Local Cultivars Research Articles

Measurement of Projected Areas in Some Confectionery Sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.) Seeds by Image Processing Technique

This study aimed to demonstrate the practical and low-cost usability of image processing techniques in agricultural grain products by making a sample application in confectionery sunflower seeds. A desktop scanner and an open source software ImageJ were used. Local sunflower cultivars, which were obtained from Manisa, Denizli and Kayseri provinces, were used as a material. After the seeds were scanned with a scanner, their projected areas were calculated in 2D with ImageJ software. Afterward, the dimensions of the seeds were measured with a precision scale and caliper to compare with their projected areas. As a result of the statistical analysis, very high correlations could not be reached between the calculated projected areas and the other measured dimensions. Seed weight, seed length, seed width and hull weight were found to be highly or moderately correlated with the projected area values in all three seed types. Research findings show that the most important reason for not finding very high correlations was the use of local cultivars and the low level of seed purity.

Pathogenic function of the natural variation of CP in WYMV and CWMV

The soil-borne viral disease, caused by wheat yellow mosaic virus (WYMV) and Chinese wheat mosaic virus (CWMV), is one of the most destructive wheat diseases in China. Considering the large wheat growing area in China, the genetic diversity of WYMV and CWMV could be high in the country. However, studies on genetic diversity of WYMV and CWMV in China are limited, making it difficult to prevent and control viral diseases on wheat. During 2021–2022, the wheat leaves with typical yellow mosaic virus symptoms were randomly collected from wheat fields in seven provinces. Nine WYMV and one CWMV isolates were identified in the samples using small RNA sequencing and RACE technology. Sequence alignment showed that several amino acid substitutions were occurred in the coat protein (CP) from these isolates. Moreover, we replaced the CP of WYMV and CWMV infectious clones with CP of newly identified isolates and found that natural variation of CP is involved in the pathogenicity of WYMV. Moreover, the WYMV infectious clones containing CP of the WYMV isolates from Junan at Shandong Province or Yangzhou at Jiangsu Province have enhanced WYMV infection in several local wheat resistance cultivars. Taken together, our findings suggest that the distribution of WYMV and CWMV in wheat growing areas has expanded in these years and the natural variation of viral genome is involved in pathogenicity of WYMV. Our results also provide a theoretical basis to explain the real distribution of wheat viral resistance varieties in China.

Historical cultivars of Allium cepa L. (Aggregatum-Group) introduced to Sweden 1830–1860

This study presents the plant material of A. cepa L. Aggregatum-Group introduced and spread in Sweden between 1830 and 1860. The plant material exemplifies different principles regarding the denominations and shows the range of cultons available in the north of Europe by the time, but also examples of domestic local cultivars. It is essential to deepen the knowledge of the plant material and the name use connected to cultons spread in the nineteenth century. Historical records of old growing systems and propagation methods add valuable insights of the preservation values tied to the genetic diversity of the gene pool for future breeding. Differing practices and principles for distinguishing between potato onions, shallots and onions in European countries have sometimes made it difficult to understand historical records. The results of this study shows that shallot and potato onions, later mainly vegetatively propagated, were already in the nineteenth century occasionally propagated and spread by true seed in Europe. In addition, a Russian growing system with a true seed generation was found in literature. The article concludes that knowledge of older cultivation systems and introduction history deepens the link between the cultural-historical and the biological conservation values of plant material in long time preservation. Gene bank accessions may not only be valuable in breeding but also utilized and preserved as part of a biological or green heritage.

Breeding and Growth Performance of 'Ningzhi 4', a New Blackberry Cultivar with High Yield Potential and Good Quality in China.

