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Climate change and the variable extreme weather conditions that today’s agricultural producers are dealing with represent some of the most important issues in food production. Nowadays, weather patterns are increasingly unpredictable, characterized by frequent fluctuations in temperature, precipitation, and extreme weather events. As a result, there is an increasing demand for scientists to develop more resilient and tolerant crop cultivars. Plant breeders must become creative and utilize all available resources to create modern high-yielding and widely adapted cultivars to help agriculture grow and thrive amidst the emerging changes. Forage legumes, due to their beneficial characteristics, are among the crops that can contribute to mitigating the consequences of climate change. Furthermore, what certainly does not contribute to weather conditions is the erosion of plant genetic material, which has been caused by the modernization of agriculture and the selection of the best cultivars with desirable traits over many years. Crop wild relatives (CWRs) and landraces represent plant genetic materials rich in novel gene variants that contain traits for resistance and tolerance to different climatic conditions. To expand the genetic base of cultivars and mitigate the consequences of climate change, breeders are increasingly utilizing pre-breeding methods. These methods include all the activities connected to the identification of desirable genes and traits from un-adapted materials, such as CWRs, and the transformation of these traits to an intermediate set of materials that can be used for creating new cultivars. This review paper will cover the pre-breeding process, including its components, and the resistance and/or tolerance of the CWRs and landraces of forage legumes to different extreme environmental conditions.

Background and Objectives: Mutations in succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) and fumarate hydratase (FH) give rise to various familial cancer syndromes, with these alterations being characteristic of certain types of histomorphologically specific leiomyomas that hold significant predictive value. Materials and Methods: This study presents two cases of uterine leiomyomas exhibiting rare histomorphological and genetic characteristics, which are crucial for prognosis and further treatment. Results: Distinct histopathological features such as marked nuclear atypia, intracellular eosinophilic globules, and abnormal intratumoral vessels raise suspicion for specific leiomyoma subtypes, which carry predictive significance for additional hereditary cancer syndromes. Immunohistochemical analysis confirmed FH/SDH deficiency in both patients, who underwent careful follow-up. Conclusions: This study describes two cases involving unusual leiomyomas, the histopathological characteristics of which may easily go unrecognized. These features hold predictive significance because their specific mutations point to additional hereditary cancer syndromes, highlighting the need for further examinations.

Up to 70–80% of women of reproductive age may be affected with the most common uterine tumors, known as fibroids or myomas. These benign tumors are the second most prevalent cause of surgery among premenopausal women. Predictions show that the occurrence of myomas in pregnancy will increase, and that the risk of having myomas during pregnancy increases with advanced maternal age. Although most women with fibroids do not experience any symptoms during pregnancy, up to 30% of women experience problems during pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium. The viability of myoma excision during cesarean surgery (CS) is a contentious issue raised by the rising incidence of myomas in pregnancy and CS rates. A new surgical procedure for removing fibroids using a trans-endometrial approach, which involves making an incision through the decidua itself, has put into doubt the long-standing practice of cesarean myomectomy (CM) with a trans-serosal approach. Some authors have recently advocated for this last approach, highlighting its advantages and potential uses in real-world situations. The purpose of this paper is to critique the present approach to cesarean myomectomy by analyzing the clinical and surgical distinctions between the two approaches and providing illustrations of the CM methods.

Background and Objectives: Cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) usually showed an infiltrative growth pattern into endocervical stroma. In rare cases, SCC spreads superficially as an intraepithelial lesion to proximal uterine segments, and more rarely, involves invasive and more aggressive behavior on secondary sites. Materials and Methods: In this study, we present the case of an interesting form of cervical SCC growth and we discuss the possible reasons for that presentation. Results: After clinical examination and repeated histomorphological analysis, we found remarkable cervical epithelial dysplasia (a high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion—H-SIL). A histopathology report after conization and hysterectomy showed squamocellular carcinoma with microinvasive focuses. Interestingly, squamocellular carcinoma was found in the proximal uterine and adnexal structure, as well as intraepithelial and microinvasive lesions. Conclusions: Our study described a rare presentation of primary cervical SCC with unusual adnexal involvement. This pattern of tumor growth should be especially considered for patients who are proposed for sparing surgical procedures. A detailed and multidisciplinary approach for every patient is very important because unpredictable cases are present. However, they are rare.

