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Cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a major crop worldwide. It occupies the second place after cereals (corn, rice, and wheat). This important crop is threatened by the Oomycete Phytophthora infestans, the agent of late blight disease. This pathogen was first encountered during the Irish famine during the 1840s and is a reemerging threat to potatoes. It is mainly controlled chemically by using fungicides, but due to health and environmental concerns, the best alternative is resistance. When there is no disease, no treatment is required. In this study, we present a summary of the ongoing efforts concerning resistance breeding of potato against this devastating pathogen, P. infestans. This work begins with the search for and selection of resistance genes, whether they are from within or from outside the species. The genetic methods developed to date for gene mining, such as effectoromics and GWAS, provide researchers with the ability to identify genes of interest more efficiently. Once identified, these genes are cloned using molecular markers (MAS or QRL) and can then be introduced into different cultivars using somatic hybridization or recombinant DNA technology. More innovative technologies have been developed lately, such as gene editing using the CRISPR system or gene silencing, by exploiting iRNA strategies that have emerged as promising tools for managing Phytophthora infestans, which can be employed. Also, gene pyramiding or gene stacking, which involves the accumulation of two or more R genes on the same individual plant, is an innovative method that has yielded many promising results. All these advances related to the development of molecular techniques for obtaining new potato cultivars resistant to P. infestans can contribute not only to reducing losses in agriculture but especially to ensuring food security and safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Technostress is a problem present at international level, represented by a series of negative effects on people's thinking, attitude and behavior, its appearance being determined using technology. Aim: The study purpose was to assess the level of technology-induced stress among students and teachers, from the period of online courses (2020 to mid of 2021), due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A study was carried out on two samples represented by students and teaching staff from universities in Cluj-Napoca, regarding technostress. An online non validated questionnaire created in Google Forms was applied, and it was randomly sent to different people from the two targeted samples on WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Gmail and Messenger platforms between October and December 2022. To determine the level of stress, the perceived stress scale PSS-14 was used. Results: One hundred people participated in the study, including both students and teachers. The questions in the questionnaire presented good consistency, with a Cronbach alpha of 0.915. The participants in the study, predominantly had digital skills (96%), and most frequently, they self-classified as experienced users (40%). Both students and teachers most frequently presented a moderate level of stress (50% and 48%, respectively). The computer was the most used device (71%), and the most used platform was Google Meet (59%). Conclusion: Possession of a higher digital skills level, presents an advantage in reducing participants technostress level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chia (Salvia hispanica) is an annual herbaceous species from the Lamiaceae family. It is a tropical short-day species, native to Mesoamerica. Chia seeds are considered a "superfood" due to nutritional characteristics. Aim of this research was to assess the cultivation potential of chia in local climate (Cluj-Napoca, Romania). The research was conducted on four Salvia hispanica accessions cultivated in the experimental field from Agro-Botanical Garden of the University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Cluj-Napoca. In field conditions, growth cycle lasted between 150-170 days. According to BBCH scale were identified eight principal growth stages. Fruit development and fruit maturation were the longest. In September, seeds were harvested for analysis. The average thousand seeds mass was 1.43 g, average protein content 17.06 g/100 g and average fat content was 31.32 g/100 g. Plants developed a specific habitus and had a complete life cycle, producing fruits with viable seeds at the end of summer. Average seed germination was 92.88%. Quality of seeds was comparable with the one from literature, indicating to the potential for cultivation of chia in continental temperate conditions of Cluj county, Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weather changes significantly affect people's lives. Climatic data recorded so far indicates a progressive warming of the weather. Agriculture is one of the most affected branches due to its dependence on the evolution of the weather throughout the entire plants growing season. Agroecology can be one of the correct and concrete answers to the challenge of climate change, as this type of agriculture respects the natural balance of Earth, reducing human impact as much as possible. The current research presents the situation of agroecology in our country, as well as the evolution of organically grown crops areas. Although over the last 10 years, in Romania, the trend has fluctuated slightly with both decreases and increases, starting with 2017 the evolution of organic cultivated areas follow a positive trend. Organic farming follows the same positive trend in European Union and also worldwide. As concerns the types of organic crops grown in Romania in 2019 the largest area is occupied by cereals (32.09%), followed by permanent crops of meadows and hayfields (29.2%), then by industrial crops (19.82%). The smallest ratios of organically cultivated areas are represented by tuberous and root plants, as well as vegetables. Wheat is the most widespread crop, followed by maize, sunflower and barley. Other organic crops in our country, but cultivated on smaller areas, are rye, triticale, oats, rice, soybeans, potatoes and sugar beets. The increase of the surfaces on which the agroecology extends corresponds to the necessity of the humanity to return to the natural state, just how agriculture was from its beginnings, in order to slow down the climatic changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barley (Hordeum vulgare) is one of the essential cereal crops for humankind, the harvested area with barley ranks the 3rd place regarding grains cereals, after wheat and rice. The yield potential of barley, trait with complex genetic determinism, represents the maximum level of biomass which a genotype can realize under optimal conditions of growth and development as well as in an environment free of diseases, pests and weeds. The inheritance of quantitative traits involves a large number of genes which act