The Effects of Different Irrigation Levels and Nitrogen Doses on Growth, Quality and Physiological Parameters of Warm-season Turfgrasses

This research was conducted to determine to effects of different irrigation levels and nitrogen doses (ND) on the various warm-season turfgrasses at the Agricultural Training and Research Centre of the Bursa Uludag University Faculty of Agriculture for two years in a row. The experimental design was the randomized blocks in a split-split plot design with three replications. The main plot was irrigation levels (I1=25%, I2=50%, I3=75%, and I4=100% of pan evaporation), subplots were turfgrass species [hybrid Bermudagrass (Cynodon transvaalensis x Cynodon dactylon) cv. Tifdwarf, seashore paspalum (Paspalum vaginatum Sw.) cv. Seaspray, zoysiagrass (Zoysia japonica Steud.) cv. Zenit], and sub subplots were ND’s (monthly 0.0, 1.25, 2.5, and 5.0 g N m-²). Visual turfgrass color and quality, clipping yield, leaf relative water content (RWC), loss of turgidity (LT), chlorophyll content (CC), and electrolyte leakage were measured. According to the results, significant differences were determined among irrigation levels, turfgrass species, and ND’s for color, quality, clipping yield and physiological parameters. Turfgrass visual color, quality and clippingyield were shown to decrease significantly with decreases in irrigation water and N fertilizer. The study findings demonstrated that under a non-limiting water supply, irrigation could be decreased by adjusting N fertilizer rates with I3N3 treatments can maintain acceptable turfgrass visual color and quality under Mediterranean climatic conditions. In addition, at 25% (I1) deficit irrigationlevel, leaf RWC, CC decreased significantly, while an increase was determined in LT. This research indicated that under 75% (I3) deficit irrigation and N3 ND, acceptable quality can be maintained with ‘seaspray’ seashore paspalum under Mediterranean climate performed

Development and validation of new SSR markers from expressed regions in the garlic genome

Only a limited number of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers is available for the genome of garlic (Allium sativum L.) despite the fact that SSR markers have become one of the most preferred DNA marker systems. To develop new SSR markers for the garlic genome, garlic expressed sequence tags (ESTs) at the publicly available GarlicEST database were screened for SSR motifs and a total of 132 SSR motifs were identified. Primer pairs were designed for 50 SSR motifs and 24 of these primer pairs were selected as SSR markers based on their consistent amplification patterns and polymorphisms. In addition, two SSR markers were developed from the sequences of garlic cDNA-AFLP fragments. The use of 26 EST-SSR markers for the assessment of genetic relationship was tested using 31 garlic genotypes. Twenty six EST-SSR markers amplified 130 polymorphic DNA fragments and the number of polymorphic alleles per SSR marker ranged from 2 to 13 with an average of 5 alleles. Observed heterozygosity and polymorphism information content (PIC) of the SSR markers were between 0.23 and 0.88, and 0.20 and 0.87, respectively. Twenty one out of the 31 garlic genotypes were analyzed in a previous study using AFLP markers and the garlic genotypes clustered together with AFLP markers were also grouped together with EST-SSR markers demonstrating high concordance between AFLP and EST-SSR marker systems and possible immediate application of EST-SSR markers for fingerprinting of garlic clones. EST-SSR markers could be used in genetic studies such as genetic mapping, association mapping, genetic diversity and comparison of the genomes of Allium species

Physiologic and molecular characterization of the Olive cv. Gemlik under low temperature conditions

