Introduction. Sweet cherryfruit is a very perishable commodity, because fruits decay and losewater rapidly after harvest as a consequence of their high respiratoryrate. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effectof the combination of hot water plus essential oil treatments andhot water treatment alone on the quality of ‘0900 Ziraat’ sweetcherries during cold storage. Materials and methods.Fruits were divided into four groups and were treated by dippinginto water at 24 °C for 30 s (control), dipping into water at 60 °Cfor 30 s, and dipping into water at 60 °C for 30 s plus either mentholtreatment or thymol treatment. After treatments, all fruits werepacked in polypropylene bags and stored at 0–1 °C temperature and90–95% relative humidity for 45 days. Physical and chemical changeswere determined at 15-day intervals during storage. Resultsand discussion. All of the postharvest treatments improvedfruit quality characteristics compared with fruit of the control.According to the data, after 45 days of storage, combination treatments were found to be more effectivein controlling decay. The treated fruits had higher total anthocyaninand total phenolic compounds. In control fruits, total anthocyanin andtotal phenolic compounds initially showed a slight increase, buttheir accumulation significantly decreased with time.

Introduction. Papaya is grown mainly under tropical conditions due to its requirement of high temperatures year-round. With modern greenhouse technology and production systems, the Mediterranean countries are now able to produce many tropical crops such as banana and papaya. Such technology has also increased the yield and improved fruit quality in comparison with open field production systems. Materials and methods. Our study was conducted in an unheated greenhouse in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. Three papaya cultivars (‘SS-45’, ‘BH-65’ and ‘Sel-42’) were evaluated for their physical and physicochemical properties and yield. Results. There were no significant differences in chemical properties related to fruit cultivars. Conversely, certain features of the development cycle of these three cultivars varied: BH-65 flowered at only 65.4 cm compared with SS-45 (133.8 cm) and Sel-42 (135.1 cm). Fruit set was improved for Sel-42 (63.7 fruits) compared with SS-45 (49.3 fruits) and BH-65 (31.3 fruits). The corresponding yields for Sel-42, SS-45 and BH-65 were (28.3, 21.3 and 7.8) kg per plant, respectively. The Sel-42 cultivar presented the largest fruits (weight, 460.0 g; width, 11.7 cm; length, 16.7 cm), closely followed by those of SS-45 (433.3 g, 11.3 cm and 15.3 cm, respectively). In contrast, the cultivar BH-65 produced the smallest fruits (weight, 250.0 g; width, 9.7 cm; length, 13.3 cm). The physical and chemical characteristics did not vary among the cultivars. Conclusion. Our results allow us to recommend the cultivars Sel-42 and SS-45 for greenhouse cultivation under a Mediterranean climate in Turkey.

Introduction. Turkey potentially has a very rich source of sweet (Prunus avium) and sour (P. cerasus) cherries. P. avium is apparently native to some parts of Northern Turkey, where Giresun is located. Identification of the sweet cherry cultivars produced in Turkey will help in choosing appropriate cultivars and aid in the preservation of natural resources required for breeding studies. The most conventional method of cultivar identification is based on the assessment of morphological characteristics. However, this method is insufficient to distinguish closely related cultivars. The aims of our study were to determine the molecular profile of sweet cherry accessions grown in Giresun, Turkey, and to determine their genetic relationships. Materials and methods. In our study, we identified 44 sweet cherry accessions grown in Giresun by using genetic markers (SSR, Simple Sequence Repeat), and we determined the genetic relationships among the sweet cherry genotypes. For DNA isolation, we collected young leaves sampled on a single plant per accession, then amplification of microsatellite loci was performed. In total, ten SSR primer pairs, previously isolated from peach and sweet cherry, were used. Genetic similarity values were calculated. A cluster analysis was performed to generate a dendrogram. Results and discussion. Of the ten primers tested, six primer pairs did not result in suitable amplification products with the 44 accessions studied. The remaining four polymorphic SSR primer pairs produced 33 alleles with an average of 8.25 putative alleles per locus, ranging from 7 to 11. Depending on the accessions, similarity ratios ranged from 0.32 to 0.98, with a mean value of 0.64. In conclusion, the results obtained demonstrate a high level of polymorphism among sweet cherry genotypes from a single province in Turkey.