The aim of the present study was to develop a reliable reference database to discriminate between the major Greek olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars and reveal their genetic relationships, since Greece is considered a secondary center of diversity. In order to establish genetic relationships among the 26 Greek and eight international cultivars, four amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) primer pairs, 12 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers, along with measurements from 10 morphological traits, were used. A total of 576 AFLP and 113 RAPD markers were produced. Genetic similarities, estimated using the Jaccard algorithim, ranged from 0.45 to 0.83 for the AFLP data and 0.27 to 0.87 for the RAPD data. The cophenetic correlation coefficients between the genetic similarities and the unweighted pair group method of arithmetic averages (UPGMA) phenograms were 0.77 for the AFLPs, 0.81 for the RAPDs, and 0.69 for the morphological traits. However, limited clustering similarities among the phenograms derived from the three methods were observed. This was also reflected by the low correlation between the three genetic similarity matrices produced (AFLP and RAPD, r = 0.39; AFLP and morphological traits, r = 0.11; RAPD and morphological traits, r = 0.02). According to the molecular results, olive cultivars are clustered according to fruit size but not according to geographical origin. Three of the cultivars tested, `Vasilicada,' `Throumbolia', and `Lianolia Kerkiras', were found to branch distantly to the others, according to the AFLP results, and can be considered as ancient Greek cultivars.

Drought is one of the major yield constraints of crop productivity for many crops. In addition, nowadays, climate change creates new challenges for crop adaptation in stressful environments. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of water stress on five cultivars of basil (Mrs Burns, Cinnamon, Sweet, Red Rubin, Thai) and whether water use efficiency (WUE) can be increased by using the appropriate cultivar. Water stress affected the fresh and dry weight and also the partitioning of dry matter to leaves, flowers, and stems. Also, there are cultivars, such as Mrs Burns and Sweet, which were not affected by the limited amount of water and continued to produce a high amount of dry matter and also showed high essential oil yield. Essential oil content was not affected by the irrigation; however, essential oil yield was affected by the irrigation, and the highest values were found at Mrs Burns. The water use efficiency was affected by the cultivar and irrigation level, and the highest was found at Mrs Burns. The results show that using appropriate cultivars basil can achieve higher WUE and allow saving water resources and utilizing fields in areas with limited water resources for irrigation.

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Summary. In this paper we describe CHIC (Correspondence & HIerarchical Cluster) Analysis, a specialized software package for Correspondence Analysis-CA (Simple and Multiple) and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (Benzécri's chi-square distance, Ward's linkage criterion). The implementation of CA is in line with both the French approach and the Gifi System of data analysis. CHIC Analysis combines the graphical interface features of CodeGear Delphi with the computational power of MatLab. The software was implemented as an attempt to contribute to the effectiveness and reliability of CA. For this purpose, it offers a variety of aids to the results' interpretation and tools for the construction of special data tables. A modified version of the CA algorithm is implemented in the multivariate case. Special emphasis has been put on the graphical options for biplots, maps and dendrograms.

Propolis presents notable and variable antioxidant activity depending on the territory and the local flora. As a result, propolis collected from areas presenting botanical diversity can become an intriguing research field. In the present study, we examined propolis from different areas of Samothraki, a small Greek island in the north‐eastern Aegean Sea, considered a hot‐spot of plant biodiversity. The analysis of propolis samples presented huge variability in the antioxidant activity, the total polyphenol content and the total flavonoids content. Propolis from two areas presented high antioxidant activity with a maximum at 1741.48 μmol of Trolox equivalents per gram of dry propolis weight, very high polyphenol content, 378.73 mg of gallic acid equivalents per gram of dry propolis weight, and high flavonoid content with a maximum concentration of 70.31 mg of quercetin equivalents per gram of dry propolis weight. The samples that presented the best qualitative characteristics were all red propolis which is a type that has never been reported in any part of Europe.

Water stress in one of the most important abiotic stresses that affects the productivity of many crop species worldwide. In addition, the climate change creates new challenges for crop adaptation especially as water resources become limited and the increase in water stress becomes more pronounced even in areas where there is adequate water supply. The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of water stress on physiological characteristics of five cultivars of basil under field conditions. Water stress affected leaf temperature, dry herb yield, leaf water potential, assimilation rate and gas exchange parameters, quantum yield, instantaneous water use efficiency (WUE), and essential oil content. From the physiological characteristics water potential and assimilation rate can be used for the selection of basil cultivars tolerant to water stress. In addition, essential oil content was lower under water stress indicating that essential oil content is correlated with water availability. From the present study it is obvious that there are tolerant basil cultivars to water stress and can be found using physiological traits such as water potential and assimilation rate and can be used to save and use water more sustainable and also conserve the water resources.

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