Zeytin bitkisinde (Olea europaea L.) düşük sıcaklıklara dayanım mekanizmasının incelenmesini hedefleyen bu araştırmada, ''Gemlik'' zeytin çeşidi'ne ait bir yıllık sürgünlerde iki yıl süresince aylık periyotlar halinde yapay düşük sıcaklık testleri (4ºC, -5ºC, -10ºC ve -20ºC) uygulanmıştır. Düşük sıcaklık uygulamalarını takiben iyon sızıntısı yöntemi ile yaprak ve kabuk dokularının hücre membranının zararlanma seviyesi belirlenerek her iki dokunun mevsimlere göre düşük sıcaklık toleransları (LT50) tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca mevsimlere ve düşük sıcaklıklara göre yaprak ve kabuk dokularında oluşan fizyolojik ve moleküler biyolojik değişimlerin belirlenebilmesi amacıyla karbonhidrat metabolizmasıyla ilgili olarak toplam çözünebilir şeker (TÇŞ), glukoz (Gİ) ve sukroz (Sİ) içerikleri; antioksidatif savunma mekanizması ile ilgili katalaz (CAT) ve askorbat peroksidaz (APRX) enzim aktiviteleri saptanmıştır. Öte yandan, zeytinde soğuğa dayanıklılıkta protein metabolizmasının açıklanması ve bu konuda kullanılabilecek bir protein belirtecinin araştırılması amacıyla tüm uygulamalarda toplam çözünebilir protein (TÇP) değişimleri ölçülerek SDS-PAGE tekniği ile TÇP profilleri çıkarılmış, ardından yaprak ve kabuk dokularında western-blot tekniği ile Temmuz ve Ocak ayı örneklerinde dehidrin grubu proteinlerin düzey değişimleri belirlenmiştir.Buna göre, yaprak ve kabuk dokuları tüm aylar itibariyle 4ºC ve -5ºC uygulamalarında düşük oranda zararlanma göstermiştir. Ancak, mevsimlere bağlı olarak -10ºC'den itibaren %50 zararlanma oranın üzerinde değerler tespit edilmiştir. Aylar itibariyle, -10ºC ve -20ºC uygulamalarında yaprak ve kabuk dokularında en düşük zararlanma oranları kış aylarında; en yüksek zararlanma oranları ise, yaz aylarında belirlenmiştir. LT50 değerleri de benzer olarak, hava sıcaklıklarının düşmeye başladığı sonbaharda artış göstererek kış ortasında en yüksek noktaya ulaşmış, takiben hava sıcaklıklarının tekrar yükselmeye başladığı bahar aylarından itibaren dereceli olarak azalarak yaz ortasında en düşük seviyeye ulaşmıştır.Genel olarak zeytinde sonbahar ve kış adaptasyonu sırasında yaprak ve kabuk dokularında TÇŞ, Gİ ve Sİ artış göstermiştir. Düşük sıcaklık uygulamalarına göre ise, genel olarak, her iki dokuda da -10ºC ve -20ºC uygulamalarında TÇŞ, Gİ ve Sİ artmıştır. Bununla birlikte, gerek mevsimsel olarak, gerekse düşük sıcaklık uygulamalarına göre en keskin artış ve azalışlar Sİ'inde gerçekleşmiştir. LT50'nin en düşük olduğu yaz aylarında Sİ'nin çok düşük düzeylerde oluşu ve LT50'nin en yüksek olduğu kış aylarında ise Sİ'inde yüksek oluşu zeytinde dona dayanımda sukrozun önemini ortaya çıkarmıştır.Çalışmada genel olarak, CAT ve APRX enzim aktivitelerinin, sonbahar ve kış aylarında yaz aylarına göre daha yüksek seviyelerde olduğu belirlenmiştir. Öte yandan, araştırmada LT50'nin artmaya başladığı sonbahar aylarında CAT ve APRX enzim aktiviteleri artış gösterirken, LT50'nin en yüksek olduğu kış aylarında sonbahara göre aktivitede bir miktar azalış gerçekleşmiştir. Bununla birlikte, CAT aktivitesi düşük sıcaklık uygulamaları ile beraber azalmış, oysa APRX aktivitesi -5ºC uygulamasına kadar değişmememiş, -10ºC'den itibaren ise, aylara bağlı olarak düşüş göstermiştir. Buna göre, zeytinde APRX'in CAT enzimine göre soğuğa dayanımda daha etkili olabileceği düşünülmüştür.Deneme süresince TÇP sonbahar sonu kış mevsiminde LT50'nin artışına paralel şekilde artış göstermiştir. Öte yandan, bahar aylarında özellikle Mart ayında hem yaprak hem de kabuk dokularında TÇP içeriği hızla düşmüştür. TÇP içeriği açısından her iki dokuda da uygulama sıcaklıkları düştükçe aylar arasındaki farklılık daha belirgin hale gelmiştir. Özellikle -10°C'den itibaren yaz aylarındaki TÇP içeriği çok azalırken, kış aylarında protein birikiminin çok daha fazla olduğu gözlenmiştir.Bununla birlikte, çalışmanın diğer bir amacını oluşturan düşük sıcaklıklarda değişen protein belirteçlerinin araştırılması esnasında immunoblot çalışmaları sonucunda yapraklarda 43 ve 16 kDa, kabuklarda ise 43, 30, 23 ve 16 kDa dehidrin proteinlerinin düşük sıcaklıklara dayanımla ilişkili