Organic farming has the potential to tackle the imminent task of sustainable food production, if the yields could be raised. Here, the benefits of additional exotic alleles, the necessity of increased genetic heterogeneity in organically farmed systems and the buffering capacities by the pronounced plasticity of root traits are demonstrated. Two barley populations, naturally adapted for more than two decades to organic and conventional farming systems, were compared by a novel strategy of whole genome resequencing of pooled samples. Substantial allele frequency deviations between the farming systems were uncovered (for various agronomically relevant chromosomal regions) by testing multiple generations. In contrast to the organic adapted population, an early equilibrium in the conventional population was observed, accompanied reduced genetic diversity. Differences between the populations were revealed in root morphology, developmental processes and abiotic stress responses. These findings indicate that wild genetic resources play a critical role in the development of organically adapted varieties and distinct variations in ecosystems demand different genetic compositions.

Genetic improvement of soybean involves various biometric techniques and genomic tools. Controlled hybridization is an indispensable tool of the researcher; however, considering the complexity of the process, floral sensitivity and a strong effect of environmental conditions, the procedure is difficult to control. The objective of this work was to define the optimal periods for artificial hybridization of soybean, in order to maximize the number of seeds formed, and to understand the relationships between the agronomic characteristics of the parents and progenies. The study was carried out in

oil were determined in intact soybeans by the technique of reflectance in the near infrared. There was genetic dissimilarity among the 54 soybean genotypes. The protein character was the most decisive factor for genetic variability, based on Singh's relative contribution. Using patterns such as standardized Euclidean mean distance, Tocher's optimized method and the UPGMA clustering method, it was possible to show patterns in the genotype clusters. Based on these results, we can define crosses between accessions with genetic potential for the formation of genotypes with superior centesimal characteristics.