The amount of yield and adaptation of a cultivar to a new environment is strongly related to nutrient uptake ability. The aim of this study was to compare nutrient uptake ability of 21 local and/or standard olive varieties grown under Mediterranean climatic conditions. Elemental compositions of olive leaves were determined for two consecutive years. The highest yields were obtained from ‘Gemlik’, ‘Manzanilla’, ‘Memecik’, and ‘Hojiblanca’ varieties. Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), and manganese (Mn) content of leaves were comparatively higher in the high-yielding year (2004) whereas iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) contents were lower. Nutrient uptake ability and usage efficiency of olive varieties were different. Mineral composition of leaves was variety dependent and different groups of varieties showed higher leaf concentration for each element. Therefore, it can be concluded that the variation in the nutrient uptake ability may be used as a criterion for adaptation of a variety to a new ecological environment.

Turkey is an important citrus-producing country. However, new cultivars are needed to sustain citrus production and ensure its competitiveness against other crops. There are currently several citrus breeding programs that aim to help overcome the lack of local commercial varieties and to contribute to Turkey’s competitive capacity in the citrus market. In this study, we report the utilization of molecular markers in one such breeding program. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were employed to eliminate nucellar individuals from a hybrid population produced by crossing. The crosses included ‘Fremont’ and ‘Robinson’ mandarins as the female parents and ‘Midknight Valencia’, ‘Rhode Red Valencia’, and ‘Valencia Late’ oranges and ‘Rio Red’ grapefruit cultivars as the male parents. Seedlings with the same banding patterns as the female parent were identified as nucellar seedlings by 11 SSR primers. Primers AG14 and TAA03 were found to be more effective at identifying zygotic individuals than other primers. ‘Fremont’ and ‘Robinson’ mandarins produced 36.91% and 31.09% of nucellar seedlings, respectively. As a pollen parent, ‘Rio Red’ grapefruit had a higher ratio of zygotic seedlings compared to ‘Midknight Valencia’, and can be recommended in breeding programs. Comparative analysis of different citrus fruits in the breeding programs allowed us to design an efficient hybridization scheme for this study.

The plant pomological characteristics and physiological behaviors of genotypes in modern apple cultivation could be different depending on the use of rootstock, changing growth ecology and application of biological control agents. The aim of this research was to determine the effects of rhizobacteria application on leaf and fruit nutrient contents in different apple scion–rootstock combinations. This study was carried out with seven standard cultivars (Scarlet Spur, Red Chief, Fuji, Jeromine, Galaxy Gala, Granny Smith, and Golden Reinders) budded on M.9 and MM.106 rootstocks. In the experiment, trees were sprayed by a nitrogen + phosphorus solvent rhizobacteria three times, with an interval of 15 days in the spring period. The effect of rhizobacteria application on leaf and fruit nutrient contents was statistically significant and provided generally significant positive contributions, except for leaf Mg content. Comparing both rootstocks, the positive effect of bacterial application was higher on the M.9 rootstock for leaf N and B content and fruit N and Fe content, and on the MM.106 rootstock for other nutrient content. While the effects of bacterial application on the basis of cultivars were generally positive, the highest positive contribution was made in leaf P content (10.7%) and fruit Mn content (32.1%) of the Fuji cultivar. Considering the total increase in nutrients in scion–rootstocks combination, rhizobacteria application had a positive effect on the leaf nutrient contents in Golden Reinders/MM.106, but not leaf K content. The highest increases in leaves of scion-rootstock combinations were determined as 4.0% in N content in Granny Smith/M.9, 14.1% in P content in Scarlet Spur/MM.106, 7.1% in K content in Fuji/MM.106, 4.4% in Ca content in Jeromine/M.9, and 14.0% in Mg content in Granny Smith/MM.106. The highest increase in fruit nutrient contents was between 4.9% (N content) and 13.5% (Ca content) for macro elements, and between 9.5% (Cu content) and 41.8% (Mn content) for microelements. The results of the present study may provide significant leads for further studies on this subject.

