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Field trials (FTs) are a necessary step towards future commercialization of biotech crops and products thereof, whether for research and development or cultivation approval. A total of 187 FTs in 30 countries have been compiled for 2022 and 2023 using a survey and intergovernmental databases. FTs have been classified according to methods, crops and traits. Compiled FTs are mostly conducted by the public sector on eight plant species with improved stress resistance, industrial application, yield, and quality. Regarding genome editing (GenEd), 23 FTs (12% of total) are carried out in 6 countries, on 10 crops. Regulations were examined in 141 countries to discuss why in some countries FTs are not performed, although basic biotech research is carried out. The EU particularly is compared to the rest of the world. Regarding the new proposal in the EU for GenEd product classification, it was found that all recent FTs of such products fall in the category that the EU would consider as ‘equivalent to conventional plants’ (NGT-1). We also studied current cultivation approvals to highlight differences with crops tested in the field and those may be approved in the future.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1452767.].

A response surface methodology (RSM) experimental design was applied for improving micropropagation of a wild apricot, Prunus armeniaca Lam., from the mountains of Kazakhstan. In an initial study, woody plant medium (WPM) mineral nutrients [calcium nitrate, ammonium nitrate, mesos (calcium chloride, potassium phosphate and magnesium sulfate) potassium sulfate and minor nutrients] were tested in a response surface methodology (RSM) experiment. Shoot quality was the best when nitrogen and mesos (CaCl2, MgSO4, K2SO4, KH2PO4) compounds were altered. In this study an expanded mesos optimization experiment was run. Data taken included a subjective quality rating, shoot length, shoot number, leaf color and size, callus and physiological disorders. Data were analyzed by Classification and Regression Tree Analysis (CART), a data mining technique that provides specific cutoff values for data and easy to interpret data trees. The CART analysis indicated that the best quality would be with ≤2.4× WPM levels of KH2PO4 and ≤0.75× MgSO4. Shoot length was affected by K2SO4, but most shoots were of good size at any concentration. Shoot multiplication was affected by KH2PO4, but there were >5 shoots at any concentration. Leaf color was best with ≤2.41× KH2PO4 and ≤1.22× K2SO4. Based on the CART analysis, a recommendation for improved mesos compounds was developed. Each of the individual trees was analyzed and the cutoff points determined so that all the growth characteristics could be considered in the final concentrations chosen. Using the combined results from the CART analysis, the suggested medium would include WPM with CaCl2 2.7×, MgSO4 2.7×, K2SO4 0.8×, KH2PO4 0.75×.

Nitrogen is a major driver of plant growth and the nitrogen source can be critical to good growth in vitro. A response surface methodology mixture-component design and a data mining algorithm were applied to nitrogen (N) nutrition for improving the micropropagation of Prunus armeniaca Lam. Data taken on shoot cultures included a subjective quality rating, shoot number, shoot length, leaf characteristics and physiological disorders. Data were analyzed using the Classification and Regression Tree data mining algorithm. The best overall shoot quality as well as leaf color were on medium with NO3− > 25 mM and NH4+/Ca+ > 0.8. Improving shoot length to15 mm required 25 < NO3− ≤ 35 mM with NH4+/Ca2+ ≤ 2.33. The most shoots (11.6) were produced with NO3− > 25 mM and NH4+/Ca2+ ≤ 0.8, but there were 5–10 shoots at other NO3− concentrations regardless of NH4+/Ca2+ proportion. Leaves increased in size with higher NO3− concentrations (> 55 mM). Physiological disorders were also influenced by the nitrogen components. Shoot tip necrosis was rarely present with NO3− > 45 mM. Callus production decreased somewhat with NH4+/Ca2+ > 2.33. Suggested concentrations for an improved medium considering all of these growth characteristics would be 25 < NO3− ≤ 35 mM and NH4+/Ca+ ≤ 0.8. Validation experiments comparing WPM and three trial media showed improvements in several shoot growth parameters on medium with optimized mesos and optimized nitrogen components.

