th. marschallianus Willd., Th. pannonicus All.), and (3) Pseudomarginati (Braun ex Borbas) Jalas (Th. balcanus Borbas, Th. moesiacus Velen., Th. praecox Opiz). Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) revealed that most of the genetic diversity was attributable to differences among individuals within populations, while the remaining variability was almost equally distributed among species and among populations within species. The pairwise AMOVA analyses further showed that species differentiation was significant in all cases, except between Th. marschallianus and Th. pannonicus. All the individuals belonging to Th. pulegioides (subsection Alternantes) formed a well-supported clade, the most divergent from all other species in this study. This genetic differentiation of Th. pulegioides is supported by its morphological features because it is the only analyzed taxon having hairs only on the stem edges, and can easily be recognized by this character. According to our results, the subsection Isolepides is polyphyletic. Th. glabrescens is clearly separated from the other two species of this subsection (Th. marschallianus, Th. pannonicus). Although morphologically distinguishable by leaf indumentum, individuals belonging to Th. marschallianus and Th. pannonicus could not be differentiated at the molecular level. The species belonging to subsection Pseudomarginati formed a monophyletic clade, although not supported by high bootstrap value. The clade is further divided into three well-supported clades representing distinct species (Th. balcanus, Th. praecox and Th. moesiacus). In our study, the AFLP markers demonstrated that they could be suitable for studying complex genetic relationships, including frequent interspecies hybridization events, although strict reticulate evolutionary history could not be determined. All the population genetic parameters in the section Serpyllum suggest that the reproductive incompatibility between the species is very weak, which indicates a strong reticulating system, especially in the case when two or more species occur sympatrically.

The use of medicinal and aromatic plants (MAP) in Croatia has a very long tradition. Commercial gathering was economically important source of income in many Croatian regions. However, gathering in the wildness has a negative impact on biodiversity, collected plant material is not uniform and its price is significantly lower. Current production of medicinal and aromatic crops in Croatia is very limited. The MAP cultivation on family farms is usually marginal activity. MAP producers and processors generally agree that marketing opportunities do exist in case of a number of species. Natural MAP populations in Croatia show great biodiversity in morphological, biochemical and genetic level. The assessment of biodiversity is a starting point for efficient conservation of plant genetic resources and its use in plant breeding programmes. The main aim of the management of plant genetic resources is conservation, characterization, evaluation and documentation of the existing genetic biodiversity. For the purpose of conservation of these valuable genetic resources, The Collection of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants has been established at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, Croatia. Characterization and evaluation of accessions in plant genebanks is traditionally based on morphological traits. Currently, the analysis of target species including Dalmatian sage (Salvia officinalis L.), Dalmatian pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium/Trevir./Sch. Bip.) and basils (Ocimum spp.) has been carried out on morphological, biochemical and genetic level.

The expression of seed dormancy related to germination temperature was studied in 25 wheat genotypes grown in the field at two locations near Zagreb and Županja in Croatia during 2008/2009 growing season. Germination tests were conducted at 15, 20 and 25 °C at harvest maturity (Time 1) as well as after 10 days (Time 2) and 15 months (Time 3) of seed after-ripening at room temperature, respectively. Significant (P

The present study reports the setting up of Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) markers in olive (Olea europaea L.). Two genomic representations were generated using the PstI/. TaqI combination. A first one was aimed to cover the variability available at the World Olive Germplasm Bank (WOGB) and it was based on DNA from 87 olive cultivars carefully selected from the WOGB to represent the olive variability. The second one was obtained from DNA of the parents of a mapping population, 'Picual' and 'Arbequina', and was used to increase the number of markers segregating within them. A total of 2031 and 1630 markers were used for diversity and mapping analyses, respectively to test the utility of DArT markers in olive. A set of 62 cultivars was genotyped with olive-specific DArT markers. A dendrogram was constructed confirming the relationships among olive cultivars reported in previous works. Besides, DArT markers permitted the unambiguous discrimination of all 62 genotypes confirming thus their utility for identification studies, an important issue for management of germplasm collections. DArT markers also allowed the construction of a genetic map of olive using the population derived from the cross 'Picual'. ×. 'Arbequina' and the pseudo-testcross mapping strategy. This map will be used as a framework map to add new markers derived from olive sequencing originating from the project OLEAGEN. In conclusion, olive-specific DArT markers will enhance identification and genetic studies in olive given their high throughput and low cost per data. © 2011 Elsevier B.V.

Essential oils of 25 indigenous populations of Dalmatian sage (Salvia officinalis L.) that represent nearly half of native distribution area of the species were analyzed. Plantlets collected from wild populations were grown in the same field under the same environmental conditions and then sampled for essential-oil analysis. The yield of essential oil ranged from 1.93 to 3.70% with average of 2.83%. Among the 62 compounds detected, eight (cis-thujone, camphor, trans-thujone, 1,8-cineole, beta-pinene, camphene, borneol, and bornyl acetate) formed 78.1387.33% of essential oils of individual populations. Strong positive correlations were observed between camphor and beta-pinene,beta-pinene and borneol, as well as between borneol and bornyl acetate. The strongest negative correlation was detected between camphor and trans-thujone. Principal component analysis (PCA) on the basis of eight main compounds showed that first main component separated populations with high thujone content, from those rich in camphor, while the second component separated populations rich in cis-thujone from those rich in trans-thujone. Cluster analysis (CA) led to the identification of three chemotypes of S. officinalis populations: cis-thujone; trans-tujone, and camphor/beta-pinene/borneol/bornyl acetate. We propose that differences in essential oils of 25 populations are mostly genetically controlled, since potential environmental factors were controlled in this study.

 Premise of the study: Microsatellite primers were identifi ed to study the genetic diversity, population genetic structure, and relationships of common sage and closely related species.  Methods and Results: Nine novel polymorphic trinucleotide microsatellite loci were identifi ed for Salvia offi cinalis . A total of 127 alleles were observed. The observed and expected heterozygosity values ranged from 0.375 to 0.880 and from 0.624 to 0.931, respectively. Nine new and 11 previously published microsatellite primers were tested for cross-amplifi cation. The species with the most successful cross-amplifi cation was S. fruticosa .  Conclusions: The nine new microsatellite markers will be useful in genetic studies of wild and cultivated populations of common sage and are potentially useful in genetic studies of closely related species.

Most commercial basil cultivars belong to the species Ocimum basilicum L. Moreover, within O. basilicum species there are six main botanical varieties and cultivars (var. basilicum 'Genovese', var. basilicum 'Sweet Basil', var. difforme Benth., var. purpurascens Benth., 'Dark Opal' and var. thyrsiflorum /L./ Benth.) which are mainly found on the market. High levels of both morphological and chemical variability exist within the species due to the intra- and interspecific hybridization and long-term uses throughout the world. The aim of this work was to study the resolving power of morphological traits for reliable identification of basil accessions. Phenotypic dissimilarities between pairs of accessions were calculated and the UPGMA dendrogram was constructed. Six clearly defined clusters have been detected, giving a good representation of traditional taxonomic relationships. To compare the efficiency of the morphological traits in accession identification, confusion probability and discriminating power of each trait was calculated. Our results show that with a careful analysis and stringent selection of traits, morphological markers provide an inexpensive and reliable method for routine screening of a large number of accessions, in order to monitor and manage germplasm collections.

