Phytochemicals in Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are the most important sources of phytochemicals. Phytochemicals use for both human diets and natural antimicrobial agents in food preservation. Their benefits for health are mainly due to high antioxidant activity. Antimicrobials of plant origin are known as secondary metabolites that could play a role not only individually or jointly against food‐borne pathogens but also contribute to food flavor. Phytochemicals have a strong effect on control and prevention of natural spoilage processes and growth of microorganisms, including pathogens causing food safety issues. Microorganisms are always associated with harvested plants and slaughtered animals, the basic unprocessed materials of the food industry. Since foods consumed by humans undergo several processing treatments, it is important to understand the effect of such treatments on the phytochemical composition of foods

Micropropagation of ‘Chester thornless’ Blackberry Cultivar using Axillary Bud Explants

Sexual propagation is not suitable for production of true to type plants for commercial cultivation of selected cultivars due to the having heterozygous characteristics. Rubus species are highly heterozygous and therefore when they are propagated by seeds the high plant variability is obtained. Micropropagation methods became very important and have many advantages compared to the classical propagation methods. In Turkey, blackberries are commonly propagated by hard and soft wood cuttings, by layering and bush division. Propagation by layers requires rather large area for a layered, and weed control among the layers is a problem. However, propagation by cuttings is connected with important problem in inadequate rooting, especially in ‘Chester Thornless’ cultivar, which is one of the most commercially grown cultivar. In addition, limited number of plants can be propagated using classical propagation method and thus demand of growers for the plants can not be satisfied. Optimized and highly efficient regeneration protocols are also important for genetic transformation for improving of new cultivars. In this study we focused on optimization of protocol for in vitro propagation of ‘Chester Thornless’ blackberry cultivar using nodal segments. For this purpose, explants were cultured on Woody Plant Medium (WPM) supplemented with combination of plant growth regulators BAP (1.5, 2, 3 mg/l) with NAA (0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 mg/l) to detect the best multiplication medium. According to the obtained results, the highest proliferation rate was obtained for cultivar ‘Chester Thornless’ that produced 9.66 shoots on a medium containing 2 mg/I BAP+0.2 mg/I IBA combination. GA3 effects on multiplication rates were also studied and generally the highest rates obtained by while GA3 were not used. For the rooting, different concentrations of IBA and NAA (0, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 mg/I) were compared. A concentration of 0.4 mg/l NAA gave the greatest number of roots and maximum root length

Fat, Fatty Acids and Tocopherol Content of Several Walnut Genotypes

There are seed propagated walnut (Juglans regia L.) populations with the vast genetic variation in different part of Turkey. There are also lots of monoecious and dichogamous genotypes in Turkey due to continuing sexual propagation. In this study, fruits of 19 selected walnut genotypes grown in Kahramanmaraş region were characterized based on their fat, fatty acid and tocopherol contents. The fatty acids content of genotypes were analyzed using Gas Chromatography. Tocopherol analyses such as alpha (α)-Tocopherol, gamma (γ) and beta (β) + delta (δ) were performed by HPLC technique. According to the total fat and fatty acid results, there were differences among genotypes on most of the fatty acids. Total fat ranged from 51.2 to 82.1%, stearic acid from 2.57 to 3.37%, myristic acid from 0.00 to 0.05%, palmitic acid from 6.42 to 7.92%, arachidic acid from 0.00 to 0.16%, linoleic acid from 53.23 to 63.62%, linolenic acid from 10.75 to 15.24%, oleic acid from 14.73 to 24.17% and palmitoleic acid from 0.00 to 0.16%, respectively. The same genotypes were evaluated based on their tocopherol content and (α)-Tocopherol, gamma (γ) and beta (β) + delta (δ) tocopherol were found between 23.47 and 38.04 μg/g, 161.09 and 292.56 μg/g and 16.93 and 32.34 μg/g, respectively

