In this study, total water soluble antioxidant activity and phenolic content of 26 eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) cultivars were investigated. Total water soluble antioxidant activity of the cultivars varied from 2664 to 8247 mmolTrolox/kg, which is a 3.1-fold difference. Cultivars also showed significant variation for total phenolic contents ranging from 615 to 1376 mg/kg, a 2.2-fold difference. The two traits were significantly correlated and results of this study suggested that breeders can use the information to develop eggplant cultivars with high antioxidant activity.

BackgroundExcessive soil salinity is an important problem for agriculture, however, salt tolerance is a complex trait that is not easily bred into plants. Exposure of cultivated tomato to salt stress has been reported to result in increased antioxidant content and activity. Salt tolerance of the related wild species, Solanum pennellii, has also been associated with similar changes in antioxidants. In this work, S. lycopersicum M82, S. pennellii LA716 and a S. pennellii introgression line (IL) population were evaluated for growth and their levels of antioxidant activity (total water-soluble antioxidant activity), major antioxidant compounds (phenolic and flavonoid contents) and antioxidant enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and peroxidase) under both control and salt stress (150 mM NaCl) conditions. These data were then used to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) responsible for controlling the antioxidant parameters under both stress and nonstress conditions.ResultsUnder control conditions, cultivated tomato had higher levels of all antioxidants (except superoxide dismutase) than S. pennellii. However, under salt stress, the wild species showed greater induction of all antioxidants except peroxidase. The ILs showed diverse responses to salinity and proved very useful for the identification of QTL. Thus, 125 loci for antioxidant content under control and salt conditions were detected. Eleven of the total antioxidant activity and phenolic content QTL matched loci identified in an independent study using the same population, thereby reinforcing the validity of the loci. In addition, the growth responses of the ILs were evaluated to identify lines with favorable growth and antioxidant profiles.ConclusionsPlants have a complex antioxidant response when placed under salt stress. Some loci control antioxidant content under all conditions while others are responsible for antioxidant content only under saline or nonsaline conditions. The localization of QTL for these traits and the identification of lines with specific antioxidant and growth responses may be useful for breeding potentially salt tolerant tomato cultivars having higher antioxidant levels under nonstress and salt stress conditions.

In this work, 29 pepper cultivars that represent the diversity of types and varieties grown in Turkey were analyzed for water-soluble antioxidant capacity and phenolic and vitamin C contents. In addition, 14 non-Turkish cultivars were tested for comparison. Significant diversity was observed in the different cultivars with the most variation (7.4-fold) seen for total antioxidant capacity, which ranged from 2.57 to 18.96 mmol Trolox/kg. Vitamin C content for the peppers ranged from 522 to 1631 mg·kg−1, a 3.1-fold difference, whereas total phenolic content for the pepper cultivars ranged from 607 to 2724 mg·kg−1, a 4.5-fold difference. When cultivars were grouped by morphology/use, it was found that some types had significantly more variation and higher antioxidant activities than other types. Thus, for water-soluble antioxidant capacity, most variation was seen in long, blunt-ended Çarliston types, whereas long, pointed Sivri peppers had the highest mean capacity. Bell-shaped Dolmalιk and Sivri peppers had the most variation for phenolic content, but fancy Süs and Sivri types had the highest means for this trait. Dolmalιk types showed the most variation for vitamin C content, whereas Süs and Sivri peppers had the highest means for this character. All three parameters were significantly and positively correlated with the strongest correlation between total antioxidant capacity and phenolic content (r = 0.71). The presence of significant variation for antioxidant content in Turkish germplasm indicates that this material can be used for improvement and genetic mapping of nutritional content in pepper.

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Turkey is a secondary center of diversity for melon (Cucumis melo) and is home to a variety of regional morphotypes. This diversity is housed in a national germplasm repository with more than 500 accessions. Molecular genetic variability of 209 melon genotypes from 115 accessions of this collection was characterized using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs). Ten AFLP primer combinations yielded 279 reproducible fragments, which were used for dendrogram and principal coordinate analyses. These analyses showed two major clusters of Turkish melons: one group contained highly similar genotypes (maximum Dice dissimilarity coefficient of 0.18), whereas the other group was genetically more diverse (maximum dissimilarity 0.41). Although average dissimilarity was low (0.13), a broad range of genetic diversity was observed in the collection. A marker allele richness strategy was used to select a core set of 20 genotypes representing the allelic diversity of the AFLP data. The core set had double the average diversity (0.26) of the entire set and represented the major morphotypes present in the collection. Molecular genetic diversity of the core set was further validated using simple sequence repeat marker data (116 polymorphic fragments), which confirmed that the selected core set retained high levels of molecular genetic diversity.