Response of seeds and pollen of Onobrychis viciifolia and Onobrychis oxyodonta var. armena to NaCl stress

Sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) is an important forage legume crop with 52 species adapted to dry and poor soils in Turkey, but little is known about the effects of salinity on germination and seedling growth in arid and semiarid regions suffering from salinity problem. The seeds and pollen of two species of sainfoin O. viciifolia and O. oxyodonta var. armena (Syn: O. armena) were exposed to 0, 5, 10, 20 and 30 dS m-1 of NaCl under in vivo and in vitro conditions and evaluated for germination under salt stress by comparing germination percentage, mean germination time, root and shoot length, fresh and dry seedling weight and dry matter. Increased salinity levels generally resulted in decrease in all traits except time to germination, dry seedling weight and dry matter, which increased at high salinity levels. O. viciifolia seeds germinated and grew more rapidly compared to O. armena seeds under NaCl stress. No decrease in germination and seedling growth up to 10 dS m-1 was recorded. On the other hand, there was a clear difference for germination and seedling growth between in vivo and in vitro conditions. Lower values were obtained from in vitro experiments; suggesting that mineral salts, sucrose and agar may have resulted in higher osmotic potential inhibiting germination and seedling growth of species compared in vivo conditions. Decrease in pollen germination with increasing salinities was very sharp, indicating that pollen germination had higher sensitive to salinity. But, pollen grains of O. armena germinated rapidly compared to O. viciifolia. The results emphasize that in vivo experiments could be used for screening of NaCl tolerance in sainfoin cultivars without expensive chemicals and sophisticated equipments, but pollen germination is more appropriate for its wild relatives

In vitro shoot regeneration of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) using different cytokinins

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is an important vegetable, spice and medicinal legume plantused as fresh and dried leaves and seeds in many parts of the world. Fenugreek seeds contain polysaccharide galactomannan and different saponins and have anti-microbial activity. The study presents an efficient shoot regeneration protocols from 8 - 10 days old in vitro grown cotyledon node explants cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with 0.05 - 0.80 mg/l kinetin, 0.25 - 1.0 mg/l 6 benzyladenine (BA) with 0 and 0.20 mg/l α naphtalene acetic acid (NAA) and 0.05 - 0.80 mg/l thidiazuran (TDZ) with 0 and 0.10 mg/l indole 3 butyric acid (IBA). All culture mediums were solidified with 0.22% gelrite. Maximum shoot regeneration and number of shoots per explant were recorded on MS medium supplemented with TDZ with or without IBA. Maximum of 22.21 shoots per explant were recorded on MS medium containing 0.40 mg/l TDZ. Presence of auxins in the culture medium positively increased the mean shoot length. Regenerated shoots were transferred to rooting media containing 0.1 - 1.0 mg/l IBA or NAA.Key words: Fenugreek , cotyledon node, hypocotyl, shoot regeneration

Morphological studies on some sainfoin (Onobrychis sp.) species belonging to heliobrychis section

Türkiye’nin farklı bölgelerinde doğal olarak yetişen Heliobrychis seksiyonuna ait 5 farklı korunga türü üzerinde fenotipik varyasyonları ortaya çıkarmak için bazı morfolojik özellikler incelenmiştir. Genel olarak incelenen karakterler sap ve yaprak kısımları, salkım, çiçek, meyve ve tohum kısımlarından oluşmaktadır. Gözlem yapılan morfolojik karakterler açısından korunga türleri arasında yüksek oranda varyasyon belirlenmiştir. İncelenen türler arasında akrabalık ilişkilerini ortaya çıkarmak için morfolojik özellikler üzerinde yapılan hiyerarşik kümeleme analizi sonucunda 3 grup oluşmuştur. Elde edilen sonuçlar gelecekte korunga ıslah çalışmalarına yardımcı olacaktır.Some morphologic characteristics of five sainfoin species, section Heliobrychis collected from natural flora of various regions of Turkey were analyzed based on phenotypic variations. Generally, the shoots and types of leaves, raceme, flower, fruit, and type of seeds were analyzed in the study. High variation was recorded among morphologic characters of sainfoin. Hierarchical Cluster analysis showed relationship between the species due to morphological characteristics ending up with three groups. It is assumed that these results will be beneficial for breeding of sainfoin in the future

Morphological and biochemical responses of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) ecotypes to salinity

