Soybean can play an important role in securing the European protein resources. The goal of the breeder was to create highly productive soybean varieties, followed by quality grain. In this regard soybean breeding program at NARDI Fundulea has been involved in improving the genetic yield and quality potential to meet the need of farmers in different parts of the country. The objective of this study was to evaluate the variability of five soybean genotypes (created at NARDI Fundulea) from different maturity groups, grown at the National Agricultural Research and Development Institute Fundulea in 2017-2019, for yield, protein content and oil content. The year had statistically significant effect for the studied agronomic traits, p<0.01. The average yield for all genotypes was 2952 kg/ha. The highest grain yield on an average was recorded in genotype Crina F (41/9%). The average protein content of all examined genotypes was 40.07%. 2017 was the most favorable year for protein synthesis. The average oil content for all examined genotypes was Camelia F (23/77%). The most favorable year for oil synthesis was 2019 (23/48%). This research had evidentiated that new soybean genotypes created at NARDI Fundulea are suitable for new climatic conditions and can constitute the basis for further soybean breeding adapted to farmers' requirements.

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The demand for soybeans in Europe motivates breeders, researchers, and growers to find suitable cultivars to adapt and extend the soybean crop to improper climate areas. Weed control is a crucial aspect of crop technology in organic agriculture, but particularly for soybean crops. In laboratory conditions, the cumulative stress index for seedlings was determined to identify the susceptible cultivars. A field experiment with 14 soybean accessions and 2 sowing dates was conducted under organic farming conditions over the course of three years, from 2020 to 2022. Plant population density was found to be significantly (p < 0.01 and p < 0.1) negatively correlated to the degree of resistance to low temperature as well as infestation degree with weeds (for p < 0.05 and p < 0.1), with the exception of early sowing in 2021. Yield was significantly (p < 0.05, p < 0.01, p < 0.1) correlated with plant population density, with the exception of optimal sowing in 2022. Early sowing variants emerged with vigor in the first two years, breeding lines and registered varieties showed low input, and organic agriculture systems showed low yields in the drought years of 2020 and 2022. Although early sowing even in the first two years proved to be a practice that increased the cultivars’ performance, in 2022, due to the long period of chilling stress in the field, this option had negative effects on yield due to the high weed frequency. Therefore, the early sowing strategy for the soybean crop in this particular case of non-irrigated conditions in a temperate continental area proved to be a risky practice.

In order to improve the combination of desirable agronomic traits in winter peas, relation between grain yield, seed protein content, thousand grains weight (TGW), earliness, height, winter hardiness and seed dimension has been evaluated at NARDI Fundulea (South Romania) over three years (2017-2019). Image analysis proved to be an useful tool to assess the seed parameters such as diameter, density and volume. Very significant correlations between TGW and winter hardiness (r=0.69), grain volume and grain diameter (r=0.70), were found. The highest values of coefficient of correlation were registered for the trait combinations: winter hardiness and either, grain volume and grain diameter (r=0.76). Were identified winter peas lines 12038MT2, 13008MT28-1, 13002MT, to 12004MT2, 12032MT1 and 13008MT37, mainly derived from winter x spring crosses, that combine desirable agronomic traits, with a good impact on yield and winter hardiness.

Pea (Pisum sativum L.) has long been an important component of the human diet, providing an excellent source of protein. Twenty four winter peas cultivars of different origins were tested, along with one spring cultivar, under conditions of South-eastern part of Romania, during 2017-2019 period. The objective of the study was to analyze correlations between yield and several plant traits, and to assess possibilities of combining high yield with suitable winter hardiness, earliness, protein content and thousand grains weight (TGW) in lines selected in the National Agricultural Research and Development Institute (NARDI) Fundulea breeding program from crosses between winter and spring cultivars. Statistical analysis showed that environment (years) was the most important driving factor for the studied agronomic traits. Nevertheless, differences among cultivars were significant when tested against the GxE interaction, for all traits, except winter hardiness, the latest maturing cultivars (originated from USA) yielded less under studied conditions, but the correlation between vegetation period and yield was positive for European cultivars and Fundulea lines. Our results suggested that the most winter hardy cultivars had smaller grains. Yield and TGW had a highly significant negative correlation with protein content when the two American cultivars were included, but the correlation was not significant in the European cultivars and Fundulea lines. Some winter peas lines, derived from winter x spring crosses, combined high yield with good levels of winter hardiness, earliness TGW and protein content.