Diversity pattern among agromorphological traits of the Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris L. subsp vulgaris) genetic resources of Turkey

WOS: 000386907000004Swiss chard (Beta vulgaris L. subsp. vulgaris) is a nutritionally rich leafy vegetable of moderate economic value. Despite being the first species among the genus Beta to be cultivated, knowledge regarding its biodiversity and agronomic and morphological properties is limited. The objective of this study was to evaluate the agromorphological characteristics of the Turkish Swiss chard genetic resources, and to determine their genetic relationships and diversity. To achieve this, a total of 52 Swiss chard accessions from a wide range of environmental and geographical origins in Turkey and two cultivars (one local and one foreign) were investigated. Fourteen qualitative and 13 quantitative agromorphological traits of these accessions were analyzed over the two consecutive growing seasons. Principal component analyses (PCA) explained 77.26% of the total variations for the agromorphological traits, while the hierarchical agglomerative clustering methods separated the accessions into four clusters and leaf weight, petiole width, petiole thickness, lamina length, and lamina width were the primary characteristics to distinguish the Swiss chard accessions. An extremely high degree of agromorphological diversity was observed in the Turkish Swiss chard genetic resources, and promising germplasm was identified to improve the cultivars for yield and leaf traits.Ege University Scientific Research FundEge University [2008-ZRF-002]The authors thank the Aegean Agricultural Research Institute Gene Bank, Izmir, Turkey, for providing the seeds samples. Part of this work was supported through funds from the Ege University Scientific Research Fund under grant number 2008-ZRF-002

GENETIC VARIABILITY AND ASSOCIATION PATTERN AMONG QUANTITATIVE NUTRITIONAL TRAITS IN SWISS CHARD (Beta vulgaris subsp L. var. cicla) ACCESSIONS AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR BREEDING

WOS: 000342659500016In addition to improving agronomic traits, enriched cultivar such as nutritional elements and health promoting compounds are new demands for today's and the future's perspectives of crop breeding. In this respect, among leafy vegetables Swiss chard is a good source of nutritional elements and supplies large amounts of health promoting compounds. The existing knowledge of genetic variability for mineral composition both at the phenotype and genotype level, heritability of characters and also relationships among investigated minerals is fundamental for variety selection in Swiss chard. This also applies for the assurance of desirable agronomic traits with optimum mineral concentrations. This research analysis of variance indicated highly significant differences among Swiss chard accessions for all investigated mineral concentrations and the accessions display higher phenotype coefficient variation than genotype coefficient variation for all traits. The results revealed that phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, nitrate and nitrite exhibited high genetic advance accompanied with high heritability (>60%). The remaining mineral content demonstrated high heritability with moderate genetic advance. Genotype correlations were higher than the phenotype correlation for significant mineral concentrations. Genotype and phenotype correlations followed similar trends in all significant cases indicating the high heritable nature of the characters and the results showed that Swiss chard accessions should allow for the selection of individuals for enriched mineral concentration in edible parts of the plant.Ege University Research FoundationEge University [2005-TTUM-002]Part of this work was supported through funds from the Ege University Research Foundation under grant number 2005-TTUM-002

Diversity and genetic analysis through DArTseq in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) germplasm from Turkey

WOS: 000414902800008The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most consumed food legume in the world and is a major source of dietary protein, carbohydrates, and valuable micronutrients, especially in developing countries. Diversity Arrays Technology (DArTseq), based on genome reduction with restriction enzymes, provides a rapid, high-throughput, and cost-effective tool capable of generating thousands of genotyped single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for a genome-wide analysis of genetic diversity. In this study, we aimed to characterize common bean accessions using SNPs detected by a DArTseq approach. A total of 43,018 SNPs were identified from 173 common bean accessions, including Andean and Mesoamerican genotypes. After filtering raw and redundant data, a total of 16,366 SNPs were considered for further analyses. According to population structure analysis, the genotypes were roughly divided into 2 gene pools of Andean and Mesoamerican types. Pairwise fixation index (Fst) values were calculated to resolve the differentiation between populations. This study demonstrated that discovering SNPs from the whole genome is a potential resource for identifying naturally diverse accessions and also the information could be used in breeding programs to develop new common bean varieties.Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [TUBITAK-114O555]The study was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) with Project No. TUBITAK-114O555. We would like to thank Paul Gepts from the University of California-Davis (USA) for kindly sharing his control group of common bean accessions (Mesoamerican and Andean gene pools)

