The fruit characteristics of new strawberry genotypes reflect their value for the present and future breeding programs. Beyond the agronomic characteristics, the evaluation of biometric, colorimetric and biochemical characteristics of fresh fruits complete the description of strawberry genotypes. Starting from these ideas, the aim of present study was to evaluate the biometric, colorimetric and biochemical characteristics of seven strawberry cultivars and selections. In this respect, a study was carried out in the experimental field of the Small Fruit and Strawberry Department belongings to Research Institute for Fruit Growing Pitesti, Romania, during years 2016 and 2017. The analysed quality characteristics of the strawberry fruits were the following: biometric characteristics (plant yield, weight, diameter, length and firmness of the fruits), colorimetric characteristics (lightness, hue angle, Chroma index, chromaticity) and biochemical characteristics (pH, total soluble solids, total acidity, soluble solids/total acidity ratio, total sugars, vitamin C, total polyphenols). The evaluation of the quality characteristics of the seven studied strawberry genotypes highlighted the differences among them. The results of this study highlights that selection 08-10-5 has the potential to become a new and valuable variety considering some of the most important fruit quality characteristics (colour parameters analysed, pH, total soluble solids, soluble solids/total acidity ratio and also by the content of vitamin C and total polyphenols).

It is well-known that camelina oil, obtained from Camelina sativa seeds is rich in fatty acids, predominantly linolenic acid and is used successfully in pharmaceutical and cosmetic therapies. It is remarkable that this species has a great adaptability to environmental conditions, being able to cultivate it on agricultural parcels and polluted soils. The goal of this work is to evaluate the quantitative and qualitative differences of three types of camelina oils, obtained from varieties grown in Romania: GP 202-Spanish provenance, Camelia and Mădălina, both Romanian provenance. The effect of soil fertilization on the quality of the seeds /oil obtained from 3 varieties of camelina was tested, the control being the unfertilized Camelina variety. The following parameters have been evaluated: seed moisture, cold oil extraction yield, certain physico-chemical oil indicators and percent quantitative composition of individual and total fatty acids. Remarkable is the total fatty acid content of the oil that varies between 75.87 g% for the unfertilized Mădălina variant and 81 g% for the fertilized GP-202 variant. Taking in consideration the results for all the studied parameters, it can be concluded that the Mădălina variety is very similar to the other two, and fertilization contributes insignificantly to the improvement of the quality of the obtained oil.

In the recent years, evidence has been accumulated about the beneficial effects on consumers' health of oat in daily diets, respectively: maintaining blood cholesterol, lowering postprandial glucose, cardiovascular risk reduction, reducing oxidative stress and so on. The increase of oat content in bakery products, such as bread was generally associated with a decrease in volume and a worsening of sensorial characteristics, features that are guiding the consumer's decision to buy a particular product. Researchers have aimed to achieve a bakery product that contains a sufficient amount of whole oat flour, without affecting the quality characteristics of bread (volume, porosity, elasticity). Our results have shown that the ideal proportion between the oat flour and wheat flour was 30:70, in order to obtain a functional product attractive to the consumer. We have also analyzed the main rheological changes (by farinographic and alveographic methods) of dough obtained from wheat-oat composite flours (10, 20, 30, 40, 50% oat flour). Our findings have shown that the addition of oat flour significantly increased the water absorption and decreased water retention capacity under mechanical stress. Generally, the rheological parameters in wheat-oat composite flours were affected by a more than 20% oat flour content.

As a result of the detection of the pinewood nematode Bursaphelenchus xylophilus in Portugal, and its subsequent spread to Spain, intense surveys were conducted to screen for the presence of Bursaphelenchus species in Romania. Herein, we report recent surveys of insects potentially vectoring Bursaphelenchus species collected using trap trees or pheromone‐baited traps placed in the forest. Trap felled spruce trees (Picea abies) and pheromone‐baited traps were installed in six different counties in Romania (Brașov, Sibiu, Suceava, Hunedoara, Timiș and Dâmbovița). Ten different species of insects distributed among Curculionidae and Cerambycidae were obtained. Nematodes were extracted from insects and observed to validate the presence of Bursaphelenchus specimens. One female identified as Monochamus sutor was the only specimen carrying nematodes in the genus Bursaphelenchus. Nematodes were identified as B. mucronatus based on morphological and molecular features. This is the first detection and report of natural spread of B. mucronatus in Romania. The absence of B. xylophilus was confirmed in the areas of Romania surveyed in this work.

No abstract