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) is one of the most important forage species and is recently more in focus for human consumption mainly due to its content of bioactive phenolics. Samples of the seventeen alfalfa cultivars/populations were collected at the Agricultural Institute Osijek with the aim to evaluate their forage quality, phenolic profiles, and antioxidant potential. Significant differences (p < 0.05) existed among studied alfalfa in all analyzed traits. The cultivar OS 99 and populations L7 and L20 were characterized by high crude protein content (22.5–24.7%) and the lowest neutral (40.2–42.9%) and acid detergent fibres (33–35.5%). The soluble-free phenolics from alfalfa leaves were extracted by methanol while insoluble cell-wall bound phenolics were released by alkaline hydrolysis. The bound phenolic extract showed a stronger DPPH scavenging capacity (20.8 mg TE/g dm) than the soluble (11.4 mg TE/g dm). The HPLC data revealed that more phenolics were found in the bound (3638.0 μg/g dm) than in the soluble form (912.3 μg/g dm). In the soluble extract of the alfalfa leaves, the major compound was catechin (338.3 μg/g dm), while rutin, epicatechin, and ferulic acid were minor ones. In the bound phenolic extract, the most abundant was ferulic (2198.2 μg/g dm) and p-coumaric acid (983.7 μg/g dm), followed by myricetin, apigenin, and quercetin. The principal component analysis revealed that alfalfa cultivars/populations were better discriminated based on the data on phenolics, rather than on forage quality. The cultivars/populations Florida 66, OS 66, L 40, L 42, Seed Force 4, and Torlesse were the most interesting in terms of phenolic health-promoting characteristics.

Maize (Zea mays) is an economic crop suitable for use in phytoremediation in low to moderately cadmium (Cd)-contaminated soils due to its ability to accumulate high concentration of Cd in parts of maize that are not used in human diet. The aim of this study was to test Cd content in nine female parents of the commercial maize hybrids (C1 = ♀2-48; C2 = ♀1767/99; C3 = ♀87-24; C4 = ♀135-88, C5 = ♀84-28; C6 = ♀84-44; C7 = ♀438-95; C8 = ♀30-8; C9 = ♀B-73) grown under field conditions in two soils (B1: eutric cambisol, B2: stagnosol) during three growing seasons (A1: 2006, A2: 2007, A3: 2008). The stationary trial was conducted in four replicates. The ear-leaves at flowering and grain at maturity were taken for chemical analysis. The average quantities of leaf-Cd were 0.081, 0.088 and 0.143 mg per kg of dry matter for A1, A2 and A3, 0.089 and 0.118, for B1 and B2, respectively. Grain-Cd was below the threshold (< 0.02 mg/kg). Five Cd-inefficient genotypes (C3, C5, C6, C7 and C9) had low leaf-Cd (average 0.049 mg/kg), while this content was about 6-times higher (average 0.299 mg/kg) in Cd-efficient genotype C4. The yield among the years ranged from 2.36 to 4.31 t/ha. Maize grown on B2 had about 26% lower yield than on B1. Five genotypes (C1, C2, C8 and C9) achieved yields less than 3.50 t/ha (mean 3.15 t/ha), while in two genotypes (C3 and C5) yields were above 4.00 t/ha (mean 4.14 t/ha). Very strong correlations (r) of leaf-Cd status among years (ranged from 0.52 to 0.77) confirmed high genetic effect on the capability of Cd accumulation in maize. However, correlations between Cd content and yield were low (ranged from -0.17 to 0.06). Cd-efficient C4 female parent could be used for development of maize hybrids suitable for phytoremediation, while Cd-inefficient female parents for hybrids could be suitable as forage maize crop contributing to the lower Cd input into food chain.