The olive tree, scientifically known as Olea europaea L., is an evergreen xerophytic tree that defines the natural flora, historical background, and cultural essence of the Mediterranean Basin. This study aimed to establish relationships using multivariate analysis methods between the nutrient content of soil conditions in which olive cultivars grown in Türkiye are cultivated and the nutrient element content, phytochemical contents, antioxidant activity, total chlorophyll amount, and leaf colors of these cultivars. All data sets used in the study were analyzed in 2022 and 2023, and average values were used in the research. According to Tukey's comparison result, it was determined that the soil structure of the garden was homogeneous in terms of nutrients it contained. In nutrient analysis conducted on leaves, in the ‘Çelebi’ cultivar, Al (59.25 mg kg⁻¹), B (6.53 mg kg⁻¹), Cu (48.36 mg kg⁻¹), Fe (69.34 mg kg⁻¹), K (1438.11 mg kg⁻¹), Na (197.12 mg kg⁻¹) nutrients are the highest; in the ‘Gemlik-21’ cultivar, Ca (5485.03 mg kg⁻¹) nutrient is the highest; in the ‘Sarı Haşebi’ cultivar, Mg (928.11 mg kg⁻¹), Mn (19.71 mg kg⁻¹), S (632.77 mg kg⁻¹) nutrients are the highest; and in the ‘Tavşan Yüreği’ cultivar, Ni (1.71 mg kg⁻¹), Zn (9.76 mg kg⁻¹) nutrients are the highest. The L* (49.19), b* (29.43) color values are highest in the ‘Sarı Yaprak’ cultivar, while the a* (28.84) value is highest in the ‘Girit Zeytini’ cultivar. The highest leaf chlorophyll content was determined in the ‘Girit Zeytini’ cultivar (95.57). Total phenolics, total flavonoids, antioxidant capacity were determined to be highest in the ‘Manzanilla’ (151.49 mg GAE/100 g), ‘Edincik Su’ (39.01 mg QE/100 g), ‘Nizip Yağlık’ (91.18%) cultivars, respectively. According to the principal component analysis, the first three principal components accounted for 82% of the total variation. The correlation matrix analysis revealed that high levels of certain minerals in the soil led to an increase in the leaves, resulting in positive correlation, while the opposite was true for negative correlation. According to heat map analysis, mineral elements in the leaf were in the same group, while other data sets were in different groups. The data obtained will shed light on future research on similar topics.

Citrus performance is strongly related with rootstock. This study was conducted to investigate leaf nutrient contents of ‘Okitsu’, ‘Clausellina’ and ‘Silverhill’ mandarin cultivars budded onto sour orange, ‘Carrizo’ and ‘Troyer’ citrange rootstocks in Dörtyol, Turkey in 2004 and 2005. The maximum nitrogen (N), potassium (K), and copper (Cu) contents were determined for ‘Clausellina’; phosphorus (P) for ‘Okitsu’; and sodium (Na) for ‘Silverhill’. Calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and zinc (Zn) uptake were similar for the mandarin cultivars. ‘Carrizo’ citrange at N, K, Mg, Mn, and Cu uptake; ‘Troyer’ citrange at N, P, K, and Fe uptake; and common sour orange at Ca, Zn, and Na uptake was superior on the other rootstocks. It was observed that ‘Carrizo’ and ‘Troyer’ citrange rootstocks had advantages over sour orange in nutrient uptake. Thus, growth performance, yield, and quality parameters considered, ‘Carrizo’ and/or ‘Troyer’ citranges could be suggested as rootstocks for the studied mandarin cultivars under similar ecological conditions.

The plant growth, yield, yield efficiency, and fruit quality of 'Rhode Red Valencia' and 'Valencia Late' sweet oranges (Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck) on three rootstocks were evaluated under Eastern Mediterranean climatic conditions of Dortyol-Hatay, which is one of the oldest and largest citrus and mandarin (Citrus reticulata Blanco) production regions in Turkey. The fruit yield was affected by rootstock in both scion cultivars from 2007 through 2010. Trees on 'Troyer' citrange had lower yield than those budded on the other rootstocks. The yield of 'Rhode Red Valencia' and 'Valencia Late' orange trees on 'Carrizo' citrange were about 9% and 19% more than those on 'Troyer' citrange, respectively. But trees on 'Troyer' citrange had significant higher yield efficiency than trees on sour orange and 'Carrizo' citrange, because of canopy volume of 'Troyer' citrange was lower than the other rootstocks. The heaviest fruits of 'Valencia Late' orange trees were harvested from 'Carrizo' citrange (214.69 g), while 'Rhode Red Valencia' orange trees did not show differences regarding the rootstock. The rootstocks had no significant effects on juice content of 'Rhode Red Valencia' and 'Valencia Late' oranges. The effects of the rootstocks in both scion cultivars on juice content, total acids (TA), Brix:TA ratio, and number of seeds per fruit were found to be insignificant