The thornless blackberry cultivar 'Ningzhi 4' was developed by the Institute of Botany, Jiangsu Province and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nanjing Botanical Garden Mem. Sun Yat-Sen). The new blackberry cultivar was selected from the 'Kiowa' (female parent) and 'Hull Thornless' (male parent) F1 hybrid. 'Ningzhi 4' had excellent plant characteristics, including thornlessness, semi-erect to erect canes, vigorous growth and good disease resistance. 'Ningzhi 4' had large fruit and high yield. In addition, the parents of the superior hybrid plant were further identified by SSR markers, which provided the basis for the fingerprint of the new blackberry cultivar 'Ningzhi 4'. This is a commercial cultivar to be grown for fruit production for either shipping or local sales. It also has value as a home-garden plant. This unique type of blackberry fruit was a traditional summer fruit. This new cultivar has thornless semi-erect to erect canes and produces high-quality berries with large size, good firmness, excellent flavor, and potential for shipping and postharvest storage. The new blackberry cultivar 'Ningzhi 4' is adapted to all areas of southern China and is expected to replace or complement 'Kiowa', 'Hull Thornless', 'Chester Thornless' and 'Triple Crown'. A local cultivar patent has been approved by the Jiangsu Variety Approval Committee as 'Rubus spp. Ningzhi 4' in 2020 (S-SV-RS-014-2020). In the future, 'Ningzhi 4' could be promoted as an advantageous thornless blackberry cultivar in the main production regions of China.

Morpho-genetic characterization of diploid and tetraploid taro (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott) cv. Kaliurang - An Indonesian local cultivar

Kaliurang is one of the local taro cultivars in Indonesia, potentially due to its high productivity and delicacy. This study analysed morpho-genetic variation between one diploid and three tetraploid Kaliurang taro clones from <i>in vitro</i> polyploid induction after plantlet acclimatization in the greenhouse for 6 weeks. Plants’ morphological characters were analysed using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) method based on 50 characters according to the taro descriptor from the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI). Furthermore, a morphometric characterization based on the Euclidean distance of 17 digitations from mature leaves, was analysed with the Analysis Phylogenic and Evolution package in R software. DNA band pattern was also performed with ISSR to analyse the clone’s genetic variance. The results showed morpho-genetic character diversity in diploid and tetraploid plants. A plant morphological study revealed that 22 out of 50 characters were distinct, with similarity coefficients ranging from 0.35 to 0.78. Leaf geometric morphometric analysis showed changes in five digitations and formed three clusters. Twelve ISSR primers out of twenty amplified the sequence of the Kaliurang taro genome to yield two clusters with a similarity coefficient of 0.71–0.83. Based on these three characterization approaches, tetraploid clones (K2 and K3) consistently differed morphologically from diploid clones (K0).

&lt;i&gt;In vitro&lt;/i&gt; regeneration of grape

Considering the global and Russian experience in grape accessions preservation, one of the most reliable ways is the creation of a duplicate in vitro collection. However, in connection with the creation of duplicate grape collections and development of genome editing techniques, there is a need for selecting the most optimal medium composition that will ensure the maximum rate of callus formation and regeneration during the introduction of grape plants into in vitro culture. This will make it possible to obtain the necessary amount of material for further editing and subsequent regeneration of plants with knockout of target genes to improve economically valuable traits. For grapes, this is primarily an increase in resistance to powdery mildew caused by Uncinula necator Burill.The effect of active substances of biological and synthetic origin on the morphogenesis has been studied for many crops, including regenerant plants of the genus Vitis L. However, the genus Vitis is very diverse and heterogeneous in its genetic, physiological and morphological structure, as a result of which the recommended media and components for cultivation under in vitro conditions may not suit every cultivar. Local Russian grape cultivars are better suited to local growing conditions, so efforts should be focused on the development of techniques related to the preservation of local varieties in collections in vitro.Knowledge of genes controlling certain traits, as well as the availability of grape accessions whose genome has been sequenced, contribute to successful in silico analysis for creating editing constructs.

Antioxidant Capacity and Phenolics Profile of Portuguese Traditional Cultivars of Apples and Pears and Their By-Products: On the Way to Newer Applications.

Pears (Pyrus communis L.) and apples (Malus domestica Borkh.) are two of the most popular fruits worldwide. The phenolic compounds they offer are associated with human health benefits due to their antioxidant properties. Since these fruits' by-products are not yet fully exploited, it is important to characterize them, especially in terms of their antioxidant properties. The aim of this study was to determine the antioxidant properties of old traditional cultivars, six regional pear cultivars and five regional apple cultivars grown in the Alcobaça region (Portugal). Antioxidant capacity assays were used to evaluate the antioxidant properties. Generally, the antioxidant capacity, total phenolics content (TPC), and total flavonoids content (TFC) of fruit byproducts (both seeds and peels) were higher than the corresponding mesocarp, indicating their potential as sources of beneficial antioxidant compounds. Moreover, a UHPLC-ToF-MS method was optimized and validated in order to quantify 21 distinct phenolics in these fruit samples. The analytical method's suitability for quantifying phenolic compounds was demonstrated by an evaluation of linearity, limit of detection, limit of quantification, precision and accuracy. This method was used to determine the phenolic composition of samples of regional (local) cultivars. The phenolics in the fruit samples with the highest concentrations were phlorizin and chlorogenic acid. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to separate distinct fruit species while emphasizing their similarities and differences.

