Identification of the profile of endogenous cytokinin-like compounds during different plant growth stages and their effects on flower bud abscission in pistachio (Pistacia vera L.)

Alternate bearing is a significant economic problem that affects fruit producers, consumers and the economy of a country. Concentrations of cytokinin (CK)-like compounds in different tissues of pistachio trees (Pistacia vera ‘Uzun’) were measured to elucidate the relationship between endogenous CKs and flower bud abscission (alternate bearing). Identification and quantification of CK-like compounds of the Z, DHZ and iP types from different physiological stages and tissues were performed using high-performance liquid chromatography–electrospray ionisation–tandem mass spectrometry (HPLCESI-MS/MS) techniques. Five to seven different CK-like compounds were detected, respectively. Isopentenyl adenine riboside (iPR) and trans-zeatin-O-glucoside (t-ZOG) were the main isoprenoid CKs, as the dominant conjugates in all the analysed organs of pistachio trees. The leaves and shoots of ‘On’-year trees had significantly higher CK contents than those of ‘Off’-year trees on all the sampling dates. Interestingly, the relatively high CK activity was recorded before flower bud abscission in the fractions corresponding to iPR and t-ZOG, while this activity dropped considerably during the flower bud abscission period (55 DAFB). Consequently, the strong negative correlation between CK concentration and bud abscission could be the first indication of the role of CK-like compounds in this unique phenomenon in the ‘Uzun’ pistachio cultivar. It was concluded that CKs could have an important role in the alternate bearing in pistachio

Genetic Diversity among Some Walnut (Juglans regia L.) Genotypes by SSR Markers

The food needs for increasing population, climatic changes, urbanization and industrialization, along with the destruction of forests, are the main challenges of modern life. Therefore, it is very important to evaluate plant genetic resources in order to cope with these problems. Therefore, in this study, a set of ninety-one walnut (Juglans regia L.) accessions from Central Anatolia region, composed of seventy-four accessions and eight commercial cultivars from Turkey, and nine international reference cultivars, was analyzed using 45 SSR (Simple Sequence Repeats) markers to reveal the genetic diversity. SSR analysis identified 390 alleles for 91 accessions. The number of alleles per locus ranged from 3 to 19 alleles with a mean value of 9 alleles per locus. Genetic dissimilarity coefficients ranged from 0.03 to 0.68. The highest number of alleles was obtained from CUJRA212 locus (Na = 19). The values of polymorphism information content (PIC) ranged from 0.42 (JRHR222528) to 0.86 (CUJRA212) with a mean PIC value of 0.68. Genetic distances were estimated according to the UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Average), Principal Coordinates (PCoA), and the Structure-based clustering. The UPGMA and Structure clustering of the accessions depicted five major clusters supporting the PCoA results. The dendrogram revealed the similarities and dissimilarities among the accessions by identifying five major clusters. Based on this study, SSR analyses indicate that Yozgat province has an important genetic diversity pool and rich genetic variance of walnuts

Cultivar Differences on Nutraceuticals of Grape Juices and Seeds

In this study, nutraceutical properties of fruit juice and seeds, which are important for human health, of green (Kabarcik, Cavus), red (red Globe) and black (Honusu, Yildiz, Yediveren and Helvani) skin colored grape cultivars grown in same ecological conditions were investigated. Harvest period, number of seeds, cluster form, cluster weight, berry weight, berry color and usage area were determined as morphological parameters. The Folin-Ciocalteu method was used for total phenol content analysis. The total antioxidant status of juices and seeds of grape cultivars have been determined by 2,2–diphenyl−1–picryl-hydrazyl–hydrate (DPPH), ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) assays. Seeds of all grape cultivars exhibited higher nutraceuticals than fruit juices. Total phenolic content of seed samples was found to be quite variable in range of 1.90 mg GAE/g (cv. Yildiz)–3.46 mg GAE/g (cv. Honusu) fresh weight base (FW), indicating 2 folds of differences between green and black grape cultivars. Green and black cultivars also showed the lowest and the highest total phenolic content in juices between 1.69 (cv. Yediveren) and 2.45 (cv. Honusu mg GAE/g FW). Seeds and fruit juices of all cultivars analyzed showed high antioxidant capacity and total phenol content. Of all different colored cultivars, black peel-colored cultivars had the highest values and combined better morphological and nutraceutical traits with an excellent berry qualitative profile for cv. Honusu and Helvani