Effects of tomato-based rotations with diversified pre-planting on soil health in the Mediterranean soils of Western Turkey

Kayikcioglu, Huseyin Husnu/0000-0003-0895-221XWOS: 000536749000002Turkey ranks fourth among the tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum L.) producers in the world and the tomato varieties extend to 40 % of the total vegetable yield of the country. Farmers have continued to cultivate tomato due to the economic potential of this crop in the main vegetable growing regions of Turkey. Intensive agriculture without employing crop rotations and the inclusion of the excessive and the same type of chemical fertilizers continuously regardless of the soil properties reduces the productive capacity of the soil and adversely affects its ecosystem functions. A three-year (2016-18) diversified cropping system combined with field experiments and employing reduced tillage was conducted in Izmir, a semiarid region in Western Turkey, adopting the randomized complete block design with three replications. Six different tomato-based rotations with diversified preplanting comprising two, three and four different plant species [CR1 (tomato / corn / mustard); CR2 (tomato / bean / mustard); CR3 (tomato/corn/wheat/mustard); CR4 (tomato / bean / wheat / mustard); CR5 (tomato / corn / fallow); CR6 (tomato / bean / fallow)] were employed to evaluate the impact on the parameters of soil health such as basal soil respiration, nitrogen mineralization, and the activities of the enzymes dehydrogenase and beta-glucosidase. in the tomato phases, soil samples were drawn on the 16th day after planting of the seedlings at 0-20 cm depth in April 2016 and April 2018. the multivariate analysis of variance revealed that different crop rotations (Treatment: CRs), and their interaction (TreatmentxYear) on the soil microbial characteristics were significantly different in terms of the dependent variables (P < 0.01). on analysis, the microbial parameters in the experimental soils soared by 36 % with the CR2, followed by a 29 % increase with the CR6 compared to the initial levels in both treatments. the average results at the completion of the experiment revealed that design CR4, which included legumes and experienced the greatest variety of plants in the rotation, encouraged 18-30 % more microbial activity than did the other treatments. Our results suggest that two diverse cropping systems CR4 and CR2 managed with reduced tillage could benefit soil health by improving soil respiration, N-mineralization, and the actions of the dehydrogenase and beta-glucosidase enzymes. As both the fertilizer and irrigation inputs in CR4 were lower than in the other rotations, it could be recommended as a sustainable ecological and feasible crop rotation model for processing the tomato production under the Mediterranean climatic conditions.project "The effect of brown mustard; Ege University Scientific Research Projects Coordination UnitEge University [16-ZRF-005]This work was performed as a part of the project "The effect of brown mustard (Brassica juncea L.) produced by pre-plant on yield, quality and some soil properties in processing tomato production" which was supported by Ege University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit (Project Number: 16-ZRF-005). the authors wish to sincerely thank Alec Rylands and Elif Stephens (DVM, PhD, BVSc) for thorough English language checking and editing in minute details. the authors would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their expertise and perspectives that helped improve the quality of the final manuscript

Molecular cytogenetic characterization of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) accessions

WOS:000599463300007With an annual global production of approximately 25 million tons, the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L), a member of the genus Phaseolus, is one of the major protein sources used as food for humans. in this study, it was aimed to investigate the genome size of the common bean genetic resource collection (154 common bean accessions) in Turkey by flow cytometry (FCM) and determine whether geographical variables affected the genome size. in addition, the number and distribution of 5S and 45S ribosomal DNA loci were designated by performing a fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis in some of the accessions. The FCM analyses revealed that the mean nuclear DNA content of the accessions varied from 1.28 pg2C-1 to 1.55 pg2G1 (mean 1.35 pg2C-1), and the differences between these accessions were statistically significant (P < 0.01). Intraspecific variation in the genome size was determined, and a positive correlation was found between the altitude and genome size. However, latitude and longitude did not have any statistically significant effect on the genome size. in the principal coordinate analysis, the accessions were divided into 3groups. Based on the results of the FISH analysis performed on 5 different accessions with varying genome sizes, using 5S and 45S rDNA genes as probes, the number of 5S rDNA loci was 4 in the common bean and stable among the common bean accessions, while the number of 45S rDNA loci was highly polymorphic, varying between 6 and 16. Consequently, it was determined in the present study that the genetic resource collection of common bean had a wide variation in terms of genome size and genome organization.Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [116O057]We would like to thank the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) for providing financial support for this study under project no. 116O057