SummaryThe Croatian olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivar, ‘Lastovka’ is mainly used for oil production. While fruit yields are high and regular, the growing area is limited due to its sensitivity to low temperatures, with production concentrated on the South Dalmatian island of Korcula. Different morphological types have been observed during production. In order to determine the extent of intra-cultivar diversity, 47 individual ‘Lastovka’ trees were analysed for 11 morphological traits and assessed using AFLP markers, and compared to ten trees each of the cultivars ‘Oblica’ and ‘Drobnica’. Clear differentiation among cultivars was detected, and the results showed that both the morphological and molecular data were equally reliable for discriminating between cultivars. The existence of intra-cultivar diversity in ‘Lastovka’ was therefore confirmed at both the morphological and molecular levels, providing an opportunity for the selection of potentially superior clones.

In a previous study a genetic map had been developed using a RIL population derived from a cross between the Pisum sativum ssp. syriacum accession P665 and the P. sativum ssp. sativum cv. Messire. This population segregated for several agricultural important traits and was successfully used to identify QTLs (Quantitative Trait Loci) controlling resistance to Mycosphaerella pinodes and Orobanche crenata, earliness, root length and aerial biomass. However, this map contained only a few markers in common with the international pea consensus map, hampering comparison with other pea maps. The objective of this study was to incorporate a set of common transferable and reproducible markers into the P665 × Messire map to favour comparative mapping and QTL validation. Seventy-eight out of the 248 SSRs assayed resulted polymorphic in the parental lines. Thirty-eight of them, uniformly distributed all over the genome, were genotyped in the whole population and included in the map. This SSR enriched map allowed identification of six new QTLs (three for resistance to M. pinodes, two for resistance to broomrape and one for root length). Inclusion of the SSRs confirmed the homology of some of the QTLs identified in the population P665 × Messire with other QTLs associated with related traits in different pea genetic backgrounds. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V., Support by projects AGL2008-01239 and RTA2007-00030 is acknowledged. SF was funded by Juan de la Cierva Program of the Spanish MICINN.

DNA fingerprinting (AFLP) and chemical analyses of essential oils were utilized to define the extent of variation existing in the genus Ocimum. Research was carried out on 22 Ocimum accessions representing seven species. Concerning the essential oil composition of all investigated accessions, 115 compounds were identified. UPGMA cluster analysis, based on Euclidian distances of essential oil constituents between all pairs of accessions, showed four well-supported clusters (O. tenuiflorum, O. basilicum/O. africanum, O. basilicum, and O. americanum/O. africanum). Relating to the essential oil composition of all of the investigated accessions, 17 compounds were identified as the main ones, and according to them 13 chemotypes were determined. AFLP relationships were determined by neighbor-joining (NJ) cluster analysis based on Dice’s distance matrix and by maximum parsimony (MP) analysis. O. basilicum, O. americanum/O. africanum, O. tenuiflorum, and O. gratissimum represented four clusters supported with high bootstrap values. A neighbor-net diagram allowed the visualization of apparently conflicting data by revealing relationships between genotypes and chemotypes. Concerning the O. africanum species, two distinct chemotypes, geranial/neral (accession 11) and estragol (accession 10), have been established, while all the studied O. americanum accessions belong to the geranial/neral chemotype. This could be additional evidence that O. americanum is one of the parents of O. africanum. Furthermore, the fact that the O. africanum accession (10) as well as O. basilicum ‘Purpurascens’ and O. basilicum ‘Erevanskii’ accessions belong to the estragol chemotype supports the theory that O. africanum is one of the parents of these two O. basilicum accessions.

Chiliadenus iphionoides (Asteraceae), a shrub endemic to the Mediterranean region and widespread throughout Israel, is used in the traditional eastern Mediterranean medicine. Although recent research confirmed its pharmacological potential, C. iphionoides essential oil has not been adequately characterized chemically. Essential-oil samples were collected from representative wild populations throughout Israel and characterized by GC/MS analysis. Considerable interpopulation variation was found for the composition of the essential oils. Multivariate analysis showed a significant correlation between the chemical composition and the geographic location, with three main chemotypes identified.

Ocimum basilicum L. je najraširenija vrsta roda Ocimum, a unutar vrste postoji šest glavnih botaničkih varijeteta i kultivara: var. basilicum ‘Genovese’, var. difforme, var. minimum, var. purpurascens, ‘Dark Opal’ i var. thyrsiflorum. Primjena mikroelemenata, kao dodataka makroelementima, značajno djeluje na prinos biljne mase i sastav eteričnog ulja kod mnogih ljekovitih i aromatičnih biljnih vrsta. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je utvrditi utjecaj različitih tretmana folijarne gnojidbe na prinos pet kultivara O. basilicum (var. basilicum ‘Genovese’, var. difforme, var. minimum ‘Bush Basil’, var. purpurascens i ‘Dark Opal’). Pokus je proveden po split-plot dizajnu u tri ponavljanja s četiri folijarna gnojidbena tretmana: kontrola, Drin (2 x 1 ml/l), bor (2 x 1,75 g/l) i cink (2 x 1,25 g/l). Tretmani su primijenjeni 15 i 5 dana prije pune cvatnje. Utvrđene su statistički značajne razlike između kultivara u visini biljaka, broju grana i prinosu (svježe i suhe tvari). Međutim, nije utvrđena statistički značajna razlika između gnojidbenih tretmana. U tijeku je komparativna analiza utjecaja različitih gnojidbenih tretmana na prinos i sastav eteričnog ulja sorata bosiljka., Ocimum basilicum L. is the most commercial species in the genus Ocimum and within the species there are six main botanical varieties and cultivars: var. basilicum ‘Genovese’, var. difforme, var. minimum, var. purpurascens, ‘Dark Opal’ and var. thyrsiflorum. Application of micronutrients, as supplements to macroelements, has been reported to have significant effects on herb yield and oil contents on a wide range of medicinal and aromatic plants. The aim of the current study was to determine the influence of different foliar fertilization treatments on yield of five O. basilicum cultivars (var. basilicum ‘Genovese’, var. difforme, var. minimum ‘Bush Basil’, var. purpurascens and ‘Dark Opal’). The field trial was carried out using a split-plot design with three replications. Four treatments included: control, Drin (2 x 1 ml/l), Boron (2 x 1.75 g/l) and Zinc (2 x 1.25 g/l). The treatments were applied at both 15 and 5 days before full bloom. As expected, cultivars showed significant differences in plant height, number of branches and yield (fresh and dry matter). However, no significant differences were observed among fertilization treatments in any of analyzed traits. Comparative analyses concerning influences of different treatments on essential oil yield and composition of basil cultivars are in progress.

A quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with resistance to pea rust, caused by the fungus Uromyces pisi (Pers.) Wint., has been identified in a F2 population derived from an intraspecific cross between two wild pea (Pisum fulvum L.) accessions, IFPI3260 (resistant) and IFPI3251 (susceptible). Both parental lines and all the segregating population displayed a fully compatible interaction (high infection type), which indicates absence of hypersensitive response. Nevertheless, differences on the percentage of symptomatic area of the whole plant (disease severity) were observed. A genetic map was developed covering 1283.3 cM and including 146 markers (144 random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPDs) and two sequence tagged sites (STSs) markers) distributed in 9 linkage groups. A QTL explaining 63% of the total phenotypic variation was located in linkage group 3. RAPDs markers (OPY111316 and OPV171078) flanking this QTL should allow, after their conversion in SCARs, a reliable marker-assisted selection for rust resistance. © 2010 Springer Science+Business Media B.V., Authors are greatly indebted to Spanish AGL2008-01239 and European Union FP6-2002-FOOD-1-506223 projects for financial support.