Strawberry micropropagation is generally based on Murashige and Skoog mineral salts, and many cultivars grow well on this medium. However, the diverse species found in germplasm collections often do not thrive, which indicates a need to optimize the mineral nutrients. In this study, Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS), was employed to predict shoot quality, multiplication, and leaf color responses of three strawberry species in response to the major tissue culture nutrients by generating functional associations. MARS is a non-parametric approach that can be used to deal with continuous and categorical data without requiring the strict distributional assumptions of the basic linear models. The MARS algorithm is capable of capturing non-linear patterns between the input and target variables. NH4NO3, CaCl2·2H2O, MgSO4·7H2O, KNO3 and KH2PO4 were tested in a range of 0.5 × to 3 × MS medium, within a computer-generated optimal design that consisted of 32 treatment combinations. The plant responses were affected by all of the major salts tested and the genotype factor. Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines captured the significant factors and their interactions to predict optimal major salts suitable for all three strawberry species: 3300 mg L−1 NH4NO3, 862.4 mg L−1 CaCl2, 1110 mg L−1 MgSO4, 3439 mg L−1 KNO3, and 329.8 mg L−1 KH2PO4. This study identified the major nutrient needs of the three strawberry species and provides an alternative statistical technique for tissue culture data analyses.Key MessageThe MARS statistical approach was used to predict macro nutrient related growth responses of three strawberry species. The objective of the study was to make a gentle introduction to the MARS algorithm and show its potential application to tissue culture research.

In this study, raspberry fruits were treated with spermidine, salicylic acid, and spermidine + salicylic acid before storage, and the fruits were stored for 5, 10, and 15 days. As a result of the study, increases in weight loss, pH, decay, and respiration rates, and decreases in soluble solid content (SSC) were determined in the control group fruits at different storage periods according to different spermidine and salicylic acid treatments. In terms of TA, significantly lower values (5 days, spermidine: 0.91%, spermidine + salicylic acid: 0.90%; 15 days, spermidine + salicylic acid: 0.68%) were found in fruits in which spermidine was used, and higher TA values (10 days, salicylic acid: 0.85%; 15 days, salicylic acid: 0.78%) were found in fruits in which salicylic acid was used. In terms of biochemical parameters, it was observed that phenolic compounds were more preserved in 1.0 mM spermidine + salicylic acid‐treated fruits, and organic acids were more preserved in both 1.0 mM spermidine and spermidine + salicylic acid‐treated fruits. Vitamin C was better preserved in all treated fruits compared to control fruits. In addition, the dominant organic acid in raspberry fruits was citric acid, followed by malic acid and vitamin C, respectively (citric acid, malic acid and vitamin C contents at the end of 15 days: 703.45 mg 100 g−1, 134.81 mg 100 g−1 and 16.13 mg 100 g−1, respectively). The most abundant phenolic compound in fruits was catechin, followed by rutin and chlorogenic acid (catechin, rutin and chlorogenic acid contents at the end of 15 days: 35.86 mg 100 g−1, 12.34 mg 100 g−1 and 4.58 mg 100 g−1, respectively). The study concluded that the exogenous application of 1.0 mM spermidine + salicylic acid can be used as a post‐harvest tool to maintain the quality characteristics and storage life of raspberry fruit. This study was carried out to determine the effects of postharvest spermidine and salicylic acid applications on changes in organic acid and quality characteristics of raspberry fruits during storage. It was determined that spermidine and salicylic acid applications prevented weight loss of fruits and preserved other quality characteristics during storage more than the control group. It was also observed that it prevented changes in phenolic compound and organic acid contents of fruits during storage more than the control group.

Crop cultivars in commercial use have often been selected because they show high levels of resistance to pathogens. However, widespread cultivation of these crops for many years in the environments favorable to a pathogen requires durable forms of resistance to maintain “healthy crops”. Breeding of new varieties tolerant/resistant to biotic stresses by incorporating genetic components related to durable resistance, developing new breeding methods and new active molecules, and improving the Integrated Pest Management strategies have been of great value, but their effectiveness is being challenged by the newly emerging diseases and the rapid change of pathogens due to climatic changes. Genome editing has provided new tools and methods to characterize defense-related genes in crops and improve crop resilience to disease pathogens providing improved food security and future sustainable agricultural systems. In this review, we discuss the principal traits, tools and impacts of utilizing genome editing techniques for achieving of durable resilience and a “healthy plants” concept.

