No abstract

Abstract:The germination of the orchids is the most sensitive period of their life. In case of the extremely rare Himantoglossum adriaticum in Hungary, no such information has been published yet. Our aim is to present the results of the in situ and the ex situ germination of H. adriaticum seeds originate in West Hungary. There were 10-10 seed packets sowed 10-20 cm far-, and 3-3 as control 10 m away from the living mother plants on the natural habitats of Keszthelyi-hills and of Sümeg-Tapolca region. The success of germination was significantly higher close to the mother plant than in the control packets either 8 or 11 months after sowing on both places and was a bit better in Keszthely than on Sümeg-Tapolca region. Parallelly with it we sowed the seeds of same origin into six flasks, onto Fast medium in the orchid laboratory of Eötvös Loránd University's Botanical Garden in Budapest. During this ex situ germination, the first protocorm was appeared 9 months after sowing. The germination was outstanding only in one flask. Our results show, that the germination in the natural habitat was much higher than in vitro on the generally used artificial media.

The last few years have witnessed the emergence of alternative measures to control plant parasitic nematodes (PPNs). We briefly reviewed the potential of compost and the direct or indirect roles of soil-dwelling organisms against PPNs. We compiled and assessed the most intensively researched factors of suppressivity. Municipal green waste (MGW) was identified and profiled. We found that compost, with or without beneficial microorganisms as biocontrol agents (BCAs) against PPNs, were shown to have mechanisms for the control of plant parasitic nematodes. Compost supports a diverse microbiome, introduces and enhances populations of antagonistic microorganisms, releases nematicidal compounds, increases the tolerance and resistance of plants, and encourages the establishment of a “soil environment” that is unsuitable for PPNs. Our compilation of recent papers reveals that while the scope of research on compost and BCAs is extensive, the role of MGW-based compost (MGWC) in the control of PPNs has been given less attention. We conclude that the most environmentally friendly and long-term, sustainable form of PPN control is to encourage and enhance the soil microbiome. MGW is a valuable resource material produced in significant amounts worldwide. More studies are suggested on the use of MGWC, because it has a considerable potential to create and maintain soil suppressivity against PPNs. To expand knowledge, future research directions shall include trials investigating MGWC, inoculated with BCAs.

As climate change is forcing plant species to migrate northward and upward, it is important to know how species' vegetative traits and reproductive success vary along different climatic conditions. We aimed to examine the impact of elevation on the morphological and reproductive characteristics of Cephalanthera rubra in four different altitudes in Hungary: in a lowland oak forest (103 m), and in the beech forests of the Bükk-mountains (361 m, 533 m, 657 m). We counted the number of leaves, flowers, and fruits, and measured the height of each plant with the length and width of all leaves. Linear, negative binomial, and quasipoisson regressions were used to compare the populations. Our study has shown that the lowland and mountain populations of C. rubra are sharply different regarding their life history strategy and reproductive success, and altitudinal effects can be found only in the mountain populations. The number of flowers depends strongly on the vegetative production (height and leaf area) of the plants, but at the same time, the area that facilitates greater vegetative production -possibly because it also facilitates species with better competitiveness, and it is less favorable to its mimicked partners -were less beneficial in terms of fruit production.