Machine Learning-Based Tomato Fruit Shape Classification System.

Fruit shape significantly impacts the quality and commercial value of tomatoes ( L.). Precise grading is essential to elucidate the genetic basis of fruit shape in breeding programs, cultivar descriptions, and variety registration.

Evaluation of Polyphenols Synthesized in Mature Seeds of Common Bean ( L.) Advanced Mutant Lines.

This study aimed to investigate the availability of flavonoids, anthocyanins, and phenolic acids in mutant bean seeds, focusing on M mutant lines, and their corresponding initial and local cultivars. HPLC-DAD-MS/MS and HPLC-MS/MS were used to analyze twenty-eight genotypes of common bean. The obtained results suggest that the mutations resulted in four newly synthesized anthocyanins in the mutant bean seeds, namely, delphinidin 3--glucoside, cyanidin 3--glucoside, pelargonidin 3--glucoside, and petunidin 3--glucoside, in 20 accessions with colored seed shapes out of the total of 28.

Establishment and development of the Center of Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology in Plovdiv, Bulgaria.

The Bulgarian research landscape, presented mainly by the research institutes that are part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and the Agricultural Academy, needs diversification to match the research and innovation potential of the other European Union (EU) countries. This article describes the establishment of the Center of Plant Systems Biology and Biotechnology (CPSBB), a new innovative type of independent research organization that is changing the research landscape in Bulgaria. Supported by the EU Commission, Bulgarian Government, and Plovdiv Municipality, CPSBB has quickly become the leading plant science institute in Bulgaria, creating knowledge in diverse fields such as bioinformatics, biotechnology, genetics and genomics, metabolomics, and systems biology.

Green Assessment of Phenolic Acid Composition and Antioxidant Capacity of Advanced Potato Mutant Lines through UPLC-qTOF-MS/MS Quantification.

Potatoes are one of the most consumed crops worldwide. They contain a high amount of bioactive compounds such as phenolic compounds and vitamins with important antioxidant activities, which makes this crop of high biological value for human health. The goal of this research was to biochemically evaluate polyphenol levels and antioxidant capacities in parent and control genotypes compared to advanced mutant potato lines in the MV generation.

Population Response of Rhizosphere Microbiota of Garden Pea Genotypes to Inoculation with Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi.

This study of a legume's rhizosphere in tripartite symbiosis focused on the relationships between the symbionts and less on the overall rhizosphere microbiome. We used an experimental model with different garden pea genotypes inoculated with AM fungi ( and with a mix of AM species) to study their influence on the population levels of main trophic groups of soil microorganisms as well as their structure and functional relationships in the rhizosphere microbial community. The experiments were carried out at two phenological cycles of the plants.

Metabolic Profiling of Bulgarian Potato Cultivars.

Potatoes ( L.) are the fourth most economically important crop in the world. They have a short period of vegetation and are an excellent source of carbohydrates, amino acids, vitamins, organic acids, minerals and phenolics as antioxidant substances.

Genomic prediction of morphometric and colorimetric traits in Solanaceous fruits.

Selection of high-performance lines with respect to traits of interest is a key step in plant breeding. Genomic prediction allows to determine the genomic estimated breeding values of unseen lines for trait of interest using genetic markers, e.g.

First report of Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus causing yellowing disease on pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) and cucumber (Cucumis sativus) in Bulgaria.

Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus (CABYV) was first reported in France in 1992 but has since been observed worldwide (Lecoq et al. 1992; Choi and Choi 2016; Buzkan et al. 2017; Zindovic et al.

Double Haploid Development and Assessment of Androgenic Competence of Balkan Pepper Core Collection in Bulgaria.

This study was designed to assess the androgenic potential of 180 pepper accessions and 11 progenies (four F1 and seven BC) possessing PMMoV resistance in order to complement an ongoing pepper breeding program. The experiment was carried out in 10 replications with 20 anthers for each accession in two different induction mediums from 2017 to 2019. The highest androgenic response was observed in culture medium 17-2 but differences between two mediums were nonsignificant.

Global range expansion history of pepper ( spp.) revealed by over 10,000 genebank accessions.

