Constitutive and inducible terpene production is involved in conifer resistance against insects and fungal infestations. To gain knowledge about local defence responses of Norway spruce bark against pathogens and to find potential chemical markers for resistance breeding, we inoculated the stem of 8‐year‐old Norway spruce (Picea abies) clonal trees with both Endoconidiophora polonica (Ep, a common fungal pathogen associated with the spruce bark beetle Ips typographus) and Heterobasidion parviporum (Hp, a severe pathogen causing root and stem rot disease). Three weeks after inoculation, the fungal‐inoculated and intact bark from each tree was sampled. The terpenes in tree bark were extracted with hexane and characterized by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC‐MS). The two fungi induced varied terpene responses in the four spruce clones used. Three of the clones showed a 2.3‐fold to 5.7‐fold stronger terpene response to Hp relative to Ep inoculation, while one clone responded similarly to inoculation with the two fungal pathogens. The amount of the diterpenes thunbergol and geranyllinalool varied between the clones. The level of thunbergol was higher in both intact and fungal‐inoculated bark from the less susceptible clones compared with the more susceptible clones. Geranyllinalool was present in higher amounts in the susceptible clones and is thus a possible marker for susceptibility. Our observations show that Norway spruce employs a similar chemical mechanism against the two fungal pathogens. Based on the present and earlier published data, we suggest that certain Norway spruce genotypes have a strong defence reaction against these two pathogens. The diterpenes thunbergol and geranyllinalool might be useful markers of susceptibility in tree‐breeding programmes and should be the focus of further detailed investigations.

A simple, rapid, highly efficient, and reliable sample preparation method has been developed for the extraction and analysis of triazole pesticides from cucumber, lettuce, bell pepper, cabbage, and tomato samples. This new sorbent in the hollow-fiber solid-phase microextraction method is based on the synthesis of polyethylene glycol-polyethylene glycol grafted flower-like cupric oxide nanoparticles using sol-gel technology. Afterward, the analytes were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. The main parameters that affect microextraction efficiency were evaluated and optimized. This method has afforded good linearity ranges (0.5-50 000 ng/mL for hexaconazol, 0.012-50 000 ng/mL for penconazol, and 0.02-50 000 ng/mL for diniconazol), adequate precision (2.9-6.17%, n = 3), batch-to-batch reproducibility (4.33-8.12%), and low instrumental LODs between 0.003 and 0.097 ng/mL (n = 8). Recoveries and enrichment factors were 85.46-97.47 and 751-1312%, respectively.

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Fig. S1. SEM image of PEG-CuO (a) and TEM image of Ag-NPs (b).