Essential oils (EOs) and plant extracts are sources of beneficial chemical compounds that have potential applications in medicine, food, cosmetics, and the agriculture industry. Plant medicines were the only option for preventing and treating mankind’s diseases for centuries. Therefore, plant products are fundamental sources for producing natural drugs. The extraction of the EOs is the first important step in preparing these compounds. Modern extraction methods are effective in the efficient development of these compounds. Moreover, the compounds extracted from plants have natural antimicrobial activity against many spoilage and disease-causing bacteria. Also, the use of plant compounds in cosmetics and hygiene products, in addition to their high marketability, has been helpful for many beauty problems. On the other hand, the agricultural industry has recently shifted more from conventional production systems to authenticated organic production systems, as consumers prefer products without any pesticide and herbicide residues, and certified organic products command higher prices. EOs and plant extracts can be utilized as ingredients in plant antipathogens, biopesticides, and bioherbicides for the agricultural sector. Considering the need and the importance of using EOs and plant extracts in pharmaceutical and other industries, this review paper outlines the different aspects of the applications of these compounds in various sectors.

A comprehensive understanding of genetic diversity and the categorization of germplasm is important to effectively identify appropriate parental candidates for the goal of breeding. It is necessary to have a technique of tissue culture that is both effective and reproducible to perform genetic engineering on fodder pea genotypes (Pisum sativum var. arvense L.). In this investigation, the genetic diversity of forty-two fodder pea genotypes was assessed based on their ability of callus induction (CI), the percentage of embryogenic callus by explant number (ECNEP), the percentage of responding embryogenic calluses by explant number (RECNEP), the number of somatic embryogenesis (NSE), the number of responding somatic embryogenesis (RSE), the regeneration efficiency (RE), and the number of regenerated plantlets (NRP). The findings of the ANOVA showed that there were significant differences (p < 0.001) between the genotypes for all in vitro parameters. The method of principal component analysis (PCA) was used to study the correlations that exist between the factors associated with tissue culture. While RE and NRP variables were most strongly associated with Doğruyol, Ovaçevirme-4, Doşeli-1, Yolgeçmez, and Incili-3 genotypes, RECNEP, NSE, RDE, and RECNEP variables were strongly associated with Avcılar, Ovaçevirme-3, and Ardahan Merkez-2 genotypes. The in vitro process is a complex multivariate process and more robust analyses are needed for linear and nonlinear parameters. Within the scope of this study, artificial neural network (ANN), random forest (RF), and multivariate adaptive regression spline (MARS) algorithms were used for RE estimation, and these algorithms were also compared. The results that we acquired from our research led us to the conclusion that the employed ANN-multilayer perceptron (ANN-MLP) model (R² = 0.941) performs better than the RF model (R² = 0.754) and the MARS model (R² = 0.214). Despite this, it has been shown that the RF model is capable of accurately predicting RE in the early stages of the in vitro process. The current work is an inquiry regarding the use of RF, MARS, and ANN models in plant tissue culture, and it indicates the possibilities of application in a variety of economically important fodder peas.

Wheat genotypes should be improved through available germplasm genetic diversity to ensure food security. This study investigated the molecular diversity and population structure of a set of Türkiye bread wheat genotypes using 120 microsatellite markers. Based on the results, 651 polymorphic alleles were evaluated to determine genetic diversity and population structure. The number of alleles ranged from 2 to 19, with an average of 5.44 alleles per locus. Polymorphic information content (PIC) ranged from 0.031 to 0.915 with a mean of 0.43. In addition, the gene diversity index ranged from 0.03 to 0.92 with an average of 0.46. The expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.00 to 0.359 with a mean of 0.124. The unbiased expected heterozygosity ranged from 0.00 to 0.319 with an average of 0.112. The mean values of the number of effective alleles (Ne), genetic diversity of Nei (H) and Shannon’s information index (I) were estimated at 1.190, 1.049 and 0.168, respectively. The highest genetic diversity (GD) was estimated between genotypes G1 and G27. In the UPGMA dendrogram, the 63 genotypes were grouped into three clusters. The three main coordinates were able to explain 12.64, 6.38 and 4.90% of genetic diversity, respectively. AMOVA revealed diversity within populations at 78% and between populations at 22%. The current populations were found to be highly structured. Model-based cluster analyses classified the 63 genotypes studied into three subpopulations. The values of F-statistic (Fst) for the identified subpopulations were 0.253, 0.330 and 0.244, respectively. In addition, the expected values of heterozygosity (He) for these sub-populations were recorded as 0.45, 0.46 and 0.44, respectively. Therefore, SSR markers can be useful not only in genetic diversity and association analysis of wheat but also in its germplasm for various agronomic traits or mechanisms of tolerance to environmental stresses.

