Search

Fig types such as "Smyrna" and "San Pedro" require pollination (called caprification in fig cultivation) to produce a commercial crop, based on the crop and pollination characteristics of figs. Caprification is the process of hanging caprifig (male fig) fruits on female fig trees to ensure the transfer of pollen from the female fig to the caprifig by a wasp (Blastophaga psenes) that lives within the caprifig. It is necessary to extend the caprification period by using caprifig genotypes that ripen at different times, as female fig fruits ripen gradually. However, as caprifigs may not be continuously available for pollinating female figs, storing suitable caprifigs is necessary. The aim of this study was to assess changes in Blastophaga psenes, the duration of Blastophaga's exit, and the viability of pollen from caprifigs of different genotypes (16 08 05, 16 08 09, 16 08 10, 16 09 10, and 16 ZF 08) stored for caprification. These stored caprifig genotypes were subsequently used for pollination three times at 8-day intervals, after which their impact on the set and quality of the edible fig fruits was evaluated. According to the average data, at the end of storage, the least B. psenes loss was obtained from the 16 08 05 (61.03%) genotype, and the highest was obtained from the 16 09 10 (67.00%) genotype. Pollen germination tended to increase with the storage of caprifig fruits, but this increase was not linear. After storage, the 16 08 09 and 16 09 10 genotypes exhibited greater pollen germination. The highest fruit set and quality were obtained when the 16 08 09 and 16 09 10 genotypes were used as pollen sources. Furthermore, since the 16 08 10 genotype is the latest ripening caprifig genotype, it has been determined that it can pollinate late-ripening "Bursa Siyahı" fruits. Principal component and path analysis demonstrated that pollen viability and germination rate were crucial in selecting caprifig genotypes for fruit set and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The winter and spring frosts pose a significant problem in many walnut cultivation areas as frost damage to catkins and female flowers results in low fruit set and yield. In January 2021, the temperature dropped to -17.2 °C in Yenişehir, Bursa, an important walnut production area in North-Western Turkey. The present study was carried out to determine the natural frost damage on catkins of some walnut cultivars and the effectiveness of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) pollination, which has been developed and used in artificial pollination studies recently, on fruit set and fruit characteristics. For this purpose, two pollen concentrations (T1: 5% pollen two times; T2: 5% pollen in the first, 20% pollen in the second time) and the open pollination (control) were tested. Observations showed that frost damage on catkins varied from 57.31% (Ronde de Montignac) to 99.33% (Franquette). The initial fruit set was significantly higher in the T1 (87.74%) followed by T2 (83.89%). The final fruit set in T2 (75.16%) was higher than the T1 (74.11%), but the difference was found to be insignificant. The box and whisker plot shows that UAV pollination treatments (T1, T2) increased the fruit set, although this not uniform on the tree compared to open pollination. The highest nut weight, thickness, and length were obtained from control, followed by T1. The results showed that the fruit set was higher in pollination with UAV, and using less pollen (T1) was sufficient for fruit set. The research results support the use of UAV treatment on supplementary pollination for walnut. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study aimed to evaluate the pomological and phenological traits, as well as yield potential and incidence of external defects of some local ('Bilecik', 'Maraş 12', 'Maraş 18', 'Şebin', 'Şen 1') and foreign ('Chandler', 'Fernette', 'Fernor', 'Howard', 'Pedro', 'Serr') walnut cultivars grown in Bursa (north-west in Turkey) conditions between 2014 and 2020. The first leafing was observed in Maraş 12, Serr, Şebin, and Maraş 18 cultivars, while Fernette and Fernor were the last leafing cultivars. The female blooming period of the cultivars was recorded to be the longest in Maraş 18 (15 days) and Şebin (16 days) and that was the shortest in Bilecik and Serr (10 days). The male blooming period was recorded as the longest in Chandler, Fernette, Bilecik, and Şebin (16-18 days) and that was the shortest in Maraş 12 and Serr (10 days). The average yield per tree of cultivars ranged between 1.87 kg (Şebin) and 14.21 kg (Pedro). Walnut blight was observed on average in 15.85%, sunburn in 10.21%, codling moth in 5.11%, anthracnose in 3.23%, and bird damage in 2.35% of the fruits. The healthy nut percentage ranged from 40.06% (Şen 1) to 76.50% (Chandler). The