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. Hierarchical cluster analysis divided the accessions into 10 distinct classes based on fruit shape and size. Multivariate analysis was used to assess divergence in variable traits among populations. Eight principal components with an eigenvalue >1 were identified by factor analysis, which contributed 87.5% variation to the total cumulative variance with the first two components contributing 32.0% and 18.1% variance, respectively. The relationship between vegetative and fruit descriptors was explained by respective CD and TA correlation networks. There was a strong positive correlation between fruit shape and size whereas negative correlations were between fruit shape index, internal eccentricity, and proximal end shape. The combined approach of CD and TA phenotyping allowed us to unravel the phenotypic diversity of vegetative and reproductive trait variation evaluated at pre- and post-harvest stages.

In our study, we used the rich biodiversity of peppers in the Balkan region and characterized 63 pepper accessions from five cultivar types (Pungent; Sweet; Pumpkin; Kapia; For powder), in view of their phytochemical composition and antioxidant activity. The obtained results showed high variation in the compositional profiles between studied cultivar groups, as well within individual groups. Based on fresh weight (FW), the most abundant sugar in the studied accessions was glucose (0.36–3.79%), followed by fructose (0.16–2.98%). The accessions from “For powder” group were the richest source of uronic acids—0.77%, followed by accessions from “Pungent” group—0.64%. In four of the five groups, citric acid was the predominant organic acid, whereas only in the “Sweet” group, malic acid was the major representative of organic acid. The highest amount of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) was found in a genotype CAPS-7, which is in the group of “Pungent” accessions. The polyphenol content varied in a broad range from 42 mg/100 g FW to 266 mg/100 g FW. The differences in the flavonoid content were even more significant reaching 60-fold difference—from 1.0 mg/100 g FW to 64.3 mg/100 g FW. The accessions from the “For powder” group were leaders in regards to their total polyphenol and total flavonoid contents, as well as for their antioxidant activity, measured by ORAC and HORAC assays. This variation in fruit composition might be manipulated via plant breeding to create new pepper varieties with improved nutritional value of their fruits.

Soil salinity is one of the abiotic stress factors gaining importance in recent years due to the changing climate and rising temperatures. This possesses a serious risk to food security worldwide and a range of adaptations and mitigation strategies are required. Crop improvement through breeding is a possible solution to overcome salinity stress. In this respect, a study was designed to screen a collection from garden pea accessions to salinity tolerance in in vitro conditions. We analyzed the effects of four salinity levels (0, 50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl) on seed germination, seedling emergence, shoot and root lengths, and plant fresh weight in 22 garden pea genotypes. Data showed that more of the pea genotypes are able to tolerate 50 mM NaCl concentration. The increasing of salt levels to 100 and 200 mM NaCl caused a significant decrease in germination and reduced the length and weight of shoots and roots. Among the genotypes, varieties Uspeh 72, Paldin, and Flora 6 were highly sensitive to salinity stress, while varieties Prometey, Musala, and Zornitsa were distinguished as more tolerant. The results depicted that salinity treatments had a more negative effect on plant growth than on seed germination, which is probably due to the in vitro conditions in which the experiments were conducted. The studied accessions of garden pea were sensitive to salt stress; nevertheless, some tolerant accessions were identified.