Environmental protection imposes strict limitations in using fertilizers and plant protection products. This is why there is a need for research on using plant products in horticultural production. In the experiment conducted in the years 2009–2012 the influence of spraying of maiden pear trees with ERGOPLANT biostimulant was estimated. Growth of ‘Isolda’, ‘Conference’ and ‘Uta’ maiden pear trees budded on two types of quince rootstock S1 and MA was compared. The application of biostimulant ERGOPLANT increased significantly growth of maiden pear trees and their compatibility with the Polish Norm. The examined rootstocks influenced significantly number of roots of maiden pear trees. The biggest diameter and the best quality of maiden pear trees was obtained for ‘Uta’. Maiden leaves of this cultivar had also a higher content of chlorophyll compared with the two remaining cultivars. In cross sections of anatomic connections of ‘Isolda’ or ‘Uta’, with quince rootstocks especially with MA, the presence of a layer of necrotic cells was observed.

Three seed priming techniques: hydropriming, halopriming and osmopriming, were compared for their effects on germination and vigour of pansy (Viola × wittrockiana Gams.) seeds at 20°C, 30°C and 35°C. Seeds were hydroprimed in the restricted volumes of water (600 and 700 µl H₂O·g seed^-1, 2, 3 or 4 days), haloprimed in KNO₃ solution (-1.5 MPa, 5 days), and osmoprimed in polyethylene glycol solutions (-1.0, -1.25 or -1.5 MPa PEG 8000, 7 days) at 15°C or 20°C. Seed germination and vigour tests were performed for untreated and primed seeds. Generally, hydropriming negatively affected the speed of germination, the percentage of germinating seeds and germination capacity. Halopriming accelerated seed germination at 20°C, 30°C and 35°C but did not influence the percentage of germinating seeds and germination capacity. Osmopriming of seeds in PEG solution of osmotic potential –1.0 MPa at 20°C not only improved germination rates at 20°C, 30°C, and 35°C to the highest extent, but also increased percentage of germinating seeds at 30°C and 35°C most effectively and positively affected seed germination capacity at 20°C and 30°C.

The presence of ruderal and mid-field vegetation promotes conservation of biodiversity and provides an additional source of food for insect pollinators. The white dead-nettle is a common synanthropic plant visited frequently by various groups of insects, as it is a source of pollen and nectar. In 2012–2013, in the city of Lublin (Poland), signalling and food attractants in L. album flowers were analysed using light and scanning electron microscopy. The pipetting method was used for determination of nectar abundance in the flowers, and the content of sugars in the nectar was assessed with the use of an Abbe refractometer. It was found that the white dead-nettle flowers emitted a fragrance and were equipped with nectar guides, and the corolla and stamens had glandular trichomes and papillae secreting essential oils. On the stamens, there are also non-glandular trichomes, which play a role of pollen presenters. The nectary in the L. album flower has a shape of an irregular disc partly surrounding the base of the ovary. The content of sugars in the nectar was 43%. Sugar and honey yields per ha were calculated, and the values obtained were 153 kg and 191 kg, respectively.

The plants of angelica Archangelica officinalis may be colonized by various species of fungi including Phoma species. The paper concerns the fungus Phoma complanata, isolated from above-ground and underground parts of angelica in 2009–2011. Pathogenicity tests according to Koch’s postulates were carried out on angelica plants using various methods of inoculation. Observations of the infection process were made using the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Three our own isoletes and reference isolate of P. complanata were used in the study. P. complanata was found to be a facultative pathogen of angelica, which enters to the plant through stomata and wounds without creating appressoria in the top part of the germination hyphae.

The main objective of this study was to determine the factors affecting the government supported bumble bees use as pollinators by greenhouse producers in the Mediterranean Coastal Region of Turkey. The data used in this study were collected from growers by using a face to face survey. To this end, data was obtained by using simple random sampling method in 80 greenhouse farms in Antalya province. The data were analyzed with the chi-square test which was used to test relationship between variables. The result of the analyses showed that there is a significant relationship between the farms using and non-using bumble bee, considering status registered for greenhouse of farmer, type of growing, type of greenhouse ventilation and the number of people working in greenhouse. Furthermore, the most of farmers believed that use of bumble bees as pollinators in greenhouse tomato production is beneficial. These benefits include the effect of environment and human health and also the economic (marketing, higher price, higher yield, reducing pesticide use and labor use).