Multivariate Analysis Approaches for Dimension and Shape Discrimination of Vitis vinifera Varieties

In this study, berry dimensions and shape traits, which are important for the design of the grape processing system and the classification of 10 different grape varieties grown in same ecological conditions (‘Ata Sarısı’, ‘Barış’, ‘Dımışkı’, ‘Hatun Parmağı’, ‘Helvani’, ‘Horoz Karası’, ‘Hönüsü’, ‘İtalia’, ‘Mevlana Sarısı’, and ‘Red Globe’) were determined; differences between the varieties were identified with the use of discriminant analysis. The largest grape varieties were identified as ‘Ata Sarısı’ and ‘Red Globe’. The ‘Red Globe’ and ‘Helvani’ varieties had geometrically sphere-like shape. The ‘Barış’ variety had the lowest size averages. According to elliptic Fourier analysis, the primary source of shape variation was ellipse and sphere-looking varieties. However, shape variation was seen due to the existence of a small number of drop-like varieties. According to discriminant analysis, shape differences of the varieties were defined by two discriminant functions. Based on these discriminant functions, the greatest classification performance was achieved for ‘Mevlana Sarısı’ and ‘Dımışkı’. In scatter plots, three shape definitions (sphere, ellipse, and drop) were made for grape varieties. Cluster analysis revealed 4 sub-groups. The first sub-group included the ‘Mevlana Sarısı’ variety; the second sub-group included the ‘Hönüsü’, ‘Hatun Parmağı’, ‘Dımışkı’, and ‘Horoz Karası’ varieties; the third sub-group included the ‘Ata Sarısı’ variety; the fourth sub-group included the ‘Barış’, ‘Helvani’, ‘İtalia’, and ‘Red Globe’ varieties. The variety in the first group had a geometrically ellipse-like shape, the largest length, and the smallest width. The size data were the smallest for the second sub-group. The third sub-group, with the ellipse-like shape, had the large size data. The grape varieties the closest to the sphere were classified in the fourth group, and these varieties had the large sizes

The effect of organic, inorganic fertilizers and their combinations on fruit quality parameters in strawberry

Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) is widely grown and highly appreciated by consumers around the world for its delicious, soft, and highly nutritious fruits. Turkey is one of the most important strawberry producers in the world. Strawberry cultivation in Turkey typically involves the use of chemical fertilizers and more recently organic and organic + chemical fertilizers have been started to use in commercial production to produce healthier fruits. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the effect of organic, chemical, and organic + chemical fertilizer treatments in strawberry (cvs. ‘Albion’, ‘San Andreas’ and ‘Monterey’) fruit quality parameters including fruit color (L*, a*, b*, C and h°) parameters, soluble solids content, total acidity, fruit firmness, vitamin C, specific sugars and organic acids. Results showed that in particular fruit color parameters, soluble solid content (SSC), total acidity, fruit firmness, and vitamin C (L-Ascorbic acid) in fruits of three strawberry cultivars were significantly affected by different fertilizer applications (p < 0.05). Compared with conventional chemical fertilizer treatment, the organic fertilizer treatment produced fruit with significantly higher contents of SSC and glucose but decreased fruit firmness and vitamin C. Organic fertilizer also gave more intense colored strawberry fruits with high Chroma values (47,948 in organic fertilizer application and 39,644 and 39,931 in organic + chemical fertilizer and chemical fertilizer, respectively). Citric acid was identified to be the predominant organic acid in strawberry fruits but treatments were found insignificant on citric acid content