Hundred and twenty six years old Mlyňany Arboretum hosted almost 40 scientists studying woody plants, on Thursday, 11th October 2018. The traditional scientific conference Dendrological days in the Mlyňany Arboretum is organised every two years.

In this year, the plenary talk section was opened by the lecture of our Ukrainian project partner from the Institute of Plant Physiology and Genetics NASU, Dr. Nataliya Melnykova, on the ´Effect of microorganisms from the rhizosphere of black locust on seed germination and seedling growth´. A comprehensive work of prof. Alexander Lux from the Department of Plant Physiology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, on anatomical check points participating in plant abiotic stress tolerance followed. Very inspirative was also talk of the associate prof. Jaroslav Ďurkovič from the Department of Phytology, Faculty of Forestry, Technical University in Zvolen, unfolding details on nanometric characterization of xylem cell walls as parameters of woody plant breeding material resistance to quarantine diseases. This block was resumed by a short but very attractive and rich-on-information movie from Dr. Richard Vreštiak, Arbor, s.r.o., Senec, on ´The English school of landscape architecture in the 18th century´.

After presentation, researchers from the Slovak Agricultural University in Nitra, Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica, Borová hora Arboretum of the Technical University in Zvolen, Comenius University in Bratislava as well as colleagues from the Institute of Forest Ecology SAS – Branch of the Woody Plant Biology, closed this pleasant and inspirative meeting by a guided excursion to the colourful autumnal park of the arboretum. Papers presented at the conference were published in the proceedings entitled Dendrologické dni v Arboréte Mlyňany 2018 : „Dreviny a prostredie“ : 11. október, Vieska nad Žitavou .

Text by Peter Ferus
Photo by Dominika Bošiaková