The unit
Bati Akdeniz Agricultural Research Institute (BATEM) is one of the regional research institutes under the governance of General Directorate of Agricultural Research and Policies affiliated with Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, located in Antalya, hosting more than 110 researchers. Research activities are focused on plant breeding, growing techniques, plant nutrition, food science, postharvest physiology, plant protection, tissue culture, molecular biology and agricultural economy on citrus, subtropic fruits, medicinal and aromatic plants, ornamental plants, field and vegetable crops.
The Vegetable Crops and Ornamental Department of BATEM consists of 21 personnel. In Institute, a wide range of breeding activities are carried out for selection of resistance and sensitive plants to abiotic and biotic stress factors. Generally, the studies are concentrated on tomato, cucumber, melon, eggplant, pepper and bean. This department has been involved in select and develop new breeding lines and varieties. Molecular tools are used for the characterization, selection, development and utilization of genetic resources beside the traditional breeding methods. Within the scope of this project, BATEM cooperates with Recep Tayyip Erdogan University, Faculty of Agriculture, Rize, Türkiye and Erciyes University, Faculty of Agriculture, Kayseri, Türkiye.
MAIN ACTIVITIES
Main activities within the project will include the detailed phenotypical characterization of an introgressed population obtained from the interspecific cross of eggplant with allied species and a collection of eggplant accessions in greenhouse for both water shortage conditions (50% of the optimal supply) and heat stress.
The accessions, parents and wild/allied species selected will be analyzed for physiological/metabolic features with non-destructive measurements of water balance, leaf pigments (instrument DUALEX), reflectance spectra (ASD hand-held field spec) and chlorophyll fluorescence (WALZ fluorometer).
The most diverging eggplant accessions selected from the preliminary screenings conducted at BATEM will be subjected to deep characterization in multiple years for phenotypic traits, yield, performance, photosynthetic efficiency, cell wall composition and Plant microbiota promoting tolerance to drought and heat stress in field conditions under reduced-water supply at UMP.