5 pages; International audience; This article documents the addition of 411 microsatellite marker loci and 15 pairs of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) sequencing primers to the Molecular Ecology Resources Database. Loci were developed for the following species: Acanthopagrus schlegeli, Anopheles lesteri, Aspergillus clavatus, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Aspergillus oryzae, Aspergillus terreus, Branchiostoma japonicum, Branchiostoma belcheri, Colias behrii, Coryphopterus personatus, Cynogolssus semilaevis, Cynoglossus semilaevis, Dendrobium officinale, Dendrobium officinale, Dysoxylum malabaricum, Metrioptera roeselii, Myrmeciza exsul, Ochotona thibetana, Neosartorya fischeri, Nothofagus pumilio, Onychodactylus fischeri, Phoenicopterus roseus, Salvia officinalis L., Scylla paramamosain, Silene latifo, Sula sula, and Vulpes vulpes. These loci were cross-tested on the following species: Aspergillus giganteus, Colias pelidne, Colias interior, Colias meadii, Colias eurytheme, Coryphopterus lipernes, Coryphopterus glaucofrenum, Coryphopterus eidolon, Gnatholepis thompsoni, Elacatinus evelynae, Dendrobium loddigesii Dendrobium devonianum, Dysoxylum binectariferum, Nothofagus antarctica, Nothofagus dombeyii, Nothofagus nervosa, Nothofagus obliqua, Sula nebouxii, and Sula variegata. This article also documents the addition of 39 sequencing primer pairs and 15 allele specific primers or probes for Paralithodes camtschaticus.

Opsežne spoznaje o genetskoj raznolikosti genetskog materijala pšenice vrlo su važne za daljnje uspješno i održivo genetsko unapređivanje kultivara kako unutar pojedinih programa oplemenjivanja, tako i unutar pojedinih država i šire. Analize genetske raznolikosti omogućavaju i bolje razumijevanje utjecaja modernog oplemenjivanja bilja na genetsku raznolikost pojedine biljne kulture kao i učinkovitije korištenje, upravljanje i očuvanje biljnih genetskih resursa. Zahvaljujući visokoj razini polimorfizma i informativnosti kao i relativnoj jednostavnosti primjene, mikrosatelitni biljezi ili jednostavne ponavljajuće sekvence (simple sequence repeats ; SSR) predstavljaju važno oruđe za analize genetske raznolikosti. Mikrosatelitni biljezi su u posljednjih dvadeset godina uspješno primjenjeni u brojnim genetskim studijama na različitim biljnim vrstama. Slijedom navedenog, cilj ovog istraživanja bio je procijeniti: (1) genetsku raznolikost 98 hrvatskih i 24 inozemna kultivara pšenice priznatih i uvedenih u proizvodnju od 1905. do 2008. godine i (2) procijeniti mogućnost primjene mikrosatelitnih biljega u sjemenarstvu i oplemenjivanju pšenice. Ukupno 122 kultivara pšenice analizirano je pomoću 45 mikrosatelita. Unutar skupine od 122 kultivara umnoženo je ukupno 413 polimorfnih alela. Unutar skupine hrvatskih kultivara (n=98) umnožena su ukupno 354 alela, dok su unutar skupine kultivara kreiranih na Poljoprivrednom institute Osijek (n=74) utvrđena 303 alela. Broj alela po lokusu (Na) kretao se od 3 do 20, a prosječno je iznosio 9.18, 7.87 i 6.73 alela unutar skupina s n=122, n=98 i n=74 kultivara. Prosječna vrijednost genske raznolikosti (Gene diversity ; HE) i Informacijskog sadržaja polimorfizma (Polimorfic Information Content ; PIC) iznosila je od HE=0.69 i PIC=0.65 (n=122) do HE=0.63 i PIC=0.58 (n=74). Alelno bogatstvo (Allelic richness ; Nar), kao mjera broja alela po lokusu neovisna o veličini uzorka kretala se od Nar=8.78 unutar skupine od n=122 do Nar=6.73 unutar skupine od n=74 kultivara. Ukupna utvrđena genska raznolikost i Informacijski sadržaj polimorfizma po biljegu varirao je od HE=0.34 i PIC=0.32 (biljeg gwm493) do HE=0.86 i PIC=0.85 (biljeg wmc634). Matrica genetske udaljenosti između parova kultivara utvrđena je temeljem udjela zajedničkih alela (Proportion of Shared Alleles Distance ; DPSAM) iznosile su od 0.02 do 0.96 pri čemu je veća prosječna vrijednost DPSAM utvrđena između svih (0.69), a zatim između hrvatskih (0.66) i kultivara Poljoprivrednog instituta Osijek (0.63). Na osnovi matrice udaljenosti između svih parova kultivara, u svrhu razvrstavnog i grafičkog prikaza genetske raznolikosti između kultivara, provedena je izrada stabla pomoću Neponderirane metode za sparivanje skupina na temelju prosječnih vrijednosti (Unweighted Pair-Group Method Using Arithmetic Averages ; UPGMA). Na izrađenom UPGMA stablu bilo je moguće uspješno razlikovati sve kultivare u analizi. Nije utvrđeno svrstavanje kultivara u skupine prema oplemenjivačkom program ili vremenskom razdoblju priznavanja kultivara. Općenito se može ustvrditi da je na tvorbu skupina i podskupina na stablu UPGMA najviše utjecala genetska osnova kultivara, najčešće na način da većina članova skupine posjeduje u određenoj mjeri zajedničke genetske poveznice. Potvrđen je važan potencijal primjene mikrosatelitnih biljega u provjeri genetske uniformnosti i čistoće unutar i između blisko srodnih kultivara pšenice, koji implementiran zajedno s klasičnim metodama umnažanja sjemena može značajno doprinijeti unapređenju sjemenarstva kao i zaštiti oplemenjivačkih prava. Ukupno, rezultati ovog istraživanja omogućavaju bolji uvid u genetsku raznolikost hrvatskih kultivara pšenice na DNA razini. Procijenjene genetske udaljenosti (DPSAM) između kultivara mogu pomoći u preciznijem odabiru roditelja za križanja i stvaranje novih oplemenjivačkih populacija i s obzirom na očuvanje genetske raznolikosti pšenice. Ovo istraživanje je jedna od pretpostavki uvođenju molekularnim biljezima potpomognutog oplemenjivanja (Molecular Marker Assisted Breeding ; MMAB) u program oplemenjivanja pšenice na Poljoprivrednom institute Osijek kao nadopune klasičnim oplemenjivačkim metodama.

Crenate broomrape (Orobanche crenata) is the major constraint for pea cultivation in the Mediterranean Basin and Middle East. Cultivation of resistant varieties would be the most efficient, economical and environmentally friendly way to control this parasite. However, little resistance is available within cultivated pea. Promising sources of resistance have been identified in wild peas but their use in breeding programs is hampered by the polygenic nature of the resistance. The identification of molecular markers linked to the resistance would allow tracking of the underlying genes, facilitating their introgression into pea cultivars. The main objective of this study was the identification of genomic regions associated with resistance to O. crenata. A RIL (Recombinant Inbred Lines) population derived from a cross between a resistant accession of the wild pea Pisum sativum ssp. syriacum, and a susceptible pea variety was screened for resistance to O. crenata under field conditions during two seasons. In addition, resistance reactions at different stages of the O. crenata infection cycle were assessed using a Petri dish method. The approach allowed the identification of four Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) associated with field resistance, assessed as the number of emerged broomrape shoots per pea plant under field conditions. These identified QTLs explained individually from 10 to 17% of the phenotypic variation. In addition QTLs governing specific mechanisms of resistance, such as low induction of O. crenata seed germination, lower number of established tubercles per host root length unit, and slower development of tubercles were also identified. Identified QTLs explained individually from 8 to 37% of the variation observed depending on the trait. Host plant aerial biomass and root length were also assessed and mapped. Both traits were correlated with the level of O. crenata infection and three out of the four QTLs controlling resistance under field conditions co-localized with QTLs controlling plant aerial biomass or root length. The relationship observed among these traits and resistance is discussed. © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009., We thank INIA for providing a grant to the senior author and projects AGL2005-10181 and AGL2008-01239 for financial support.

