Cold plasma technology has received significant attention in agriculture due to its effect on the seeds and plants of important cultivars, such as wheat. Due to climate change, wherein increasing temperatures and droughts are frequent, it is important to consider novel approaches to agricultural production. As increased dormancy levels in wheat are correlated with high temperatures and drought, improving the germination and root growth of wheat seeds could offer new possibilities for seed sowing. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of direct (glow) and indirect (afterglow) radio-frequency (RF) oxygen plasma treatments on the germination of two winter wheat varieties: Apache and Bezostaya 1. The influence of plasma treatment on seed surface morphology was studied using scanning electron microscopy, and it was observed that direct plasma treatment resulted in a high etching and nanostructuring of the seed surface. The effect of plasma treatment on germination was evaluated by measuring the germination rate, counting the number of roots and the length of the root system, and the fresh weight of seedlings. The results of this study indicate that the response of seeds to direct and indirect plasma treatment may be variety-dependent, as differences between the two wheat varieties were observed.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate some of the soft wheat genotypes cultivated in Albania, concerning the technological and rheological characteristics of the produced dough, in regard to further cultivation. The obtained results for the soft lines of wheat collected during the summer seasons of 2013 and 2014 showed high contents of protein (13.36% - 17.42%), also strong water absorption capacity (59.70%-67.40%) with high values of Mixolab parameter C2 (0.24Nm–0.54Nm), thus predicting good protein quality and very strong gelatinization C3 (1.42Nm–1.96Nm). With the exception of genotype PZA 4, the other genotypes were characterized by quite high viscosity when cold (retro gradation) (1.54Nm–2.96Nm). The statistical evaluation showed that wet gluten content has a statistically significant negative correlation with Mixolab parameters C2 (r = -0.607, p ˂ 0.01), while the stabilities of the dough showed statistically significant correlation with protein content and gluten index (r = -0.543 and r = 0.551, respectively).

Monografija z naslovom Zrnate stročnice v prehrani obravnava različne aspekte vključevanja zrnatih stročnic v humano prehrano. Predstavljen je zgodovinski pregled uporabe stročnic in dejavniki, ki prispevajo k naraščajoči potrebi za pridelavo. Velika prehranska vrednost stročnic je pogojena z ugodno sestavo makrohranil ter vsebnostjo vitaminov in mineralov. Pred vključevanjem stročnic v prehrano je potrebno le te ustrezno predelati, da se izboljša dostopnost hranil ter zmanjša vsebnost nezaželenih snovi. Poleg tradicionalnih tehnik mletja in termične obdelave lahko prehransko vrednost izboljšamo tudi s fermentacijo in kaljenjem. V publikaciji je podrobno predstavljena uporaba soje v azijski kulinariki, kjer ta predstavlja temelj vsakodnevne prehrane. Tudi na trgovskih policah v Sloveniji najdemo vse več izdelkov iz stročnic. Velik potencial, ki ga imajo stročnice v humani prehrani, so prepoznali nekateri podjetniki, zato so v monografiji predstavljene tudi njihove uspešne zgodbe. Boljšo prehransko varnost in višjo kakovost zagotavljajo predvsem lokalno pridelane stročnice.