The research was conducted in order to determine yield related characters which are more effective as selection criteria than yield itself. Three spring canola (Brassica napus L.) genotypes have been investigated for plant height, number of primary branches (including the main raceme), number of pods per plant, pod length, number of seeds per pod, seed weight per pod and 1000 seed weight and their correlations with seed yield per plant. Seed yield had highest correlation with number of pods per plant (r= 0.935 and r= 0.973 in Skopje and Strumica, respectively), followed by seed weight per pod (r= 0.693 and r= 0.729) and 1000 seed weight (r= 0.627 and r= 0.680). Path coefficient analysis was used to identify the direct and indirect effect of studied characters on seed yield. Number of pods per plant (p=0.759 and p=0.877 for Skopje and Strumica, respectively) and seed weight per pod (p=0.216 and p=0.225) had the highest direct effect on seed yield in both locations followed by 1000 seed weight (p=0.056 and p=0.010). The coefficient of determination (R2) was 0.943

Designing breeding programs for rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) cultivars with improved seed and oil yields require information about the genetic variability of traits effecting seed and oil production. This investigation was undertaken in order to examine phenotypic and genetic variability, broad-sense heritability, genetic gain under selection and interrelationships of some agronomic and seed quality traits of investigated genotypes. Genotypes, years and their interaction showed significant variation for all studied characters. Phenotypic variability coefficients were higher than genetic ones. Broad-sense heritability estimates ranged from 12.66% (for ripening period) up to 52.12% (for days to first pods filling). Expected genetic gain was lowest for days to maturity (0.45%) and highest for height to the first lateral branch (12.94%). The analysis of genetic correlations revealed that seed yield per plant is highly and positively associated with pods per plant, oil content, plant height and ripening period, although significant negative correlations were found between seed yield per plant and leaves per plant, days to maturity, protein content, days to first pods filling, days to flowering, height of the first lateral branch and 1000 seed weight. Genetic path-coefficient analysis indicated that pods per plant and oil content were the most important components of seed yield per plant. Their direct effects on seed yield per plant were p=0.472 and p=0.082, respectively. Protein content had highly significant negative direct effect on seed yield (p=-0.365), followed by 1000 seed weight (p=-0.017) and height to the first lateral branch (p=-0.081). These observations will support the selection of genotypes with desired traits for further rapeseed seed and oil yield improvement

In South-Eastern Europe, the majority of runner-bean (Phaseolus coccineus L.) production is based on local populations grown mainly in home gardens. The local runner-bean plants are well adapted to their specific growing conditions and microclimate agro-environments, and show great morpho-agronomic diversity. Here, 142 runner-bean accessions from the five South-Eastern European countries of Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia and Romania were sown and cultivated in their respective countries and characterised using 28 quantitative and qualitative morpho-agronomic descriptors for Phaseolus spp. based on inflorescences, leaves, plants, pods and seeds. For each of these morpho-agronomic descriptors, the accessions can be classified into two or three specific groups. The highest correlations were observed within the fluorescence, seed and pod traits. The highest variability, at 76.39%, was between the different countries, representing different geographic origins, while the variability within the countries was 23.61%. Cluster analysis based on these collected morpho-agronomic data also classified the accessions into three groups according to genetic origins. The data obtained serve as useful genetic information for plant breeders for the breeding of new bean varieties for further studies of the morpho-agronomic traits of the runner bean.

In the second half of 20 th century the awareness of importance of landraces for the future, led to organized collecting missions for numerous plant species. A total of 2217 maize (Zea mays L.) landraces, collected in the former Yugoslavia, are stored at Maize Research Institute (MRIZP) gene bank. During 2014, new collecting missions were organized in the eastern and western parts of Macedonia. According to collecting site and kernel type, 14 samples from the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Food, R. Macedonia were chosen for the comparison and identification of possible duplicates, through coupling with the 16 MRIZP gene bank accessions from the same area and kernel characteristics. Phenotypic characterization was done for 21 traits according to International Board for Plant Genetic Resources descriptors for maize. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identifies five PCs with Eigenvalue > 1, explaining 80% of the total phenotypic variation. The most discriminative traits with the strongest positive associations were tasseling and silking dates, plant height, leaf length and ear length. Compared to the exsitu populations, the number of alleles and the number of specific alleles, showed a significant decrease in the in situ populations. Twelve unique alleles were detected in samples from MRIZP gene bank, and only four were found in new Macedonian samples. Cluster analysis of morphological and molecular markers distinguished groups of maize accessions with distinctive morphological traits and genetic profiles that will be useful for conservation, and management of gene bank collection, as well as for possible utilization in breeding.