This study was conducted to determine the effect of different plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) strains on growth and quality of cauliflower transplants under greenhouse conditions. The strains of Bacillus megaterium TV-3D, B. megaterium TV-91C, Pantoea agglomerans RK-92, B. subtilis TV-17C, B. megaterium TV-87A, B.  megaterium KBA-10 were used in this study. The results of this study showed that different bacterial inoculations increased plant growth parameters such as fresh shoot weight, dry shoot weight, root diameter, root length, fresh root weight, dry root weight, plant height, stem diameter, leaf area and chlorophyll contents of cauliflower transplant respectively. Except for abscisic acid (ABA), the values of gibberellic acid (GA), salicylic acid (SA), indole acetic acid (IAA) was increased by ratio of 23.64, 89.54 and 25.63%, respectively in compared to the control by application of B. megaterium KBA-10 and P. agglomerans RK-92. The amount of organic acids with B. subtilis TV-17C PGPR applications have increased at a ranging ratio from 9.63 to 186.02%. Also, PGPR inoculations increased the macro and micro nutrient content of cauliflower transplants. As a result, the use of bacteria treatments may provide a means of improving transplant growth and quality in cauliflower.

This research was conducted to determine the interrelationships between yield and some yield components, and direct and indirect effects of such components on yield in cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.). The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications using fourteen inbred lines of cabbage in Samsun, Turkey during 2011–2012. Correlation and path coefficient analysis were performed on 11 economic traits such as plant height, plant diameter, width of outer leaf, length of outer leaf, head weight, head diameter, head length, core length, diameter of interior stem, days to maturity and yield. A wide range of variation was observed among the cabbage genotypes for all the traits. It was found that all of the yield components except days to maturity and core length had highly significant and positive correlations with yield. The highest significant positive correlation was obtained between yield and head weight (r = 0.927**). Path coefficient analysis indicated that head weight (0.7139, 56.81%) had the highest positive direct effect on yield followed by head length (0.2265, 23.82%) and plant diameter (0.1907, 16.59%). As a result, head weight, head length, plant diameter, plant height, width of outer leaf, length of outer leaf, head diameter and diameter of interior stem could be effectively used as selection criteria in the breeding programme of cabbage varieties with high yielding, because these traits were the most important yield components affecting yield in cabbage.

Climate and weather conditions are important factors influencing grapevine growth and fruit quality. Cooler regions are expected to be unsuitable for grape growing due to insufficient maturation and variability of quality parameters. Therefore, a field trial was conducted, aimed to determine the effect of pruning time on low cordon cane (CP) and spur pruned (SP) grapevines of the hybrid cultivar Hasanski Sladki in a cool climate conditions. A vineyard, with the low double trunk (25 cm in height) training system, was established at the experimental station of the Estonian University of Life Sciences (58°23’17’’ N, 26°41’50’’ E) in June 2007. The treatments were carried out in autumn after leaf fall and in spring at the two leaf phase in 2010/2011 and 2011/2012. Pruning time affected grape maturity parameters depending on pruning method. Autumn SP increased the soluble solids content from 18.5 to 19.8 °Brix in 2011 and from 17.1 to 18.0 in 2012. Titratable acids content was high in both experimental years ranging from 1.3 to 2.1 g 100 g^-1, and only autumn CP decreased it. Pruning in spring significantly decreased the soluble solids/ titratable acids for both pruning methods. The timing of SP affected the maturity index (MI = °Brix × pH²) variably; in 2011, spring pruning decreased the index whereas; the index was increased in 2012. Spring pruning decreased the total phenolics up to 22% in both treatments in the two years mean. In CP, spring pruning increased anthocyanins content from 31 to 77 mg 100 g^-1 in 2012.

Wpływ biostymulatora oraz nawozów dolistnych na rośliny mateczne i sadzonki Prunus mahaleb L.

The aim of the study was to determine the effect of various biopreparations on the growth of the apple root system, the number of spores of AMF, the total number of bacteria and microscopic fungi in the rhizosphere soil, and the degree of mycorrhizal association in the roots of two apple tree cultivars. The experiment was established in the spring of 2009 in the Experimental Orchard of the Institute of Horticulture in Dąbrowice. The research objects were one-year-old maidens of the apple cultivars ‘Topaz’ and ‘Ariva’ grafted on M26 rootstock. The trees were treated with the following biopreparations: control, control NPK (standard NPK fertilization), manure, Micosat F + manure, Humus UP, Humus Active + Aktywit PM, BioFeed Amin + manure, BioFeed Quality + manure, Tytanit + manure, Vinassa + manure, Florovit Eko, and Florovit Pro Natura. Treatment of ‘Topaz’ and ‘Ariva’ apple trees with the biopreparations Micosat F, Humus UP, Humus Active + Aktywit PM, BioFeed Amin, Vinassa, Florovit Eko and Florovit Pro Natura produced positive effects on the growth of apple roots and their mycorrhizal frequency, and the size of the populations of microorganisms in the rhizosphere soil.

