An increased awareness of environmental protection and sustainable production raise the necessity of incorporating the selection of low nitrogen-tolerant winter wheat cultivars for high yield and quality in the breeding process. This selection can be assisted by using stress screening indices. Our study aimed to evaluate and compare a number of stress screening indices and to determine and select the most nitrogen deficiency-tolerant winter wheat cultivars for further breeding. The experiment included forty-eight winter wheat cultivars from eight different countries that were grown for two consecutive years at three different locations under low-nitrogen (LN) and high-nitrogen (HN) conditions. The results emphasized the importance of applying the appropriate stress screening indices in evaluating and selecting nitrogen deficiency-tolerant wheat cultivars. The promising stress screening indices were the mean productivity index (MP), geometric mean productivity index (GMP), harmonic mean index (HM), stress tolerance index (STI) and yield index (YI). They identified cultivars Sofru, BC Opsesija and MV-Nemere as the most tolerant cultivars to LN conditions for grain yield. The same indices classified U-1, OS-Olimpija, Forcali, Viktoria and BC Tena cultivars as the most tolerant to LN conditions for the grain protein content. Using the tolerance index (TOL), yield stability index (YSI) and relative stress index (RSI), the Katarina and Ficko cultivars were denoted as LN-tolerant cultivars in terms of the grain yield and Isengrain, Tosunbey, Vulkan and BC Darija in terms of the grain protein content.

The study of salinity stress in irrigated floriculture can make a significant contribution to the preservation of freshwater sources. To analyze the morphological and aesthetic responses of zinnia (Zinnia elegans L.) and periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don) to different salinity stress levels, the following treatments were performed: s0 = municipal water (control), s1 = 3 dS m⁻¹, s2 = 4.5 dS m⁻¹, and s3 = 6 dS m⁻¹. The growth of zinnia (flower number, plant height, branch and leaf number, total fresh and dry biomass, and root length) was linearly reduced by increasing salinity levels, while all observed periwinkle traits for the s2 salinity treatment were either equal to or greater than the control treatment (n.s.) and a further increase in salinity stress showed a significant (p < 0.01) decrease. The first flower buds on zinnia appeared with the control treatment (s0), while for periwinkle the first flower bud appeared with the s1 treatment. With regard to both zinnia and periwinkle leaf necrosis, drying and firing occurred during the third week in the s2 and s3 treatments. Zinnia proved to be sensitive to salinity, while periwinkle showed mild tolerance to salinity stress, up to 3 dS m⁻¹.

The aim of the work was to find out the effects of three types of organic fertilizers (S-horse and cow, P-chicken, B-compost) and three types of biostimulants (BC-plants, BO-microorganisms, BS-microorganisms) on the growth of lettuce (Lactuca sativa cv. Maradona) and the secondary metabolites accumulation. The combination of manure (P) and biostimulant (BC) produced the highest yield, exceeding the control by 50% and 66% in two successive growing cycles (p < 0.05). Across all fertilizer treatments, BC application consistently improved plant performance and metabolic activity. Among secondary metabolities, the highest total phenolic content was observed in S and S + BC (≈2.56 mg g⁻¹), phenolic acids in S + BC (≈2.54 mg g⁻¹), antioxidant activity in P + BC (≈1.24 mg g⁻¹), flavonoids in control with S (≈14.09 µmol/g), and proline in P + BO (≈2.45 µmol/g). These findings highlight the synergistic effects of organic fertilizers and biostimulants, suggesting their potential to improve both productivity and nutritional quality in sustainable horticultural systems.

Svojstva klijanaca i biljaka engleskog ljulja nakon 5 godina skladištenja sjemena na različitim temperaturama

The protection of air from pollution is one of the basic principles of sustainable development, and this article analyzes the joint impact of various types of agricultural production and traffic on nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. The goal of this research is the development of a new methodology for assessing the combined impact of different types of agricultural production, traffic load, and traffic flow structure on the emission of nitrogen oxides. For the analysis of the joint impact of traffic and agricultural production, a new impact assessment methodology was developed, which is based on two selected impact prediction models. The following two models were used to predict the impact: the BioGrace model and the microsimulation model VISSIM. The developed methodology was applied to a case study in real field conditions. The results showed that the difference in the emission of NOx gases, depending on the type of agricultural production, indicates a reduction in NOx emissions in the walnut–winter-wheat system by 30%, compared to the production of winter wheat in an open field. The statistical analysis showed that there is no statistically significant difference between NOx emissions for different vehicle arrival scenarios for the same traffic load. The results of the joint impact show that the lowest NOx emission was found in walnut orchards and counted traffic. In this example, the difference between the one-hour emission load of three different agricultural types of production and traffic is not large; however, in the cumulative load, it can lead to significant differences. Emphasizing the importance of adopting new agricultural practices and the impact of traffic and the share of freight and heavy goods vehicles in agricultural production, we position them as a proactive and sustainable response to the critical ecological and agricultural challenges highlighted in European and Croatian policy.