Maize leaf weevil [(Tanymecus dilaticollis (Gyllenhal, 1834)] represents one of the most dangerous pests of the maize crops in Romania. Each year, around one million hectares cultivated with maize are attacked by this pest with different levels of attack intensities. In the case of the high weevils invasion, the maize seedlings could not survive, and the farmers have to sow their fields again, causing unexpected costs. Spring drought and higher temperatures that usually occur in Romania's south-east is even more favorable circumstances for the weevils attack. Also, maize monoculture has an increasing effect on pest density associate with a higher impact on the attack. The maize seeds' chemical treatment with systemic insecticides was the most effective method to reduce the loss. However, the use of neonicotinoid insecticides for seed treatment was banned in the European Union in 2019. As a result, no effective insecticides are available for maize seed treatment against T. dilaticollis in Romania. This study aimed to evaluate possible alternatives at seed treatment to control the maize leaf weevil. The experiences were carried out at the National Agricultural Research and Development Institute Fundulea, both under the field and greenhouse conditions, with artificial infestation, between 2015 and 2018. Maize foliar treatment with deltamethrin (100 g/l), thiacloprid (480 g/l), and maize seeds treatment with imidacloprid (600 g/l) active ingredients were assessed. In all years from this trial, in the field conditions studied foliar treatments haven't assign effective protection of the maize plants in early vegetation stages against maize weevil attack. In case of high pest attack in the absence of the seeds treatment, more than 90 % of the plants can be destroyed by the weevils. Until now, no alternatives are available to replace maize seed treatments with systemic insecticides.

Currently, according to the specialists in the field, Amaranthus species are part of alternative agricultural crops recommended for organic farming. In this context, our scientific approach is to analyse the adaptability of these species in the specific conditions of the southern part of Romania (Reviga village, Ialomita County). Thus, for two consecutive years, two varieties of Amaranthus cruentus, namely ‘Bolivia 153’ and ‘Golden Giant’, were studied regarding: morphology, biology, cultivation technology, plant productivity and quality of yields in the organic farming conditions. After the study period, the ‘Golden Giant’ variety was characterized by the following: 8 days - sowing-emergence period; flowering start on 21 July; 124 days - vegetation period; 839.3 Growing Degree Days (GDD) (Σ t °C > 15 °C); 23.24 g - grains mass per plant; 1.375 g - Thousand Weight Grains (TWG); 2,647 kg ha^-1 - grains yields. By comparison, ‘Bolivia 153’ variety plants were presented as follows: 11 days - sowing-emergence period; flowering start on 21 July; 127 days - vegetation period; 842.4 GDD; 22.09 g - grains mass per plant; 1.46 g TWG; 23.78 kg ha^-1 - grains yields. In average, the chemical composition of Amaranthus cruentus grains was: 15.20% proteins; 51.70% starch; 5.96% lipids; 13.36% cellulose and 3.35% ash. In conclusion, the experimentation area proved to be favourable to Amaranthus cruentus cultivation, so that the tested varieties behaved well, had a fairly uniform emergences, and the good level of grains yields and quality.

This paper presents a five-year study monitoring cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) flight dynamics using pheromonal traps and a study relating to the behavior of nine maize hybrids from two maturity groups in response to a pest attack in 2024. The monitoring and field assessments were conducted in Southeast Romania, Călărași County, at the NARDI Fundulea. During the monitoring period, from 2020 to 2024, air temperature was higher than average in the summer months while rainfall was below average, except in June 2021. The total number of moths captured in the traps was 246 in 2020, 406 in 2021, 5064 in 2022, 1024 in 2023, and 4145 in 2024. In the middle of July 2022, the average captured moths per trap was 483.3; in the middle of September, it was 589.0 catches. In 2024, in the last 10 days of July, the average captured moths per trap was 311.7; in the last 10 days of August, it was 358.0, while in the middle of September, it was 362.3. In 2024, at the beginning of August, the attack incidence of corn earworm on maize hybrids ranged from 43.75 to 53.75%, and on 13 September, it was 100% for all hybrids. This is the first report from southeast Romania that mentions a higher population of cotton bollworm in the late summer and beginning of autumn and the first report to mention a large number of pest attacks on maize cobs in September.

This paper presents a three-year study concerning the effectiveness of the OSR seed treatment with the cyantraniliprole active ingredient in controlling the DBM larvae attack in autumn and four-year monitoring of the DBM flight pattern, using pheromone sticky traps. The experiment and the monitoring were conducted at the experimental field from the National Agricultural Research and Development Institute (NARDI) Fundulea in Southeast Romania. For the field assessments, each OSR sampled plant was photographed in macro mode, and then images were downloaded and magnified on the PC screen to determine the DBM larva attack. The traps were placed in the OSR crop from mid-March till December and checked twice weekly. Data from the field assessment revealed a higher pest attack on OSR plants on 11 November 2020, when the DBM larvae attack degree was 16.26% in the untreated variant and 11.24% in the variant with treated seeds. The results evidenced unusually higher activity for the diamondback moths during November 2019, 2020, and 2022; the beginning of December 2020 and 2021; and mid-December 2022. This is the first report from the Romanian scientific literature concerning higher DBM attacks at OSR plants in autumn and high moth activity during November and December.

This study analyses the differences between wines obtained from grapes cultivated conventionally and those cultivated biodynamically. The wine samples studied were obtained from Rhein Riesling, Italian Riesling, Muscat Ottonel and Chardonnay grape varieties. Among these, four variants (one from each grape variety) were obtained from grapes following conventional cultural technologies, while the rest were from the same grape varieties cultivated biodynamically. All grapes and wines were produced in the Murfatlar vineyard, in south-east Romania. Basic chemical and sensorial analyses were applied to evaluate the differences appearing between the conventional and organic wine samples. All sets of data, PCA analysed, underlined that there are no systematic differences between the two grape cultivation methods and the obtained products.