The cultivated apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) is an economically important fruit crop in countries worldwide, including Bosnia and Herzegovina (BIH).The gene bank activities in BIH were initiated in the 1930s and continued until the war in the 1990s, when much of the documentation was lost. Since then, uncoordinated efforts were made to establish apple collections in different regions, but a comprehensive analysis of genetic resources was lacking. This prompted the current study where we present the first thorough overview of the national genetic resources of BIH apples. Thus, we analyzed 165 accessions in the apple gene bank at the Institute for Genetic Resources (IGR) established at Banja Luka using the 20 K apple Infinium® single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array. We combined the results with previously published data on the germplasm collections at Srebrenik and Goražde, genotyped using the Axiom® Apple 480 K SNP array. In total, 234 accessions were included in the study of which 220 were presumed to be local cultivars and 14 were known international reference cultivars. We identified numerous genotypic duplicates within and between collections and suggested preferred names to be used in the future. We found the BIH germplasm to have relatively few parent-offspring relationships, particularly among local cultivars, which might reflect the country’s history and patterns of apple cultivar introduction. A number of cultivars unique to BIH and a weakly defined genetic group were identified via STRUCTURE analysis, representing interesting targets for future research and preservation efforts.

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.