The plant height of wheat is an important quantitative trait, controlled by several genes with strong effect. However, in worldwide wheat breeding, only several of those genes have been used. Rht8 (Reduced Height Gene) is especially important in agro-climatic conditions of South-East Europe. Because of its close linkage with dwarfing gene Rht8, microsatellite marker gwm261 has been accepted as the diagnostic molecular marker for gene Rht8. In this study, allelic variability at the locus Xgwm261 for 122 Croatian and foreign wheat cultivars by means of microsatellite marker gwm261 was determined. A 192 base pairs allele at the locus Xgwm261 was found for 84 Croatian cultivars. The genetic heritage of Croatian cultivars at the locus Xgwm261 is the consequence of new parental components usage, carriers of short plant and early maturity attributes and the consequent selection of progeny with these traits during breeding process. The results of this research will be helpful in characterization of domestic wheat cultivars, as well as in more accurate selection of parents for hybridization purposes., Visina biljke pšenice važno je kvantitativno svojstvo kontrolirano s više gena jakog učinka. Međutim, u oplemenjivanju pšenice u svijetu, najčešće se koristi samo nekoliko takvih gena. U agroklimatskim uvjetima jugoistoka Europe posebno je važan gen Rht8 (Reduced Height Gene). Mikrosatelit gwm261 je, zbog svoje bliske vezanosti s lokusom za gen Rht8, prihvaćen kao dijagnostički molekularni biljeg gena Rht8. U ovome istraživanju je pomoću mikrosatelita gwm261 utvrđena alelna varijabilnost na lokusu Xgwm261 za 122 hrvatska i strana kultivara pšenice. Alel sa 192 para baza na lokusu Xgwm261 utvrđen je za 84 hrvatska kultivara. Genetsko naslijeđe hrvatskih kultivara na lokusu Xgwm261 posljedica je korištenja novih roditelja, nositelja svojstava niže stabljike i ranozrelosti te odabira potomstva s tim svojstvima tijekom oplemenjivačkoga procesa. Rezultati istraživanja pomoći će u karakterizaciji domaćih kultivara pšenice, kao i u preciznijem odabiru roditelja u svrhu križanja.

The plant height of wheat is an important quantitative trait, controlled by several genes with strong effect. However, in worldwide wheat breeding only several of those genes have been used. Rht8 (Reduced Height Gene) is especially important in agro-climatic conditions of South-East Europe. Because of its close linkage with dwarfing gene Rht8, microsatellite marker gwm261 has been accepted as the diagnostic molecular marker for gene Rht8. In this study, allelic variability at the locus Xgwm261 for 122 Croatian and foreign wheat cultivars by means of microsatellite marker gwm261 was determined. A 192 base pairs allele at the locus Xgwm261 was found for 84 Croatian cultivars. The genetic heritage of Croatian cultivars at the locus Xgwm261 is the consequence of usage of new parental components, carriers of short plant and early maturity attributes and the consequent selection of progeny with these traits during breeding process. The results of this research will be helpful in characterization of domestic wheat cultivars, as well as in more accurate selection of parents for hybridization purposes.

Knowledge about genetic diversity pattern in existing wheat germplasm is essentially important for further sustainable genetic improvement and successfulness of breeding programs. Genetic diversity analysis can provide better understanding of plant breeding influence on crop genetic diversity and more efficient utilization, management and conservation of germplasm resources. Owing to their high level of polymorphisms, microsatellite markers (simple sequence repeats ; SSR) representing important tool for genetic diversity analysis and have been successfully applied for numerous assessments of genetic relationships in different plant species. Consequently, the objective of this study was to estimate genetic diversity of 98 Croatian wheat cultivars released since 1905 to 2008 year and 24 foreign wheat cultivars. Foreign cultivars were included in this research regarding to their pre-ancestral and ancestral role in Croatian cultivars, as well as important widely grown cultivars and as a control. A total of 122 cultivars were screened by 45 wheat microsatellite markers, 1 to 3 from each wheat chromosome. Within group of 122 cultivars a total of 413 polymorphic alleles were amplified. Within group of Croatian cultivars (n=98) were amplified 354 alleles, while within group of cultivars created on Agricultural Institute Osijek (n=74) were found 303 alleles. Allele number per locus (Na) was varied from 3 to 20 with an average of 9.18, 7.87 and 6.73 alleles within group of n=122, n=98 and n=74 cultivars, respectively. Average value of gene diversity (HE) and polymorphic information content (PIC) were ranged from HE=0.69 and PIC=0.65 (n=122) to HE=0.63 and PIC=0.58 (n=74). Allelic richness (Nar) as the measure of the number of alleles per locus independent of sample size showed decreasing trend from 8.78 within group of n=122 to 6.73 within group of n=74 cultivars. Overall observed gene diversity and polymorphic information content per marker were varied from HE=0.34 and PIC=0.32 (marker gwm493) to HE=0.86 and PIC=0.85 (marker wmc634). Genetic distances among pairs of cultivars based on proportion of shared alleles distance matrix (DPSAM) were ranged from 0.02 to 0.96 with higher average value among all (0.69), then among Croatian (0.66) and Agricultural Institute Osijek cultivars (0.63). The cultivars were grouped by cluster analysis using the unweighted pair- group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA). At the constructed UPGMA tree was possible to successfully differentiate all investigated cultivars. However, no clear clustering of cultivars by breeding program or year of release was observed. Cultivars that belong to the same group generally share the concerned proportion of common pre-ancestral or ancestral genetic basis. Results of this research are providing better insight in genetic diversity of Croatian cultivars at DNA level. Estimated genetic distances (DPSAM) among cultivars can be helpful for more accurate parent assortment for hybridization and creation of new wheat breeding populations with respect to genetic diversity preservation. This research is one of the prerequisites for adoption of marker assisted selection (MAS) and molecular breeding in Agricultural Institute Osijek wheat breeding program as complement to the classical breeding methods.

Broomrape (Orobanche crenata Forsk.) is a major root-parasite of faba bean (Vicia faba L.), that seriously limits crop cultivation in the whole Mediterranean area. This parasitic weed is difficult to control, difficult to evaluate and the resistance identified so far is of polygenic nature. This study was conducted to identify genetic regions associated with broomrape resistance in recombinant inbred lines (RILs) and to validate their previous location in the original F(2) population derived from the cross between lines Vf6 and Vf136. A progeny consisting of 165 F(6) RILs was evaluated in three environments across two locations in 2003 and 2004. Two hundred seventy seven molecular markers were assigned to 21 linkage groups (9 of them assigned to specific chromosomes) that covered 2,856.7 cM of the V. faba genome. The composite interval mapping on the F(6) map detected more quantitative trait loci (QTL) than in the F(2) analysis. In this sense, four QTLs controlling O. crenata resistance (Oc2-Oc5) were identified in the RI segregant population in three different environments. Only Oc1, previously reported in the F(2) population, was not significant in the advanced lines. Oc2 and Oc3 were found to be associated with O. crenata resistance in at least two of the three environments, while the remaining two, Oc4 and Oc5, were only detected in Córdoba-04 and Mengíbar-04 and seemed to be environment dependent.

