Effects of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on yield,growth and nutrient contents in organically growing raspberry

During 2003 and 2005, plant growth promoting effects of two Bacillus strains OSU-142 (N2-fixing) and M3 (N2-fixing and phosphate solubilizing) were tested alone or in combinations on organically grown primocane fruiting raspberry (cv. Heritage) plants in terms of yield, growth, nutrient composition of leaves and variation of soil nutrient element composition in the province of Erzurum, Turkey. The results showed that Bacillus M3 treatment stimulated plant growth and resulted in significant yield increase. Inoculation of raspberry plant roots and rhizosphere with M3 and/or OSU-142 + M3, significantly increased yield (33.9% and 74.9%), cane length (13.6% and 15.0%), number of cluster per cane (25.4% and 28.7%) and number of berries per cane (25.1% and 36.0%) compared with the control, respectively. In addition, N, P and Ca contents of raspberry leaves with OSU-142 + M3 treatment, and Fe and Mn contents of the leaves of raspberry with M3 and OSU-142 + M3 applications significantly improved under organic growing conditions. Bacterial applications also significantly effected soil total N, available P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Mn, Zn contents and pH. Available P contents in soil was determined to be increased from 1.55 kg P2O5/da at the beginning of the study to 2.83 kg P2O5/da by OSU-142, to 5.36 kg P2O5/da by M3 and to 4.71 kg P2O5/da by OSU-142 + M3 treatments. The results of this study suggest that Bacillus M3 alone or in combination with Bacillus OSU-142 have the potential to increase the yield, growth and nutrition of raspberry plant under organic growing conditions

Some Pomological Properties of Promising Seed Propagated Walnut Genotypes from Inner Turkey

In this study, fruits from seed propagated walnut (Juglans regia L.) trees were collected two consecutive years in harvest seasons in Yozgat province in Turkey.  Considering two years results, promising five genotypes were determined as cultivar candidate. In the promising genotypes, nut weight ranged from 12.55 (Y11) to 15.08 g (Y15), kernel weight ranged from 5.23 (Y11) to 7.34 g (Y15) and kernel ratio varied between 41.67 (Y11) to 50.84% (Y1), respectively. Linoleic acid was the only polyunsaturated fatty acids and oleic, palmitoleic and gondoic acids determined as major monounsaturated acids ranged from 30.36 to 48.43%, 0.05 to 0.14% and 0.22 to 0.29%, respectively. Propylparaben was the major phenolic acid among the determined phenolic acids in fruits of all five promising genotypes and Y16 had the highest amount of propylparaben (128.08 mg per kg) in its kernel. Malic and tartaric acid were the major organic acids in walnut kernels ranged from 47.88 to 78.51 mg per 100 g and 30.27 to 49.60 mg per 100 g, respectively. L-ascorbic acid was the another organic acids in walnut kernels ranged from 10.71 to 19.71 mg per 100 g. Citric acid was non-determined in kernels of Y1, Y14 and Y15 but determined at kernels of Y11 and Y16 as 4.51 and 7.55 mg per 100 g, respectively. It was determined that the oxalic, malonic, succinic, maleic and fumaric acid contents varied between 8.39-12.08 mg per 100 g, 6.02-9.19 mg per 100 g, 2.86-5.32 mg per 100 g, 0.26-3.00 mg per 100 g and 0.26-0.58 mg per 100 g, respectively

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

Effects of dormancy-breaking treatments on seed germination and seedling growth of Pistacia khinjuk Stocks using as rootstock for pistachio trees

This study was carried out to determine the effects of different dormancy-breaking treatments including stratification, sulphuric acid scarification, dehulling (removing the mesocarp and exocarp from the nut) and gibberellic acid (GA3) on seed germination and seedling development of two different Pistacia khinjuk genotypes (A and B) using as rootstock for pistachio cultivars. Seed dormancy-breaking treatments were shelled (control), shelled + GA3, dehulled, dehulled + GA3, sulphuric acid scarification and sulphuric acid scarification + GA3 applications in the present experiment. The seeds of both genotypes were stratified at 4 ºC for 50 days after the dormancy-breaking treatments. Stratified seeds were sown in the vials filled with peat in the greenhouse to determine the germination percentage. Plantlets were transplanted to plastic containers to determine the vegetative growth. The highest germination rate was obtained from sulphuric acid scarification in both P. khinjuk genotypes. In P. khinjuk-A seedlings, the highest stem growth was obtained from scarification and dehulled applications, whereas the poorest development was observed from dehulled + GA3 application. The best growth in the P. khinjuk-B seedlings was obtained from scarification + GA3 application. The effect of the dehulled application on the root development of P. khinjuk-A seedlings was better than the other applications; however the effect of dormancy-breaking applications on root development of P. khinjuk-B seedlings was found to unsteady. Scarification increased the number of leaves in both genotypes. As a result, dormancy-breaking applications have been found to be effective on seed germination and seedling growth of P. khinjuk. It was determined that GA3 applications negatively affected both seed germination and root, stem and leaf growth of P. khinjuk-A