Low temperature (cold) and freezing stress is a major problem during winter wheat growth. Low temperature tolerance (LT) is an important agronomic trait in winter wheat and determines the plants’ ability to cope with below-freezing temperatures; thus, the development of cold-tolerant cultivars has become a major goal of breeding in various regions of the world. In this study, we sought to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) using molecular markers related to freezing tolerance in winter. Thirty-four polymorphic markers among 425 SSR markers were obtained for the population, including 180 inbred lines of F₁₂ generation wheat, derived from crosses (Norstar × Zagros) after testing with parents. LT₅₀ is used as an effective selection criterion for identifying frost-tolerance genotypes. The progeny of individual F₁₂ plants were used to evaluate LT50. Several QTLs related to wheat yield, including heading time period, 1000-seed weight, and number of surviving plants after overwintering, were identified. Single-marker analysis illustrated that four SSR markers with a total of 25% phenotypic variance determination were linked to LT50. Related QTLs were located on chromosomes 4A, 2B, and 3B. Common QTLs identified in two cropping seasons based on agronomical traits were two QTLs for heading time period, one QTL for 1000-seed weight, and six QTLs for number of surviving plants after overwintering. The four markers identified linked to LT₅₀ significantly affected both LT₅₀ and yield-related traits simultaneously. This is the first report to identify a major-effect QTL related to frost tolerance on chromosome 4A by the marker XGWM160. It is possible that some QTLs are closely related to pleiotropic effects that control two or more traits simultaneously, and this feature can be used as a factor to select frost-resistant lines in plant breeding programs.

The emergence of antimicrobial resistance has necessitate the new approaches. The peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) (PEO) oil is known for its antimicrobial and antifungal activities. However, the employing of it in practial applications is troublesome because of the sensitivity to the environmental conditions. Thus, it was immolized into chitosan to eliminate the difficulties in its use and increase its activity. It was observed that the immobilization of the PEO into the chitosan (PEO@Chitosan) influenced the biological activities resulting in less minimum Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) values in addition to protecting the essential oil by the chitosan as environment-friendly biomaterial. The determined MIC values of the target product (PEO@Chitosan) are between 0.001-0.95 mg/mL for the studied bacterial strains and 0.006-0.36 mg/mL for the studied fungi isolates, which led us to consider them as new therapeutic alternative. In vitro antiviral studies gave us that even if the encapsulation of the essential oil into the chitosan made the prepared product still promising as acandidate for the antiviral therapy treatment.

Pathogenic microbes are the most common cause of chronic infections and mortality in mammals and loss of agricultural crops in the world. Antimicrobial agents including antibiotics and antifungals are often used in the treatment of infections due to their exceptional consequences faces various problems that limits the treatment by them. Therefore, herbal sources are attracting more attention due to lower side effects and in some cases better and faster effects. Plant essential oils (EOs) have many antimicrobial and pharmacological effects, but EOs are volatile, heat-sensitive and water-insoluble compounds that limit their use, encapsulating EOs can improve the properties of such compounds. Chitosan, a biodegradable nanopolymer, is very important in drug transfer due to better encapsulation, controlled release and low toxicity. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate the encapsulation technique as a suitable method to preserve essential oils and increase their antimicrobial properties. First, the chitosan polymer was synthesized and used to encapsulate rosemary essential oil after examining its shape and size by spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Then, the antibacterial effect of encapsulated EO and free EO was investigated by liquid microdilution method. The results showed that encapsulated EO had a greater antibacterial effect against gram-negative bacteria and fungi compared to free EO.