Dalmatian pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium /Trevir./ Sch. Bip.) is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the Asteraceae family. It is endemic to the East coast of the Adriatic Sea and its natural habitat extends from Italy to northern Albania and up in the mountainous regions of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Pyrethrum flowers yield an important insecticide, the pyrethrin. Pyrethrin is mainly concentrated in oil glands on the surface of the seed inside the tightly packed flower head, but they can also be found in the other plant parts, however in much lower concentrations. The pyrethrin exist as a combination of six insecticide active ingredients: pyrethrin I, cinerin I, jasmolin I, pyrethrin II, cinerin II and jasmolin II, with pyrethrin I and pyrethrin II present in higher concentrations. Pyrethrin is non-toxic to mammals and other worm-blooded animals, it is unstable in light, oxygen, water and at elevated temperatures and therefore highly biodegradable. Due to the fact it is environmentally safe it is leading insecticide in organic farming systems. The most scientific work concerning Dalmatian pyrethrum was focused on its morphological and biochemical traits that are relevant in breeding. Breeding programmes are primarily focused on increasing the yield of pyrethrin per unit area. Relative to dry flower weight, flower heads contain the majority of the pyrethrin. Croatian wild populations contain approximately 0.60 to 0.79 %, while clones in breeding programmes of Australia and Kenya contain up to 3.0 % of pyrethrin.

The extent and pattern of genetic differentiation between Phelipanche ramosa populations colonising tobacco in different European regions were investigated by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis, in order to determine levels of variation for tobacco resistance breeding and management programmes. Four different AFLP primer pairs amplified a total of 1050 clear and reproducible bands, of which 962 (91.62%) were polymorphic among the 35 individuals taken from four P. ramosa populations collected in Spain, Italy, Bulgaria and Germany. Cluster analysis based on the AFLP data categorised the plants into distinct groups, in line with their geographical origin, denoting clear genetic differentiation among the four populations. This differentiation was supported by both high bootstrap values and significant results of the analysis of molecular variance. The most divergent population was the one from Bulgaria. The majority of the genetic diversity was attributable to differences among populations (77.80%), as expected from the predominant autogamous behaviour of this species. Populations differed significantly in within-population diversity, as measured by Shannon's information index. The German population presented the lowest genetic diversity and the Italian population harboured the highest level of within-population genetic diversity. There are significant differences in genetic diversity level among the studied P. ramosa populations and clear population-specific genetic diversity structures. These need to be taken into account, together with the potential differences in parasite aggressiveness, when planning breeding and management strategies for P. ramosa control in tobacco cultivation.

Orobanche and Phelipanche species are root parasitic plants some of which infect important crops, causing extensive damage. In an attempt to unravel molecular systematic in these genera using protein markers, we established the protein profile of twelve species by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE). Proteins were detected by Sypro Ruby staining and the gel images were digitalised and analysed. The 2-DE maps contained from 30 to 140 protein spots for the analysed species. A virtual master gel was built with spots present in all species and revealing the presence of 260 protein spots. Only one protein was monomorphic, while 143 were unique to a single species. Proteins were scored for the presence or absence of homologous spots to create a binary matrix. Phylogenetic analysis was carried out using maximum parsimony and distance method. The trees obtained were rooted using Cistanche phelypaea as an out-group. Both analyses showed Orobanche as a monophyletic group. AMOVA analysis revealed phenotypic diversity between species within genera, as well as a considerable level of variation between genera. This is a first step to help in the phylogenetic classification of parasitic plants by means of proteomics.

The striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) is a small, pelagic and cosmopolitan cetacean. Though it is the most common dolphin species in the Mediterranean Sea, it is not considered resident in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea. Fifteen striped dolphins were found dead in the Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea in the last eight years (1999– 2007). More specimens were found in southern than in the northern part of the Adriatic. Analysis of twelve microsatellite loci and sequencing of a 882 base pair (bp) fragment of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region were performed for genetic characterization. The mean allelic diversity (7 ± 0.78) and mean expected heterozygosity haplotypes with 22 polymorphic sites in ten individuals. The haplotype diversity (0.911 ± 0.077) was high, while nucleotide diversity was strikingly low (0.006 ± 0.003). Results presented here support the notion of the striped dolphin not being resident species in Croatian part of the Adriatic Sea.

Broomrapes (Orobanche spp.) are holoparasitic plants without chlorophyll, parasitising roots of a wide range of hosts. Some species are noxious weeds having a devastating effect on many important crops. Knowledge of the variability in the population genetics of weedy broomrapes is important in any attempt to develop resistance-breeding strategies for the relevant host crops against these parasites. The distribution of genetic variation in O. aegyptiaca, O. cumana, O. crenata, O. foetida, O. gracilis, O. hederae, O. minor and O. ramosa populations has been reviewed in relation to (1) the amount and structure of population genetic diversity as a consequence of the mating system, (2) the geographic differentiation as shaped by migration, (3) the spread of infestations into new areas followed by genetic drift, and (4) the host-differentiation owing to the host-induced selection. It has been shown that dominant markers such as RAPDs and AFLPs can be used efficiently in the analysis of predominant mating system and in the analysis of host-differentiation. As crop-seed exchange and transport play an important role in migration of seeds of Orobanche, geographical differentiation is difficult to discern from molecular data. Finally, in analysing genetic drift, co-dominant markers such as microsatellites are clearly needed.

Morphological and anatomical traits of Berberis croatica Horvat that would facilitate the separation from the two related taxa, B. aetnensis C. Presl and B. vulgaris L. and their ITS (internal transcribed spacer of nuclear ribosomal DNA) relationship were analyzed. It was determined that B. croatica differs from the two related taxa in the following characteristics: plant height, blade width, petiole length, internode length, number of stomata on adaxial and abaxial leaf side, total number of stomata per leaf as well as the length of the guard cells and the stomatal pore on the abaxial epidermis. The analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) has shown that 24% of total variance of investigated morpho-anatomical traits was attributable to variability among species. Phenotypic differentiation of species and populations was evident in all of the investigated taxa. Southern populations of B. croatica grouped with the populations of B. aetnensis with whom they proved to be highly similar. ITS sequence analysis did not separate B. aetnensis, B. croatica and B. vulgaris. The nature of distinctive morpho-anatomical traits combined with the lack of ITS differences suggested intraspecies taxonomic rank of B. croatica.

The patterns of genetic variation among Orobanche crenata populations from Spain and Israel were studied using radiolabeled inter simple sequence repeat amplification products that were separated in sequencing polyacrylamide gels. The analysis of molecular variance indicated that most of the genetic diversity was attributable to differences among individuals within a population although significant divergences were found between regions. The Jaccard's similarity matrix was analyzed by unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average and the resultant dendrogram clearly divided six populations by region, with the Spanish populations being more similar to each other than the Israeli populations. These results are consistent with the predominantly allogamous behavior of O. crenata and the extremely efficient dispersal of its seeds.

