Paper discussed the problems of research carried out in the institutes of Polish Academy of Sciences and at faculties of the universities in the field of plant breeding and utilization of the results to assist the practical activity of plant breeding companies and their programmes. Question of financial support to the research and development activity was also considered.
Results of research carried out within 1995-1998 on application of molecular methods to identify the fungal pathogens of cereals were reviewed in the paper. Results of studies on fungal genome of Fusarium species - the number and size of chromosomes were presented. Available information concerning the possibilities of fungal pathogens identification with the use of RFLP, RAPD-PCR, SCAR and AFLP methods, based on the analysis of extracted fungal DNA and PCR (polymerase chain reaction) procedure were described.