• Ozone disinfected seed-borne bacteria and fungi from seeds and ornamental bulbs. • Gaseous ozone showed better performance than ozonated water. • Pre-soaking the seeds in water increased the efficacy of ozone sterilization. • Sterilization success of ozone depended on the type of the seed, pathogen, and treatment conditions.

The black cumin plant, which forms the research material, is a plant cultivated in many countries for various purposes. By eliminating the difficulties in seed germination, efficiency can be increased. Applications to improve seed quality include improving harvesting, drying and storage technologies, pre-sowing applications, seed processing and coating technologies. Among these applications, priming applications and seed coating methods occupy an important place. In previous studies on plants from the Ranunculaceae family, various pathogens of plant viruses have been identified. One of the viruses transmitted by seeds of the Ranunculaceae family is Cucumber mosaic virüs (CMV). The aim was to increase germination rates and to achieve early and uniform emergence of black cumin, which has a small seed size and whose embryos also show irregular germination. For this purpose, priming, chemical application and film coating and their combinations were used to determine and recommend the best method. In addition to these studies, black cumin seeds infected with CMV were determined by serological and molecular analysis methods and a series of applications were carried out to eliminate this viral factor from the seeds. As a result of the evaluations, the seeds showed the highest germination rate (91% and 93%, respectively) when priming+polymer+KNO3 and priming+polymer+GA3 were applied. It was found that both polymer application and priming application increased GA3 efficiency. Priming+polymer+GA3 application statistically allowed the seeds to reach the mean germination time (5.87 days) in the shortest time. In contrast, the application of the polymer alone and the applications in combination with the polymer caused the seeds to reach the mean germination time longer than the control. The chemical substances and applications that successfully eliminated the cmv factor in black cumin seeds were determined. It was found that the most successful applications were hot water and ozone applications.

Grapevine viruses pose a significant threat to the viticulture industry, resulting in reduced grape yield, poor fruit quality, and economic loss. Accurate and timely detection of multiple viruses are essential for effective disease management and the implementation of appropriate control measures. The aim of this study was to assess the presence of grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV), grapevine fleck virus (GFkV), grapevine leafroll-associated virus‑1 (GLRaV-1), arabis mosaic virus (ArMV), and grapevine virus A (GVA) in 320 plant samples collected from the Aegean region of Turkey using the powerful technique of multiplex reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Through comprehensive analysis, 119 of the 320 infected samples were identified using PCR. The distribution of the detected viruses revealed the presence of 28 GFLV, 31 GLRaV‑1, 12 GFkV, 21 GVA, and 27 ArMV. By comprehensively analyzing the samples, the researchers were able to simultaneously detect and identify the target viruses using a single, cost-effective assay. These results reveal the prevalence and distribution of these viruses in the Aegean region, providing valuable insights into the viral landscape of grapevines in this important viticultural area. The high detection rates of these viruses highlight the urgent need for improved disease management strategies to safeguard vine health and productivity.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) infections in tomato and pepper plants showing virus-induced symptoms in vegetable growing districts of İzmir, Turkey. Material and Methods: Surveys were carried out in tomato and pepper plantations in 2019 and 2021, and the incidences of these viruses in the collected leaf samples were determined by RT-PCR. Nucleotide identities and phylogenetic relationships of the TSWV and CMV isolates with other isolates retrieved from the GenBank database were determined. Results: The results of this study showed that tomato plants were infected at the same rate (21.50%) with TSWV and CMV. Out of the tested pepper samples, 64.15% were infected with TSWV and 25.47% with CMV. The results showed that, the identity rate of nucleoprotein region of TSWV isolates from tomato was 99-96% at nucleotide level while the isolates from pepper showed 100-95% identity. On the other hand, the capsid protein gene region of the tomato isolate of CMV had nucleotide identity rate of 98-95% with other isolates in GenBank, while that of its pepper isolates had 100-98% identity. Also, CMV isolates of this study showed close phylogenetic relationship with the CMV isolates of subgroup IB. Conclusion: This study revealed the prevalence of TSWV and CMV in symptomatic tomato and pepper samples in İzmir province and some molecular properties of them.

Amaç: Bu çalışmada, ülkemiz üretiminde önemli yere sahip sebze tohumlarında viral etmenlerin son yıllardaki bulunma durumlarının hızlı ve etkili yöntemlerle ortaya koyulması amaçlanmıştır.Materyal ve Metot: Çalışmada, 2014-2018 yılları arasında Ege Üniversitesi (EÜ) Ziraat Fakültesi Bitki Koruma Bölümü ve EÜ Tohum Teknolojisi Merkezi (TOTEM)’ne farklı üreticilerden gelen toplam 430 adet tohum örneği materyal olarak kullanılmıştır. Viral enfeksiyonların tohum örneklerindeki durumları DAS-ELISA (serolojik) ve Reverse Transcriptase PCR (moleküler) testlerden elde edilen sonuçlara göre belirlenmiştir.Bulgular: Çeşitli sebze türlerinde yapılan serolojik ve moleküler testler sonucunda tohum örneklerinde tek ve birden fazla etmenin bulunduğu virüs enfeksiyonlarına rastlanmıştır. Sebze tohum örneklerinde viral etmenlerin bulunma durumları sebze türlerine göre %17-23 oranında (biber %23, domates %19, kabakgil %17) değişmektedir.Sonuç: Yaptığımız çalışmada domates, biber ve kabakgil sebze türlerinden oluşan 430 tohum örneğinin %20’sinde çeşitli viral enfeksiyonlar saptanmıştır. Bölgemiz yetiştiriciliğinde ekonomik öneme sahip viral etmenlerin varlığını ortaya koymak gerekli koruma önlemlerinin alınması açısından önemlidir.

Grapevine rupestris stem pitting-associated virus (GRSPaV) is a significant pathogen in certification programs, causing stem pitting in the trunks of grafted vines. Nevertheless, it remains latent in ungrafted varieties and rootstocks. Given its status as a certification agent, rapid, reliable, and sensitive detection of GRSPaV is of great importance. However, the identification of genetically distinct variants of GRSPaV has made reliable diagnosis using the current primer pair employed in certification analyses challenging, leading to false-negative results. In this study, degenerate primers and an LNA probe set were designed using 25 genomic sequences from five different GRSPaV strain groups to achieve rapid, reliable, and sensitive detection. Optimization studies were conducted using the Roche LightCycler® Nano Real-time PCR system. Real-time RT-PCR results carried out via 41 grapevine varieties and 81 rootstock samples demonstrated that the newly designed degenerate primer pair and LNA probe set yielded positive results in 37 out of 122 vine samples, whereas the existing primer pair detected only 5 positive samples. The findings indicate that the designed degenerate primer and LNA probe set can be successfully utilized for the rapid, reliable, and sensitive detection of GRSPaV in certification analyses. Given the high genetic variability of viruses like GRSPaV, robust detection requires continuously updated primers, rigorous strain monitoring, and skilled diagnosticians since a universally perfect, future-proof primer remains an unattainable ideal.