Brassinosteroids, as unique plant steroid hormones that bear structural similarity to animal steroids, play a crucial role in modulating plant growth and development. These hormones have a positive impact on plant resistance and, under stressful conditions, stimulate photosynthesis and antioxidative systems (enzymatic and non-enzymatic), leading to a reduced impact of environmental cues on plant metabolism and growth. Although these plant hormones have been studied for several decades, most studies analyze the primary site of action of the brassinosteroid phytohormone, with a special emphasis on the activation of various genes (mainly nuclear) through different signaling processes that influence plant metabolism, growth, and development. This review explores another issue, the secondary influence (the so-called mode of action) of brassinosteroids on changes in growth, development, and chemical composition, as well as thermodynamic and energetic changes, mainly during the early growth of corn seedlings. The interactions of brassinosteroids with other phytohormones and physiologically active substances and the influence of these interactions on the mode of action of brassinosteroid phytohormones were also discussed. Seen from a cybernetic point of view, the approach can be labeled as “black box” or “gray box”. “Black box” and “gray box” are terms for cybernetic systems, for which we know the inputs and outputs (in an energetic, biochemical, kinetic, informational, or some other sense), but whose internal structure and/or organization are completely or partially unknown to us. The findings of many researchers have indicated an important role of reactive species, such as oxygen and nitrogen reactive species, in these processes. This ultimately results in the redistribution of matter and energy from source organs to sink organs, with a decrease in Gibbs free energy from the source to sink organs. This quantitative evidence speaks of the exothermic nature and spontaneity of early (corn) seedling development and growth under the influence of 24-epibrassinolide. Based on these findings and a review of the literature on the mode of action of brassinosteroids, a hypothesis was put forward about the secondary effects of BRs on germination and the early growth of plant seedlings.

This study aimed to analyse and evaluate the antimicrobial activity and phenolic compounds in the leaf extracts of five Artemisia species (A. alba, A. annua, A. campestris, A. pontica, and A. vulgaris), of which A. annua is of significant medical importance. Although many Artemisia plants are well known from ethnobotanical and phytochemical studies, the biological activity of Artemisia species against phytopathogenic strains is scarcely investigated. Therefore, the presence of phenolic compounds and the antimicrobial activity of dichloromethane-methanol (1:1) leaf extracts of five Artemisia species against phytopathogenic fungi and bacteria were analysed. The phenolic compounds were determined by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS). In total, 13 phenolic compounds and quinic acid were identified and quantified. Chlorogenic acid was the dominant compound in all the samples, while the second dominant compounds were rutin in the A. alba, A. campestris, and A. pontica extracts, vitexin in A. annua, and esculin in the A. vulgaris extracts. Antifungal activity was tested against 12 micromycetes a using mycelial growth assay and the microdilution method. Antibacterial activity was tested against 18 bacterial strains using the well diffusion and microdilution methods. In each test, the highest activity was shown for the extracts of different Artemisia species. The most sensitive micromycetes were Monillinia laxa, Penicillium citreonigrum, and Botrytis cinerea, while Fusarium graminearum B1 was the most resistant. The analysed extracts showed moderate antibacterial activity only against Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris compared with all the other tested phytopathogens. The study shows that the leaf extracts of certain Artemisia species contain phenolic compounds and showed moderate antimicrobial activity against some species of fungi and bacteria.

Bacterial metabarcoding analysis by 16S rDNA of five occurrences of mineral waters in Serbia (Torda, Slankamen Banja, Lomnicki Kiseljak, Velika Vrbnica and Obrenovacka Banja) indicated the presence of a high percentage of the Proteobacteria phylum, followed by the Bacteroidetes phylum. The families Rhodobacteraceae, Burkholderiaceae, Pseudomonadaceae, Methylophilaceae and Moraxellaceae were the most dominant in the bacterial flora of the selected occurrences, whereas the most represented genera were Acinetobacter, Pseudorhodobacter, Pseudomonas, Limnohabitans, Massilia, Limnobacter and Methylotenera. The presence of coliform bacteria was not detected. Alpha diversity analysis revealed that Slankamen Banja and Lomnicki Kiseljak were the richest of the selected occurrences, while the mineral waters of Torda, Velika Vrbnica and Obrenovacka Banja were characterized by similar diversity of bacterial communities determined by beta diversity analysis. Physical-chemical analysis revealed the value of total dissolved solids above 1 g/L, as well as elevated concentrations of some metals and non-metals. The research concluded that specific bacteria contribute to the development of biocorrosion and biofouling processes of water intake facilities. In addition, some of these bacteria might be potential indicators of the organic sources of pollution and/or biotechnological natural remediators in the treatment of contaminated waters.

