Vines in Bosnia and Herzegovina are traditionally grown in the Herzegovina region, where, in addition to many international varieties, indigenous and domesticated varieties are also successfully grown. The most important varieties are Žilavka and Blatina, while others are found in a much smaller area. One of these is the Radovača variety, which is preserved in only one micro-locality in Herzegovina region. The paper presents the results of a two-year analysis (2017 - 2018) of the qualitative characteristics of grapes and wines of the Radovača variety. The average cluster weight ranged from 195,50 to 308,97g, and the weight of 10 berries ranged from 23,67g to 29,79g. A favorable proportion of the weight of berries in the cluster weight (96,63 - 97,86 g/100 gcluster) compared to the proportion of petioles (2,14 - 3,37 g/100 g cluster) was observed. The year had a significant impact on the observed characteristics, considering that the analyzed parameters had a slightly higher value during 2017. Oscillations in the value of TSS consequently caused oscillations in the alcohol content of the wine (13,88 - 8,19 %v/v). The values ​​of TTA in grape juice and TA of wine in the years of research were quite uniform, which may also indicate the genetic specificity of this variety in this respect. The content of phenolic compounds in grapes was also significant, especially in seeds (428,74 - 977,27 mg/kg). Regardless of the fluctuations in the years of research, the Radovača variety has a certain oenological potential, which is especially important considering that it is an indigenous grape variety.

The main objective of the research is to analyze the possibility of introducing the agro-ecological concept through appropriate agro-ecological measures in agricultural policy of Bosnia and Hercegovina. For this purpose, theoretical and empirical studies have been conducted. Theoretical research included analysis of the strategic and regulatory framework in the European Union and Bosnia and Hercegovina and analysis of the development of the concept of agro ecology. Empirical research has included surveying holders of agricultural holdings of subjects according to the Eco Stack project methodology. The survey results confirm that farmers are generally not familiar with the concept of agro ecology, but do apply some of the agro-environmental measures. On the basis of the research results, steps have been proposed to introduce a new model of support for the application of the agro-environmental concept and measures in the framework of agricultural policy of Bosnia and Hercegovina.

Sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) is a temperate fruit species whose production might be highly impacted by climate change in the near future. Diversity of plant material could be an option to mitigate these climate risks by enabling producers to have new cultivars well adapted to new environmental conditions. In this study, subsets of sweet cherry collections of 19 European countries were genotyped using 14 SSR. The objectives of this study were (i) to assess genetic diversity parameters, (ii) to estimate the levels of population structure, and (iii) to identify germplasm redundancies. A total of 314 accessions, including landraces, early selections, and modern cultivars, were monitored, and 220 unique SSR genotypes were identified. All 14 loci were confirmed to be polymorphic, and a total of 137 alleles were detected with a mean of 9.8 alleles per locus. The average number of alleles (N = 9.8), PIC value (0.658), observed heterozygosity (Ho = 0.71), and expected heterozygosity (He = 0.70) were higher in this study compared to values reported so far. Four ancestral populations were detected using STRUCTURE software and confirmed by Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA), and two of them (K1 and K4) could be attributed to the geographical origin of the accessions. A N-J tree grouped the 220 sweet cherry accessions within three main clusters and six subgroups. Accessions belonging to the four STRUCTURE populations roughly clustered together. Clustering confirmed known genealogical data for several accessions. The large genetic diversity of the collection was demonstrated, in particular within the landrace pool, justifying the efforts made over decades for their conservation. New sources of diversity will allow producers to face challenges, such as climate change and the need to develop more sustainable production systems.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH) pear germplasm in the ex situ field collection at the University of Banja Luka was characterised with simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in order to reveal redundancies, determine genetic diversity and confirm uniqueness. European pear (Pyrus communis L.) 67 accessions of the BIH collection and 7 reference cultivars of the ex situ collection at SLU in Balsgård, Sweden were analysed using a set of 10 SSR markers. All markers resulted in good amplification and easy scoring of marker alleles One-third of accessions appeared to be triploid. A total of 112 alleles were amplified in unique diploid genotypes with on average 11.2 alleles per marker. Mean observed heterozygosity (Ho) was 0.72, mean expected heterozygosity (He) – 0.80 and mean Shannon index (I) – 1.96. Inbreeding coefficient (FIT) for diploid accessions ranged from −0.06 to 0.28 (mean 0.02) and Wright’s inbreeding coefficient (FIS) – from −0.27 to 0.17 (mean −0.03). In the BIH pear collection, mean value of genetic differentiation (FST) between the reference cultivars and pear accessions was 0.05. Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) divided the 74 pear accessions into three groups. The first group consisted of diploid, reference and possible triploid pear accessions, while the second and third groups contained only BIH possible triploid accessions. Overall, the results revealed high levels of polymorphism and uniqueness, indicating that BIH pear germplasm represents very diverse and valuable material for future breeding programmes.

This study aims to do a morphological and biochemical characterization of selected wild hop populations from the Banja Luka region, as plant material with potential value for introduction into plant selection. Female inflorescences (cones) from seven populations (DKH3, DKH5, DKH6, DKH8, DKH9, DKH10, and DKH11) were sampled in 2018 and 2019. Hop cones were collected in October 2018 and 2019 for morphological characterization, when 50 cones per population were analyzed, and also the cones were collected in mid-September in 2019 for biochemical characterization. Morphological parameters were carried out for: cone length (cm), number of nodes per cone spindle, cone density, and number of seeds per cone, all important agronomic characters in hop production. Also, 27 components of essential oil and 6 components of hop resins were analyzed. Statistical analysis of morphological characteristics was performed by factorial analysis of variance (year × population), and the significance of individual differences was determined by LSD test. The grouping of examined hop populations according to the manifested morphological characteristics was performed by cluster analysis. Statistical analysis for biochemical characteristics was performed by analysis of variance, and the significance of the differences was tested by Tukey’s statistical test. In order to determine similarities between different population multivariant statistical method Principal component analysis (PCA) was applied. According to morphological and biochemical analysis, DKH6 hop population is singled out as the most valuable for hop breeding.