5 CUKUROVA UNIVERSITY (CU)

Beneficiary Legal Name: 5 - CUKUROVA UNIVERSITY (CU)

https://bahcebitkileri.cu.edu.tr

General Description

The University of Cukurova (CU), founded in 1973, is ranked at the first 500 in gradation of World's Universities and within the first five in gradation of our country. The academic staff of the University gets funds from national scientific recourses as well as EU or other international programmes. The Department of Horticulture has collection, production and research areas both at Taurus Mountains and at Çukurova region suitable for the cultivation of many species and cultivars of fruit trees, vegetable crops, ornamentals. Modern laboratories, greenhouses, cold storages, agricultural equipment and machines are added to these opportunities. Besides practical studies intended for the problems of the farmers, important scientific research are also carried out in collaboration with national and international research institutes. Department of Horticulture of the Cukurova University is the leading horticultural department in the country.

In FIGGEN CU will provide phenotyping analyses on Turkish fig genotypes (WP2). CU will participate to organization of stakeholders living labs in Turkey (WP1) and will lead WP4 (Dissemination, Exploitation, Communication and Outreach (DECO).

Key persons

Prof. Dr. Ayzin B. Kuden (female). Full professor, physiologist and stone fruit breeder, is in charge of the peach breeding programme and selection and collection of fig and almond germplasm, She has published more than 190 scientific papers.

Prof. Dr. Yildiz Aka Kacar (female). Researcher in the Agricultural Faculty Department of Horticulture. She is working on plant biotechnology, plant tissue culture, genetic engineering, plant molecular biology, gene expression, RNA-Seq.

Mr. Selim Arpaci (male). Agricultural engineer (M.Sc) and was manager of the Fig Research Institute.

Assoc.Prof. Dr. Bilge Yildirim (female). Researcher in Agricultural Faculty, Department of Horticulture. She is working on subtropical and tropical fruits, mainly on citrus crops.

Dr. Songül Çömlekçioğlu (female). Researcher in Agricultural Faculty, Department of Horticulture. She is working on tissue culture on figs and on other crops, she is also growing and breeding of stone fruits.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Özhan Şimşek (male). Researcher in Agricultural Faculty, Department of Horticulture of Erciyes University. He is working on plant biotechnology, plant tissue culture, plant molecular biology, gene expression, RNA-Seq.

Dr. Dicle Dönmez (female). Researcher in the Biotechnology Research and Application Center of Cukurova University. She is working on plant biotechnology, plant tissue culture, plant molecular biology, genetic engineering.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Selin Muradiye Akçay (female). Associate professor working in the area of irrigation engineering and the effects of water stress and its physiological and morphological impacts on fig plants.

Dr. Sunay Dağ (female). Researcher in geothermal energy, cultivation and breeding department at Erbeyli Fig Research Institute.

Dr. Arzu Ayar (female). Researcher in genetics and breeding at Erbeyli Fig Research Institute. She is in charge of the fig breeding programme and collection of fig.

A list of 5 relevant publications

Yaz S. Kuden A. B. (2011) Determination of the Quality Characteristics and Partenocarpic Tendency of Selected Fig Genotypes in the Mediterranean and Southeast Anatolia Regions. Ç.Ü. Fen ve Mühendislik Bölümleri Dergisi, 25-4.

Comlekcioglu S., Kuden A. B., Kacar Y. A., Kamberoglu M. A. (2007) Meristem Culture of Two Fig Cultivars in Turkey. Fruits, Vol. 62, p. 125–131.

Şimşek, Ö., Dönmez, D., Kaçar, Y. A. (2018). Investigations on the performances of some Citrus Rootstocks under in vitro drought conditions. Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Tarım Bilimleri Dergisi, 28(3), 305-310.

Akçay, S. and Dagdelen, N. (2017). Water Productivity and Fiber Quality Parameters of Deficit Irrigated Cotton in a Semi-Arid Environment. Fresenius Environmental Bulletin, 26 (11), 6500-6507.

Arpaci,S., R. Konak, E.Cicek, A Natuanal Value; 2018. Turkish Fig, Chronica Horticulture 8, 2.

A list of 5 relevant previous projects or activities, connected to FIGGEN

ZF2013YL12. Phenological, Morphological and Pomological Characteristics and Molecular Structure of Opuntia ficus indica L. Miller. Fenolojik, Morfolojik ve Pomolojik Özellikleri ile Moleküler Yapısının Belirlenmesi). Ayzin Kuden, Mehmet Tutuncu.

FREECLIMB Prima Project. Adaptation of Some Fruit Species to Climate Change in the Mediterranean Region. Ayzin Kuden, Yıldız Aka Kacar, Songül Cömlekcioglu, Özhan Simsek.

FDK 2018 11294. Drought Resistance Effects of Restricted Irrigation and Mycorrhizal Applications on Some Prunus Rootstocks. Ayzin Kuden, F. Belkıs Esimek.

FBA-2016-6254.  Investigation of Performance of Some Citrus Rootstocks Under in Vitro Drought Stress Conditions and Determination of Expression Levels of Important Drought Related Genes.  Özhan Simsek, Dicle Donmez, Yıldız Aka Kacar

TAGEM/TSKAD/15/A13/P02/15.  Effects of Different Water Levels on Yield and Quality Parameters of Some Fig Cultivars. Erbeyli Fig Research Institute.

Relevant Infrastructure or facilities

At the Horticultural Department, approximately 15 ha of experimental orchards in Adana (37 m elevation) including 3000 m² of greenhouses and screen-houses; also stress physiology, pomology, post harvest physiology lab. Besides, two plant tissue culture labs and molecular biology and genetics labs are fully available. In Erbeyli Fig Research Institute Fig Germplasm Orchard and lab for phenotyping and pomological analysis are available.