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The Citrus Variety Improvement Program in Turkey

1993; Volume: 12; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5070/c505w5v6qj

0074-7203

Tomasz Góral, H. Ali. Tasdemir, T. Tavarci, Serhan Mermer, S. Góral, M. Kelten, T. Tasmedir, Sema Güneş, Münevver Göçmen,

Banana Cultivation and Research

Almost all of the citrus trees in Turkey are infected with one or more virus and virus-like diseases which induce large economic losses.The establisment of a Citrus Variety Improvement Program for Turkey (CVIPT) was needed to solve this problem.To accomplish this, computer controlled greenhouse facilities covering 7,000 mZ plus 1,800 mZ of screenhouses were established to conduct biological indexing and to maintain virus-tested, foundation plants, and also to propagate budwood increase plants.These facilities are located at the Antalya Citrus Research Institute in Serik.The program began with36 candidate trees often cultivars which were selected from the best commercial groves in Turkey.A laboratory facility was constructed at Serik and equipped to do shoot tip grafting (STG), thermotherapy, ELISA and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE).At present, 382 STG plants have been obtained.Of these, 79 have been indexed to a variety of indicator plants and 69 were found free of the major virus and virus-like diseases of citrus.As of October, 1992,5,000 healthy citrus plants were being grown under screen, and 25,000 sour orange seedlings were budded with virus-tested buds.A long term budwood release program is being planned with the establisbment of a foundation block of trees.These trees will be derived from both STG and heat treated sources, and will be extensively indexed for a broad range of citrus pathogens.