Rice genetic resources for organic agriculture under hill ecology: evaluation and usefulness

AbstractRice cultivation in hills is challenged by sub-optimum weather conditions, low soil fertility, low temperature and moisture stress which impedes in attaining high productivity. To address this, four studies were carried out at ICAR Sikkim Centre, Gangtok, India to evaluate relative performance of local organic cultivars and conventionally bred varieties under an organic farming system. Conventionally bred varieties yielded significantly higher (45%) than local cultivars under recommended timely sown conditions whereas local cultivars showed superiority in grain yield under late sown conditions coinciding with low temperature during flowering to grain filling. Genotypes did not show significant interaction when organic or conventional production conditions were compared. For grain yield, there was a significant variation for variety × year interaction under organic system. Local organic cultivars had reduced grain yield and associated traits under rainfed upland conditions. Panicles per unit area had a significant positive association with grain yield in all production environments (organic lowland, organic upland, conventional lowland and conventional upland). Overall, the study indicates using local cultivars as donors for specific stress tolerance traits in background of high yielding genotypes to enhance rice yields sustainably under organic system in hills.

Effect of Foliar Application of Jasmonic Acid and Ennne Fertilizer on Growth and Chemical Content of Local Cultivars and Blood Orange

To find out the impact of spraying with jasmonic acid at 0, 5, and 10 ml/litre-1 and adding a high nitrogen fertilizer (NPK) (30,10,10) at 0, 2.5, and 5 g/l-1 on the chemical content characteristics of two types of citrus fruits in the year 2021, the experiment was carried out in the wooden canopy of the College of Agriculture/University of Samarra (domestic and blood orange). When the plants were sprayed with (JA) 10 ml/L-1 + (NPK) fertilizer at 5 g/L-1, the percentage of nitrogen in the leaves and roots was much higher than the control, as was the percentage of total nitrogen in the plant. Leaf and root concentrations of phosphorus. In the leaves and roots, the amount of potassium. Carbohydrate content in leaves as a proportion of total weight.

Effect of Planting Dates on Grain Yield and Qualitative Characteristics of Different Genotypes of Coarse Wheat, Triticum durum Desf L.

A field experiment was carried out at the Warka extension farm affiliated to the Agricultural Extension Department in the Ministry of Agriculture (north of Muthanna) during the winter season 2022-2021 (15 km from the center) in order to know the effect of different planting dates on the qualitative characteristics and grain yield of several combinations of coarse wheat. The experiment was applied using the Split Plot Design method and using the complete sectors design (R.C.B.D) and with three replications. The four sowing dates (1/11, 10/11, 20/11 and 30/11) occupied the main plates, while the genotypes (G1133, G65 and G1105 and G1229 and the approved variety for comparison. bohoth-7) Secondary panels. Split Plots. The results showed that the first date D1 (1/11) outperformed the grain protein, specific weight and dry gluten, which averaged 14.100%, 79.83 kg/ha and 9.55%, respectively. While the second date D2 (10/11) outperformed the grain yield 4.54 tons/ha. In succession and the fourth date, D4 (30/11) was superior in wet gluten content, which amounted to 28.59%, while the local cultivar Buhouth-7 was superior in grain protein with an average of 13.633%, while the genotype G1229 was superior in specific weight and content of wet gluten and dry gluten, which averaged 80.83 kg/hectoliter, 28.80% and 9.600%.