Field experiments were conducted, aiming to evaluate whether the late-season foliar urea application (35 kg N ha−1) is effective in improving grain yield and protein-related quality in ten common wheat cultivars during two consecutive growing seasons. On average, late urea application significantly (p < 0.05) increased grain yields, thousand kernel, and hectolitre weight. The total grain protein significantly (p < 0.05) increased by 17.5% under urea application, while dough mixing behaviour was improved by increasing flour water absorption and reducing the degree of softening. Considering dough elastic properties, the changes in dough energy and maximum resistance under urea application were strongly cultivar dependent and their values compared to control varying from −12.7% to +42.4% and −25.1% to +7.7%, respectively. The distribution of grain storage proteins was significantly influenced by late urea application, but to a lesser extent than the total grain proteins. The proportion of total gliadins, α- and γ-gliadins increased by 5.3%, 5.8%, and 6.5%, respectively, while total glutenins and high-molecular weight glutenins decreased by 4.5% and 7.4%, respectively. In summary, the late-season application of urea has greatly improved the protein-related quality without considerable disruption of the storage proteins composition.

An increased awareness of environmental protection and sustainable production raise the necessity of incorporating the selection of low nitrogen-tolerant winter wheat cultivars for high yield and quality in the breeding process. This selection can be assisted by using stress screening indices. Our study aimed to evaluate and compare a number of stress screening indices and to determine and select the most nitrogen deficiency-tolerant winter wheat cultivars for further breeding. The experiment included forty-eight winter wheat cultivars from eight different countries that were grown for two consecutive years at three different locations under low-nitrogen (LN) and high-nitrogen (HN) conditions. The results emphasized the importance of applying the appropriate stress screening indices in evaluating and selecting nitrogen deficiency-tolerant wheat cultivars. The promising stress screening indices were the mean productivity index (MP), geometric mean productivity index (GMP), harmonic mean index (HM), stress tolerance index (STI) and yield index (YI). They identified cultivars Sofru, BC Opsesija and MV-Nemere as the most tolerant cultivars to LN conditions for grain yield. The same indices classified U-1, OS-Olimpija, Forcali, Viktoria and BC Tena cultivars as the most tolerant to LN conditions for the grain protein content. Using the tolerance index (TOL), yield stability index (YSI) and relative stress index (RSI), the Katarina and Ficko cultivars were denoted as LN-tolerant cultivars in terms of the grain yield and Isengrain, Tosunbey, Vulkan and BC Darija in terms of the grain protein content.

Phenolic acids (PAs) are a dominant group of phenolic compounds in cereals, existing mostly bound to compounds of cell wall. In this study, a total of 25 cereal grain samples, including wheat, winter and spring barley, corn, and popcorn, were evaluated for bound PAs and antioxidant activity in a two-year field trial. The PA contents, determined by HPLC, were significantly affected by cereal type. The mean total PA content was highest in popcorn and corn (3298 and 2213 μg/gdm, respectively), followed by winter and spring barley (991 and 908 μg/gdm, respectively) and wheat (604 μg/gdm). Ferulic acid was the most abundant, accounting from 62% to 83% of total PAs (in popcorn and winter and spring barley, respectively). Across cereals, p-coumaric (35–259 μg/gdm) and p-hidroxybenzoic (45–79 μg/gdm) were also dominant, while in corn and popcorn o-coumaric (71 and 89 μg/gdm, respectively) also occurred in higher content. The mean total phenol content ranged from 853 μg GAE/gdm (wheat) to 1403 μg GAE/gdm (winter barley) with DPPH scavenging activity from 14% to 67%, respectively. A significant influence of crop years on the ferulic acid and total PA content was found, while the variability of other PAs was dependent on the cereal type. The results indicated a high health benefit potential of selected cereals.