olduğu belirlenmiştir.Sonuç olarak, zeytin bitkisinin günlük hava sıcaklıklarının kademeli olarak azalması ile birlikte karbonhidrat, protein ve antioksidant enzim metabolizmalarını içeren kompleks mekanizmalar sayesinde hücre membran dayanıklılığını arttırarak düşük sıcaklıklara önemli derecede dayanım kazandığı belirlenmiştir.In this study, one-year shoots of the olive (Olea europaea L.) plant cv. Gemlik were subjected to artificial low temperature tests (4ºC, -5ºC, -10ºC ve -20ºC) for two years with monthly periods. Low temperature tolerances (LT50) of leaf and bark tissues were determined by measuring the level of cell membrane injury using ion leakage method following low temperature. In order to determine physiologic and molecular biologic changes in leaf and bark tissues due to seasons and low temperature treatments, levels of carbohydrate metabolism elements such as total soluble sugar (TSS), glucose content (GC) and sucrose content (SC); and enzyme activities of antioxidative defence mechanisms such as catalase (CAT) and ascorbate peroxidase (APRX) were measured. In addition, to investigate protein metabolism and identify a protein marker in cold hardiness of olive, total soluble protein (TSP) profiles of all tissues were determined using SDS-PAGE method and levels of dehydrin proteins were analyzed in leaf and bark tissues from January and July using Western Blot method.Leaf and bark tissues subjected to 4ºC and -5ºC treatments in all months were injured to a limited extent. However, more than 50% injury was determined by equal to or colder than -10ºC treatments depending on the season. Following -10ºC and -20ºC treatments, the lowest and the highest injury in leaf and bark tissues were detected in winter and in summer, respectively. Similarly, LT50 values started increasing with decreasing temperatures during fall and peaked in the middle of winter while they started decreasing gradually with increasing temperatures during spring and were the lowest in mid summer.TSS, GC and SC increased in leaf and bark tissues of olive during adaptation to fall and winter. TSS, GC and SC generally increased in both tissues after -10ºC and -20ºC treatments. In addition, the sharpest increases and decreases were observed in SC both seasonally and with low temperature treatments. Evidence that SC is involved in cold hardiness of olive comes from the data demonstrating low SC during summer when LT50 is similarly low and high SC during winter when LT50 is similarly high.That CAT and APRX enzyme activities are generally higher during fall and winter compared with those in summer was determined in this study. On the other hand, CAT and APRX enzyme activities started increasing during fall along with increasing LT50 While CAT and APRX enzyme activities decreased to some extent during winter when LT50 peaked. In addition, while CAT activity decreased with low temperature treatments, APRX activity did not change until -5ºC treatment but decreased with decreasing temperatures starting from -10ºC depending on the month the tissue was obtained. Thus, APRX may be more effective in cold hardiness of olive compared with CAT.TSP increased during fall and winter in parallel with increases in LT50. On the other hand, TSP decreased both in leaf and bark tissues during spring, particularly in March. Differences between months in terms of TSP became more significant with decreasing treatment temperatures in both tissues. TSP in tissues obtained during summer was very low starting at -10°C treatment temperature, while TSP was much higher in tissues collected during winter.Additionally, immunoblot studies for investigating protein markers for cold acclimation revealed that dehydrin proteins of 43 and 16 kDa in leaves and 43, 30, 23, and 16 kDa in barks were associated with cold hardiness of olive.In conclusion, it was determined that olive plant shows considerable tolerance against low temperatures that are achieved after daily gradual decreases by increasing cell membrane stability through complicated mechanisms including carbohydrate, protein and antioxidative enzyme metabolisms