In this research, the yield and qualitative parameters of tomato cultivar Hector F1 grown in various fertilization and plant protection treatments in two successive growth seasons were investigated. Estimation of fertilization and protection impact on the properties of tomato fruits was carried out using a two-factor ANOVA test, whilst correlation between individual parameters was conducted using a heatmap. Tomato yield was significantly lower in the control compared to the fertilized and chemically/biologically protected tomato, whilst significant differences in yield were not observed between the fertilized and protected treatments. The mean total soluble solids and fruit acids were most pronounced in the treatment with chemical fertilizers and biological protection, whilst the highest vitamin C content was observed in the control. The highest K and Cu content was observed in the organically fertilized and biologically protected tomato. A clustergram showed a positive correlation between the three groups of parameters: i). nitrates, vitamin C and total N; ii). fruit acids, total soluble solids and Cu; and iii). other parameters. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the combined effects of fertilizers and plant protection products on tomatoes grown in conventional and organic systems.

The goal of this paper was to determine the yield of different maize hybrids depending on soil type and compaction. The experiment was carried out in 2016 and 2017 on the territory of the Leskovac municipality, including three different soil types (alluvium, vertisol, and parapodzol). The experiment comprised nine hybrids of different FAO maturity groups (NS 4051, AGR DIAN, ZP 427, NS 5211, ZP 555, AS 534, NS 6030, ZP 666 and Becar). The highest average yields were achieved on alluvium, then on parapodzol, and the lowest yields were obtained on vertisol. The highest average yields on all examined soil types were achieved in the FAO 500 maturity group, and the lowest in the FAO 400 maturity group. The highest average yield on vertisol was achieved in the FAO 500 maturity group, on parapodzol in the FAO 400 maturity group, and on alluvium in the FAO 600 maturity group. The highest average yield (11.90 t ha-1) was achieved with the ZP 666 hybrid on alluvium, and the lowest (4.60 t ha-1) with the NS 6030 hybrid on vertisol. The largest soil compaction in the ploughing layer was determined in vertisol, then in parapodzol, and the smallest in alluvium. These data on average yields indicate the convenience of certain soil types for maize production, and provide guidelines for growers to select the most yielding hybrids for their fields.

This paper deals with the resistance of twenty commercial winter wheat cultivars to common bunt causal agent (Tilletia tritici). Significant differences among the cultivars concerning the infection percent were observed, as well as the differences in the level of commercial cultivars' resistance to T. tritici. Most of the studied cultivars belonged to susceptible categories, and just few of them to the resistant ones. Cultivar Lasta was classified as highly resistant during the both investigation years in Kragujevac, while in Leposavic Lasta and Tiha were classified as resistant. The other studied cultivars were more or less susceptible.

Greenhouse trials were conducted during 2005 to investigate the effect of six soil applied herbicides on common cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium L.) sowed at a depth of 4 cm and 7 cm, and determine the potential injury to maize by the herbicides and the influence of sowing depths. The efficacy of all herbicides was high, regardless of sowing depth and, generally, the coefficient of efficacy ranged from 86.3% to 100.0%. Most of the herbicides had no significant phytotoxic effect on maize plant density/container, height and fresh weight of maize. Exceptions were Atranex-90WDG and Cyatral-SCZ, which caused serious injury to maize (33% and 37%, respectively) if seeded at a depth of 7 cm, and significantly reduced height and fresh weight of the plants.