Sonja Marić

Response of sunflower hybrids to growing in different environments

The objective of the investigation was testing of sunflower hybrids in different environmental conditions. Trials were set up at three locations (Osijek —Eastern Slavonia county, Karanac — Baranja county, and Fericanci — Western Slavonia county) during the 2002 and 2003 growing season. Fourteen sunflower hybrids were tested. Stability and adaptability analysis was performed using two parameters — regression coefficient (b i ) and deviations mean square (s 2 di ). Determined were hybrids characterized by high and stable grain yield and wide general adaptability and hybrids for low and high yielding environments. The investigation showed no significant differences among single cross and three-way cross hybrids regarding grain yield stability.

Selection of testing environments for winter wheat breeding

Stability of cultivars across different environments is one of the main goals in winter wheat breeding programs. Much attention has been devoted to analysing cultivar by environment (C x E) interactions to improve crop breeding efforts (Thomason and Philips, 2006 ; Sio-Se Mardeh et al., 2006 ; Hoffman et al., 2005 ; Pepo and Gyi ri, 2005). Ideal genotype would have, in all environments same high yield. Research work was conducted on four test locations in Eastern Croatia - Zupanja, Nova Gradiska, Kutjevo and Osijek - during four vegetation years, 2002/2003 – 2005/2006. Three winter wheat cultivars - Zitarka, Sana and Divana were chosen for the research due to their high yielding performance and good quality. Cultivars were planted in the randomised block design with four replications. Basic plot was 10 m2 with 25 rows and spaced 40 cm apart from other plot.Genotype-environment interaction proved to be very important in winter wheat breeding. For the selection of high yielding and stable genotypes several locations should be included in trials. Selection of locations should be made according to several stability parameters. In this research work all three stability parameters showed low stability of location Kutjevo. Also, there was high correlation between locations Kutjevo and Nova Gradiska. Therefore, location Kutjevo can be excluded from further winter wheat trials in Eastern Croatia.

Performance of different eruca acid type oil seed rape cultivars in a Croatian agro-environment

A constant need for energy is necessary and permanent as far as our modern society is concerned. Today we have a large number of projects and studies of different alternative energy resources. Among them the most interesting are biofuels. Due to climatic conditions Europe has decided in favour of the oil production for biodiesel fuel with oil seed rape as the most appropriate culture due to the way of its cultivation as well as the way of fuel production. The aim of these researches was to investigate the economic and other characteristics of the “ 00” European oil seed rape cultivars in the Croatian agroenvironmental conditions and based on the results to introduce the most perspective ones into production.

Grain yield of new Croatian winter wheat cultivars in correlation with sowing rate

The aim of this research was to examine influence of sowing rate on grain yield of four new winter wheat cultivars, taking in account their genetic characters. Statistical analysis of the obtained results showed that the sowing rate influence on the grain yield was not statistically significant. On the other hand, various sowing rates had highly significant influence on the ear number per a unit area. The largest number of ears was achieved by the sowing rate of 700 germinable seeds/m 2 (794.8 ears/m 2 ).Difference in grain yield between examined cultivars was highly significant (P<0.01) while the difference in number of ears per a unit area was significant (P<0.05). The highest average yield and highest number of ears in the two-year period were achieved by the cultivar AG 5.12 (8.56 t/ha and 770 ears/m 2 ).Since a satisfactory and statistically significant grain yield was achieved, even with a lower sowing rate, both during and in the average of the two year research, the author’s advice wheat producers...

Anaerobic digestion of specific biodegradable waste and final disposal

The present paper investigates the effectiveness of different levels of applied digested residue obtained after anaerobic digestion (AD) of meat-bone meal (MBM) on the morphologic and mineral characteristics of corn. The experiment was conducted in duration of two years and consisted of eight treatments: control (without any fertilizer) ; mineral fertilization only ; treatments with minimum, medium and maximum dosage of digested MBM ; combined fertilization of minimum, medium and maximum dosages of AD residue combined with mineral fertilizer. Combination of treatments with mineral fertilizer and different rate s of AD residue, plants had increased mass yield, they were larger and had more leaves. Contents of mineral substances were within average values, both in plant material and in kernel, and variations in values were conditioned by total mass and ion interactions. MBM after AD treatment is possible to apply as organic fertilizer. It has higher nutritive value and, as such, is suitable for treatment of agricultural plants, especially in crop production.