Development and validation of new SSR markers from expressed regions in the garlic genome

Only a limited number of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers is available for the genome of garlic (Allium sativum L.) despite the fact that SSR markers have become one of the most preferred DNA marker systems. To develop new SSR markers for the garlic genome, garlic expressed sequence tags (ESTs) at the publicly available GarlicEST database were screened for SSR motifs and a total of 132 SSR motifs were identified. Primer pairs were designed for 50 SSR motifs and 24 of these primer pairs were selected as SSR markers based on their consistent amplification patterns and polymorphisms. In addition, two SSR markers were developed from the sequences of garlic cDNA-AFLP fragments. The use of 26 EST-SSR markers for the assessment of genetic relationship was tested using 31 garlic genotypes. Twenty six EST-SSR markers amplified 130 polymorphic DNA fragments and the number of polymorphic alleles per SSR marker ranged from 2 to 13 with an average of 5 alleles. Observed heterozygosity and polymorphism information content (PIC) of the SSR markers were between 0.23 and 0.88, and 0.20 and 0.87, respectively. Twenty one out of the 31 garlic genotypes were analyzed in a previous study using AFLP markers and the garlic genotypes clustered together with AFLP markers were also grouped together with EST-SSR markers demonstrating high concordance between AFLP and EST-SSR marker systems and possible immediate application of EST-SSR markers for fingerprinting of garlic clones. EST-SSR markers could be used in genetic studies such as genetic mapping, association mapping, genetic diversity and comparison of the genomes of Allium species

Development and validation of new SSR markers from expressed regions in the garlic genome

Only a limited number of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers is available for the genome of garlic (Allium sativum L.) despite the fact that SSR markers have become one of the most preferred DNA marker systems. To develop new SSR markers for the garlic genome, garlic expressed sequence tags (ESTs) at the publicly available GarlicEST database were screened for SSR motifs and a total of 132 SSR motifs were identified. Primer pairs were designed for 50 SSR motifs and 24 of these primer pairs were selected as SSR markers based on their consistent amplification patterns and polymorphisms. In addition, two SSR markers were developed from the sequences of garlic cDNA-AFLP fragments. The use of 26 EST-SSR markers for the assessment of genetic relationship was tested using 31 garlic genotypes. Twenty six EST-SSR markers amplified 130 polymorphic DNA fragments and the number of polymorphic alleles per SSR marker ranged from 2 to 13 with an average of 5 alleles. Observed heterozygosity and polymorphism information content (PIC) of the SSR markers were between 0.23 and 0.88, and 0.20 and 0.87, respectively. Twenty one out of the 31 garlic genotypes were analyzed in a previous study using AFLP markers and the garlic genotypes clustered together with AFLP markers were also grouped together with EST-SSR markers demonstrating high concordance between AFLP and EST-SSR marker systems and possible immediate application of EST-SSR markers for fingerprinting of garlic clones. EST-SSR markers could be used in genetic studies such as genetic mapping, association mapping, genetic diversity and comparison of the genomes of Allium species