Salinity is one of the abiotic stresses that lead to an imbalance in the physiological processes of the plants and also affects potato growth and productivity in maınly semi-arid and growing areas. The accumulation of Na+ and Cl- ions in the cells is very toxic can influence all mechanisms and the enzymatic actions of the plants. In vitro screening of plant genotypes for osmotic stress represents a valuable tool as an alternative to field trials and can be applied based on osmotic stress tolerance. The main goal of this study was to reveal variability in salinity stress tolerance of potato varieties using in vitro screening. Stem cuttings consisting of a single node of different varieties were cultured on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with different concentrations of sodium chloride (NaCl) (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM). The differences among the plantlet length, number of branches, number of nodes, number of the leaflet, leaflet width, leaflet length, root length, number of the root, fresh plantlet weight, dry plantlet weight of all varieties were negatively influenced by all NaCl concentrations tested. Microtuberization and stolon growth of the varieties were also completely inhibited at high concentrations (100-150 mM). The Principal components analysis (PCA) was applied to the data matrix (15 morphological characteristics x 12 potato varieties) of the potato varieties. Also, a hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) was used to identify the possible nearest and similarity of all morphological characteristics analyzed of the potato varieties. In grouping potato varieties, HCA and PCA results were found to be similar. We can speculate about the responses of morphological similarities of the potato varieties against salt stress. We concluded that Innovator and Kennebec are respectively the most salt-tolerant varieties. Hermes was moderately salt-tolerant and microtuberization capacity of Slaney was also high under salt stress conditions.

Methanol, ethanol, acetone and chloroform extracts of powdered Hypericum heterophyllum prepared from leafs were investigated for their (i) phytochemical constituents, which was evaluated by LC-ESI-MS/MS and various known total bioactive methods; (ii) antioxidant capacity, which was evaluated by several in vitro assays such as DPPH, ABTS, H₂O₂, superoxide radical, and metal chelating; (iii) acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity; (iv) active constituents of the extracts with AChE in silico docking. Phytochemical analysis revealed that none of the extracts contained hypericin, pseudohypericin and hyperforin. Among the identified compounds, ethanol and acetone extracts had the highest number of compounds. The highest value of total phenolic content (132.7 mg GAE/g) was obtained with methanol extract, whereas the highest values of total flavonoid (61.8 mg QE/g) and flavanol (0.89 mg CE/g) content were recorded in acetone extract. Methanol extract displayed the most DPPH activity (24.9 mg TE/g), but ethanol extract (59.8 mg TE/g) showed the highest ABTS activity. Acetone extract displayed the best hydroxyl and superoxide radical scavenging activities with the values of 351.5 mg AAE/g, and 197.3 mg TE/g respectively. The chloroform extract exhibited the best AChE inhibition activity (11.07 µg/ml). In the docking study, quercetin-7-O-glucoside, diosgenin, and quercetin-3-glucoside were calculated to have a stronger MolDock Score than the reference ligand Donepezil. Our docking results have indicated that extracts contain compounds with a high affinity against the acetylcholinesterase enzyme. These data suggest that these extracts can be potentially important antioxidant supplements and drug candidates for AChE inhibition activity.

The aim of study is to compare the phytochemicals and free radical scavenging activities in methanol extracts of flower, leaf, stem in vitro plantlet, callus of Hypericum perforatum L. In vitro cultures of H. perforatum was established by using MS-B5 medium contained plant growth regulators such as BAP, TDZ and picloram. Total phenolics and flavonoids were analysed by spectrophotometric methods.The stem was the richest in total phenolics (228.9 mg GAE/g extract) and flavonoids (102.4 mg QE/g extract). Quinic acid, gallic acid, (+)-catechin, ferulic acid, vanillic acid, p-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, and quercetin were determinated by LC-MS/MS. Free radical scavenging activities (ABTS and DPPH) of all samples were detected as IC50 values, and was compared to standards such as trolox and ascorbic acid. As a result, the stem exhibited the stronger antioxidant activities than other samples, and vanillic acid, ferulic acid and gallic acid could be produced by in vitro culture. Keywords: Hypericum perforatum, antioxidant activity, in vitro plantlets, phytochemicals.

Sage (Salvia officinalis L.) and lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L) are important medicinal plants and their infusions (herbal teas) are the most common form of these plants consumed. In this study, herbal teas of both species cultivated and exported in Anatolia region were prepared using different infusion time (5 and 10 min) and sample amount (2 and 3 g). These herbal teas were analysed for their vitamin C, total phenolics, total flavonoids, total flavanols, free radical scavenging activities (1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl and hydrogen peroxide), and also twelve minerals (K, Na, Mg, Ca, Fe, B, Ti, Sr, Ba, Li, Ag and Ga) were determined in each sage and lemon balm dry leaves as well as their herbal teas. Vitamin C in the herbal teas varied from 0.24 to 615.8 µg/mL. Total bioactive contents of the herbal teas ranged from 76.4 to 215.4 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/cup for total phenolics, 16.2 to 69.9 mg quercetin (QE)/cup for total flavonoids, and 363.8 to 906.7 µg catechin equivalent (CE)/cup for total flavanol. The highest total bioactive contents and antioxidant activities were found in lemon balm herbal teas, and also in the herbal teas prepared with 3g sample amount and 10 min infusion time of both specie. As a result, the study also showed that the best sample amount in terms of the analysed minerals and vitamin C in herbal teas was 3 g for both species, but the best infusion time was 5 minutes for sage and 10 minutes for lemon balm.

The search for new plant natural products with insecticidal properties to control insect pests in agriculture has gained relevance in the past decades. The aim of the study was to investigate the insecticidal activity of extracts derived from flower, leaf, and stem of three Hypericum species (Hypericum heterophyllum, Hypericum perforatum, Hypericum scabrum) against the adults of three important stored grain insect pests namely; Sitophilus oryzae (Curculionidae), Rhyzopertha dominica (Bostrichidae) and Tribolium confusum (Tenebrionidae). The insects were incubated with the food under 10% concentration of Hypericum extracts and the mortality was recorded after 24, 48 and 72 h of exposure. The extracts of the Hypericum species and exposure time were found to have statistically significant effective against the three insect pests. After 72 h exposure, the mortality ranged from 4.3 to 94.1 % for all insects. Among tested insects, R. dominica was more susceptible than T. confusum and S. oryzae. Although desirable insecticidal effect against the insects were recorded from all the three Hypericum species, the leaf extract of H. perforatum was more effective on R. dominica, while the flower and stem of H. scabrum displayed high toxic effect on T. confusum and S. oryzae, respectively. The leaf extracts, of H. perforatum, in particular, may be used as source of new potential botanical insecticides against R. dominica in stored grains.