Lütfi Pırlak

Effects of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria on Yield and Some Fruit Properties of Strawberry

ABSTRACT Effects of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) [(Pseudomonas BA-8 (biological control agent), Bacillus OSU-142 (N2-fixing), and Bacillus M-3 (N2-fixing and phosphate solubilizing)] on yield and some fruit properties of strawberry cultivar ‘Selva’ in the province of Erzurum, Turkey in 2002–2003. Foliar + root application of PGPR strains significantly increased yield per plant as compared with the control. Root application of PGPR strains significantly increased total soluble solids, total sugar and reduced sugar, but decreased titratable acidity. It was also determined that bacteria applications have no important effect on the average fruit weight and pH. The results of this study suggested that Pseudomonas BA-8, Bacillus OSU-142 and Bacillus M-3 have potential for increasing yield in strawberry plant.

Salinity effects on growth, proline and ion accumulation in strawberry plants

High salinity in soil is one of the major factors limiting plant growth and productivity. Strawberries are very sensitive to salinity (Larson, 1994), and salinity reduces leaf number, leaf area, shoot dry weight and number of crowns, leading to low yields (Ehlig & Bernstein, 1958; Awang et al., 1993; Awang & Atherton, 1994). Moreover, salinity causes physiological and biochemical changes in plants. In the plants, these changes appear, depending on the effects of ions and solutes in the root zone on water activity in the cell and physiological and biochemical functions of the cell (Greenway & Munns, 1980), reducing turgor, limiting photosynthesis (Schwarz & Gale, 1981; Walker et al., 1981) and increasing ion deficiency due to inadequate transport mechanisms (Hasegawa et al., 1986). Plants have specific mechanisms which aid tolerance of these harmful effects of salinity, and osmotic adjustment is the most important of these mechanisms. Under salt stress conditions, osmotic adjustment is obtained by the production and accumulation of compatible organic solutes such as proline, glycerol, sugars and glycine betaine in the cytoplasm, while mineral ions are localized in the vacuole (Hellebust, 1976; Weimberg, 1986). With osmotic adjustment mechanism, plants may lower water potential of the cells than saline media in the root zone, and thus the osmotic inhibition effect of salinity could be negated. In addition, proline can inhibit toxic effects of NaCl by stabilizing proteins and enzymes in the cell (Ahmad et al., 1982). However, Zhang & Archbold (1993) found that amounts of proline were not significantly changed under water deficit conditions in Fragaria . Although numerous studies have been conducted on the impact of salt stress on proline accumulation in different plants (Zhu et al., 1998; Aziz et al., 1999; Alian et al., 2000), no attempts have to date been made to study proline accumulation in strawberry plants under salinity conditions. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of salinity on the growth, proline and ion accumulation in leaves of two strawberry cultivars (Fern and Camarosa).

Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria (Pgpr) Increase Yield, Growth And Nutrition Of Strawberry Under High-Calcareous Soil Conditions

Plant growth promoting effects of Alcaligenes 637Ca, Staphylococcus MFDCa-1, MFDCa-2, Agrobacterium A18, Pantoea FF1 and Bacillus M3 were tested on strawberry cv. ‘Aromas’ based on yield, number, and weight of fruit, leaf area, vitamin C, total soluble solids (TSS), acidity and ionic composition of leaves under calcareous soil conditions. The results demonstrated that all of bacterial treatments significantly affected all parameters tested. The best result was obtained from 637Ca treatment, which significantly increased fruit yield, number and weight about 47.5, 34.7, and 9.4%, respectively, compared to control. Except for magnesium (Mg) and zinc (Zn) in the leaf, the concentrations of all plant tissue nutrients [nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), manganese (Mn), boron (B)] were significantly increased by bacterial treatments tested. The data in the present study showed that all bacterial treatments including Alcaligenes 637Ca, Staphylococcus MFDCa-1, MFDCa-2, Agrobacterium A18, Pantoea FF1, and Bacillus M3 to strawberry plants can ameliorative the deleterious effect of high lime on fruit yield, growth and nutrition. These results suggested that plant growth-promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) treatments could be offer an economic and simple means to increased plant resistance for high calcareous soil conditions.

Promising native summer apple (Malus domestica) cultivars from north-eastern Anatolia, Turkey

Abstract This study was conducted on summer apple (Malus domestica) trees growing wild in the Çoruh Valley, north‐eastern Anatolia, Turkey. The research material consisted of uncultivated summer apple trees. Out of 250,10 trees not infected by apple scab (Venturia ineaqualis) were selected. Fruit characteristics of these superior types were evaluated. The ranges of fruit characteristics determined for the selected types were: 49.5–152.2 g fruit weight, 42.8–65.3 mm fruit length, 52.3–75.7 mm fruit width, 10.3–13.8% total soluble solids, 4.88–7.44 mg vitamin C/100 g, 0.19–1.43% total acidity (as malic acid), 9.33–12.06% total sugar, and 6.31–8.94% reducing sugar. Some selections ripening in mid July should be compared with common summer apple cultivars for their agronomic characteristics or used as breeding partners for further breeding efforts.

Molecular characterization of mulberry (Morus spp.) genotypes via RAPD and ISSR

BACKGROUND In recent years, DNA-based markers have been used quite extensively because of their many advantages over the traditional morphological and biochemical markers. Many studies have shown that molecular markers are useful in delineating the genetic relationships among closely related mulberry genotypes and cultivars. Thus, in the present study, polymer chain reaction based DNA fingerprinting techniques were used to investigate the genetic relationships among mulberry genotypes growing in different agro-climatic regions of Turkey. RESULTS 20 RAPD primers generated a total of 173 bands, of which 157 (90.75%) were polymorphic. As for 11 ISSR primers, 124 bands (96.55%) were polymorphic in a total of 128. The similarity index for RAPD technique ranged between 0.24-0.98; 25İs203 with 25İs112 were found to be the closest genotypes, while 24Ke10 and 25İs123 were the most distant ones. According to the ISSR result, the genetic similarity index changed between 0.21-095; 25İs203 with 25İs112 genotypes were the closest, while 25İs08 and 01KaD2 were the most distant ones. CONCLUSION The RAPD and ISSR markers were found to be promising for assessing genetic diversity in mulberry genotypes.

Karaman Ekolojik Şartlarında M9 Anacına Aşılı Bazı Elma Çeşitlerinin Fenolojik ve Pomolojik Özellikleri

Bu tez calismasi S.U BAP koordinatorlugu tarafindan 12201064 nolu proje ile desteklenmistir.