Grain size is an important yield component and also influences flour yield, seed vigor and early plantlet development. It is usually described by the weight (or mass) of thousand grains or average of dimensions of a sample, without paying attention to the variability of individual grains. However, variation in individual grain size is economically important for milling industry, because many small grains are lost during the cleaning process prior to milling and a high proportion of small grains is indicative of a poor flour yield. Also, when grains are sown for a new crop, grain mass variability increases the heterogeneity of germination and leads to non-uniform seedling emergence and crop establishment, often leading to decreased yield. We analyzed using the software ImageJ (http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/) individual grain size distributions of samples 80 to 120 individual grains each, harvested from yield trials at NARDI Fundulea Romania with 13 cultivars grown on four management variants, during two years. Individual grain projected area, as a proxy of grain size, ranged from 8.18 to 29.06 mm2, and for most cultivars minimum values of individual grain projected area were less than half of maximum values. On average over all management variants and years, coefficients of variation (s%) varied from less than 14% in cultivars Bezostaya 1, Glosa and Pajura to more than 15.5% in cultivars Adelina and Litera. ANOVA for the coefficients of variation of grain projection areas showed that the main source of variation was the effect of cultivars, which was significant when tested both against the Error and the interaction Cultivars*Years. The effect of the four studied managements was significant when tested against the Error, but not when tested against the interaction with Years, suggesting that the managements did not have the same effect in the two years of study. The large differences between cultivars found in our study provide opportunities in breeding for higher grain uniformity.

Compensations between yield components are important barriers to improve yield in wheat. Data about the number of spikes per m2 , the number of grains per spike and thousand of kernel weight (TKW) were obtained from 26 yield trials with winter wheat cultivars, performed in 10 locations in Romania, during 2016-2018. Grain yield showed most frequently positive correlations with the number of grains per spike. Correlation coefficients of grain yield with the number of spikes per unit area ranged from -0.3 to +0.7, with most of the trials showing low positive correlations. Most trials showed practically no correlation of grain yield with TKW. Most correlations among the yield components were negative, illustrating the difficulty of combining in the same cultivar high values of more than one component, because of compensation between yield components. The strongest negative correlation was found between the number of spikes per unit area and the number of grains per spike, and most correlations between number of grains/spike and TKW were also negative. Significant differences between cultivars were found in deviations from both regressions between negatively correlated yield components (number of spikes per m2 - number of grains per spike and number of grains per spike - TKW respectively). This suggests the existence of cultivar specificity in compensation between yield components. Cultivars showing positive or smaller negative deviations from the regressions between negatively correlated yield components might be useful in breeding for reducing compensations between yield components. Further studies are necessary to confirm if this could lead to genetic progress for yielding potential.

Heat tolerance is widely considered to become in the future a key trait in breeding wheat for increased yields and yield stability in many parts of the world. Success in breeding for heat tolerance is dependent on the efficiency of methods to expose breeding material to higher temperatures in key phenophases. A simple and not expensive approach, based on covering plants in the field with transparent cellophane paper, was tested during 2017 and 2018 at the National Agricultural Research & Development Institute Fundulea, Romania. The adopted system, described in this paper, increased the temperature under cover as compared with surrounding temperature in open air by +1.74 to +3.69ºC on general average, and by +5.55 to +11.83ºC for the average of daily maximum temperatures. As a result, the weight of 1000 kernels (TKW) was reduced by 9% on average over 15 cultivars and two years of testing, with large differences among the tested cultivars, with reductions ranging from less than 5% to more than 20%, on average over the two years. TKW reduction was significantly correlated with anthesis date (r=0.528* to 0.646**). Deviations from the regression describing the relationship between anthesis date and TKW reduction allowed the discrimination of the confounding effect of earliness on the performance of cultivars under increased temperatures stress. The classification of cultivars according to the deviations from the regression corresponded quite well to that expected based on previous information and observations.

No-till (NT) is a component of conservation agriculture that can enhance resilience to climate change and reduce costs, soil erosion and fertility decline. Yields under NT can be improved by optimising crop management practices, including better adapted cultivars. To explore possibilities opened by identifying wheat cultivars better adapted to NT agriculture, eight cultivars were tested in parallel yield trials organized in South Romania, during six years, under NT after soybeans or maize and under Traditional agriculture. The average performance of cultivars under no-till agriculture was not significantly correlated with the performance under the traditional system, with correlation coefficients higher and close to significance between NT system after maize and traditional system (r=0.69) and even negative but non-significant between NT after soybeans and traditional system. Cultivars reacted differently to NT agriculture, the yield differences between NT and traditional system averaged over six years varying from -419 kg ha-1 to more than 1000 kg ha-1 . Years, Crop Management Systems and Cultivars (in this order of impact), as well as the interactions between Cultivars*Years, and Systems*Years, had significant effects on the variation of the yield differences between agricultural systems. These results underline the importance of yield testing under NT for appropriate recommendation of most suitable cultivars, and suggest that genetic progress in creating cultivars more adapted to conservation agriculture is possible.

Existing information in the literature on the variation in tuber yield and their inulin content, depending on the variety and soil and climatic conditions of Helianthus tuberosus L., is limited. For this reason, in the pedoclimatic conditions from ARDS Secuieni (Center of Moldova) and from ARDS Caracal (Oltenia Plain) was conducted a study regarding this aspects. This study was conducted between 2018-2020, within an experiance with four genotype of Jerusalem artichoke and specifically: Dacic dwarf, Rareș, Olimpic and Dăbuleni population. The results obtained showed major differences between the cultivated genotypes and between the two agricultural areas, both in terms of tuber yield and tuber quality. Jerusalem artichoke is a species that has resistance to drought and high temperatures, achieving average yields of 21.3 to ha-1 in Secuieni and 24.0 to ha-1 in Caracal. The Oltenia Plain offered more favorable conditions for the growth and development of Jerusalem artichoke, but the species also successfully succeeded in Central of Moldova. Inulin was present in the tubers in a percentage between 48.35% and 58.38%, which confirms the high functional potential of the species and recommends the species as a “source of fiber”. Also, due to the high mineral content identified in the tubers, the mention of “iron source” and “magnesium source” may be issued.