Natural, and in particular, artificial (human) selection may pose a danger to the existing crop genetic diversity. Nevertheless, on-farm breeding systems seem to achieve phenotypic improvements even though preserving variability. Using SSR markers, we analysed several selection cycles, over a 20 years period, of a Portuguese on-farm participatory maize OPV-‘ Pigarro’ breeding project. No significant differences in allelic richness (Nar), observed heterozygosity (HO), expected heterozygosity (or gene diversity ; HE) or inbreeding coefficient (f) were detected among the selection cycles. 58 out of 107 alleles were common to all the selection cycles studied. The analysis of molecular variance showed that the variation among selection cycles represented only 7% of the total molecular variation. However, the number of private alleles varied among the selection cycles, being the highest detected at the beginning of the selection project. These findings demonstrate that an allele flow took place during the on-farm selection process of ‘ Pigarro’ but the level of genetic diversity was not significantly influenced. Since interesting phenotypic improvements were also achieved, on-farm breeding projects, like this one, should be valued as a way to preserve unique Portuguese maize landraces in risk of disappearing.

A set of 67 wild and cultivated hop accessions, representative of hop diversity, was genotyped with 29 SSR markers in order to investigate the population structure and genetic diversity among hop genotypes. A total of 314 alleles was detected, with an average of 10.8 alleles per locus and an average PIC content of 0.607. Model-based clustering placed the accessions into five germplasm groups. A distance-based tree showed good agreement with five germplasm groups, and additionally assigned accessions omitted from model-based analysis into two additional germplasm groups. The 67 hop accessions were thus subdivided in seven germplasm groups, with three corresponding to major breeding groups and four to wild hops. This finding is in accordance with two biogeographically separated hop germplasms (European and North American origin) and with the known history of the accessions. North American hop germplasm was partitioned into native and cultivated germplasm groups. European germplasm was divided into two groups of hop cultivars representing distinguishable European germplasms and three new groups of native hops, which were differentiated for the first time by this analysis. Admixture analysis showed shares of various ancestries in hop cultivars, mostly congruent with pedigree data, and the introgression of various ancestries in some native hops. The above results have so far given the most detailed insight to date into the population structure of hop diversity, which is important for its effective use in hop breeding.

Prirodni procesi spontanog križanja i mutacije kao i selekcija koju su provodili maslinari tijekom dugog razdoblja uzgoja masline rezultirali su velikom raznolikošću morfoloških svojstava. Dodatni problem u kvalitetnoj identifikaciji sorta stvara veliki broj sinonima i homonima koji se koriste u različitim i istim uzgojnim područjima. S ciljem utvrđivanja raznolikosti unutar sorte Oblica započeli smo istraživanje u tri tipična uzgojna područja hrvatske (Konavle, Dalmatinska zagora i Kvarner). Primjenom morfoloških metoda identifikacije utvrdili smo značajne razlike svih istraživanih svojstava između uzgojnih područja kao i unutar pojedinih uzgojnih područja., The processes of natural hybridisation and mutations as well as selections done by olive tree growers in the long time of olive cultivation resulted in the significant morphological differences of the same cultivar. A big problem in quality cultivar identification are numerous synonyms and homonyms of the same cultivar in different growing areas. With the aim of finding internal variety of olive cultivar Oblica we start with investigations in three typical olive growing area in Croatia (Konavle Dalmatinska Zagora and Kvarner). According to morphological parameters samples of Oblica olive from different places significantly differed, and even in the same growing area.

The inheritance of the reaction of sunflower to downy mildew was investigated using resistant and susceptible near isogenic lines (NILs) and their F 3 families. Resistance to race 730 was evaluated using the whole seedling inoculation technique. Seventy-three F 3 families were inoculated, among which 54 families were resistant and 19 susceptible, fitting a 3 : 1 segregation ratio. F 3 families were also studied using several PCR markers. Ten markers at the Pl6 locus, specific for the resistant line, also segregated in F 3 families with a 3 : 1 ratio. The same segregation ratio occurred for microsatellite haplotypes that resembled the resistant parent, and were amplified with ORS 166 and ORS 1043. The only common fragment that was observed between resistant and susceptible parental lines was one of the TIR-NBS-LRR resistance gene analogue markers, having a restriction site. Two co-dominant cleaved amplified polymorphic sequence (CAPS) markers were obtained. The mapping data indicate that several dominant markers and two CAPS markers, developed here, completely co-segregate with the Pl6 gene conferring resistance to race 730. CAPS markers will facilitate efficient marker-assisted selection for sunflower resistance to downy mildew race 730.

Background and Aims: This study examines the pattern of genetic variability and genetic relationships of wild olive (Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris) populations in the north-western Mediterranean. Recent bottleneck events are also assessed and an investigation is made of the underlying population structure of the wild olive populations. Methods: The genetic variation within and between 11 wild olive populations (171 individuals) was analysed with eight microsatellite markers. Conventional and Bayesian-based analyses were applied to infer genetic structure and define the number of gene pools in wild olive populations. Key Results: Bayesian model-based clustering identified four gene pools, which was in overall concordance with the Factorial Correspondence Analysis and Fitch– Margoliash tree. Two gene pools were predominantly found in southern Spain and Italian islands, respectively, in samples gathered from undisturbed forests of the typical Mediterranean climate. The other two gene pools were mostly detected in the north-eastern regions of Spain and in continental Italy and belong to the transition region between the temperate and Mediterranean climate zones. Conclusions: On the basis of these results, it can be assumed that the population structure of wild olives from the north-western Mediterranean partially reflects the evolutionary history of these populations, although hybridization between true oleasters and cultivated varieties in areas of close contact between the two forms must be assumed as well. The study indicates a degree of admixture in all the populations, and suggests some caution regarding genetic differentiation at the population level, making it difficult to identify clear-cut genetic boundaries between candidate areas containing either genuinely wild or feral germplasm.

U poljski pokus uključeno je deset primki rupičaste pljuskavice (Hypericum perforatum L.) iz Kolekcije ljekovitog i aromatičnog bilja Hrvatske banke biljnih gena podrijetlom iz Hrvatske (9) i Bosne i Hercegovine (1). Tijekom pokusa na deset slučajno odabranih biljaka po parceli analizirana su sljedeća kvantitativna svojstva: visina stabljike (cm), broj grana, broj cvjetnih grana, masa svježe i suhe stabljike s listovima (g), te masa svježeg i suhog korijena (g). Primke rupičaste pljuskavice signifikantno su se razlikovale u svim analiziranim svojstvima. Primka HBG00602 koja predstavlja populaciju iz Doljana, Metković, kao i primka HBG00896 iz Nerezina, otok Lošinj, pokazale su više vrijednosti u većini analiziranih svojstava., Ten St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) accessions from the Collection of medicinal and aromatic plants of the Croatian Bank of Plant Genes originating from Croatia (9) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (1) were included in the field experiment. On ten randomly chosen plants per plot the following quantitative traits were scored: plant height (cm), number of branches, number of flowering branches, weight of the fresh and dried stems with leaves (g), and weight of the fresh and dried roots (g). St. John's Wort accessions differed significantly in all the analysed quantitative traits. The accession HBG00602 representing the population from Doljani, Metković and the accession HBG00896 from Nerezine, island of Lošinj showed higher values for the most of the analyzed traits.

