Perspectives of the encapsulation technology in the nursery activity of Citrus
The genetic and phytosanitary certification has to guarantee the quality of the propagation material also in Citrus. Traditional methods can be assisted by the techniques of in vitro culture, which are fundamental for the mass production of high quality plants. The encapsulation technology represents an innovative tool to combine the advantages of micropropagation with handling ease, storability, reduced size of the propagules, mechanization potentiality, transportability of the gamic seeds. In this work somatic embryos obtained from in vitro anther culture of the cultivar Mandarino Tardivo di Ciaculli (Citrus reticulata Blanco) were encapsulated in a sodium alginate matrix and synthetic se…
Mapping quantitative trait loci affecting biochemical and morphological fruit properties in eggplant (Solanum melongena L.)
Eggplant berries are a source of health-promoting metabolites including antioxidant and nutraceutical compounds, mainly anthocyanins and chlorogenic acid; however, they also contain some anti-nutritional compounds such as steroidal glycoalkaloids (SGA) and saponins, which are responsible for the bitter taste of the flesh and with potential toxic effects on humans. Up to now, Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) for the metabolic content are far from being characterized in eggplant, thus hampering the application of breeding programs aimed at improving its fruit quality. Here we report on the identification of some QTL for the fruit metabolic content in an F2 intraspecific mapping population of 156…