Quantitative Trait Loci Associated with Agronomical Traits in Strawberry

The cultivated strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa) is derived from Fragaria chiloensis and Fragaria virginiana species a few centuries ago, and it is one of the most preferred and consumed berries all over the world because of its a good source in terms of many nutritional elements. Strawberry has high genetic variability and adaptation to different environmental conditions due to its highly heterozygous nature. In the last decades, many farmers, breeders, researchers even consumers have started to focus on berry quality traits such as large fruit, uniform shape, high fruit firmness, high fruit sensorial quality (aroma contents), color, gloss, and resistance to pathogens. Thus, the development of novel strawberry cultivars or genotypes with high nutritionally quality traits has become one of the main aims in strawberry breeding programs. Biotechnological tools such as the identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) and marker-assisted selection (MAS) are the most widely used technologies in fruit breeding programs for shortening the breeding period. Identification of QTLs in agnomical important traits are very valuable tools for early selection in strawberry breeding programs. This chapter is focused on QTL and marker assisted breeding studies in strawberry to date and provides new perspectives on molecular breeding in strawberry breeding

Volatile Compounds of New Promising Dried Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) Genotypes

Turkey has rich wild apricot populations and all Turkish apricot cultivars were previously selected among wild apricots. On this background for apricot breeding, six new late flowering dried apricot genotypes were taken under study, along with wide spread cv. 'Hacihaliloglu'; all genotypes were examined in terms of volatile compounds using Headspace-Solid Phase Micro Extraction - Mass Spectrometry (HSSPME/GC/MS) techniques. The most important volatiles of apricot genotypes were aldehydes, alcohols, esters, terpenes, ketones and acids. Among these compounds, ethanol, hexanal, 3-carene, squalene, acetic acid, tetradecaonic acid, pentadecaonic acid, octadecaonic acid, n- hexadecaonic acid and 1-hdroxy-2-propanone were present in all genotypes studied at certain levels. In general, total concentrations of aroma compounds were higher in some promising genotypes under study than within 'Hacihaliloglu' cultivar, except total alcohol compound (53.33%). Volatile compounds, particularly esters, were the major contributors to fruity, floral and pleasant fruit flavours. The highest esters' compound contents were detected in 'N95' (9.2%) and 'N57' (2.18%) genotypes, while 'Hacihaliloglu' had 1.61% ester compounds. Lacton (γ-decalactone) was a key aroma compound of apricot. γ-decalactone was detected ranging between 0.4-1.13% in all genotypes, except cv. 'Hacihaliloglu'. The hereby obtained results showed that the volatile composition depended largely upon the apricot genotypes, moment of harvest, growing conditions and cultural applications that may all affect fruit quality. These results represent valuable starting points for apricot breeding programs

Comparison of Volatile Compounds of Fresh Boletus edulis and B. pinophilus in Marmara Region of Turkey

Boletus edulis and B. pinophilus are commonly consumed edible species of Boletus spp. in Turkey, which are also exported to some European countries. In this study, twenty-three volatile compounds were determined with Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction / Gas Chromatography / Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME/GC/MS) in both B. edulis and B. pinophilus. 1-octen-3-ol (79.75), 2-octen-1-ol (13.18), 1-octen-3-one (2.52), (E)-2-octenal (1.21) in B. edulis and 1-octen-3-ol (55.97), 2-octen-1-ol (13.55), 3-octanone (7.43), (E)-2-octenal (6.79), 1-octen-3-one (5.80) and 1,7,7-trimethyl-heptan-2-one (2.04), 2-propenoic acid (1.95) and 1,3-octadiene (1.75) in B. pinophilus were identified as main volatile aroma compounds (%), respectively. The present study is the first report on the volatile constituents of B. edulis and B. pinophilus collected from Turkey

Screening of High Temperature Tolerant Tomato Genotypes for Their Fruit Mineral Content

