In this study, we evaluated crop productivity and physiology during the hydroponic cultivation of medium-sized and cherry tomato crops, using two experimental greenhouses. Of the greenhouses, one used dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) technology for covering material, whilst the other, a conventional one (CONV), was covered using diffusion glass as a control. The effect of the colored lighting that resulted from the DSSC glass filtering on the physiological response of the crops was examined by measuring the plant transpiration rate and leaf chlorophyll content. Furthermore, we evaluated potential differences in the concentration of phytochemical compounds, such as ascorbic acid, lycopene, and quality characteristics. Tomato plants in the DSSC greenhouse presented lower early and total yields, as well as lower chlorophyll content, stomatal conductance, photosynthetic rate, and transpiration rate values, especially in the medium-sized fruits, as compared to the CONV greenhouse. The DSSC greenhouse showed significantly higher values of bioactive compounds for both the cherry and medium-sized tomato, with increases in the ascorbic acid, lycopene, β-carotene, and total carotenoids concentration, which ranged from 6% to 26%. Finally, for both the hybrids, the 2,2′-azino-bis-3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid (ABTS) and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) tests showed circa 10% and 5% increase, respectively, in the DSSC greenhouse.

A functional cytoplasmic male sterile (CMS) eggplant line carrying the cytoplasm of Solanum violaceum was developed in the past, but the fertility restoring genes (Rf-genes) were not identified. This work aimed to produce the CMS lines of three Hellenic eggplant cultivars (viz., 'Langada', 'Emi' and 'Tsakoniki') using the cytoplasm of S. violaceum and study the inheritance of the Rf-genes. The respective CMS eggplant lines were developed by the backcross method and examined for their fertility parameters. The results demonstrated that female fertility was not affected by the cytoplasm of S. violaceum. In contrast, the occurrence of three male fertility phenotypes (male sterile, male fertile and potentially male fertile) indicated that male fertility was affected by nuclear/cytoplasmic interactions. Male sterile plants were characterized by indehiscent anthers, low pollen viability and abnormal anther morphology. Male fertile plants formed dehiscent anthers with high pollen viability and normal morphology. Potentially male fertile plants initially formed dehiscent anthers, but in later stages formed exclusively indehiscent anthers. Male fertile plants were obtained in the advanced backcross populations of CMS 'Tsakoniki', but not in CMS 'Langada' and CMS 'Emi'. The genetic analysis of fertility restoration indicated that male fertility in the genetic background of cv. 'Tsakoniki' is controlled by one essential genetic locus, affected by a secondary modifying locus. Molecular analysis of cp-DNA and mt-DNA in the CMS lines indicated maternal inheritance of the cytoplasm organelles. Our findings demonstrate that the genotype of the eggplant parent can affect the expression of CMS as well as fertility restoration.

Aims:The objective of the study was to determine the suitability of five newly developed CMSbased interspecific eggplant hybrids as eggplant rootstocks. Place of Study: This study was conducted in an experimental field of the Hellenic Agricultural Organization "Demeter" (HAO "Demeter"), in Thessaloniki, Greece. Methodology: In the grafting experiment the Greek eggplant cultivars 'Langada' (L), 'Emi' (E) and 'Tsakoniki' (T) were used as scions. The interspecific rootstocks viz., F 1 (cmsLxSI), F 1 (cmsExSI), F 1 (cmsTxSI), F 1 (cmsExSG) and F 1 (cmsTxSG) were previously developed after crossing the respective CMS eggplant lines (cmsL, cmsE and cmsT) to the wild species S. integrifiilum (SI) and S. gilo (SG). Self-grafted plants of the three eggplant scions were used as controls. For each of the 18 scion/rootstock combinations nine plants were grafted by using the cleft grafting technique and Original Research Article

A selection of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) genotypes with diverse origin and breeding history including 33 landraces, eight modern varieties and two commercial hybrids has been characterized using a set of 25 qualitative descriptors and six quantitative traits. A wide range of variation was evident for the majority of traits, highlighting their utility for characterizing tomato germplasm collections. A plethora of qualitative traits including type of leaf blade, depression and ribbing at peduncle end, fruit shape at blossom end, number of locules and flowering time, as well as measured traits with economic importance such as fruit fresh weight, firmness and total yield per plant, were found to be highly variable within the collection, with a diversity index greater than 0.8. Strong correlations were detected among several traits related to fruit yield and quality. Two-dimensional principal component analysis as well as the unsupervised hierarchical clustering grouped genotypes according to their phenotypic resemblance and morphological characteristics to a great extent. Landraces from different origins were scattered across the whole variation spectrum of PC1 and PC2. A set of six qualitative traits could efficiently discriminate cultivars in PCA (explaining 75% of total variation), suggesting that it can serve as a valuable breeding tool for the germplasm characterization. The evaluation of the phenotypic diversity in the collection as well as the identification of traits that contribute most to heterogeneity have important implications for establishing core collections with high diversity, as well as designing breeding schemes across the Mediterranean basin.

Eggplant is an economically important vegetable with a potential for functional food production, mainly due to its high fruit antioxidant capacity. The goal of the present study was to investigate the main physicochemical and antioxidant parameters, and assess the bioactive profiles, of 19 eggplant genotypes of diverse origin, including Greek commercial varieties and hybrids, landraces and the related species S. macrocarpon. For that reason, the physicochemical traits (dry matter, pH, total soluble solids and total acidity) were assessed in the eggplant fruit and some important bioactive compounds (total phenols (TPC), total flavonoids (TFC), total monomeric anthocyanin (TAC), chlorogenic acid (CA) and its isomers neo- and crypto-CA) were assessed both in fruit pulp and peel. In addition, the antioxidant capacity was assessed according to ABTS•+, DPPH• and FRAP assays. The results revealed significant differences between the studied genotypes for all the evaluated traits, for both fruit parts. Solanum macrocarpon showed a distinct bioactive profile and was superior for most of the pulp traits (TFC, neo-CA, crypto-CA, ABTS•+, DPPH• and FRAP). Among the eggplant materials, the landrace ‘KD054/07′ had very high values for pH and some pulp traits (TPC, CA, ABTS•+ and FRAP), while the commercial F1 hybrid ‘Nilo’ was superior for dry matter and most of the peel traits (TPC, TFC, ABTS•+ and FRAP). The Greek commercial variety ‘Langada’ performed well for TAC and peel CA, ABTS•+ and FRAP, while ‘Tsakoniki’ had very high anthocyanin and pulp TPC content. These results constitute a source of information for a subset of the Greek eggplant germplasm and could contribute both to the promotion of Greek varieties of high bioactive and antioxidant value, as well as to the targeted selection of parents in breeding programs.