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BACKGROUND The growing area has a substantial effect on plants, affecting secondary metabolism. For hops, different authors have studied the effect of growing area on the chemical composition of cones with the aim of verifying and understanding the changes in hop characters. Despite the scant literature the subject receives increasing attention by brewers and hop growers. The present study aimed to characterize, using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and high‐performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC‐UV), cones of hop (Humulus lupulus L.) cultivar Cascade. Plant material was obtained from nine different areas of Italy and compared with Cascade samples grown in the United States, Germany and Slovenia. RESULTS Differences in bitter acids and xanthohumol content were observed. Nevertheless, no correlation between bitter acids and xanthohumol production, on the one hand, and rainfall, temperatures and latitude, on the other hand, were observed in our samples. The Slovenia samples were richer in molecules that confer hoppy, woody and flower notes; USA2 samples were more characterized by woody, earthy, grassy and floral aroma, quite different characters if compared to USA1, which had the lowest presence of grassy aromatic compounds. In the Italian samples, TRENTINO was the genotype most characterized by limonene presence. CONCLUSION The results of this study are indicative of the importance for hop users to know and characterize hops coming from different growing regions. The study pays special attention to the characterization of the differences in chemical characters of Cascade hop in Italy, where hop cultivation has developed only recently, but is in continuous expansion. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry

Abstract. Regenerants from anther culture of Citrus clementina Hort. ex Tan. cvv. Nules, SRA 63, and Monreal were obtained in different experiments from 1994 to 2002. Genetic analysis of 37 such regenerants was carried out using 4 microsatellite markers that were heterozygous in the parental genotypes. The results showed that in all cases but one the regenerants carried only one or the other allele of the parental genotype, and were therefore homozygous and produced through a process of gametophytic embryogenesis. Ploidy analysis by flow cytometry of 94 regenerants showed that as many as 82% of them were tri-haploids, rather than haploids or doubled-haploids as expected, with other ploidy levels such as n, 2n, 4n, and 6n occurring at very low percentages (2, 10, 3, and 3%, respectively). Regeneration from anther culture is therefore proposed as a rapid, and attractive method of obtaining new triploid varieties in clementine, which could be of great interest for the fresh fruit market that now requires fruit to be seedless.

ABSTRACT:The objective of the present study was to understand the relationship among leaf morphology, stomatal characteristics and water relations in triploids generated through anther culture and their counterpart diploid plant of C. clementina. Triploid plants possessed small and narrow leaves as compared to diploid plant as evident by less leaf length, leaf width and leaf area. By contrast, the leaf index was observed to be more in triploids than haploid ones. Flow cytometric analysis re-confirmed the ploidy levels of heterozygous plant Hd as diploid and the ploidy of Th1, Th2, Th3 and Th4 plants as triploids. A positive relation was found between ploidy level and stomatal guard cell length and width, whereas a negative relation was observed between the stomata density and ploidy level. The stomatal density was reported to be 6.2±0.2 stomata per µm 2 in diploid plant, while stomatal density varied between 3.0 and 3.6 stomata per µm 2 in triploids.Leaf relative water content (RWC) was slightly higher in triploids (90.8 to 93.1%) than diploid (89.5%). The leaf water loss was found to be marginally higher in diploid than in triploid plants. Our results show that increase in ploidy level from diploids to triploids caused an effect on leaf morphology and stomatal characteristics with probable consequences to water relations of leaves. This research will serve as an important basis for future work on complete analysis of both morphological and behavioural traits of the leaf stomata and transpiration rates in relation to diploid versus triploid plants.

The improvement of the induction rate in Citrus anther culture is important for taking practical advantage of the haploid potential in breeding. The influence of polyamines on anther culture of Citrus clementina, cv Nules, with particular attention to the free, soluble and insoluble-conjugated polyamine levels, has been investigated. Putrescine, spermidine and putrescine plus spermidine, were added to the standard induction medium. Before culture, spermidine was the most abundant among the free polyamines detected in anthers. The exogenous supply of either putrescine or spermidine, either independently or combined, effected greater uptake and accumulation of polyamines. The addition of 2 mM spermidine to the medium stimulated gametic embryogenesis in clementine Nules, whereas putrescine did not influence embryo production. Regenerants were mostly tri-haploids; a few doubled-haploids and no haploid plants were obtained. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media B.V