Effect of the Growth Regulator Gibberellins and Nano Iron Spraying on the Content of Oils, Phenolic Compounds and Flavonoids in the Roots of Fennel Plant

A field experiment was carried out for the autumn season 2021 in Al-Watifia area - Al-Musauib project / Babylon province, with coordinates (longitude (44°22′ and 44°31′ east) and latitudes (32°32′ and 32°36′ north) and in a loamy soil to study gibberellin and spray Nano iron fertilizer in the roots of the local cultivar Foeniculum vulgare Mill. it used 4 levels of gibberellin growth regulator (0, 50, 100, 150 mgm L-1) with four levels of nano-iron (0, 25, 50, 75 mgm L-1). A factorial experiment was conducted by Randomized Completely Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates, and the averages of parameters compared with the LSD test of 5%. The results indicated that: The treatment of gibberellin growth regulator at a level of 100 mgm L-1 significantly increasing value of root content of the volatile oil Estagole, Carene and - Pinene α gave highest averages amounted to 318.10, 66.16 and 56.50 mg L-1, respectively. While the treatment of spraying nano iron with a level of (75 mgm L-1) was increased and gave the highest averages of 319.67, 65.26 and 47,53 mgm L-1. In terms of the best interaction treatment between them, the interaction between the two factors (gibberellin at a level of 100 mgm L-1) + Iron sprayed at level of 75 mgm L-1) was increased and it gave the highest averages of the above oily compounds, which were 488.08, 110.25 and 81.60 mgm L-1, respectively.As for the roots’ content of phenolic and flavonoid compounds, the concentration of gibberellin (100 mgm L-1) was significantly increase in the roots’ content of phenolic and flavonoid compounds Rutin, Eriocitin, and Quercetin, by giving them the highest averages amounted to 74,68, 64,24, 359,35 mgm L-1, respectively. As for the phenolic compound Ellage acid, it did not differ significantly from the 150 level of gibberellin, as it gave average of 41.97, and the level of 100 mgm L-1 had an average of 41.70, As for iron spray, the level (75 mgm L-1) was increasing the roots’ content of phenolic compounds and flavonoids Rutin, Ellage acid, Eriocitin and Quercetin by giving them the highest averages of 74.24, 44.31, 62.67 and 365.60 mgm L-1, respectively. While the interaction between the two factors (gibberellin at a level of 100 mgm L-1 + iron spray at a level of 75 mgm L-1) gave the highest averages of the above phenolic compounds amounting to 89.17, 52.13, 65.32 and 449.33 mgm L-1, respectively.

SKRINING KETAHANAN BEBERAPA JENIS TANAMAN CABAI RAWIT TERHADAP CEKAMAN KEKERINGAN

The aim of this research is to obtain information on the resistance of several local cayenne pepper varieties from Southeast Sulawesi to drought stress. The study was conducted at Field Laboratory II, Faculty of Agriculture, Halu Oleo University, Kendari, which took place from January to June 2022. The research consisted of two experiments, namely the seed phase and the plant phase. The first experiment used a Factorial Randomized Block Design (RAK). The first factor was drought stress, consisting of 3 levels of PEG concentration (0, 7.5, and 15%). The second factor was the type of cayenne pepper, including 2 national varieties: Dewata and Bara, as well as 4 local cultivars from Konsel, Konawe, Muna, and Kendari. The second experiment also used a Factorial Randomized Block Design (RAK). The first factor was watering with field capacity (KL): 100, 50, and 25%. The second factor was the same as in the first experiment, which was the type of cayenne pepper. The first experimental variables were germination ability, germination weight, and drought stress index in the seed phase. The second experimental variables were plant height, number of leaves, root length, fruit weight, and stress tolerance index in the plant phase. Observational data were analyzed using variance analysis, followed by the BNJ test with a 95% confidence level. The results of the research showed that there was an interaction between the drought stress treatment and the type of cayenne pepper plant, which had a significant effect on plant height, root length, and fruit weight per plant. However, for germination ability, germination weight, and the number of leaves, each factor had an independent effect. With the 15% PEG treatment in the germination phase, the resistant cayenne pepper varieties were the cultivars from Muna and Konsel, while the 25% field capacity treatment for the plant phase of resistant cayenne pepper were Dewata and Bara varieties, cultivars from Muna and Konsel.