nut weight of cultivars was between 9.91 g (Maraş 12) and 16.27 g (Şen 1). Kernel percentage varied from 36.31% (Şen 1) to 53.56% (Maraş 12). The principal component analysis conducted to distinguish the cultivars suggests that the most important factors could be reduced to five components. The results showed that Maraş 12, Chandler, Fernor, and Howard were suitable cultivars for commercial cultivation in Bursa conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Caprification is the process of hanging caprifig fruits on edible fig trees to transfer the pollen inside the caprifig to the edible fig via the wasp (Blastophaga psenes) living in the caprifig. It needs to be repeated several times for the proper fruit set of edible figs. The present study was conducted to determine the change in the number of Blastophaga psenes, the duration of Blastophaga's exit, and pollen viability in case the caprifigs to be used in the caprification process are stored until use. The number of Blastophaga and in vitro pollen viability were tested at day 0 (harvest day) and after 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20 days of storage at three different temperatures (0, 4, and 8 °C). Afterwards, the effect of pollination frequency on the edible fig fruit set and quality was determined by using Blastophaga psenes as a vector in the pollination of stored caprifig fruits, pollinating five times with 4-day intervals and three times with 8-day intervals. Approximately a 50% reduction in the number of B. psenes was detected after 4 (180.22), 12 (174.11) and 16 (192.66) days of caprifigs storage at 0, 4, and 8 °C, respectively. The pollen germination percentage of the caprifigs increased with storage and was higher in those stored at 8 °C (43.96%) and 4 °C (41.70%). The highest fruit set was obtained when the caprifigs stored at 4 °C (76.41%) and 8 °C (71.38%) five times with 4-day intervals were used for pollination. The pollination practice repeated five times with 4-day intervals resulted in a lower proportion of extra-large fruits with a weight of >100 g, a higher proportion of fruits with no or slight ostiole damage and early ripening of fruits. These results suggest that B. psenes and pollen viability can be preserved by storing caprifigs at 4 or 8 °C and that fruit set and fruit characteristics would be positively affected with the use of stored caprifigs in the pollination practice repeated five times with 4-day intervals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey is one of the most important sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.) producers in the world, mostly producing the cultivar “Kütahya.” To date, no previous study published on the effects of clonal roodstocks on the growth and development, yield, and fruit quality of “Kütahya” sour cherry. Therefore, this study was carried out from 2015 to 2019 to determine the influences of SL-64, Piku 3, Maxma 14, CAB 6P and PHL-C rootstocks on vigor, yield, and fruit quality of “Kütahya” sour cherry cultivar in Bursa, Marmara Region, Turkey. The effects of rootstocks on blooming period, ripening time, trunk diameter, trunk cross-sectional area, pruning waste, fruit weight and volume, fruit stalk length, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, pH, and ripening index were evaluated. No sour cherry trees on CAB 6P and PHL-C rootstocks died throughout the study period whereas trees on SL-64 rootstock showed high mortality (87%) in the first year of the study. In general, CAB 6P rootstock promoted the highest vigor and annual and cumulative yield. Yield efficiency was the highest for PHL-C but it was not significantly different from that for CAB 6P. CAB 6P rootstock induced the highest fruit weight and volume whereas Maxma 14 rootstock induced the lowest. Moreover, CAB 6P tended to induce higher fruit stalk length whereas Piku 3 induced the lowest. The soluble solids content was the highest in fruit from trees grafted on Maxma 14 but without significant differences with those in fruit from trees grafted on other rootstocks. In general, CAB 6P and PHL-C rootstocks tended to induce higher titratable acidity. In light of the findings of this study, it is concluded that CAB 6P was the best-adapted rootstock and it is recommended for establishing orchards of “Kütahya” sour cherry in the Marmara region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the cases with Aeromonas bacteremia in terms of clinical and microbiological characteristics, underlying disease and mortality rates. Patients with positive blood cultures were included in this research. Aeromonas bacteremia was diagnosed as at least one positive blood culture for Aeromonas species. The bacteremia was defined as community origin if the onset was in the community or within 72 hours of hospital admission. The others were considered as nosocomial. All bacteria were defined as Aeromonas with conventional method. Species identification was verified by VITEK system. