Introduction Carrot (Daucus carota L.) is an important vegetable crop grown worldwide. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), world carrot production in 2013 was approximately 37.2 million metric tons. The great majority of this carrot production consists of orange carrots due to the accumulation of carotenoid in their roots. Although yellow carrots with xanthophyll, red carrots with lycopene, purple carrots with anthocyanin, and white carrots with no pigmentation all exist, limited land has been dedicated to their production. Orange carrots are preferred for their high content of carotenoid, which is the precursor of vitamin A. Unlike orange carrots, purple carrots contain anthocyanin pigments. Anthocyanin pigments are water-soluble colored flavonoids that can give plant organs a red, blue, or purple color (Harborne and Williams, 2000). Due to the various health-related benefits of anthocyanins, such as protection against oxidative stress, coronary heart disease, inflammation, some types of cancer, and other age-related diseases (Ross and Kasum, 2002), the popularity of consuming an anthocyanin-rich diet has been increasing recently. In addition, depending on the pH, the color of anthocyanin can change from red to purple, and, for this reason, anthocyanin pigments have gained recent attention as a natural food colorant for use in the readyto-eat food industry. Purple carrots are rich in cyanidin glycoside-type anthocyanin pigments and can accumulate up to 17-18 mg/100 g fresh weight in their storage roots (Montilla et al., 2011). According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK), approximately 558,000 t of carrots were produced on 10,500 ha in Turkey in 2014. More than 93% of this production was in Konya (331,593 t), Ankara (131,400 t), and Hatay (60,483 t) provinces, and the majority of this carrot production consisted of orange carrots. Historically, purple carrots with high anthocyanin content have been used for the production of a local drink called 'şalgam' in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. However, the amount of purple carrot production for making şalgam is currently very limited. On the other hand, purple carrot production in Turkey has been increasing dramatically in recent years Abstract: Although the majority of carrots grown in Turkey and around the world are orange, the production of anthocyanin-containing purple carrots has recently increased in Turkey due to the extraction of anthocyanin from these carrots for use as a natural food colorant. Purple carrot production for this purpose is concentrated in Ereğli District in Konya Province, and open-pollinated local purple carrot cultivars or landraces have been used for this production. Genetic variation within the local purple carrot populations in this region is of interest to plant breeders worldwide for the development of new purple carrot cultivars. Therefore, in this study, genetic variation within the purple carrot population grown in Ereğli District was assessed using SSR markers. Purple carrot ...

Turkey is one of the most important countries in the production of confectionary pumpkin. The aim of the study is to reveal the amount of some mineral elements in seed coat and the seed of confectionary pumpkin candidates which gathered from different regions of the country and reached in S5 level. In the present study, a total of twenty-seven pumpkin genotypes which were self-pollinated to the level of S5 and two local population characterized genotypes were used as plant material.

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