Determination of healthy natural antioxidants in selected muskmelon (Cucumis melo) cultivars

Muskmelon (Cucumis melo L.) is a popular summer fruit consumed all over the world due to the combination ofrefreshingly sweet taste, pleasant flavour and nutritional value. Melon fruit is characterized by germplasm variabilitywith superior quality. This study aimed to evaluate 5 promising local muskmelon cultivars (Maazoun, Galaoui,Stambouli, Trabelsi, Asli) for some physicochemical characteristics, the content of different bioactive compoundsand the antioxidant activity. The experiments were conducted for two consecutive years 2018 and 2019 at the support station of the inter-professional vegetable group positioned in the North East of Tunisia. Significant differences were observed across the melon cultivars (P&lt;0.05) for soluble solids (9–12°Brix), pH (5.5–6.6), carotenoid (7.5–59.5 mg/ kg FW), phenolic (400–1390 mg GAE/kg FW), flavonoid (251.3–390 mg RE/kg FW), vitamin C (138.2–193 mg/kg FW) contents, as well as hydrophilic (102.28–285.43 μM Trolox/100 g FW) and lipophilic (30–180.22 μM Trolox/100 g FW) antioxidant activities. Galaoui showed the highest levels of carotenoids, phenolics, flavonoids, vitamin C and antioxidant activities followed by Stambouli. Trabelsi cultivar also had a high level of flavonoids. The enhanced hydrophilic antioxidant activity in Galaoui was significantly correlated to phenolic content (r = 0.91). These findings proved that besides being refreshing summer fruit, muskmelon can be considered a promising healthy produce with a superior potential source of natural antioxidants.

Exploring the Genetic and Morphological Variation and Disease Resistance in Local and Foreign Prunus persica (L.) Batsch Cultivars

Local germplasm may be the basis for genetic improvement for sustainability and resilience, yet little is known about Greek peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] local genetic resources. The aims of the present study were to entail a prospection in the mainland and islands of Greece for local traditional and underutilized germplasm and study their genetic and morphological variation and susceptibility to shoot blight from Cylindrocarpon destructans and Monilinia laxa. A total of 32 peach cultivars/accessions were prospected from the mainland (Imathia and Magnesia) and islands (Andros, Ikaria, Kythira, Lesvos and Samos) of Greece. Leaf and fruit morphological characterization was made in situ and ex situ using 42 qualitative and quantitative morphological descriptors. Nine clones of ‘Lemonato’, isolated in Magnesia, with differing ripening times, were found to vary in leaf and fruit phenotypic traits. The local peach genotypes were separated from 12 old foreign cultivars, in 8 out of the 42 leaf and fruit phenotypic traits studied. We observed greater lesion damages from C. destructans than M. laxa. Local cultivars had greater resistance to Cylindrocarpon destructans than foreign cultivars, with ‘Lemonato Andrea’, ‘Daggalakou’ and ‘Papagianni’ exhibiting the greatest resistance. Genetic characterization was performed in the studied local and foreign peach cultivars/accessions, using eight Inter Simple Sequence Repeats (ISSRs), resulting in a total of 404 bands. Analysis of molecular variance and principal coordinates analysis revealed moderate to low genetic diversity among the peach cultivars, and three distinct clusters were formed. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis was implemented for the association study between morphological traits and the ISSR markers, revealing several markers that are statistically and significantly correlated with fruits’ traits. The obtained results could be valuable for breeding programs and future research on peach.

Wheat cultivar mixtures increase grain yield under varied climate conditions

Scaling current cereal production to meet the globally increasing food demand will be a challenge under climate change. Previous studies have shown that crop diversification, such as intercropping, can increase crop yield, stability, resource-use efficiency and resistance to both biotic and abiotic stresses in agroecosystems. However, more evidence is needed to explain the influence of inter-annual climate variations on crop yield in the context of genetic diversity. Here, we conducted a field experiment over four years in the North China Plain to test the effect of genetic diversity on yield under varied climate conditions. We compared the performance of eight winter wheat cultivars in monocropping with that of mixed cropping of two (mixture-2), four (mixture-4), and eight (mixture-8) cultivars. Our results showed that the yields of all cultivar mixtures were higher than those of their component cultivars in monocropping from 2017 to 2020. In particular, the grain yields of mixture-4 and mixture-8 were significantly increased by 7.37% and 5.94% in the drier years (2017 and 2019), compared with that of the highest yield of local cultivar (LY502). From 2017 to 2020, yield components in wheat mixed cropping had synergetic effects that could offset the tradeoffs among them and obtained an optimized combination at population level. Moreover, the yield stability of all mixtures was higher than the weighted means of monocultures averaged across the four years. The cultivation of mixtures of wheat cultivars effectively alleviated the negative effect of high temperature stress on 1000-grain weight, and improved grain water use efficiency in the drier years. Our findings showed that enhancing wheat genetic diversity at population level can effectively promote grain yield under drought and high temperature, which can be considered as an ecological approach to cope with global climate change towards food security.

