Huseyin Canci

Evaluation of annual wild Cicer species for drought and heat resistance under field conditions

About 90% of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in the world is grown under rainfed conditions where it is subjected to drought and heat stress. Unlike the cultivated chickpea, annual wild Cicer species possess sources of resistance to multiple stress; annual wild Cicer species were therefore evaluated for resistance to drought and heat stress. Eight annual wild Cicer species (Cicer bijugum, C. chorassanicum, C. cuneatum, C. echinospermum, C. judaicum, C. pinnatifidum, C. reticulatum, and C. yamashitae) were compared with special checks, the cvs ICC 4958 and FLIP 87-59C (drought resistant) and ICCV 96029 (very early double-podded). ILC 3279 and 8617 as drought susceptible checks were sown after every 10 test lines. Yield losses due to drought and heat stress in some accessions and susceptible checks (ILC 3279 and ILC 8617) reached 100%. Accessions were evaluated for drought and heat resistance on a 1 (free from drought and heat damage)−9 (100% plant killed from drought and heat) visual scale. Four accessions of C. reticulatum and one accession of C. pinnatifidum were found to be as resistant to drought and heat stress (up to 41.8°C) as the best checks. C. reticulatum should be taken account in short term breeding programs since it can be crossed with the cultivated chickpea.

Estimation of Outcrossing Rate in Chickpea (Cicer Arietinum L.) Sown in Autumn

Gene flow via outcrossing from transgenic plants to relatives will be one of the most important concerns to grow of the transgenic chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in European Union (EU). This report is therefore focused on spontaneous outcrossing rate in chickpea. A total of 39 kabuli type mutants with white flower and one desi type with pink flower were grown to estimate spontaneous outcrossing rate. Outcrossing rate ranged from 0.0 to 1.25% in mutant materials. Since labelling threshold for transgenic contamination in food and feed in European Union (EU) is 0.9%, outcrossing rate of 1.25% is higher than threshold of 0.9% in EU, and this result suggests that cultivation of transgenic chickpea will be under high risk to be contaminated chickpeas in neighbourhood fields.

Heterosis for agronomic traits in sesame hybrids of cultivars×closed capsule mutants

Closed capsule is a mutant character, which may be useful in mechanised harvesting of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.). The capsules bearing the seeds of these useful mutants, unlike those of normal types, do not shatter at harvest. However, the direct use of induced mutations is very limited due to unwanted side-effects associated with the trait. It is therefore strongly recommended that such mutants should be crossed with commercial varieties to remove the undesirable side-effects. Apart from eliminating side-effects of mutants for pure line improvement, mutant heterosis is an active area of research (Maluszynski et al., 2002). It is a generally accepted approach that high levels of heterosis are obtained when the parents of hybrids are from very divergent origins (Ashri, 1998). On the other hand, many authors for many crop plants observed heterosis in a very narrow genetic base in crosses between mutants derived from the same parent variety and crosses of mutants with parent varieties (Maluszynski et al., 2002). Although, it is still unknown why high levels of heterosis can be obtained in mutant /mutant or mutant /wild type crosses, the interaction of mutated genes seems to play a key role. Heterosis in sesame has been studied by many researchers (Mazzani et al., 1981; Osman, 1985, 1989; Goyal & Kumar, 1991; Reddy & Haripriya, 1993; Padmavathi et al., 1993; Fatteh et al., 1995; Mishra & Sikarvar, 2001; Sankar & Kumar, 2001), although sesame is considered to be a self-pollinated crop and there are no hybrid varieties. The common purpose of all these studies was to investigate the heterotic performance of sesame lines with dehiscent capsules. However, there is no information available on heterotic effects between induced closed capsule mutants and normal shattering types. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the heterotic performances of F1 hybrids in the generated population using novel mutants and traditional cultivars.

INHERITANCE OF RESISTANCE TO IRON DEFICIENCY CHLOROSIS IN CHICKPEA (CICER ARIETINUM L.)

Iron (Fe)-deficiency chlorosis causes considerable yield losses in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) when susceptible genotypes are grown in calcareous soils with high pH. The most feasible method for alleviating Fe deficiency is the selection of suitable cultivars resistant to Fe deficiency chlorosis. ICC 6119 (desi type), which is Fe-deficient chlorosis, was crossed with CA 2969 and Sierra (kabuli types), resistant to Fe deficiency chlorosis. Inheritance of resistance to Fe deficiency in chickpea revealed that the resistance was controlled by a single dominant gene in these genotypes crossed. A negative selection for resistance to Fe deficiency chlorosis will be effective after segregating generations.

Comparison of some endogenous hormone levels in different parts of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

The objective of this study was to detect plant hormone levels in different plant parts of chickpea, and to compare cultivars with different characteristics such as simple leaf vs. normal leaves, simple leaf vs. bipinnate leaf, kabuli type vs. desi types, double-podded vs. single-podded. It was found that there was a great variation in basic plant hormone levels among genotypes, and plant hormone concentrations varied according to leaf type, pod and seed characteristics in these genotypes. IAA level in leaves was the highest in ICC 6119 (bipinnate leaf) and followed by ICC 552 (double-pod) and Kusmen 99 (simple leaf), while it was highest level in pods of ICC 552 (double-pod). Zeatin concentration in leaves and pods was the highest level in ICC 6119 (bipinnate leaf). GA3 concentration was the highest in leaves of ICC 6119 (bipinnate leaf). ICC 552 (double-pod) has the highest GA3 in leaves. It was postulated that leaf type and pod characteristics may be related to hormones induced growth and development.

Cicer echinospermum P.H. Davis genotiplerinde nohut yaprak galeri sineğine [Liriomyza cicerina Rond. (Diptera: Agromyzidae)] dayanıklılığın değerlendirilmesi

Nohut yaprak galeri sinegi [ Liriomyza cicerina Rond. (Diptera: Agromyzidae)] dikkate deger verim kayiplarina yol actigi icin Turkiye’deki en onemli ve yaygin nohut ( Cicer arietinum L) zararlilardan biridir. Nohut yaprak galeri sinegi zararinin ustesinden gelmek icin en pratik, cevreci ve ekonomik cozumlerden biri dayanikli cesitlerin kullanilmasidir. Bu calisma tarimi yapilan nohut ile melezlenebilen Cicer echinospermum P.H. Davis genotiplerinin nohut yaprak galeri sinegine dayaniklilik icin degerlendirilmesini amaclamistir. C. echinospermum turune ait 22 genotip ve nohut yaprak galeri sinegine duyarli tarimi yapilan bir genotip tarla kosullarinda bir 1-9 gorsel olcek kullanilarak degerlendirilmistir. Hassas genotip (CA 2969) her 10 sirada tekrarlanmistir. Genotipler 1-9 gorsel olcegi uzerinden hassas genotip 8 olcek degeri aldiktan sonra degerlendirilmistir. C. echinospermum genotiplerinin buyuk cogunlugu dayanikli olarak bulunmustur. Bu dayaniklilik kaynaklari C. echinospermum tarimi yapilan nohut ile melezlenebildigi icin islah programlarinda kullanilabilecektir.