M. BOUDABOUS^1*

I. BEN MARZOUK¹

B. LECHIHEB¹

L. BEN YAHIA¹

A. FERCHICHI¹

¹Laboratory of Aridoculture and Oases cropping, Arid Land Institute, 4119 Medenine, Tunisia

Abstract - The total phenolic and flavanol contents and the antioxidant activity of flesh and peel of 5 apple cultivars from Tunisia were investigated. Concentrations of the parameters measured differed significantly among the apple cultivars and were highest in the peel compared to the flesh. Total phenolic content (mg GAE/100 g fresh matter) ranged from 150.58 (Anna) to 288.03 (Douce de Djerba) in the flesh and from 405.48 (Anna) to 1022.11 (Douce de Djerba) in the peel. Total flavanoid content (mg CAE/100 g fm) varied from 12.47 (Anna) to 30.7 (Douce de Djerba) and from 48.77 (Anna) to 146.02 (Douce de Djerba) in the flesh and peel, respectively. The Douce de Djerba flesh and peel had the highest antioxidant activity while Anna flesh and peel had the lowest. The total phenolic content and antioxidant activity were significantly correlated in both flesh (R²= 0.95) and peel (R²= 0.99). The contribution of phenolics to the antioxidant activity in peel suggests that their removal may induce a significant loss of antioxidants.

Keywords: Douce de Djerba, Total phenolic content, Total flavanoid content, Antioxidant activity.

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S. Ben Ali^1,2,3*

M. Ben Mohamed^1,2,3

F. Guasmi²

T.Triki²

N. Grati Kammoun¹

N. Kamel²

¹ Institut de l'Olivier, Sfax BP 1087, 3000,

² Institut de Régions Arides, Rte El Djorf Km 22.5, 4119, Mednine,

³ Faculté des Sciences de Bizerte 7021 Jarzouna- Tunisie.

Abstract - The present work aims to study the genetic diversity of 9 Tunisian varieties from different geographical origins; 'Chemlali', 'Chétoui', 'Jemri', 'Zarrazi', 'Zalmati', 'Oueslati', 'Chemlali Jerba', 'Neb Djmal' and 'Fakhari' based on Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) and Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers. An authorized variation of different primers is staked for the detection of polymorphism in varieties. The polymorphism percentage varies from 62.5 % to 100%. The three polymorphic primers also showed variations in the average looking informative bands (AvIb) and resolving power (RP). The primer A3 has the value of the lowest AvIb (0.28), while the primer A2 has the highest value (0.49). For RP, the lowest value (2.31) is distinguished from the primer A3 and the highest (3.96) at the primer A2. In addition, statistical analysis showed a large variation in genetic distance between varieties; the lowest (0.071) is observed in both accessions 'Chétoui' and 'Fakhari', and the greater (0,562) was distinguished between the two cultivars 'Chemlali Jerba' and 'Neb Djmal'. The analysis of the dendrogram "UPGMA" gave us 2 different groups. The geographical origin of varieties has no influence on the obtained clusters: The tested cultivars made genetic affinity groups regardless of their geographic origin. The microsatellites used revealed the presence of 10 bands in total, the primer DCA 9 as GAPU47 show a polymorphism rate of 100 %, while the other two OUB2 and OEX primers showed varying intensity bands between new cultivars studied. The analysis of the dendrogram "UPGMA" gave us 5 different groups; this revealed a significant genetic diversity.

Keywords: Olive (Olea europaea L.), genetic diversity, microsatellite (SSR), ISSR marker, genetic distance.

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L. MDELLEL¹*

M. BEN HALIMA KAMEL¹

¹ Unité de recherche de développement de la protection biologique et intégrée au niveau de la parcelle en Agriculture biologique, High Institute of Agronomy of Chott –Mariem, University of Sousse, 4042, Tunisia

Abstract - Aphid apple species and its natural enemies were monitoring in 2013 and 2015 in two different orchards in order to study the species composition and seasonal abundance of aphids as well as to record the populations of their natural enemies. The aphid species Aphis pomi De Geer (Hemiptera: Aphididae), Dysaphis plantaginea (Passerini) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann) (Hemiptera: Eriosomatidae) were recorded. The most abundant aphid specie recorded was A. pomi and it was observed in both orchards at the beginning of March. D. plantaginea and E. Lanigerum were present at the end of March and April. A significant difference of level of population of the three aphids species in the two orchards was demonstrated (F=7.36; df=2; ß=0.006; F=16.14, df=2, ß=0.001). The natural enemies found were predators belonging to the families of Syrphidae, Coccinellidae, Cecidomyiidae, Anthocoridae, Miridae, Chrysopidae, Cantharidae and Forficulidae. Generally, their numbers were low.