The measurements have been performed in the nursery in the years 2007–2013 to study differences in size and correlations between selected growth factors in “knip-boom” trees of 6 apple cultivars on M.9 rootstock. The trees of ‘Jonagold Decosta’ (‘Red Jonaprince’ in 2013) and ‘Fuji Beni Shogun’ showed the strongest growth, ‘Š ampion’ and ‘Camspur’ the weakest one, whereas ‘Gala Must’ and ‘Golden Delicious Reinders’ were characterized by moderate vigor. Mean length of one feather increased from the tree top towards its base, but did not depend significantly on the number of laterals per tree. Correlations between growth factors were similar to those found in maiden apple trees and the closest ones were between total length of lateral shoots and their number on the tree. A trunk diameter had stronger correlations with other growth parameters than tree height.

Poland belongs to leading producers of strawberries in Europe and strawberry production has played a significant role in Polish agribusiness for many years. The present study, conducted in a commercial plantation of a specialized horticultural farm during the period 2009–2011, evaluated the amount and quality of yield of two strawberry cultivars (‘Elsanta’ and ‘Albion’) grown under different cropping systems. The study determined the amount and structure of marketable yield. The different production systems included the cultivation of strawberries from fresh waiting-bed plants and frigo plants (class A and A+). Plants were grown in the ground and on black plastic under the row cropping system and the double-row strip cropping system. The average fresh marketable yield for cv. ‘Elsanta’ was 13.0 t∙ha^-1 and it was higher by 53.0% than the average strawberry yield for cv. ‘Albion’ (7.1 t∙ha^-1). Treatment D, in which cv. ‘Elsanta’ class A+ frigo plants were grown on black plastic under the double-row strip cropping system, proved to be the best yielding system – the average fresh marketable yield was 14.4 t∙ha^-1, while the total marketable yield 17.4 t∙ha^-1. The lowest average fresh marketable yield was obtained from the cv. ‘Albion’ plantation established from class A frigo plants grown in the ground under the double-row strip cropping system – only 4.9 t∙ha^-1. The percentage of fresh marketable fruits in the total marketable yield ranged from 66.6% for cv. ‘Elsanta’ to 89.6% for cv. ‘Albion’ plants.

despite intensive chemical plant protection conducted in ornamental nurseries in Poland, spider mites are still one of problematic pests. In view of increasing resistance of spider mites on acaricides, searching for alternative methods of nursery plants protection against those pests, seems to be reasonable. In this work it was important to find out which cultivars of Norway spruce grown in nurseries are threaten by infestation by large amounts of spider mites and to verified if and which species of phytoseiid mites occur on spruces grown in chemical protected nurseries. Density and species composition of tetranychid and phytoseiid mites were also investigated on Norway spruces growing in forests. Our investigations showed that, almost all cultivars of Norway spruce that are offered for sale in nurseries are inhabited by spider mites. Cultivars ‘Inversa’, ‘Remontii’, ‘Waldbrund’, ‘Nidiformis’ or ‘Pumila Glauca’ were identified as especially threatened with massive infestation by those pests. Also some predatory mites, such as Typhlodromus tiliae Oudemans, were observed in nurseries, but their density was several times lower than on spruces growing in natural conditions. Additionally in forests we observed also Anthoseius bakeri (Garman) and Amblyseius andersoni (Chant).

In 2008–2010, in the field experiment, the yield and quality of lavender flowers in organic cultivation were tested. The experiment was established in four different locations in Poland. The following features were evaluated: fresh and dried flower yields, seed yield, weight of 1 000 kernels, essential oil content and its composition and microbiological contamination. Lavender flower yield from organic experiments was higher compared with the yield from conventional cultivation. The content of essential oil in organic lavender flowers was lower then that from conventional ones. The content of essential oil and its composition of lavender flowers did not depend on localization. The satisfied yield of lavender seeds was obtained in organic experiments. The investigated lavender raw materials were below the level of standard contamination for raw materials treated with hot water (A) according to European Pharmacopoeia 7.0.