Seed germination is first critical and the most sensitive stage in the life cycle of plants compromise the seedlings establishment. Salt and drought tolerance testing in initial stages of plant development is of vital importance, because the seed with more rapid germination under salt or water deficit conditions may be expected to achieve a rapid seedling establishment, resulting in higher yields. The aim of this study was to determine whether the pea seed germination and seedling growth were inhibited by the salt toxicity and osmotic effect during the seedling development, and also identification of the sensitive seedling growth parameters in response to those stresses. Based on the obtained results, pea has been presented to be more tolerant to salt than water stress during germination and early embryo growth. Investigated cultivars showed greater susceptibility to both abiotic stresses when it comes growth parameters compared to seed germination.

The aim of this study is to assess DNA degradation, DNA amplification, and GMO quantity during tofu production. Soybean seeds were spiked with Roundup Ready® soybeans (RRS) at 0.9, 2, 3 and 5% (by mass), to assess the level of RSS that would be of practical interest for threshold labelling. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was more effective than conventional PCR in the analysis of raw soymilk, okara, boiled soymilk and tofu. The negative effect of grinding and mechanical manipulation was obvious in the okara sample prepared with 3 and 5% RRS, where GMO content was reduced to (2.28±0.23) and (2.74±0.26) %, respectively. However, heating at 100 °C for 10 min did not cause significant degradation of DNA in all samples. The content of RRS in the final product, tofu, was reduced tenfold during processing, ranging from 0.07 to 0.46%, which was below the labelling threshold level. The results are discussed in terms of global harmonization of GMO standards, which could have the positive effect on the trade of lightly processed foodstuffs such as tofu, especially regarding the labelling policies.

Background: This study was carried out for an understanding of the antioxidant mechanisms of field pea varieties under osmotic stress conditions caused by a lack of water. The activities of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APx) and glutathione reductase (GR) were examined and analyzed. The gene expression levels of Cu/Zn SOD, cAPx and GR genes were also examined. Methods: Osmotic stress was stimulated using PEG 6000 with the osmotic potential of -0.1 MPa in 10 days old plant seedlings. The activity of the antioxidant enzymes was measured in the shoots and roots of pea seedlings. The gene expression levels of genes coding antioxidative enzymes were examined by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique. Arabidopsis 18S rRNA was used as endogenous control. Result: Osmotic stress changed the activities of antioxidant enzymes in the shoots and roots of pea seedlings. Varieties more tolerant to osmotic stress showed a significant increase in antioxidant activities in shoots and roots, while sensitive varieties showed a significant decrease. The results of the analysis of the expression of genes, coding for antioxidant enzymes, showed that the reaction of the tested cultivars to ROS was the result of increased expression of the tested genes in tolerant cultivars, i.e. decreased expression in sensitive cultivars.