Šest primki ljekovitog matičnjaka (Melissa officinalis L.) iz Kolekcije ljekovitog i aromatičnog bilja Hrvatske banke biljnih gena podrijetlom iz Austrije (2), Hrvatske (1), Nizozemske (1) i Njemačke (2) uključeno je u poljski pokus. Tijekom pokusa praćena su osnovna razlikovna morfološka svojstva (boja lista, veličina lista, oblik cvata, boja cvata), a na slučajno odabranim biljkama po pokusnoj parcelici analizirana su sljedeća kvantitativna svojstva: visina stabljike, broj grana, te masa svježe i suhe stabljike, korijena i lista. Varijabilnost kvalitativnih svojstava primki ljekovitog matičnjaka nije primijećena, za razliku od kvantitativnih svojstava gdje je između i unutar primki ljekovitog matičnjaka primijećena velika varijabilnost. Iako nisu dobivene statistički signifikantne razlike između primki za dva najvažnija agronomska svojstva (masa svježeg i suhih listova), primka HBG00147 iz Austrije je pokazala najveće vrijednosti za navedena svojstva., Six lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) accessions from the Collection of medicinal and aromatic plants of the Croatian bank of plant genes originating form Austria (2), Croatia (1), Germany (2) and the Netherlands were included in the field experiment. Main qualitative morphological traits as leaf colour, leaf shape, inflorescence form and inflorescence colour were analysed. On ten randomly chosen plants per plot the following quantitative traits were scored: plant height and number of branches as well as the fresh and dried weight of stems, roots and leaves. No variation in qualitative traits has been found among and within accessions while all the quantitative traits showed a great variation within as well as among accessions. No statistically significant differences were found in two agronomically most important traits: the weight of fresh and dried leaves per plant. The accession HBG00147 from Austria showed the highest values of fresh and dried leaves weight per plant.

U svrhu ispitivanja optimalnog sklopa kod četiri kultivara soje: Aura, Ronda, Gordana i Dora postavljen je pokus na pokušalištu Zavoda za sjemenarstvo, Agronomskog fakulteta u Zagrebu. Pokus je postavljen u četiri repeticije po slučajnom bloknom rasporedu, a mjerena su sljedeća svojstva: visina stabljike (cm), visina do prve plodne mahune (cm), broj etaža, broj grana, broj mahuna po biljci, broj zrna po biljci, masa zrna po biljci (g), broj zrna po mahuni, masa 1000 zrna (g). Temeljem rezultata analize utjecaja tri različita sklopa (40, 60 i 80 biljaka/m2) na prinos i sastavnice prinosa utvrđeno je da je sklop kao izvor varijabilnosti nesignifikantan kod svih ispitivanih svojstava. Interakcija kultivar x sklop kao izvor varijabilnosti pokazala se visokosignifikantnom za sljedeća svojstva: visina stabljike, masa zrna po biljci i masa 1000 zrna. Za svojstva visina do prve mahune, broj etaža, broj grana, broj mahuna i broj zrna interakcija se pokazala nesignifikantnom. Prinosi postignuti u sklopovima 60 i 80 signifikantno su bili veći od prinosa dobivenog u sklopu 40 biljaka/m2., In purpose of finding an optimal crop density for four cultivars of soybean: Aura, Ronda, Gordana and Dora on field of Agricultural Faculty, University of Zagreb an experiment were conducted. A randomized complete block design with four replications was used. The traits included in the analysis were the following: plant height, height of the first pod-bearing node, number of nodes, number of branches, number of pods, number of seeds, number of seeds per pod, seed weight per plant and 1000-seed weight. On the basis of the results of effect of three different crop density (40, 60 and 80 plants/ m2) on yield and yield components we found out that crop density was not significant as source of variability for analysed traits. Interaction cultivar x crop density was significant as source of variability for traits: plant height, seed weight per plant and 1000-seed weight. For traits height of the first pod-bearing node number of nodes, number of branches, number of pods and number of seeds the interaction was not significant. Yields achieved in crop density of 60 and 80 plants per m2 differed significantly from one in crop density of 40 plants per m2.

Brojne autohtone vrste imaju potencijala za primjenu kao ukrasne vrste u krajobrazu. Dobro su prilagođene staništu čime se smanjuje cijena njihovog održavanja i njege. Njihovom uporabom doprinosi se očuvanju ambijentalne vrijednosti prostora te očuvanju bioraznolikosti. Flora Mediterana obiluje endemskim vrstama, a rod Salvia bogat je vrstama s ukrasnom vrijednošću. Vrsta Salvia officinalis L., mirisava kadulja, žalfija, kuš; do 50 cm je visoki i vrlo raširen polugrm naših primorskih kamenjara, a dekorativna je i u cvjetnom i u bescvjetnom stanju. Morfološka svojstva kao što su: visina grma, broj i visina grana, duljina cvata, broj listova po izboju i cvjetova u cvatu, važna su za procjenu ukrasne vrijednosti neke biljne vrste, a mjerena su na 10 populacija, na biljkama kadulje porijeklom s područja Republike Hrvatske i Republike Bosne i Hercegovine. Populacije su se razlikovale s obzirom na morfološka svojstva što upućuje, Many wild species have a potential to be used as ornamentals in the landscape. They are well adapted to the site conditions and that brings to the lower price of maintenance and care. The use of wild species contributes to the protection of area’s ambient value and biodiversity. Mediterranean flora is rich on endemic species, and genus Salvia has many species with ornamental value. Species Salvia officinalis L., sage, is 50 cm high subshrub that is very common on rocky sites along seaside. It has ornamental value in the time of flowering but it’s also attractive when not in flower. Morphological characters, such as: plant height, number and height of branches, inflorescence height, number of leaves per shoot and flowers per inflorescence, are important to estimate the ornamental value of plant species. These characters were measured on the plants from 10 different populations originating from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Populations varied on the basis of morphological characters showing that the sage can be useful for different purposes in a landscape design.

The Book of Abstracts of the XIII EUCARPIA Biometrics in Plant Breeding Section Meeting held in 2006 in Zagreb, Croatia, contains the abstracts of 40 oral presentations and 22 posters as presented during six sessions: Linkage and LD based QTL Mapping Methodology I and II, Computer Science, Bioinformatics and Analysis of Large Data Sets, Crop Growth Modelling / Modelling GxE, and Collaborative Breeding. All the abstracts have been thoroughly reviewed by the members of Scientific Committee.

Provedena je usporedba 21 oplemenjivačke linije soje kreirane na Zavodu za sjemenarstvo Agronomskog fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu s četiri standardna kultivara (Sabina, Dubravka, Gordana i Aura) na temelju prinosa i njegovih sastavnica. Poljski je pokus postavljen po slučajnom bloknom rasporedu u tri ponavljanja, a praćena su sljedeća svojstva: visina stabljike, visina do prve plodne etaže, broj etaža, broj grana, broj mahuna, broj zrna, masa zrna po biljci, broj zrna po mahuni, masa 1000 zrna, te prinos (dt/ha). Utvrđeno je postojanje signifikantnih razlika između genotipova u svim ispitivanim sastavnicama prinosa, ali ne i u prinosu. Dvije su se linije (SK2*3/87 i IK(Hr)1-2) isticale većim brojem mahuna i zrna po biljci kao i većom masom sjemena po biljci dok je kod linije IK12*9/87-10-18 uočen veći broj zrna po mahuni., Yield and yield components of 21 soybean breeding lines developed at the Department of Seed Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb were compared to those of four standard soybean cultivars (Sabina, Dubravka, Gordana and Aura). A randomized complete block design with tree replications was used. The traits included in the analysis were the following: plant height, height of the first pod-bearing node, number of nodes, number of branches, number of pods, number of seeds, 1000-seed weight, number of seeds per pod, and grain yield (dt/ha). Soybean genotypes differed significantly in all the yield components in the study, but not in yield per se. Two lines (SK2*3/87 and IK(Hr)1-2) had a higher number of pods and seeds per plant as well as the higher seed weight per plant while in the line IK12*9/87-10-18 a higher number of seeds per pod was detected.