Background The Eurasian grapevine ( Vitis vinifera L.) is the most widely cultivated and economically important horticultural crop in the world. As a one of the origin area, Anatolia played an important role in the diversification and spread of the cultivated form V. vinifera ssp. vinifera cultivars and also the wild form V. vinifera ssp. sylvestris ecotypes. Although several biodiversity studies have been conducted with local cultivars in different regions of Anatolia, no information has been reported so far on the biochemical (organic acids, sugars, phenolic acids, vitamin C) and antioxidant diversity of local historical table V. vinifera cultivars grown in Igdir province. In this work, we studied these traits in nine local table grape cultivars viz. ‘Beyaz Kismis’ (synonym name of Sultanina or Thompson seedless), ‘Askeri’, ‘El Hakki’, ‘Kirmizi Kismis’, ‘Inek Emcegi’, ‘Hacabas’, ‘Kerim Gandi’, ‘Yazen Dayi’, and ‘Miskali’ spread in the Igdir province of Eastern part of Turkey. Results Variability of all studied parameters is strongly influenced by cultivars (P < 0.01). Among the cultivars investigated, ‘Miskali’ showed the highest citric acid content (0.959 g/l) while ‘Kirmizi Kismis’ produced predominant contents in tartaric acid (12.71 g/l). The highest glucose (16.47 g/100 g) and fructose (15.55 g/100 g) contents were provided with ‘Beyaz Kismis’. ‘Kirmizi Kismis’ cultivar had also the highest quercetin (0.55 mg/l), o-coumaric acid (1.90 mg/l), and caffeic acid (2.73 mg/l) content. The highest ferulic acid (0.94 mg/l), and syringic acid (2.00 mg/l) contents were observed with ‘Beyaz Kismis’ cultivar. The highest antioxidant capacity was obtained as 9.09 μmol TE g -1 from ‘Inek Emcegi’ in TEAC (Trolox equivalent Antioxidant Capacity) assay. ‘Hacabas’ cultivar had the highest vitamin C content of 35.74 mg/100 g. Conclusions Present results illustrated that the historical table grape cultivars grown in Igdir province of Eastern part of Turkey contained diverse and valuable sugars, organic acids, phenolic acids, Vitamin C values and demonstrated important antioxidant capacity for human health benefits. Further preservation and use of this gene pool will be helpful to avoid genetic erosion and to promote continued agriculture in the region.

Continuous seed propagation in Turkey has given rise to a great number of seedling walnut trees which represents valuable walnut genetic resources. The number of native walnut trees is estimated to be over 5 million in Turkey and they possess large phenotypic variability in yield, nut and kernel characteristics, late bud breaking, late flowering, winter hardiness and tolerance to diseases. Progress in walnut breeding requires the exploitation of genetic variation among cultivars and landraces. In this study, we used 32 local diverse walnut genotypes obtained from seeds and 2 standard cultivars (‘Sebin’ and ‘Bilecik’). This study implemented 21 previously used simple sequence repeats (SSR) markers to determine genetic diversity. The analysis revealed 135 alleles with an average of 6.43 alleles per locus. Genetic similarity ranged from 0.23 (for samples KW22 and KW29) to 0.87 (for samples KW27 and KW28). The highest number of alleles per locus was obtained from WGA276 locus (11 alleles), followed by WGA054 (9 alleles), WGA202 and WGA321 (8 alleles) while the lowest number was detected in WGA027. According to the morphological and molecular data, the genotypes differed from each other and the cvs. Sebin and Bilecik. The majority of the genotypes had higher fruit weight and some of the genotypes had higher kernel ratio than cvs. Sebin and Bilecik implying the importance of registering genotypes as cultivars. This research provides information on the genetic relationship of walnut genotypes and cultivars and emphasises the importance of protection and utilisation of seed-propagated walnut genetic resources.

Tree, leaf, pod and seed morphology, as well as pod biochemistry of 36 wild-grown carob genotypes sampled from rural areas in Marmaris district located at western Turkey, were investigated. Leaf and pod dimensions, pod and seed weight, seed ratio, pod and seed colour and shape and surface traits were investigated. Soluble solid content (SSC), titratable acidity, vitamin C and protein and dietary fibre contents were also detected. Results showed significant differences for all quantitative traits, although differences are more pronounced for some pod (weight, width, length and thickness) and seed characteristics (weight, dimensions and ratio). Pod and seed colour, shape and surface qualitative threats were found to be quite variable among genotypes. The majority of genotypes had an open tree growth habit. Leaf length and width were found to be between 8.04 cm (M19) and 11.60 cm (M12) and 8.40 cm (M2) and 12.04 cm (M12) among genotypes. Pod weight ranged from 8.3 g (M35) to 29.5 g (M3) in the wild genotypes. The average pod dimensions (width, length and thickness) were between 14.27 and 23.38 mm, 12.54 and 21.67 cm and 4.80 and 8.37 mm, respectively. The SSC ranged from 49.36 to 69.36% in the pods of wild carob genotypes. The results of this study indicate a good genetic resource potential of Turkish wild carob populations for future breeding programmes.