An interspecific Gossypium hirsutum × Gossypium barbadense backcross population of 75 BC₁plants was evaluated for 1014 markers. The map consists of 888 loci, including 465 AFLPs, 229 SSRs, 192 RFLPs, and 2 morphological markers, ordered in 37 linkage groups that represent most if not all of the 26 chromosomes, altogether spanning 4400 cM. Loci were not evenly distributed over linkage groups, and 18 of the 26 long groups had a single dense region. This paper proposes a partially revised list of the 13 pairs of homoeologous A/D chromosomes of the 2n = 4x = 52 tetraploid cotton genome. The major revisions, which involve the c3–c17, c4–c22, c5–D08, and c10–c20 homoeologous pairs, are based on the mapping of 68 SSR and RFLP loci with a known chromosome assignment, as well as on comparative alignments with previously published G. hirsutum × G. barbadense maps. The overall congruency in the locus orders and distances of common SSR and RFLP loci in these maps allows for an estimation of the consensus length that reaches a minimum of 5500 cM, and is encouraging for future efforts aimed at developing an integrated map of cultivated cotton. The present map also provides a firm framework for precision mapping of Mendelian components of quantitative traits in cotton.Key words: cotton, genetic mapping, RFLP, microsatellite, AFLP.

Agriculture faces many challenges to maximize yields while it is required to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner. In the present study, we analyze the major agricultural challenges identified by European farmers (primarily related to biotic stresses) in 13 countries, namely Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, UK and Turkey, for nine major crops (barley, beet, grapevine, maize, oilseed rape, olive, potato, sunflower and wheat). Most biotic stresses (BSs) are related to fungi or insects, but viral diseases, bacterial diseases and even parasitic plants have an important impact on yield and harvest quality. We examine how these challenges have been addressed by public and private research sectors, using either conventional breeding, marker-assisted selection, transgenesis, cisgenesis, RNAi technology or mutagenesis. Both national surveys and scientific literature analysis followed by text mining were employed to evaluate genetic engineering (GE) and non-GE approaches. This is the first report of text mining of the scientific literature on plant breeding and agricultural biotechnology research. For the nine major crops in Europe, 128 BS challenges were identified with 40% of these addressed neither in the scientific literature nor in recent European public research programs. We found evidence that the private sector was addressing only a few of these “neglected” challenges. Consequently, there are considerable gaps between farmer’s needs and current breeding and biotechnology research. We also provide evidence that the current political situation in certain European countries is an impediment to GE research in order to address these agricultural challenges in the future. This study should also contribute to the decision-making process on future pertinent international consortia to fill the identified research gaps.

Genetic variability in modern crops is limited due to domestication and selection processes. Genetic variation in eight Bulgarian tomato varieties and breeding lines (variety Plovdivska karotina, variety IZK Alya, L21β, L53β, L1140, L1116, L975, L984) differing in their morphological and biochemical composition was assessed using a highly efficient and low-cost fluorescent simple sequence repeat (SSR) genotyping platform. Genotyping was conducted with 165 publicly available microsatellite markers developed from different research groups under a number of projects in tomato (SOL Genomics SSRs, Kazusa TGS and TES, SLM, TMS and LEMDDNa) among which only five (3.03%) failed to amplify the expected PCR fragments. Of the remaining markers, 81 (50.62%) were polymorphic in the whole collection of eight genotypes. Among the marker groups used, SLM markers were most polymorphic, followed by TMS and SOL Genomics SSR markers. The total number of amplified alleles was 299, with a mean of 1.869; and the average polymorphic information content (PIC) was 0.196. The genetic diversity within the collection was relatively low (0.2222). Nei's genetic distance varied from 0.0953 to 0.3992. Cluster analysis using the un-weighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) method indicated that the studied tomato genotypes are grouped in four main clusters, which is to some extent consistent with the morpho- and hemo-types of the studied tomatoes. Variety IZK Alya (cherry type) and two of the breeding lines (L1140, L1116) formed three separate and more distant clusters. The fourth cluster includes the other five genotypes. The observed grouping of these genotypes in two sub-clusters reflects their similar morphological and biochemical composition. The genetic distance information from this study might be useful for further implementation of breeding strategies and crosses among these inbred lines.

The applications of electromagnetic (EM) field treatment on water in agriculture have garnered increasing attention as a sustainable method to enhance plant growth, water-use efficiency, and metabolic performance. A growing body of evidence suggests that exposure to EM fields can affect water molecules, possibly by influencing hydrogen bonding dynamics, the structuring of water clusters, and electrokinetic properties of the water molecules. These alterations are thought to correlate with plant physiological performance. The methodology of the study was divided into two parts. The first part focused on the preparation of electromagnetically treated water. The second part involved applying this treated water to spinach plants. The present study investigates the physiological responses of Spinacia oleracea L. to irrigation with electromagnetically treated water (EMTW), focusing on elucidating the potential mechanisms that may underlie the observed effects. EMTW was generated using a solenoid-based system operating in dual-frequency ranges (100–1000 Hz and 10–100 kHz), which has been previously shown to influence both the microbiological and electrokinetic properties of aqueous systems. To evaluate the structural and functional implications of EMTW, a combined methodological approach was employed, integrating proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H-NMR) spectroscopy, density functional theory (DFT) modeling of water hydrogen bonds and clusters, and comprehensive plant physiological assessments. Plants were cultivated under both controlled and field conditions to assess consistency across environmental settings. Physiological measurements demonstrated that EMTW irrigation increased photosynthetic rate by ~80%, transpiration by 49–67%, stomatal conductance by 78–129%, intercellular CO₂ concentration by 42–80%, and chlorophyll content by 9.3–9.5% compared to control samples. Additionally, phenoloc and flavonoid contents were elevated by 7.4% and 7.6%, respectively, in field-grown plants. These enhancements were statistically significant (p < 0.001 or p < 0.01) under both laboratory and field conditions, confirming the robustness of the observed effects.