SSR-Based Analysis of Genetic Diversity and Structure of Sweet Cherry ( L.) from 19 Countries in Europe.

Sweet cherry ( L.) is a temperate fruit species whose production might be highly impacted by climate change in the near future. Diversity of plant material could be an option to mitigate these climate risks by enabling producers to have new cultivars well adapted to new environmental conditions.

Genotypic and Environmental Effects on Tocopherol Content in Almond.

Almond is the most important nut species worldwide and almond kernels show the highest levels of tocopherols among all nuts. In almond, tocopherols not only play a substantial role as a healthy food for human consumption, but also in protecting lipids against oxidation and, thus, lengthening the storage time of almond kernels. The main tocopherol homologues detected in almond in decreasing content and biological importance are α-, γ-, δ-, and β-tocopherol.

Influence of rootstocks on growth, yield, fruit quality and leaf mineral element contents of pear cv. 'Santa Maria' in semi-arid conditions.

Background: Rootstocks play an essential role to determining orchard performance of fruit trees. Pyrus communis and Cydonia oblonga are widely used rootstocks for European pear cultivars. The lack of rootstocks adapted to different soil conditions and different grafted cultivars is widely acknowledged in pear culture.

Phenolic compounds and vitamins in wild and cultivated apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) fruits grown in irrigated and dry farming conditions.

Background: Turkey is the main apricot producer in the world and apricots have been produced under both dry and irrigated conditions in the country. In this study, phenolic compounds and vitamins in fruits of one wild (Zerdali) and three main apricot cultivars ('Cataloglu', 'Hacihaliloglu' and 'Kabaasi') grown in both dry and irrigated conditions in Malatya provinces in Turkey were investigated.

Results: The findings indicated that higher content of phenolic compounds and vitamins was found in apricot fruits grown in irrigated conditions.

Organic acids, sugars, vitamin C content and some pomological characteristics of eleven hawthorn species (Crataegus spp.) from Turkey.

Background: The Hawthorn (Crateagus sp.) mostly occurs around the temperate region of the world with a high number of species, producing a fruit with numerous beneficial effects for human health. The aim of the study was to determine organic acid and sugar contents in the fruit of a number of hawthorn species grown in Erzincan province of Turkey.

Identification of a recently active Prunus-specific non-autonomous Mutator element with considerable genome shaping force.

Miniature inverted-repeat transposable elements (MITEs) are known to contribute to the evolution of plants, but only limited information is available for MITEs in the Prunus genome. We identified a MITE that has been named Falling Stones, FaSt. All structural features (349-bp size, 82-bp terminal inverted repeats and 9-bp target site duplications) are consistent with this MITE being a putative member of the Mutator transposase superfamily.

Self-(in)compatibility genotypes of Moroccan apricots indicate differences and similarities in the crop history of European and North African apricot germplasm.

Background: Allelic diversity of the S-locus is attributed to the genetic relationships among genotypes and sexual reproduction strategy. In otherwise self-incompatible Prunus species, the emergence of loss-of-function in S-haplotypes has resulted in self-compatibility. This information may allow following major stages of crop history.

Pollen Tube Growth and Self-Compatibility in Almond.

Although pollen tube growth has been an important criterion for self-compatibility evaluation in almond, there is not a clear-cut separation between positive and negative growth of pollen tubes in the different genotypes. The examination of pollen tube growth after selfing almond seedlings has allowed establishing different levels of compatibility, but not a clear-cut separation between self-compatible (SC) and self-incompatible (SI) genotypes, related to the presence of pseudo-self-compatibility in almond. Consequently, a relationship between pollen tube growth and self-compatibility in almond may be established for evaluating the seedlings in breeding programs.

Tocopherol concentration in almond oil: genetic variation and environmental effects under warm conditions.

The concentration of the different tocopherol homologues in almond kernel oil was determined in 17 almond cultivars grown in two different experimental orchards, in Spain and Morocco. The three main homologues showed a large variability, ranging from 210.9 to 553.

Xenia effects on oil content and fatty acid and tocopherol concentrations in autogamous almond cultivars.

The increasing utilization of self-compatible almond cultivars in solid plantings of a single genotype has raised the question of the effect of the pollen source on the kernel quality of these new autogamous cultivars. Thus, the effect of two different pollen sources, in addition to their own pollen, on the oil content and fatty acid and tocopherol concentrations was studied in four autogamous almond genotypes. The oil content was not affected by the pollination treatment, but self-pollination resulted in significantly higher values for oleic acid.