The genetic diversity present in the breeding programs of southeast Europe was assessed in a set of 114 winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars using AFLP and SSR markers. The average genetic diversity characterised with the Jaccard's distance coefficient was 0.605 with an interval of 0.053 and 0.889. The wheat cultivars originating from the four countries differed from each other in their clustering patterns, including the numbers of clusters and the most prevalent cluster, which was breeding program-specific. Hungarian and Romanian cultivars showed closer relationships, and Serbian and Macedonian cultivars grouped together more frequently. The phenotypic variability of the same cultivars was assessed under diverse ecological conditions of the four growing sites, measuring the disease resistance against two foliar diseases, and several agronomic traits. Of the phenotypic traits, powdery mildew and leaf rust responses showed significant associations with genetic diversity, whereas heading date, plant height and yield components did not. Through parallel assessment of genotypic and phenotypic diversity it was possible to separate winter wheat cultivars with similar genotype but diverse phenotype from those with similar phenotype but diverse genotype. This information will allow breeders to make informed decisions in selecting parents for new crosses.

In this study, the use of different multivariate approaches to classify rapeseed genotypes based on quantitative traits has been presented. Tree regression analysis, PCA analysis and two-way cluster analysis were applied in order todescribe and understand the extent of genetic variability in spring rapeseed genotype by trait data. The traits which highly influenced seed and oil yield in rapeseed were successfully identified by the tree regression analysis. Principal predictor for both response variables was number of pods per plant (NP). NP and 1000 seed weight could help in the selection of high yielding genotypes. High values for both traits and oil content could lead to high oil yielding genotypes. These traits may serve as indirect selection criteria and can lead to improvement of seed and oil yield in rapeseed. Quantitative traits that explained most of the variability in the studied germplasm were classified using principal component analysis. In this data set, five PCs were identified, out of which the first three PCs explained 63% of the total variance. It helped in facilitating the choice of variables based on which the genotypes? clustering could be performed. The two-way cluster analysissimultaneously clustered genotypes and quantitative traits. The final number of clusters was determined using bootstrapping technique. This approach provided clear overview on the variability of the analyzed genotypes. The genotypes that have similar performance regarding the traits included in this study can be easily detected on the heatmap. Genotypes grouped in the clusters 1 and 8 had high values for seed and oil yield, and relatively short vegetative growth duration period and those in cluster 9, combined moderate to low values for vegetative growth duration and moderate to high seed and oil yield. These genotypes should be further exploited and implemented in the rapeseed breeding program. The combined application of these multivariate methods can assist in deciding how, and based on which traits to select the genotypes, especially in early generations, at the beginning of a breeding program.

The mode of inheritance and gene effect for plant height of 7x7 half diallel crosses of wheat varieties and lines was evaluated in F1 and F2 generation. The mode of inheritance, calculated for each combination separately, was different and depended on the cross combination. The absence of interallelic interaction between the genes determining the expression of plant height was concluded from the regression analysis. The regression line intercepts the Wr axis below the origin in F1 indicating overdominance over an average of all arrays. In F2 the regression line cuts the Wr axis above the origin indicating partial dominance

SUMMARYBarley is the fourth most important cereal in the world, right behind maize, wheat and rice, but before sorghum, oat and rye. In Republic of Macedonia, barley is sown on a quarter of the entire cereal production area. On the National variety list, there is only one registered variety of spring barley -Makedo. Barley grain yield can vary from year to year. It is highly dependent on of the climate conditions, as well as the agronomic measures applied during the vegetation period. One of the most important measures is the fertilization of the crops.Starting from the fact that the use of chelate fertilizer solutions, using the spray-on foliar method is in the early development phase, an experiment was conducted using spring barley Makedo variety, and three types of chelate fertilizer solutions (Agrosal N12P5K7+МЕ, Agrosal NH4NO3 50% and Agrosal N31P0K0+ME), applied in 6 different concentrations (0.5, 1, 3, 5, 10 and 15 percent).The average grain yield was 1 347 kgha-1, the best results of this trait were registered at the crops treated with Agrosal N12P5K7+МЕ in a 1 percent solution, while the lowest yield was measured on the crops treated with Agrosal N31P0K0+ME in the concentration of 0.5 percent. The quality highly varied depending of the different applied treatments. Highest protein content was registered on the crops treated with Agrosal N31P0K0+ME in a 10 percent solution, whilst the lowest on the crops treated with Agrosal N12P5K7+МЕ, in a 0.5 percent solution.