Effects of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) on yield, growth and nutrient contents of organically grown strawberry

The effects of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) on the fruit yield, growth and nutrient element content of strawberry cv. Fern were investigated under organic growing conditions between 2006 and 2008. The experimental plot was a completely randomized design with 3 replicates. Three PGPB strains (Pseudomonas BA-8, Bacillus OSU-142 and Bacillus M-3) were used alone or in combination as biofertilizer agent in the experiment. Data through 3 years showed that the use of PGPB significantly increased fruit yield, plant growth and leaf P and Zn contents. Root inoculation of M3 and floral and foliar spraying of OSU-142 and BA-8 bacteria stimulated plant growth resulting in significant yield increases. M3 + BA-8, BA-8 + OSU-142, M3, M3 + OSU-142 and BA-8 applications increased cumulative yield by 33.2%, 18.4%, 18.2%, 15.3% and 10.5%, respectively. Number of fruits per plant significantly increased by the applications of M3 + BA-8 (91.73) and M3 (81.58) compared with the control (68.66). In addition, P and Zn contents of strawberry leaves with bacterial inoculation significantly increased under organic growing conditions. Available P contents in soil were increased from 0.35 kg P2O5/da at the beginning of the study to 2.00, 1.97 and 1.82 kg P2O5/da by M3 + OSU-142, M3 + BA-8 and M3 + BA-8 + OSU-142 applications, respectively. Overall, the results of this study suggest that root inoculation of Bacillus M3 alone or in combination with spraying Bacillus OSU-142 or Pseudomonas BA-8 have the potential to increase the yield, growth and nutrition content of strawberry plant under organic growing conditions

Physical and chemical grain properties of new registered common bean cv. ‘Kantar-05’

Moisture-dependent physical grain properties of a new registered common bean cultivar ‘Kantar-05’ were determined. Some important chemical parameters of the grain were also investigated. The average length, width and thickness of the grain were 12.48, 7.92 and 5.00 mm at 7.82% db (dry basis) moisture content. The values of bulk density and true density of the grains decreased from 793.37 to 683.62 kg/m3 (P<0.01) and from 1269.37 to 1206.55 kg/m3 (P<0.05) with increasing moisture content. The coefficients of dynamic friction increased from 0.180 to 0.316, 0.173 to 0.276, and 0.226 to 0.331 on steel, plywood and wood friction surface, respectively with increasing moisture content. The force of rupture decreased from 121.88 to 68.93 N with increase in moisture content. Phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sodium and magnesium contents were 5020 ppm, 5576 ppm, 3562 ppm, 780 ppm and 372 ppm, respectively wb% (wet basis) at the initial moisture content. The antioxidant activity and phenolic content of the grains were found to be 56.62 % and 24.82 μg GAE/mg db., respectively at the initial moisture content

Response of Yield, Growth and Iron Deficiency Chlorosis of 'Santa Maria' Pear Trees on Four Rootstocks

This study was conducted on the 'Santa Maria' pear (Pyrus communis L.) budded on various rootstocks [pear seedling (Pyrus communis L.) and quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) (BA 29, QA and QC) rootstocks] under calcareous soil and semi-arid conditions during 2004-2012. The results showed that the highest cumulative yield per ha (53.1 t ha-1), fruit weight (304.1 g), fruit volume (337.2 cm³), fruit flesh firmness (22.3 lb.) and titratable acidity (0.21%) was obtained from trees on BA 29 rootstock. The highest SSC (15.8 %), cumulative yield per tree (78.08 kg tree-1), TCSA (79.03 cm²) and the lowest titratable acidity (0.18 %) were obtained from pear seedling. The most vigorous trees were grown on pear seedling, followed by 'BA 29', 'QA' and 'QC' rootstocks. The 'Santa Maria' pear variety's leaf chlorophyll content on all rootstocks fell during the study period up to 60 DAFB compared with 30 DAFB. It was found that leaf chlorophyll and Fe contents were higher in trees on pear seedling and BA 29 rootstocks and lower in those on 'QA'

