Several factors influence fruit set and yield in strawberry production. Bees play an important role in pollinating strawberry flowers; however, bee populations are decreasing due to air pollution and high usage of pesticides. Boron (B) can increase fruit set by improving pollen viability, germination, and pollen tube growth. This study aimed to assess how the application of honey bees and B fertilizer affects yields and marketable fruit quality of Fortuna strawberry cultivar. The experiment used two strawberry growing tunnels. One was open, thus allowing bee activity, and the other was closed, which meant that bees could not access the strawberry flowers. Each tunnel had different B applications. The presence of bees increased the total fruit yield per plant by 54% compared to the results of plants that were not pollinated by bees. Plants treated with bees yielded bigger fruit than those without bee treatment, which is likely a result of more achenes having been fertilized. Fruit formation, however, did not depend directly on pollinator activity. Both in the presence and absence of bees, applying B to the soil increased yields and decreased misshapen fruit rates. Applying B to the soil was more effective than B foliar applications. As a result of this study, it is demonstrated that strawberry plants perform at a higher rate with the application of B and the presence of bee activity.

Kalanchoë cultivars rank as one of the most sold potted ornamental plants in the world. Among its key features that sustain high market interest are the long flowering period, abundance of flowers, thick and glossy leaves, easy maintenance and less water requirement compared to other potted plants. In breeding studies of Kalanchoë, plants with different flower colors such as white, cream, yellow, orange, red, pink and purple were developed. Moreover, double-flowered cultivars (comprising a large number of petals), more compact and cultivars with larger flowers were also obtained. Novel morphological characteristics are always in high demand in the market of ornamental plants. Increasing the variation in the gene pool with different species played a major role in the development of these characteristics. Nowadays, not only potted cultivars are launched but also cut flower cultivars have been developed and presented to consumers. Besides conventional breeding and interspecific hybridization, biotechnological methods, which have a promising future, are used to develop morphological characteristics of Kalanchoë.

This research was carried out to determine the pollination abilities of Domat, Gemlik and Sarı Ulak olive cultivars. Pollen viability rate, germination rate and amount of pollen production were examined during the periods when 25%, 50% and 75% of the flowers were opened. According to the results obtained from three years’ experimental study, the highest percentages of pollen viability were found in Gemlik (81.51%) and Domat (81.50%), whereas Sarı Ulak cultivar (77.41%) showed the lowest viability. In pollen germination percentages, the highest values on the basis of cultivars were determined 59.85% (Domat), 59.74% (Gemlik) and 52.12% (Sarı Ulak). The highest amount of pollen production in a flower was found in the Sarı Ulak cultivar (329,046) while it was followed by Domat (319,693) and Gemlik (306,385). Despite the high pollen production in Sarı Ulak cultivar, the pollen viability and germination rates were found to be low. In Gemlik and Domat cultivars, all values were obtained relatively near. In addition, it had been noted that the values related to pollen viability, germination and production amount were higher during 50% and 75% flowering periods than 25%.

Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus L. Thunb. Matsum. and Nakai) is a vegetable species with high water content that is rich in lycopene and refreshing; therefore, breeding studies are carried out intensively to develop new varieties. The breeding period in these plants can be shortened with the use of the haploidization technique, and determining the ploidy levels of plants in haploidization studies is very important. In this study, it was examined whether morphological and cytological analyses would be sufficient for ploidy determination of haploid plants obtained by ovary culture in watermelon. With this aim, the stomatal, morphological and cytological characteristics were determined, taken from 15 haploid and 19 double haploid plants. The ploidy level of the plants was detected by flow cytometry before these analyses. In this study, “Principal Component Analysis” was performed based on average values to analyze the structure of the relationship between the parameters examined. It is thought that stomatal features can be used as morphological markers in determining the ploidy levels of plants. The differences obtained from the study results may help to develop effective strategies in determining the ploidy levels of plants.