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were analyzed with the disc diffusion, E-test method or VITEK system. Thirty-three patients were diagnosed with bacteremia due to Aeromonas spp. Hematologic and solid tumors were the leading underlying conditions, followed by cirrhosis. Two patients (6%) had community-acquired infections. Aeromonas hydrophila was the most common isolated bacterium. The crude mortality rate was 36%. 12 patients died and 6 deaths and 4 deaths were detected in patients with bacteremia caused by A. hydrophila and Aeromonas sobria respectively. All strains were resistant to ampicillin and more than 90% of the strains were susceptible to trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, fluoroquinolone, third generation cephalosporins, and carbapenems. Aeromonas sp. is not a frequent cause of bacteremia however, it may lead to high mortality rates, especially in the immunocompromised hosts and patients with liver cirrhosis. Nosocomial Aeromonas bacteremia is not uncommon in these populations. Broad-spectrum cephalosporins, piperacillin-tazobactam, fluoroquinolones, and carbapenems remain as effective antimicrobial agents for therapy of Aeromonas bacteremia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the chemical compositions and sugar profiles of seventeen local cultivars and two foreign chestnut hybrids, grown in the Marmara Region, Turkey, were examined. The results showed that chestnut hybrids and cultivars have 58.12- 69.83 total carbohydrates, 10.59-22.38 total sugars, 2.41-3.41 invert sugar, 6.15-12.44 total protein, 2.09-4.36 ash and 0.87- 2.61 total fat values (g 100 g-1 dry matter basis). It was determined that chestnut cultivars generally have over 50% water content and higher starch content (40.99-53.16 g 100 g-1). The sucrose contents of the cultivars were higher than the other sugars. Sucrose, glucose and fructose contents were 10.77-21.66, 0.33-1.13, and 0.15-0.79, respectively (g 100 g-1dry matter basis). These results stated that chestnuts have rich nutritive substances for human nutrition and health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was conducted to determine the king versus lateral fruit thinning effects on yield and fruit quality of 'Elstar', 'Granny Smith', 'Starkrimson Delicious', 'Ultra Red', 'Topred', and 'Jonagold' apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) cultivars grafted on MM106 rootstock in 2002-2003. Removal of the king fruit (KFR) treatment partially increased the yield in 'Jonagold', 'Elstar', and 'Granny Smith' cultivars while the effects were different by years in 'Starkrimson Delicious'. Leaving of the king fruit (KFL) treatment gave better results in the 'Topred' cultivar, and similar effects were obtained from both treatments in 'Ultra Red' cultivar. Non-significant differences were obtained from both treatments with respect to fruit weight in the 'Topred', 'Starkrimson Delicious', 'Jonagold' and 'Granny Smith' cultivars. Leaving of the king fruit treatment increased the fruit weight significantly in 'Elstar' and 'Ultra Red' cultivars in 2002. The values of fruit flesh firmness (lb), total soluble solids content (%), pH, titratable acidity (%), total and invert sugar quantity (g/100 g-1) were not found to be significantly different between the treatments with a few exceptions. The 'KFR' treatment that removed the dominant effect of the king fruit can be recommended for the 'Elstar' and 'Jonagold' cultivars because this treatment increased the yield and did not decreased the fruit weight significantly in these cultivars except for 'Elstar' in 2002. On the other hand 'KFL' treatment can be recommended for the 'Granny Smith', 'Topred' and 'Ultra Red' cultivars. Although this treatment decreased the yield of 'Granny Smith' it increased the mean fruit weight 45.6-62.7 g in the two experiment years. 'Starkrimson Delicious' did not show clear response to the treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Postbloom fruit drop (PFD) of citrus and Key lime anthracnose (KLA) are caused by Colletotrichum acutatum. Both fungal isolates can infect flower petals, induce young fruit abscission and result in severe yield loss on many citrus cultivars. Previous studies revealed that infection of citrus flowers by C. acutatum caused higher levels of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), which could be synthesized from the host plant and/or the fungal pathogen. The ability for IAA production by C. acutatum isolates was investigated. Similar to many microorganisms, the production of indole compounds in the medium by C. acutatum was dependent solely on the presence of tryptophan (Trp). In total, 14 PFD and KLA fungal isolates were tested, and revealed that they all were capable of utilizing Trp as a precursor to synthesize IAA and other indole derivatives. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis and chromogenic stains after a fluorescence thin-layer chromatography separation unambiguously identified IAA, tryptophol (TOL), indole-acetaldehyde, indole-acetamide (IAM), indole-pyruvic acid, and indole-lactic acid (ILA) from cultures supplemented with Trp. The data suggest that C. acutatum may synthesize IAA using various pathways. Interestingly, increasing Trp concentrations drastically increased the levels of TOL and ILA, but not IAA and IAM. The ability of C. acutatum to produce IAA and related indole compounds may in part contribute to the increased IAA levels in citrus flowers after infection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In the Vase system, the most common training system for peach-growing countries for more than a century, light distribution to the canopy is uneven, and access to the canopy for pruning, thinning, and harvest labor is difficult. It is important to identify alternative systems to the Vase system considering the cultivar and growing environment to facilitate labor and enhance productivity and quality. In Türkiye, one of the important centers of peach growing worldwide, detailed research has yet to be published on the applicability of training systems alternative to the widely used Vase system. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of different training systems (Vase, Catalan Vase, Quad-V, Tri-V) on growth, yield, fruit quality, and labor costs of peach cultivars (ExtremeVR 314, ExtremeVR 436, ExtremeVR 568). The experiment was conducted from 2017 to 2022. Although the distance between rows in all training systems is 5 m, the distance between trees on the row is determined as 4 m in Vase, 3 m in Catalan Vase, 2.5 m in Quad-V, and 2 m in Tri-V. In the experiment, vegetative development parameters, such as canopy volume, trunk sectional area, and the amount of winter pruning weights, differed according to the training system. In the final year, the Vase system, which produces the most pruning weight, generates 48.0% more pruning weight compared with the Tri-V system, which produces the least. Concerning yield per tree and hectare, trained to the Vase system yielded higher fruit per tree regardless of cultivar, while the Quad-V and Tri-V systems yielded more fruit per hectare. The training system and cultivar affected the fruit size; the largest fruits were obtained from the ExtremeVR 568 cultivar trained according to the Vase system. The most time needed for winter pruning was obtained from the Vase (79.4 min/tree) system, and the Tri-V (57.4 min/tree) and Quad-V (60.3 min/tree) systems required the least time. The Catalan Vase (31.1 min/tree) system required the least time for summer pruning. The most fruit harvest in an hour was obtained from the trees trained according to the Tri-V (164.5 kg/h) and Quad-V (132.02 kg/h) systems. These results suggest that Quad-V and Catalan Vase systems performed well and could be alternatives to the Vase system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The caprification practice has been used widely in fig cultivation because it affects the yield and quality of fig fruits, a phenomenon known as the 'xenia effect'. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of pollen sources on fruit sets and fruit quality in the 'Bursa Siyahı' fig cultivar in 2017 and 2018. The eleven male genotypes and five cultivars were used as pollen source. The findings obtained in the present study showed that pollen sources significantly affected fruit set, early fruiting rate, fruit size, ostiole width, skin and flesh thickness, titratable acidity (TA), pH, and soluble solids content (SSC). The fruit set ratio varied from 32.02% ('16 03 06') to 76.66% ('16 08 07'), and fruit weight varied from 77.29 g ('16 03 06') to 106.88 g ('16 00 01') based on pollen sources. The ostiole diameter ranged from 3.84 mm ('16 ZF 08') to 7.67 mm ('77 00 01'). The skin thickness ranged from 3.01 mm ('Havran') to 5.35 mm ('16 00 01'). The principal component analysis was performed to distinguish the pollen sources for the 'Bursa Siyahı' cultivar. The analysis proposed that the most important factors affecting the fig quality can be reduced to five components. Fruit weight (0.958), skin thickness (0.810), flesh l* value (0.821), pH (-0.872), and SSC (0.836) value could be regarded as the characteristic indicators for PC1, PC2, PC3, PC4, and PC5, respectively. The results showed that '16 09 10', '16 05 03', '16 08 07', and '16 08 12' pollen sources are adequate pollinators for the edible 'Bursa Siyahı' Ig. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]