Pertumbuhan dan Hasil Kandungan Fe dan Zn pada Beras dari Kultivar Padi Ladang di Kabupaten Timor Tengah Utara

Field rice (paddy field) is one of the important crops/commodities and is an integral part of the dry land farming system in North Central Timor district. The content of rice is to meet the needs of carbohydrates in the body. The materials used are harvested grain from the local North Central Timor rice cultivar which has been carried out for the 2022 planting season. A total of 6 field rice in North Central Timor district were to be tested for Fe and Zn content. Grain samples were taken from crops grown in the same season and location, namely in the dry season of 2022. This study aims to identify local Timorese rice varieties that have high and stable Fe and Zn contents. The study was conducted in the Field Laboratory of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Timor with a non-factorial Randomized Block Design consisting of 6 cultivar treatments V1 V2 V3 V4 V5 and V6 and the XRF Laboratory, BB Padi Sukamandi. Test the content of Fe and Zn using an XRF machine with an x-ray based performance system. A total of 6 types of field rice were tested for the content of Fe and Zn in brown and polished rice and repeated in duplicate. The content of Fe and Zn is expressed in units of ppm. Data processing was carried out using Excel and SAS 9 software. The results showed that there were differences in the growth and production components between the local Timor and East Timor upland rice cultivars. Cultivars with cultivar V2 (muit fua naek) productivity as seen from the t/ha yield of 3.20 tons per ha were significantly higher than the other cultivars. The results of the analysis of Fe and Zn content showed that cultivar V6 (Aen Mael) had the highest Fe content of 15.1 among the other cultivars, and the lowest was cultivar V4 (Aen Ek ELo) which had an Fe content of 13.0. The highest Zn content was in cultivar V5 (Aen Muit Fua Ana) with a Zn content of 27.9 while the lowest was in cultivar V2 (Muit Fua Naek) with a Zn content of 20.4.

Physicochemical properties of Tunisian pomegranate fruits Punica granatum L. grown at different climatic zones of Yunnan, China

The artificial cultivation of Mengzi pomegranate has been conducted on a large area for more than 30 years in Yunnan, China. As the quality of pomegranate cultivars have degraded seriously, new cultivars have gradually been introduced to meet market demand. Comparative quality evaluation of different pomegranate varieties is beneficial to guide cultivar improvement and cultural program modification. The present study investigated the differences of physicochemical characteristics of the introduced Tunisian soft-seed pomegranate in different climate zones in Yunnan, China. Meanwhile, the differences between native cultivars (Tian guan yan (TGY) and Tian lv zi (TLZ)) and introduced cultivar were also compared. It was found that the Tunisian soft-seed pomegranate grown in Huize (Tunisian pomegranate in Huize, TH) in the temperate plateau monsoon climate belt had the highest fruit weight, % of seed, TAC, TPC, TSS, amino acids, and Mn, and had the lowest organic acids and Na. While grown in the subtropical monsoon climate area Shiping (Tunisian pomegranate in Shiping, TS), the Tunisian pomegranate fruits had the highest amounts of Cu. Commonly, there were significant correlations between cultivation climate regions and fruit properties. The contents of the TSS, TAC, TPC, flavor amino acids and organic acids varied with planted climate zones. The introduced Tunisian soft-seed pomegranate has comparable levels of physicochemical characteristics with the local main cultivars in the same planted climate region. Tunisian soft-seed pomegranate of higher quality can be obtained in Huize area. Collectively, the climate difference and cultivar shift have a significant effect on pomegranate production in Yunnan, and pomegranate with good quality can be obtained by using proper cultivars in optimized climate zone.

