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World apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.)  production is increasing steadily due to breeding of new high yielding cultivars in different countries. More recently, breeding programs have been modified according to consumers’ demands and also improvement in resistance to diseases (Sharka, Monilinia etc.), frost damages, and determination of self-(in) compatibility. In this study, fourteen apricot breeding progenies and six of their parents were evaluated by using both morphological and molecular markers. As morphological markers, fruit weight, width, length, height, total soluble solids, acidity, and fruit firmness were used. In molecular analysis, to determine genetic relationships, Sequence-Related Amplified Polymorphism (SRAP), Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) and Damage-Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMP) markers were used. In addition, SRc-F/R markerswere used to determine S allele profile. The results showed that, although there were no earlier genotypes than Ninfa and Priana, Ay×P3 cross was a promising genotype with regard to earliness and fruit characteristics. A total of 224 scorable bands obtained with 8 SRAP primer combinations (25 bands), 8 DAMP primers (81 band) and 16 ISSR primers (118 bands) showing high diversity among crosses and cultivars. A total of 4 S-RNase alleles (S_C, S₂, S₃, S₆) were identified in this study and the most widely identified alleles were S_C and S₃ alleles.

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With the increasing world population, global warming, and climate change, water scarcity significantly limits water use in crop production. Therefore, timely and accurate determination of water stress is very important for the correct and effective management of existing water resources and minimizing harmful effects on crop production. Two years of experiments were conducted in the water-limited region in Türkiye to investigate the possible use of the Crop Water Stress Index (CWSI) as a remote sensing technology in sugar beet irrigation scheduling. Four different Irrigation levels (I₅₀: 50% deficit, I₇₅: 25% deficit, I₁₀₀: full irrigation, and I₁₂₅: 25% excess irrigation) were applied to sugar beet by drip irrigation system. The amount of applied irrigation water and crop evapotranspiration varied between 238-540 and 350-580 mm in 2021, and between 324-807 and 502-829 mm in 2022. In both years, the highest beed yields were obtained from I₁₀₀ treatments (83 and 130 t ha^-1) and the lowest from I₅₀ treatments (66.7 and 67.4 t ha^-1). Water Productivity (WP) and Irrigation Water Productivity (IWP) in both years decreased significantly by excessive irrigation. CWSI values ranged between 0.16-0.98 in 2021 and between 0.02-0.71 in 2022. CWSI was significantly related to yield and Leaf Area Index (LAI). According to the results, CWSI could be used successfully in sugar beet irrigation scheduling and yield estimation.

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In this study, changes in the post-harvest fruit quality of 'Crimson Tide' watermelon variety grafted onto Nun9075 and ungrafted ‘Crimson Tide’ were investigated. Watermelons were grown at the Alata Horticultural Research Institute, Erdemli, Mersin, Turkey, and stored at 4°C and 90-95% relative humidity for 5 weeks. The total soluble solid and titratable acid contents, weight loss, fungal decay, physiological disorders, vitamin C, antioxidant activity, total phenolic substance and sugars were evaluated. Quality analyses were determined at weekly intervals throughout the storage period. The results demonstrated that weight loss of grafted and control fruits were found to be very low (1%) during the storage. Fungal and physiological disorders were not observed in grafted or control watermelon fruits during storage. Total soluble solid, vitamin C, antioxidant activity, and total phenolic substance contents of the ‘Crimson Tide’ variety grafted onto Nun9075 were higher than in the control fruits.