Agriculture is at the forefront of the sectors that will be most affected by climate change. It is inevitable that Turkey is exposed to the negative effects of climate change due to its geographical location. The development of new high temperature tolerant varieties is seen as an important economic measure in the adaptation to climate change. In this study, heat temparature tolerant tomato genotypes were investigated for their fruit mineral content. For this purpose, twenty tolerant tomatoes from the gene pool of the Çukurova University, Department of Horticulture the and two commerical cultivars were grown in the open field conditions during 2016 spring and summer periods in Adana, Turkey. Tomato fruits grown under control and high temperature stresses conditions were analyzed for phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, copper and zinc. According to heat stress effects on the tomato fruit mineral content, the macronutrients were ordered P, K, Ca, Mg from the least affected to the most affected. Moreover, the micro-nutrients were ordered Cu, Fe and Zn from the least affected to the most affected. In the present study heat tolerant tomato genotypes showed better performance and their mineral content most cases were higher than mineral content of the control trade cultivars

Morphogenetic Variation for Essential Oil Content and Composition of Sage (Salvia officinalis L.) In Çukurova Condition

This study was carried out in 2016 in the Research Area of the Cukurova University Faculty of Agriculture Field Crops Research to determine the morphogenetic variation in yield and essential oil content and composition in Salvia officinalis L... Field trial was arranged randomized complete block design, with three replications. Seed of sage was sowing at December 17, 2015 in the greenhouse. Seedling was transferred to field at March 31, 2016. The plants were harvested on November 29, 2016. After harvest, imminently all plant material were separated into three part, lower (1/3), middle (1/3) and upper (1/3) for morphogenetic variation and fresh herb weight were determined for each part.  The following results were obtained: plant height (37.28 – 52.84 cm), fresh herbage yield (608-822 kg da−1), drug herbage yield (236-259 kg da−1) and essential oil content (1.65 – 2.32 %). The highest essential oil content was obtained as 2.32 % from upper part of plant.  The lowest one (1.65%) was obtained from lower parts

Sugar, Invertase Enzyme Activities and Invertase Gene Expression in Different Developmental Stages of Strawberry Fruits

The cultivated strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa) is octoploid (2n = 8x = 56) and has been the focused fruit species of which an increasing number of molecular and genetic research has been conducted in recent years. The aim of this study is to identify the relationships between sucrose metabolism, invertase enzyme activity and gene expression in four different fruit development periods (red, pink, green and white) of two commercially important strawberry varieties ‘Rubygem’ and ‘Fortuna’. The metabolite profiles (glucose, fructose, sucrose and total sugar content) of two varieties were discovered to be extremely similar. The highest amount of total sugar was found in red fruits, while the lowest was obtained from green fruits. Invertase represents one of the key enzymes in sucrose metabolism. The lowest invertase activity was obtained from the green fruits in ‘Rubygem’ and ‘Fortuna’ during four developmental periods. In these varieties, the amount of sucrose was found to be close to glucose and fructose and the lowest amount was detected in green period, while invertase activity was relatively high during red and pink periods and invertase gene expression was determined at high levels in both primers (St-4 and St-6) in the green period. The results of the study indicated that sugar content and invertase activity were positively correlated while enzyme activity and gene expression were negatively correlated. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.FBA-2020-12969Acknowledgments: The authors would like to thank the Cukurova University Scientific Research Projects (Turkey) (FBA-2020-12969) for financial support

Evaluation Possibilities of Different Parts of Pomegranate, a Historical Fruit and Its Effects on Health

Today, with the faster development of science and technology, people have started to pay more attention to healthy living and consuming foods that are beneficial for human health. In this context, the value given to fruit species has become increasingly important and the importance of plants whose seeds are consumed has increased, as well as colourful fruits and vegetables. Pomegranate is a fruit grown in many countries in the world, especially in the Mediterranean climate, and its economic value has been increasing in recent years. This fruit has gained great nutritional importance not only because of its flavour but also because it contains many antioxidant substances and phenolic compounds that are beneficial to human health. There are nearly fifty pomegranate varieties registered in our country. These pomegranate varieties range from sweet to sour, from small-in size to large in size, and from hard-seeded to soft-seeded in terms of skin colour and fruit colour. In recent years, the use of pomegranate parts such as peel, seeds, and flowers in cosmetics and food industry has become widespread and studies on the antioxidant properties of different parts of pomegranate have attracted interest. The aim of this review is to investigate the health effects of pomegranate fruit, different parts of pomegranate, and products made from pomegranate