Medicinal and aromatic plants hold a high share of interest in Romania. To offset the harvesting of spontaneous flora and ensure the sustainable conservation of natural resources, the cropping of highly valuable plants of interest represents a priority for the current agricultural system. This study was conducted due to the need for more balance in species exploitation. Therefore, it assessed the emergence dynamics, leaf appearance, growth and development of the plants depending on row spacing and plant distance. The research was conducted at the INCDCSZ Brașov, within the Technology Department, Laboratory of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. The density of planting is the most important factor. Plants sown in continuous rows showed the highest yields of fresh and dry herbs, especially when the distance between the rows was set to 25 cm. Row-by-row distances of 50 cm ensure average values for all growth and development parameters. An increase in the row-by-row distance up to 70 cm drastically reduced the dry biomass up to 7.89 t ha−1 in continuous rows, followed by a 2 and 2.5 t ha−1 decrease for 15 cm and 25 cm plant-by-plant distances, respectively. Continuous row planting and a 25 cm row-by-row distance negligibly reduce the climate impact on growth and development. Greater spaces between plants leads to an average increase in individual development, but with a decrease in the total potential yield.

This paper aims to study aspects of biology and cultivation technology for introduction into the culture of the species Primula officinalis Hill., medicinal valuable plant both from a phytotherapeutic and economic point of view. The species Primula officinalis Hill. is popularly known as cuckoo's beak, aglic, aglicel or cuckoo's boot The research was performed on plants harvested from spontaneous flora (Rucăr-Bran area). Then the plants were acclimatized in the greenhouses of NIRDSPB Braşov, Technology laboratory. After acclimatizing the material, a rigorous selection was made, choosing the most uniform plants in terms of number of leaves, height and health. The experimental factors were factor A - distance between rows with graduations: 25 cm, 50 cm, 75 cm and factor B - distance between plants in a row with graduations: 10 cm, 25 cm, 50 cm. Our results shown that the variant with a large nutrition space (75/25 cm), with an average number of seven plants grown in a row, has an average of eight stems with flowers on each plant, being clearly superior to the other variants. The production of fresh herba (kg/ha) for the species Primula officinalis L. was influenced by both factors (A and B). By variance analysis regarding the two factors studied on the average number of flowering stems it is found that the number of flowering stems depends, largely, on the nutrition space.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a key crop for global food security. Therefore, under actual climatic changes, it is important to search for genotypes with steady characteristics in contrasting weather conditions. The aim of the present study was to establish the relationship between the development of the biomass and the number, respectively the weight of the tubers in order to introduce into the breeding program new genotypes, future varieties, with increased adaptability to environmental factors. The paper presents the results of a field study conducted to NIRDPSB Braşov, Romania, between 2021-2022, to evaluate some agronomic traits in potato genotpyes. A total of 15 potato genotypes (1901/6, 1930/3, 1901/12, 1927/1, 1897/2, 1979/5, 1891/1, 1927/3, 1901/11, 1941/8, 1895/4, 19-1876/7, 1939/2, 21-1895/1, 21-1901/7) along with one commercial cultivar (Braşovia) were evaluated. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data was recorded on plant height, main stem number per plant, tuber number and weight per plant and total tuber yield. Significantly positive phenotypic correlations for the height and mass of the plants were observed to the both determinations in the both years (r=0.90175, r=0.889, r=0.54505, r=0.562). The number and the weight of tubers were in an evolutionary process during the two experimental years. Genotypes 21-1901/7 (45.55 t/ha in 2021 and 34.17 t/ha in 2022) and 1939/2 (47.93 t/ha in 2021, respectively, 30.70 t/ha in 2022) recorded significantly high productions and even in the extreme conditions of 2022 maintained their high production capacity. The present findings show the existence of proper genetic variability and divergence among traits, and the identified traits can be used in a potato improvement program.

Thirteen potato genotypes with different level of resistance to potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans) pathogen were characterized using non-invasive method to determinate the chlorophyll content and the late blight influence. Field experiment was conducted to NIRDPS Brasov, Romania between 2021-2022. During the vegetation were applied the usual maintenance works (hilling, herbicides), including three treatments for Colorado beetle unless late blight control with fungicides. With SPAD 502 Plus meter (Chlorophyll Meter) were carried out 3 determinations on the leaves of the middle level of 3 plants from each genotype taken into the study. For the evaluation of the results, analysis of variance and Pearson’s correlation analysis were used. In 2021, following the measurements, closely negative correlations were observed between SPAD values and genotypes (-0.058), respectively the date of the observations (-0.126), while in 2022, the correlation was negative between the values regarding the date of the observations (-0.065), but positive at genotypes level (0.030).