U poljski pokus je uključeno osam primki običnog mravinca (Origanum vulgare L.) iz Kolekcije ljekovitog i aromatičnog bilja Hrvatske banke biljnih gena. Sjeme je dobiveno razmjenom s nacionalnim bankama biljnih gena (SAD, Rusija) kao i sakupljeno od domaćih prikupljača. Pokus je postavljen po slučajnom bloknom rasporedu. Uzorci za analizu uzeti su slučajnim odabirom, 10 biljaka od svake primke (osim kod člana pokusa HBG00410, 5 biljaka). Kod ukupno 75 biljaka analizirana su kvalitativna i kvantitativna svojstva. Od kvalitativnih svojstava analizirana je: boja lista, veličina i boja pricvjetnih listića (brakteja), te oblik i boja cvijeta. Od kvantitativnih svojstava analizirana je: visina stabljike (cm), dužina korijena (cm), broj grana po biljci, te svježa i suha masa (g) korijena, stabljike, lista i cvata, kao i suha i svježa masa cijele biljke. Visokosignifikantne razlike između primki uočene su kod tri ispitivana svojstva: broj grana, svježa i suha masa lista. Najveća varijabilnost je zabilježena kod svojstva suha masa lista, a najmanja kod svojstva visina stabljike. Primka HBG00350, podrijetlom iz Rusije pokazala se znatno boljom u većini agronomski važnih svojstava (svježa masa stabljike, lista i cijele biljke, te suha masa stabljike, lista i cijele biljke) od drugih članova pokusa., Eight Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) accessions from the Collection of medicinal and aromatic plants of the Croatian Bank of Plant Genes were included in the field trial. The seed was collected through exchange with other national Gene Banks (USA, Russia) or collected by domestic collectors. The field trial was set in random block design. Ten randomly chosen plants from each accession (except 5 plants from HGB00410) were analyzed (total of 75 plants) for important qualitative and quantitative agronomic traits. Analyzed qualitative traits included: colour of leaves, size and colour of bracts, shape of inflorescence and colour of flowers. Quantitative traits that were analyzed are: plant height (cm), root length (cm), number of branches, weight of dried and fresh root, stem, leaves and flowers as well as the weight of dried and fresh plant. Accessions of Oregano differed significantly in three analyzed traits: number of branches, dried leaf weight and fresh leaf weight. The highest variation was found in the mass of dried leaf and the lowest in the plant height. When compared to other accessions, accession HGB00350, representing the population from Russia showed the highest values for the most analyzed traits (fresh stem weight, fresh leaf weight, dried stem weight, dried leaf weight as well as dried and fresh plant weight).

Complex agronomic traits are normally under polygenic control. The traits evaluated in faba bean in the present study may be grouped into three main categories: floral characters, yield distribution and yield characters, according to other authors. A F2 population derived from the cross 29H x Vf 136 was used for QTLs analysis. A total of 15 QTLs were detected for 8 out of 10 traits evaluated. The analysis detected 2, 5 and 8 QTLs for floral characters, yield distribution traits and yield characters, respectively. QTLs for different traits co-localized in three regions of the map located in linkage groups 3, 4 and 13, which suggests the existence of common pleiotropic genes for the control of these traits. Alternatively, these regions might be hot-spots QTLs, i.e. chromosomic regions with several QTLs controlling different traits as reported for several organisms. The present work constitutes a first step towards the identification of molecular markers for agronomic traits, some of them yield related, in faba bean. After validation, the putative QTLs detected in this work will provide valuable tools for pyramiding QTLs of all these traits in a faba bean breeding program.

Proizvodnja sjemena u PP Orahovici varirala je posljednjih 20-30 godina od 500 do 1,500 ha a danas se u prosjeku organizira na približno 800 ha godišnje. Prije 20-30 godina sjemenarilo se na desetak kultura a danas je sjemenarstvo svedeno na četiri kulture i to: pšenica, ječam, kukuruz i soja te povremeno zob i pšenoraž. Sjemenske pšenice sijemo najviše, u prosjeku oko 400 ha a ostvarujemo dorađenog sjemena u prosjeku 5.5 t/ha. Sjemenskog kukuruza sijemo u prosjeku 130 ha i ostvarujemo prosječno 2.7 t/ha dorađenog sjemena. Poznati smo i kao proizvođači sjemenske soje koju sijemo prosječno na 130 ha a ostvarujemo u prosjeku 2.5 t/ha kvalitetnog dorađenog sjemena kultivara Dore. Sjemenski ječam sijemo na oko 40 ha godišnje i dorađujemo 5.5 t/ha kvalitetnog sjemena. Prosječna godišnja proizvodnja sjemena navedenih kultura je približno 3,100 t. Osim za vlastite potrebe više od polovine sjemena tržimo van tvrtke. Odabir kultivara radimo na temelju makro pokusa i pokusne proizvodnje te zahtjeva tržišta. Sve količine sjemena dorađujemo u vlastitom doradbenom kapacitetu., Seed production at the PP Orahovica was variating in last 20 – 30 years from 500 until 1,500 ha, and nowadays is organized on about 800 ha per year. Before 20 – 30 years seed production was based on 10 species and nowadays is based on four species: wheat, barley, corn and soybean, and occasionally oat and triticale. Seed production of wheat is going on about 400 ha, and average yield is 5.5 t/ha. Corn seed production is going on about 130 ha and average yields are 2.7 t/ha conditioned seed. We are known as a soybean seed producers, and we have about 130 ha of seed crops with 2.5 t/ha as an average yield of quality conditioned seed of cultivar Dora. Seed production of barley is going on about 40 ha per year and average yield is 5.5 t/ha. Average year production of seed is around 3,100 t. Except for our own needs more than half of produced seed is sold. Choosing of cultivars is based on experiments and market demands. All produced seed is conditioned in our own conditioning capacity.

Gorski pelin (Artemisia absinthium L.) višegodišnja je zeljasta biljka čija su ljekovita svojstva poznavali i prije 3000 godina. Na našim prostorima raste samoniklo, a kao samonikla ili kultivirana vrsta rasprostranjen je diljem Europe, Azije i Sjeverne Amerike. U ovom radu prikazujemo raznolikost pelina te mogućnosti uzgoja ove vrste sa specifičnostima tehnološkog postupka proizvodnje., Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) is a perennial plant and it has been used as a medicinal plant more than 3000 years. In our country it grows in a spontaneous populations, but as a spontaneous or cultivated plant it is distributed througout Europe, Asia and Northen America. The paper reviews the most important biological characteristics of wormwood, its chemical caracteristics as well as cultivation methods.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the resolving power of RAPD markers for rapid and reliable identification of olive cultivars in germplasm collections. The D parameter (the probability that two randomly chosen cultivars have different banding patterns), used for that purpose, showed high values for most of the 21 primers used and its values ranged from 0.6114 (OPI-13) to 0.9762 (OPK-16) with a mean value of 0.8566. This parameter was used to select the five most discriminating primers: OPK-16, OPA-19, OPX-09, OPF-06 and OPZ-11. The joint confusion probability and the statistical number of undistinguishable pairs of cultivars were estimated for these primers (under independence hypothesis). The combination of three primers (OPK-16, OPA-19 and OPX-09) was found optimal for rapid discrimination of 103 cultivars with a very low value of cumulative confusion probability (1.72 x 10-5), leaving 0.0903 pairs of cultivars undistinguishable. This fact together with the efficiency of the most discriminating primers combination on an increasing number of cultivars proved the utility of RAPD markers for varietal identification of olive cultivars in collections and in nurseries.