Quality parameters of olive oils at different ripening periods as affected by olive fruit fly infestation and olive anthracnose

Olive pests and diseases influence olive oil quality. Ayvalik olive cultivar is important between local cultivars grown in Turkey. This study aimed to monitor the effects of olive pests and diseases (olive fruit fly attack and olive anthracnose) on Ayvalik olive oil quality parameters such as free fatty acids (FFA), peroxide value (PV), specific extinction coefficients (K232, K270, and ΔK). Besides, Ayvalik olive fruits were collected at six harvest times, and the level of ripening with olive pests was also evaluated. Results showed that the FFA level influenced negatively by olive pests, mainly olive anthracnose. At the end of harvesting, FFA of oils from damaged olive anthracnose reached up to 5.42 (% oleic acid). Except for the first harvest period, the other quality parameters remained between limit values, and slight differences were observed between healthy and damaged olives. At the first harvest period, PV and K232 (7.02 mEq O2/kg, 2.22) of olive oil from fly-infected olive had higher values than the other samples. The stage of ripening, healthy, and damaged olives affected slightly certain fatty acids of the oils. Total phenolics, o-diphenol, and α-tocopherol content of oils from healthy fruits had higher values than oils from damaged olives. Besides, the antioxidant activity of oils obtained from healthy olives showed higher values compared to the oils from infected olive fruits.

Genetic diversity assessment and genome-wide association study reveal candidate genes associated with component traits in sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam)

The Korean sweet potatoes were bred by various cultivars introduced from Japanese, American, Porto Rico, China, and Burundi. This issue enriched their genetic diversity but also resulted in a mixture of cultivars. For genotyping, we collected and sequenced 66 sweet potato germplasms from different localities around Korea, including 36 modern cultivars, 5 local cultivars, and 25 foreign cultivars. This identified 447.6 million trimmed reads and 324.8 million mapping reads and provided 39,424 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) markers. Phylogenetic clustering and population structure analysis distinctly classified these germplasms into 5 genetic groups, group 1, group 2, group 3, group 4, and group 5, containing 20, 15, 10, 7, and 14 accessions, respectively. Sixty-three significant SNPs were selected by genome-wide association for sugar composition-related traits (fructose, glucose, and total sugars), total starch, amylose content, and total carotenoid of the storage root. A total of 37 candidate genes encompassing these significant SNPs were identified, among which, 7 genes were annotated to involve in sugar and starch metabolism, including galactose metabolism (itf04g30630), starch and sucrose metabolism (itf03g13270, itf15g09320), carbohydrate metabolism (itf14g10250), carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism (itf12g19270), and amino sugar and nucleotide sugar metabolism (itf03g21950, itf15g04880). This results indicated that sugar and starch are important characteristics to determine the genetic diversity of sweet potatoes. These findings not only illustrate the importance of component traits to genotyping sweet potatoes but also explain an important reason resulting in genetic diversity of sweet potato.

AtCIPK16, a CBL-interacting protein kinase gene, confers salinity tolerance in transgenic wheat.

Globally, wheat is the major source of staple food, protein, and basic calories for most of the human population. Strategies must be adopted for sustainable wheat crop production to fill the ever-increasing food demand. Salinity is one of the major abiotic stresses involved in plant growth retardation and grain yield reduction. In plants, calcineurin-B-like proteins form a complicated network with the target kinase CBL-interacting protein kinases (CIPKs) in response to intracellular calcium signaling as a consequence of abiotic stresses. The AtCIPK16 gene has been identified in Arabidopsis thaliana and found to be significantly upregulated under salinity stress. In this study, the AtCIPK16 gene was cloned in two different plant expression vectors, i.e., pTOOL37 having a UBI1 promoter and pMDC32 having a 2XCaMV35S constitutive promoter transformed through the Agrobacterium-mediated transformation protocol, in the local wheat cultivar Faisalabad-2008. Based on their ability to tolerate different levels of salt stress (0, 50, 100, and 200 mM), the transgenic wheat lines OE1, OE2, and OE3 expressing AtCIPK16 under the UBI1 promoter and OE5, OE6, and OE7 expressing the same gene under the 2XCaMV35S promoter performed better at 100 mM of salinity stress as compared with the wild type. The AtCIPK16 overexpressing transgenic wheat lines were further investigated for their K+ retention ability in root tissues by utilizing the microelectrode ion flux estimation technique. It has been demonstrated that after 10min of 100 mM NaCl application, more K+ ions were retained in the AtCIPK16 overexpressing transgenic wheat lines than in the wild type. Moreover, it could be concluded that AtCIPK16 functions as a positive elicitor in sequestering Na+ ions into the cell vacuole and retaining more cellular K+ under salt stress to maintain ionic homeostasis.