Tomato biodiversity reveals landrace enhanced drought-adaptive strategy.

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is a major crop in the Mediterranean basin, vulnerable to drought at any crop stage. Landraces are traditional, locally adapted varieties with greater resilience to water scarcity than modern cultivars.

Salinity in Autumn-Winter Season and Fruit Quality of Tomato Landraces.

Tomato landraces, originated by adaptive responses to local habitats, are considered a valuable resource for many traits of agronomic interest, including fruit nutritional quality. Primary and secondary metabolites are essential determinants of fruit organoleptic quality, and some of them, such as carotenoids and phenolics, have been associated with beneficial proprieties for human health. Landraces' fruit taste and flavour are often preferred by consumers compared to the commercial varieties' ones.

Photosynthetic and Growth Responses of L. Plantlets Under Different Oxygen Deficiency Stresses and Reoxygenation.

Promotion of nonfood species production to marginal, degraded lands abandoned by mainstream agriculture is affected by extremes of water availability (droughts and floods), which have increased in frequency and intensity and account for severe yield reduction. L., known as giant cane or giant reed, spontaneously grows in different kinds of environments with limitation to low temperature and is thus widespread in temperate and hot areas around the world.

Drought induced changes of leaf-to-root relationships in two tomato genotypes.

Water deficit triggers a dynamic and integrated cross-talk between leaves and roots. Tolerant plants have developed several physiological and molecular mechanisms to establish new cell metabolism homeostasis, avoiding and/or escaping from permanent impairments triggered by drought. Two tomato genotypes (a Southern Italy landrace called Ciettaicale and the well-known commercial cultivar Moneymaker) were investigated at vegetative stage to assess leaf and root metabolic strategies under 20 days of water deficit.

Inter- and intraspecific variability in physiological traits and post-anoxia recovery of photosynthetic efficiency in grasses under oxygen deprivation.

Low oxygen conditions occur in grass sites due to high and frequent precipitation, poor soil quality, and over-irrigation followed by slow drainage. Three warm-season and one cool-season grass were analyzed at metabolic level during a time-course experiment performed in a controlled anoxic environment. Prolonged oxygen depletion proved detrimental by leading to premature death to all the species, with the exception of seashore paspalum.