additively in determining the character. To increase the yield potential of barley varieties, the present paper studied three traits which are involved in yield: spike length, grain weight/spike and grain number/spike that on 22 cultivars of barley, in ecological condition of ARDS Turda. Significance of the sample F for the genetic factor and interaction between the year and the genotype, for all three studied traits, reflects the fact that between those the 22 distinct genotypes there are very significant differences, which can be used in breeding programmes. As genitors for breeding programmes we can use cultivars Daciana, Romaniţa and To 2170/01 for spike lenght, cultivars Turdeana, Aura, Daciana and Xanadou for grain weight/spike and cultivars Turdeana and Adina for grain number/spike. The correlations between the three studied traits, which influence the barley yield, were posit ive, statistically assured, allowing their simultaneous improvement in the breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drought is one of the abiotic stress factors which affects the global production of grain cereals and is an important risk factor even for consecrated cultivation sites. This is even more acute for spring grains which are the most vulnerable to drought. This is the case for two-row spring barley which is highly sensitive to heat, especially in the post-anthesis phenophase. To monitor drought tolerance, we assess a number of 27 genotypes from the germplasm collection to identify the tolerant ones, to turn them into valuable genitors for cultivars adaptable to the new climate changes. In order to evaluate drought tolerance was used the principle of inducing this phenomenon through the use of chemical desiccants (NaClO3). The method is based on sprinkling the plants with desiccants (NaClO3) with a 2% concentration, 14 days after the anthesis. The genotypes that constitute the objective of this study are analysed through the prism of some components of production that are most significantly affected by the effects of drought appearing in the postanthesis phenophase, such as grain weight/spike and thousand grain weight (TGW). The most pronounced effect of the treatment is highlighted by the case of the genotypes Concerto and Vienna which reacts very favourably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of high-yielding hybrids of maize depends on good understanding of combining ability and inheritance of yield trait. To achieve this goal, synthetic populations of lines are developed and improved upon by recurrent selection to be utilized as initial material for the creation of inbred lines. Therefore, the aims of the present paper were: to determine the combining ability among some inbred lines developed from composites and commercial hybrids by recurrent selection method and to choose the most promising inbreds for maize yield improvement and the most suitable hybrid combinations. The highest value of the general combining ability (GCA) was obtain from inbred line TA 447 (1,655 kg ha-1) followed by tester TC 399 (233 kg ha-1). For the specific combining ability (SCA), TA 447 × TC 385 A, TA 427 × TC 399, TA 428 × TC 399 and CO 305 × TD 268 had good compatibility. The research concluded that GCA was more important that SCA, indicating that the additive genetic effects are mainly involved in the heredity of yield potential of maize. For the non-additive effects to increase, the next selection cycles must focus on plants' pairs with more pronounced heterosis for the yield trait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Finding complex and relevant information in the specialty literature is a very important aspect for researchers, this representing the first step in designing and starting a new research. Aim: This study aimed to test four different search strategies within three databases to get a higher number of valid and reliable articles able to reflect the state of the art. Methods: We performed a literature search in PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect scientific databases. We used four Boolean search strings (one sort and one long with quotation mark and one short and one long with parentheses) that combined relevant keywords related to hormonal therapy, cancer treatment, and red clover. The article types targeted were open and non-open access articles and also review and research articles. Filters as publishing year, text availability, article type and additionally subject area - for Science Direct, were applied. Results: The 1st Boolean search strategy identified 2286 and the 2nd identified 567 potentially relevant articles. Most of the determined articles (2166) from 1st search strategy and (557) from 2nd were excluded after filtering process, since they did not present related characteristics to the subject of interest. The researchers found a significant association between article type and the 2 strategies for ScienceDirect. Conclusion: The short search strategy with parentheses returned a higher number of articles than the short strategy with quotation marks and the long strategies with quotes and parentheses. ScienceDirect returned the largest number of articles, but upon verification, the most irrelevant articles were also observed within this database. Regarding open access and review articles type, the short strategy with parentheses returned the highest number for PubMed and ScienceDirect, and for WoS, the highest number of such articles was obtained following the use of the short strategy with quotation marks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultivation of spring wheat varieties has expanded into areas with abundant winters where winter wheat is not suitable. Due to lack of research in Romania regarding the influence of different factors on hard red spring wheat, the present study aimed at a better understanding of the influence of genotype, climatic conditions and nitrogen fertilization on the spring wheat yield and quality, and to analyse the correlations between grain yield and grain protein content. Experiences were conducted from 2015 to 2018 on two levels of N fertilization (50 and 100 kg ha-1) at Agricultural Research and Development Station Turda. Biological material consisted of 19 genotypes, four of local origin and fifteen of foreign origin, from three different varieties (ferrugineum, lutescens, erythrospermum). The results indicate that the three experimental years were more important in the interactions with the genotypes than was the N fertilization, for both yield and protein content. The most productive cultivars with good stability were 'Feeling' and 'SG 5-01', and the most valuable varieties regarding the protein content were 'Pădureni', 'Corso' and 'GK Tavasz'. A high dose of N assured a high yield and good quality for all cultivars. Although negative correlations were found between production and protein content in HRSW, there were found cultivars that show positive regressions of protein content, such as 'Pădureni', 'Feeling' and 'Lona'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]