WOS: 000431531600015This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different NaCl concentrations (0, 100 and 150 mM) on the morphological and biochemical parameters of different sainfoin ecotypes 'Kocas', 'Malya,' 'Altinova' and 'Ulas' under controlled conditions. The morphological parameters included seed germination, seedling and root lengths, and seedling fresh and dry weights while the biochemical parameters included chlorophyll and proline contents, lipid peroxidation (MDA), and the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, APX, and GR). The results demonstrated that increase in NaCl concentration caused an overall decrease in morphological parameters and an increase in the biochemical parameters in all ecotypes. The findings showed that among all ecotypes, 'Kocas' had higher chlorophyll and proline content, increased activity of CAT, GR, and APX, and increased fresh and dry weight in response to salt stress. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the evaluation of enzymatic and non-enzymatic defense systems in sainfoin plants under salt stress.Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [113Z399]This research is part of the 113Z399 project financially supported by the Turkish Scientific and Technical Research Council (TUBITAK). We express our sincerest gratitude to them for their support. This study was part of a Ph.D. thesis of Ramazan BEYAZ

Physiological responses of the M-1 sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop) plants to gamma radiation

WOS: 000390736100012PubMed ID: 27619947Effects of gamma radiation on physiological responses of the M-1 sainfoin plants were investigated. Seeds of sainfoin ecotype 'Kocas' were exposed to 0, 400, 500 and 600 Gy from a Co-60 source at a dose rate of 0.483 kGy h(-1). Irradiated and unirradiated seeds were sown into culture vessels containing MS-basal medium to be cultured for 30 days under in vitro conditions. At the end of this period, seedlings, which germinated from the radiated and unirradiated seeds, were transferred into pots in a growth chamber for 30 days more. Chlorophyll contents, activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR), as well as contents of monodehydroascorbate reductase (MDA) and proline were examined in unirradiated and irradiated 60-day-old seedlings. Overall, the activities of the antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT and GR) and contents of chlorophyll and proline in the leaves tended to increase after irradiation in a dose dependent manner. By contrast, the activity of APX decreased. The lipid peroxidation characterized by the MDA content remained unchanged, except after irradiation to 500 Gy. The highest CAT activity and the highest praline content were observed after irradiation to the highest dose of 600 Gy. The highest SOD and GR activities were observed after irradiation to the lowest tested dose of 400 Gy. This is the first study that provided basic information on the impact of gamma radiation on physiological responses of sainfoin and its radiosensitivity. These findings will be useful in development of a mutation breeding program of sainfoin

EFFECTS OF NaCl ON GERMINATION AND SEEDLING CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT ONOBRYCHIS TAXA

In this study, 13 different Onobrychis taxa and genotypes were exposed to different NaCl concentrations (5, 10, 15 and 20 dS/m) and classified for their salt tolerances. Responses of 13 genotypes to salinity were compared for seed germination frequency, mean germination time (MGT) and plant growth parameters (shoot and root length, seedling fresh and dry weight). Increasing salinity levels remarkably decreased seed germination and shoot length, root length, seedling fresh weight but increased MGT. Current findings revealed that the effects of increasing NaCl doses varied based on genotypes. It was observed that all Onobrychis taxa could tolerate to a salinity level up to 10 dS/m, but Onobrychis stenostachya subsp. sosnowskyi, Onobrychis paucijuga and Onobrychis vicifolia were considered as more tolerant than the other taxa particularly at 15 dS/m salinity level. The taxa O. gracilis, O. cilicica and O. podperae were classified as moderately sensitive and the others were classified as moderately tolerant at germination and early seedling stage

Molecular Characterization of Snowdrop Lectin (GNA) and its Comparison with Reported Lectin Sequences of Amaryllidaceae

WOS: 000389669800002Plant lectins have become efficient sources of insect resistance in crops. The present study was conducted to identify, amplify, clone and characterize the plant lectin gene GNA. The lectin, present in Galanthus nivalis (snowdrop), is an agglutinin toxic to hemiptera. The attempt was made to elucidate the relationship of the lectin gene trGNA (GNA isolated and characterized from Turkey) with other previously cloned lectins having insecticidal activity and to ensure the presence of the conserved mannose-binding region/site in the gene sequence. The full-length cDNA of trGNA was 477 bp that contained a 333 bp open reading frame encoding 157 amino acid proteins with 23 amino acids of signal peptide. BLAST results showed that trGNA has 89-97% similarity with previously reported GNA sequences while it has 84-96% similarity with earlier reported GNA protein sequences. No intron was detected within the region of genomic sequence corresponding to trGNA full-length cDNA. According to the search results from the NCBI (National Centrer for Biotechnology Information database), trGNA from Galanthus nivalis is most similar to the previously reported lectin sequences of Narcissus tazetta with a similarity percentage of 87%. The obtained results are useful for engineering of plants with enhanced insecticidal activity against chewing and sucking insects, causing crop pests. In addition, medical application of lectins may also be considered.Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) - BIDEB [2215]The authors are grateful to The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) - BIDEB for granting PhD. fellowship (2215) to Mr. S.D. Khabbazi