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Publications

NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

2019

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Abstract

The presence of pollinators in orchards is crucial to obtain high fruit set and yields of fruits. Despite the fact that sour cherry cultivars are mainly autogamous, insect visits are still of great importance for their propagation. In order to attract and reward pollinators, flowers have to provide adequate nourishment to them. Besides nectar, bees gather pollen, which are a prerequisite for normal colony growth and development of their broods. ‘Oblačinska’ sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.), an autochthonous cultivar, is the most highly planted cultivar in Serbian commercial orchards. Since the cultivar is actually a mixture of different clones, variability in numerous traits and, particularly, its yields has been reported. Since phenolic compounds are considered to be fundamental pollen chemicals, the aim of this study was to determine the phenolic compounds profile in pollen collected from 15 ‘Oblačinska’ sour cherry clones with varying productivity levels. Solid phase extraction (SPE), combined with ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a diode array detector and a triple quadruple mass spectrometer (UHPLC DAD-MS/MS), was used to analyse the polyphenolic profile of pollen. Among 23 components quantified, rutin was the most abundant phenolic compound. It ranged from 98.49 (clone V/P) to 358.83 mg kg-1 (clone III/9) and was observed to contribute, on average, 56% of the total phenolic compounds in pollen as quantified in different ‘Oblačinska’ sour cherry clones. In addition to this compound, clones contained significant amounts of chlorogenic acid (12.92%), astragalin (8.19%), and hyperoside (5.59%) as well. Cluster analysis grouped pollen clones in four different clusters, which showed that clones III/9, IV/8, and V/P had unique phenolic profiles. Despite the significant differences among the studied clones, the contents of chlorogenic acid, rutin, naringin, hyperoside, astralgin, and phlorizin were distinguishable between the clusters.

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Abstract

Flowering performance and phenology of six new pear cultivars of Nordic origin were examined during a 12 year period. The seasonal timing of shoot growth and flower initiation were monitored in three years. The morphological floral stages of the flower bud formation process were examined for the cultivar ‘Celina’. Seven floral stages were identified and described. The date of full bloom varied between years as a function of the currently accumulated heat sum in early spring. Still, the earliness ranking of the cultivars was consistent across years for both flower initiation and blooming. The cultivars ‘Anna’ and ‘Ingeborg’ consistently initiated floral primordia 2–3 weeks earlier than ‘Celina’, ‘Clara Frijs’, ‘Fritjof’ and ‘Kristina’, and this was accompanied with 4–5 days earlier blooming in the following spring. The early flower initiation cultivars ‘Anna’ and ‘Ingeborg’ also had richer flowering than the late-blooming cultivars. ‘Fritjof’ was identified as a suitable pollinator for ‘Celina’ in the Nordic climate. Comparison of the flowering phenology of pear and apple cultivars showed that while the pears, on average, flowered a week ahead of the apples, they initiated flower primordia almost two weeks later, thus rendering the intervening period approximately three weeks longer in pear than in apple

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Abstract

Fusarium is one of the most diverse fungal genera affecting several crops around the world. This study describes the phylogeny of Fusarium species associated with grains of sorghum and finger millet from different parts of Ethiopia. Forty-two sorghum and 34 finger millet grain samples were mycologically analysed. All of the sorghum and more than 40% of the finger millet grain samples were contaminated by the Fusarium species. The Fusarium load was higher in sorghum grains than that in finger millet grains. In addition, 67 test isolates were phylogenetically analysed using EF-1α and β-tubulin gene primers. Results revealed the presence of eight phylogenetic placements within the genus Fusarium, where 22 of the isolates showed a close phylogenetic relation to the F. incarnatum–equiseti species complex. Nevertheless, they possess a distinct shape of apical cells of macroconidia, justifying the presence of new species within the Fusarium genus. The new species was the most dominant, represented by 33% of the test isolates. The current work can be seen as an important addition to the knowledge of the biodiversity of fungal species that exists within the Fusarium genus. It also reports a previously unknown Fusarium species that needs to be investigated further for toxin production potential.

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Abstract

Detarioideae is well known for its high diversity of floral traits, including flower symmetry, number of organs, and petal size and morphology. This diversity has been characterized and studied at higher taxonomic levels, but limited analyses have been performed among closely related genera with contrasting floral traits due to the lack of fully resolved phylogenetic relationships. Here, we used four representative transcriptomes to develop an exome capture (target enrichment) bait for the entire subfamily and applied it to the Anthonotha clade using a complete data set (61 specimens) representing all extant floral diversity. Our phylogenetic analyses recovered congruent topologies using ML and Bayesian methods. Anthonotha was recovered as monophyletic contrary to the remaining three genera (Englerodendron, Isomacrolobium and Pseudomacrolobium), which form a monophyletic group sister to Anthonotha. We inferred a total of 35 transitions for the seven floral traits (pertaining to flower symmetry, petals, stamens and staminodes) that we analyzed, suggesting that at least 30% of the species in this group display transitions from the ancestral condition reconstructed for the Anthonotha clade. The main transitions were towards a reduction in the number of organs (petals, stamens and staminodes). Despite the high number of transitions, our analyses indicate that the seven characters are evolving independently in these lineages. Petal morphology is the most labile floral trait with a total of seven independent transitions in number and seven independent transitions to modification in petal types. The diverse petal morphology along the dorsoventral axis of symmetry within the flower is not associated with differences at the micromorphology of petal surface, suggesting that in this group all petals within the flower might possess the same petal identity at the molecular level. Our results provide a solid evolutionary framework for further detailed analyses of the molecular basis of petal identity.