Potatoes are a staple food with high antioxidant properties that can positively affect population health. The beneficial effects of potatoes have been attributed to tuber quality. However, the tuber quality related researches at genetic levels are very few. Sexual hybridization is a powerful strategy for producing new and valuable genotypes with high quality. In this study, 42 breeding potato genotypes in Iran were selected based on appearance characteristics such as shape, size, color, eyes of tubers, and tuber yield and marketability. The tubers were evaluated for their nutritional value and properties, viz. phenolic content, flavonoids, carotenoids, vitamins, sugars, proteins, and antioxidant activity. Potato tubers with white flesh and colored skin had significantly higher levels of ascorbic acid and total sugar. The result showed that higher phenolic, flavonoid, carotenoid, protein concentration, and antioxidant activity were noted in yellow-fleshed. Burren (yellow-fleshed) tubers had more antioxidant capacity in comparison to genotypes and cultivars, which did not differ significantly with genotypes 58, 68, 67 (light yellow), 26, 22, and 12 (white). The highest correlation coefficients in antioxidant compounds were related to total phenol content and FRAP, suggesting that phenolics might be crucial predictors of antioxidant activities. The concentration of antioxidant compounds in the breeding genotypes was higher than in some commercial cultivars, and higher antioxidant compounds content and activity were detected in yellow-fleshed cultivars. Based on current results, understanding the relationship between antioxidant compounds and the antioxidant activity of potatoes could be very helpful in potato breeding projects.

Almond [Prunus amygdalus Batsch syn. Prunus dulcis (Mill.) D.A.Webb] trees are either self- or cross-incompatible, which results in lower fruit set and yields. Flower bagging, fluorescence microscopy, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were used to discriminate between self-compatible genotypes obtained from crosses of the self-incompatible female parents (‘121’ and ‘4’) with the self-compatible male parent (‘Tuono’). This study was performed on 80 almond genotypes. The results of this study showed that, in the first cross (‘121’ × ‘Tuono’), genotypes 5, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 27, 29, 31, 35, and 38 were identified as being self-compatible and, in the second cross (‘4’ × ‘Tuono’), genotypes 1, 2, 10, 11, 12, 15, 21, 23, 25, 32, 37, 38, and 40 were found to be self-compatible. There were some promising genotypes based on self-compatibility and nut and kernel characteristics; for example, genotype 40 had the highest mean fruit and kernel weights at 2.9 and 1.3 g, respectively. PCR can be used to identify self-compatible genotypes at the juvenile stage. Flower bagging under favourable climatic conditions not only discriminated between self-compatible almond genotypes, but can also be used to measure fruit set percentages. Flower bagging and fluorescence microscopy can be used to determine the level of self-incompatibility. Fluorescence microscopy identified self-incompatible genotypes, even under unfavourable conditions. In general, a combination of all three methods is recommended to increase the accuracy of detecting self-compatible genotypes of almond.

Introduction: Lily is often described as one of the most widespread, commercial crops in the floriculture industry. Commercially grown cultivars are mostly propagated by bulb scales which it cost effective and uniformity in tissue culture conditions. Plant tissue culture techniques can effectively provide far-reaching implications in micro-propagation. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of various concentrations of cytokines and auxins on callogenesis and Biomass under in vitro conditions. In this experiment, the evaluations were aimed at measuring different characteristics in two lily cultivars, namely, Lilium ledebourii and Lilium regal. Results: The results showed significant values in all of the measured characteristics. The highest percentage of callogenesis was caused by 2 µm PIC plus 1 µm KIN in L. ledebourii (88.66%) and L. regal (88.66%). Also, the callus weight in both cultivars was obtained by applying the same combination of treatments. In the second experiment, the highest fresh biomass of the cell suspension occurred by applying 2 µm PIC plus 4 µm KIN. The maximum amount of fresh biomass in L. ledebourii (88.93 g/L) and L. regal (41 g/L) occurred on the 24th and 20th day of the culture, respectively. Conclusions: An efficient and fragile callus induction was developed by NAA, which nonetheless made the condition more suitable for cell suspension culture. These lily cultivars need high amounts of PIC as auxin to grow well in cell suspensions. By increasing the PIC level, the biomass accumulates more. These results can moderately optimize large-scale production of both fragile calli and cell suspension biomass.