Inoculation of plants with fungi has been shown to increase yields by improving germination, seedling vigor, plant growth, root morphogenesis, photosynthesis, and flowering through direct or indirect mechanisms. These mechanisms include solubilization and mineralization of nutrients, facilitating their uptake by plants, regulation of hormone balance, production of volatile organic compounds and microbial enzymes, suppression of plant pathogens, and mitigation of abiotic stresses. In the presented experiments, the effect of selected forest soil fungi on the growth and development of Brassica napus L. seedlings was investigated. Inoculation was carried out in vivo and in pot experiments with ectomycorrhizal fungi typical for forest soils: Collybia tuberosa, Clitocybe sp., Laccaria laccata, Hebeloma mesophaeum, and Cyathusolla. It was shown that all analyzed fungi produced IAA. In the in vitro experiment, B. napus inoculated with L. laccata showed stimulated root growth and greater number of leaves compared to control plants. A similar stimulatory effect on lateral root formation was observed in cuttings grown in pots in the presence of the C. olla fungus. In the pot experiment, the seedlings inoculated with the L. laccata fungus also showed increased growth of shoots and biomass. The effect of inoculation with the tested fungal strains, especially C. olla, on the growth and development of oilseed rape was probably indirect, as it also contributed to an increase in the number of microorganisms, especially soil bacteria. The expression of the metallothioneins in B. napus (BnMT1-BnMT3) varied depending on the fungal species. The presence of C. olla significantly increased BnMT2 expression in oilseed rape. It was found that BnMT1 expression increased and BnMT3 transcripts decreased in plants growing in the presence of L. laccata. This indicates the involvement of BnMT in the adaptation of oilseed rape to growth in fungi presence.

The study on the in vitro micropropagation of Robinia pseudoacacia L. shows the possibility of the rapid increase of the vegetative progeny using organogenesis. The culture system consists of sequential use of three media, namely, the initiation medium (MS medium supplemented with 0.6 mg · l-1 6-BA (6-benzylamino-purine), 0.1 mg · l-1 NAA (naphthalene acetic acid), proliferation medium (1/2 MS medium added with 1 mg · l-1 6-BA,) and root-induction medium (1/2 MS medium fortified with 0.2 mg · l-1 NAA). The resulting micropropagated plants, fully acclimatised to an in vivo environment, did not show any visually detectable morphological variation.\ud In addition, we investigated the genetic stability (vegetative progeny to the donor plant) of a sample of 30 plants randomly taken from ca. 1067 micropropagated plants, by using three microsatellites loci Rops 15, Rops 16, Rops 18. Our results suggest that DNA sequence variations may occur in micropropagated plants.Przemysław Szmi

Black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia L.) was introduced in Poland over 200 years ago, and its distribution area now covers the whole country, with the highest concentration of occurrence in the western part. Breeding of this species has been started in Poland for about 20 years, albeit on a limited scale, and two selected seed stands, 34 plus trees and two seed orchards have been registered. So far, selection efforts have not been coupled with the recognition of variation in the genetic structure of local populations. To fill the knowledge gap on genetic diversity, we selected the seven qualitatively best populations of R. pseudoacacia for our study. To clarify the origin of the Polish population of R. pseudoacacia , a sample from a seed stand in eastern Germany and from a seed orchard with Hungarian clones from the Oborniki Śląskie Forest District was added. In this study, three microsatellites were used to evaluate genotypes: Rops15, Rops16 and Rops18, with the Rops15 locus (motif AG) showing hypermutability. Moderate or high variability was observed in all microsatellite loci examined, with a total of 27 alleles identified. In all stands, the average observed number of alleles per locus was higher than the average effective number of alleles per locus. Three main clusters have been identified in the genetic structure of the population, one of which is represented by the population from the Regional Directorate of State Forests in Zielona Góra. The second group comprised the populations from Mieszkowice, the populations Pińczów and Wołów, and the population from Germany. The last one included population from Strzelce and Oborniki Śląskie, where the population from Hungary is represented. This may be of great importance for practice. Perhaps it is worth postulating the separation of two seed regions. Under most scenarios, climate change is projected to change the distribution of forest types and tree species in all biomes. It can be assumed that the importance of black locust in times of climate change is likely to increase.

Rapid screening methods for drought-resistant genotypes are urgently needed in tree improvement programs in the face of current climate change. We used a plant tissue culture technique to assess the phenotypic response of three highly productive genotypes of Robinia pseudoacacia to water deficit induced by mannitol and sucrose in a range of water potentials from 0 MPa to −1.5 MPa in an eight-week experiment. Our study showed genotype-specific responses to induced drought stress, indicating the potential for tree improvement in productivity and stress tolerance. Considering that all plantlets were constantly supplied with carbon, from the medium during the drought-induced experiment, our results suggest that hydraulic failure rather than carbon starvation may be the main cause of drought-induced mortality. Furthermore, our results showed different metabolic pathways of sucrose depending on the concentration of sucrose in the medium and different responses to osmoticum (mannitol vs. sucrose) and its concentration among the clones tested. We believe, that for large-scale breeding programs wanting to select for drought-tolerant genotypes, the use of culture media containing 90 gL⁻¹ mannitol or 90 gL⁻¹ sucrose at an early selection stage should provide satisfactory screening results. However, lab-based screening should be supported by further field trials, preferably at multiple sites, to assess the long-term impact and phenotypic stability of the early selection strategies.

DNA barcoding is an innovative system designed to provide rapid, accurate, and automatable species identification by using short, standardized gene regions as internal species codes. The mitochondrial cytochrome C oxidase I (COI) gene was proposed by Paul Hebert as an official marker for animals, because of its small intraspecific but large interspecific variation. Since the launch of the project Barcode of Life, this simple technique has caught the interest of taxonomists, ecologists and plant-quarantine officers charged with the control of pests and invasive species. The great diversity of insects and their importance have made this group a major target for DNA barcoding. In most cases, the identification of insect species by traditional methods based on morphological features requires specialist knowledge and is labor-intensive. DNA barcoding aims at meeting the challenge of monitoring and documenting the biodiversity of insects. The utility of DNA barcoding for identifying small insects, cryptic taxa or rare species, as well as many species of forest entomofauna that are impossible to discriminate morphologically throughout all of their life stages, is a subject discussed in this review. Due to its usefulness, also in Poland in the Forestry Research Institute, a method for identifying selected species of saproxylic beetles based on the sequence of the COI region was developed. In the future, this method will be used to assess the state of biodiversity and the naturalness of forest ecosystems. Therefore, this and other future implications of this promising new technique are also discussed here.

This paper reports the construction a map based on Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphic DNA (AFLP) in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.). The main purpose of map construction was its application to quantitative traits loci (QTL) mapping for breeding traits economically important in Scots pine breeding program such as tree height and diameter at breast height, number of needles and their length, width, and area. Genomic DNA of needles and haploid megagamethophytes from seeds originating from a single tree were amplified with 25 AFLP primer-enzyme combinations with three or four selective nucleotides. Sixteen of them generated easily readable patterns and revealed a polymorphism. Each analyzed marker was tested for the expected 1 : 1 segregation ratio using χ2 – test and only 6 were significant with (α ≤ 0.05). The total map size equaled 291,7 cM and all markers were distributed within one linkage group. For all traits only one QTL associated with tree height (H) was detected.Przemysław Szmi