Keywords: Apple, Aphis pomi, Dysaphis plantaginea, Eriosoma lanigerum, natural enemies.

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H. Belhadj ^1,2

M. Medini ²

I. Bouhaouel ^1,2*

H. Amara ¹

¹ Laboratoire d’amélioration des plantes, département d’Agronomie et Biotechnologies végétales, Institut National Agronomique de Tunisie, Tunis, Tunisie.

² Banque Nationale de Gènes. Boulevard du leader Yasser Arafat. Charguia 1. 1080 Tunis. Tunisie.

Abstract - The phenotypic characterization of nine-hundred thirty (930) durum wheat (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum L.) accessions collected from the south of Tunisia (Gabes and Medenine) was investigated according to international standards of IPGRI and UPOV throw twenty two (22) qualitative and three (3) quantitative traits related to the different parts of the spike. The Shannon-Weaver index (H’) showeda high diversity among landraces (H’_mean =0.53). The most polymorphic characters were seed shape (H’=0.98), width of the truncation(H’=0.97) and spike color (H’=0.92). In this study, some morphological specificity of the Tunisian wheat accessions was detected according to the prospecting governorates, localities and sites, and to topographic data. Particularly, the locality of Menzel Habib, from Gabes governorate possessed the highest mean diversity index (H’_mean=0.56), which makes this site an exceptionally suitable placefor the in situ conservation. The factorial correspondence analysis showed that spike color, awn length and color, glume color, glume hairiness and length of brush hair were the most discriminator traits for wheat landraces.

Keywords: Indigenous accessions, durum wheat, morphological markers, relative phenotypic diversity index.

Résumé - La caractérisation morphologique de neuf cent trente (930) accessions autochtones de blé dur (Triticum turgidum ssp. durum L.) collectées dans les régions du sud tunisien (Gabès et Médenine) a été faite selon les normes internationales de l’IPGRI et de l’UPOV, moyennant 22 caractères qualitatifs et 3 caractères quantitatifs se rapportant aux différentes parties de l’épi. L’indice de Shannon et Weaver (H’) a dévoilé une grande diversité de l’ensemble des accessions étudiées (H’_moyen = 0,53). Les caractères les plus polymorphes étaient la forme du grain (H’ = 0,98), la largeur de la troncature (H’ = 0,97) et la couleur de l’épi (H’ = 0,92). Durant cette étude, une certaine spécificité morphologique des accessions du blé tunisien a été détectée selon les gouvernorats, les localités et les sites de prospection, et les données topographiques. En particulier, la localité de Menzel Habib, du gouvernorat de Gabès a présenté l’indice de diversité moyen le plus élevée (H’_moyen= 0,56), ce qui rend ce site un lieu exceptionnellement adapté pour la conservation in situ. L’analyse factorielle par correspondance a montré que la couleur de l’épi, la couleur et la longueur des barbes, la couleur de la glume, la pilosité des glumes et la longueur des poils de la brosse des grains sont les caractères les plus discriminants chez les populations autochtones du blé.

Mots clés: Accessions autochtones, blé dur, marqueurs morphologiques, indice relatif de diversité.

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E. Faleh

S. Ghaffari^*

A. Ferchichi

Dry Land Farming and Oasis Cropping Laboratory, Arid Land Institute, km 22.5, 4119, El Fjè-Medenine, Tunisia.

Abstract - As a seasonal food, fig represents an important constituent of the Mediterranean diet, which is considered one of the healthiest and associated with longevity. In Tunisia, figs are consumed either fresh or dried or used for jam production. The paper reports the composition of some quality characteristics of ten cultivars of dried fig Ficus carica L. (Bayoudi, Khadouri, Jbeli, Hammouri, Safouri, Rogabi, Tayouri jouied, Sawoudi, Zidi and Sawoudi bedri) cultivated in Medenine, a city of southern Tunisia. These ten phenotypes had different colours white, red, yellow and black. The main soluble sugars of experimental cultivars were separated, identified and quantified using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). While there is little information about the phenolic acids of dried fig, we try to quantify these compounds in these Tunisian dried figs. Total polyphenol content was determined by using the Folin-Ciocalteu assay. According to the results, fructose was found as the most abundant sugar and the highest quantity was detected in Sawoudi bedri. Polyphenol content was found in a very high quantity and fluctuated from 121.3 mg GAE/100g to 277.2 mg GAE/100g respectively for Bayoudi and Sawoudi.

Keywords: composition, Ficus carica L., HPLC, Folin-Ciocalteu.

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