Prediction of Physical Parameters of Pumpkin Seeds Using Neural Network

The design of the machines and equipment used in harvest and post-harvest processing should be compatible with the physical, mechanical and rheological characteristics of the fruits and vegetables. In machine design for agricultural products, several characteristics of relevant products and seeds should be known ahead. Designers can either measure all these design parameters one by one, or they may use intelligent systems to estimate such parameters. Neural networks (NNs) are new computational tools that provide a quick and accurate means of physical properties prediction of agricultural materials, and have been shown to perform well in comparison with traditional methods. In this research, some physical properties of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seeds, including linear dimensions, volume, surface and projected area, geometric mean diameter and sphericity were calculated tridimensional in lab conditions. Then, prediction of these parameters was carried out using NNs. The research was divided into two parts; experimental investigation and simulation analysis with NNs. Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) and Radial Basis Neural Network (RBNN) structures were employed to estimate physical parameters of the pumpkin seeds. The Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) was 0.6875 for BPNN and 0.0025 for RBNN structures. The RBNN structure was superior in prediction and could be used as an alternative approach to conventional methods

Molecular characterization of mulberry genotypes and species in Turkey

Mulberries are one of the most important traditional fruit in Turkey and either consumed fresh or processed into several traditional products. Mulberry trees (genotypes) belong to Morus alba L., Morus nigra L., and Morus rubra L. shows high phenotypic diversity. In this study, 26 genotypes of Morus nigra, 21 genotypes of Morus rubra and 26 genotypes and landraces of Morus alba sampled from different parts of eastern Anatolia region in Turkey were fingerprinted using 16 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. Among SSR markers, the number of alleles per locus ranged from 2 (SS01, SS05) to 11 (MulSTR3) with an average of 5.19. A total of 83 alleles were obtained for the 16 SSR markers. The polymorphic information content ranged from 0.43 to 0.84 with an average of 0.61 per locus. In this study, MulSTR3, MulSTR5, MulSTR6, SS04 and SS20 were found to be the most useful SSR markers to detect genetic differences between mulberry species, genotypes and landraces. Genetic similarity ratio ranged from 0.24 to 0.94 with a mean similarity value of 0.41 indicating a high level of polymorphism among the mulberry species, genotypes and landraces. Clustering based on Jaccard's similarity coefficient and an unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) revealed 3 main clusters that corresponded with species. The results of the present study indicate that white mulberry landraces and genotypes were more diverse than the red and black mulberry genotypes. Therefore, white mulberry genotypes can be a good source for the mulberry-breeding programme due to its better genetic diversity as well as its high economical and yield properties

Bioactive Content of Rose Hips of Different Wildly Grown Rosa dumalis Genotypes

A rose hip is the fruit of a rose plant and mostly belongs to Rosa canina and Rosa dumalis. These species are genuine found as wild in natural conditions, while in some countries are cultivated for their hips that are picked and used in a wide variety of preparations. Because they contain a variety of antioxidants, carotenoids, flavonoids, polyphenols, leucoanthocyanins and catechins, rose hips are considered to be a good cancer preventative. The Rosa genus has been the focus of many recent studies due to its potential benefic effects on treatment and prevention of several diseases. However, there are few in vitro studies concerning its composition and antioxidant capacity. The aim of the present study was to determine bioactive content, including ascorbic acid, total phenolics, total flavonoids, total carotenoids and antioxidant activity of Rosa dumalis genotypes growing wild in Erzurum province located eastern Anatolia. The results revealed that fruits of Rosa dumalis different genotypes were rich rich in terms of vitamin C, which ranged from 402 to 511 mg/100 g fresh weight base. The total phenolic content varied from 297 to 403 mg/100 g fresh weight. The genotype 'E-09' had the highest total flavonoids content (229 mg quercetin equivalent/100 g fresh weight) and the lowest value was attributed to genotype 'E-04' with 143 mg/ quercetin equivalent/100 g fresh weight. The antioxidant activity of the genotypes was between 12.9-28.6 μg Trolox/ml samples. The results revealed that there was enough diversity among Rosa dumalis genotypes for bioactive content and promising genotypes, with high bioactive content, were determined, which can become study material for future breeding activities