Genebanks collect and preserve vast collections of plants and detailed passport information, with the aim of preserving genetic diversity for conservation and breeding. Genetic characterization of such collections has the potential to elucidate the genetic histories of important crops, use marker-trait associations to identify loci controlling traits of interest, search for loci undergoing selection, and contribute to genebank management by identifying taxonomic misassignments and duplicates. We conducted a genomic scan with genotyping by sequencing (GBS) derived single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of 10,038 pepper ( spp.

Identification of tomato accessions as source of new genes for improving heat tolerance: from controlled experiments to field.

Background: Due to global warming, the search for new sources for heat tolerance and the identification of genes involved in this process has become an important challenge as of today. The main objective of the current research was to verify whether the heat tolerance determined in controlled greenhouse experiments could be a good predictor of the agronomic performance in field cultivation under climatic high temperature stress.

Results: Tomato accessions were grown in greenhouse under three temperature regimes: control (T1), moderate (T2) and extreme heat stress (T3).

Genome-wide association studies: assessing trait characteristics in model and crop plants.

GWAS involves testing genetic variants across the genomes of many individuals of a population to identify genotype-phenotype association. It was initially developed and has proven highly successful in human disease genetics. In plants genome-wide association studies (GWAS) initially focused on single feature polymorphism and recombination and linkage disequilibrium but has now been embraced by a plethora of different disciplines with several thousand studies being published in model and crop species within the last decade or so.

Mutation Associated with Orange Fruit Color Increases Concentrations of β-Carotene in a Sweet Pepper Variety ( L.).

Pepper is the second most important vegetable crop in Bulgarian agriculture and has become the subject of extensive breeding programs that frequently employ induced mutagenesis. The success of breeding programs can be enhanced by the efficient and integral application of different biochemical and molecular methods to characterize specific mutant alleles. On the other hand, identifying new cost-effective methods is important under a limited-resources environment.

A step towards Balkan Capsicum annuum L. core collection: Phenotypic and biochemical characterization of 180 accessions for agronomic, fruit quality, and virus resistance traits.

Region-specific local landraces represent a germplasm diversity adapted and acclimatized to local conditions, and are ideal to breed for targeted market niches while maintaining the variability of heirloom traits. A collection of 180 pepper accessions, collected from 62 diverse locations across six Balkan countries, were characterized and evaluated for phenotypic and biochemical variation during a multi-year environment. An assortment of 32 agro-morphological, fruit quality, and virus resistance traits were evaluated, and the top 10% accessions were identified.

Tomato Phenotypic Diversity Determined by Combined Approaches of Conventional and High-Throughput Tomato Analyzer Phenotyping.

Morphological variation in vegetative and fruit traits is a key determinant in unraveling phenotypic diversity. This study was designed to assess phenotypic diversity in tomatoes and examine intra- and intervarietal groups' variability using 28 conventional descriptors (CDs) and 47 Tomato Analyzer (TA) descriptors related to plant and fruit morphometry. Comprehensive phenotyping of 150 accessions representing 21 countries discerned noticeable variability for CD vegetative traits and TA quantified fruit features, such as shape, size, and color.

Mutation increasing β-carotene concentrations does not adversely affect concentrations of essential mineral elements in pepper fruit.

Vitamin and mineral deficiencies are prevalent in human populations throughout the world. Vitamin A deficiency affects hundreds of millions of pre-school age children in low income countries. Fruits of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.

Assessment of genetic variation in Bulgarian tomato ( L.) genotypes, using fluorescent SSR genotyping platform.

Genetic variability in modern crops is limited due to domestication and selection processes. Genetic variation in eight Bulgarian tomato varieties and breeding lines (variety Plovdivska karotina, variety IZK Alya, L21β, L53β, L1140, L1116, L975, L984) differing in their morphological and biochemical composition was assessed using a highly efficient and low-cost fluorescent simple sequence repeat (SSR) genotyping platform. Genotyping was conducted with 165 publicly available microsatellite markers developed from different research groups under a number of projects in tomato (SOL Genomics SSRs, Kazusa TGS and TES, SLM, TMS and LEMDDNa) among which only five (3.