In view of the prevailing opinion of the recent increased dependence of Slovene agriculture on foreign knowledge, the research program has been oriented towards the production and accumulation of new knowledge. We have primarily focused on basic research and thus obtaining novel scientific knowledge that improves Slovenia's competitive position in terms of applications in breeding new crop varieties. Results in haploid induction in onion and cabbage have high applicative value for crop improvement since they provide procedures for more reliable production of homozygous lines for hybrid breeding. Field tests have already been carried out with dihaploid homozygous cabbage lines to test their capacity for hybrid production, although there are still some problems to be solved with onion, mainly in relation to fertility. Nevertheless, there is a high probability of developing new, high quality hybrids in both plants, which could be of interest for both domestic and international markets. Molecular marker systems have become essential tools in cultivar identification (DNA typing), assessment of genetic variability and relationships, management of genetic resources and biodiversity, studies of phylogenetic relationships and in genome mapping. Cultivar identification has been successfully applied in grape (determination of different clones in the collection), olive (varietal survey of Slovene orchards) and hop (genotyping different seedlings, unknown commercial samples). The main aim of genetic resource management is to ensure that as much as possible of the existing genetic diversity of a species is conserved. The effectiveness of this depends to a large extent on the genetic information available on the germplasm under study. In the management some of Slovene genetic resources (buckwheat and hop genebanks and hop genotype collection) various molecular markers have been used for the identification of genetic variation under-represented in the collection sample, for detection of duplicate accessions and for assessing the available genetic diversity for each species. Plant genetic transformation is under-represented in Slovenia, despite its importance in plant basic research and plant breeding. Transformation of tobacco was set up as a model system for various gene expression studies, and protocols for the transformation of onion and hop have more recently been initiated as part of the breeding programs of these two crops. Research conducted within the research programme "Genetics and plant biotechnology" has accumulated new knowledge, which is transmitted through the educational process at professional, undergraduate and graduate levels. We consider this to be of great importance, since only highly educated students can contribute added value in the future through the application of knowledge in industry or other sectors.