Parasitic plants ( Orobanche sp.)

Branched broomrape (Orobanche ramosa L.) is the
most widespread and damaging of the broomrape
species, affecting large areas of solanaceous (primarily
tobacco, potato, tomato and eggplant) crops, across the
Mediterranean Basin, North Africa and Asia. In Italy, it
is responsible for significant yield losses in tobacco,
cabbage and both field- and greenhouse-grown tomato.
Needless to say, fruit quality and composition are
important components to improve the marketable value
of tomatoes but no data are available in the literature
about the influence of the broomrape. The aim of the
present research was to evaluate the changes in
physical characteristics and chemical composition of
tomatoes in relation to branched broomrape infection.
The field study was conducted, over the 2004-2005 season, on the coastal plain of Siracusa (Sicily),
southern Italy. In order to grow tomato plants both in
the absence and in the presence of branched broomrape,
the experimental area, naturally infested by O. ramosa
before the experiments, was first solarized by covering
with a 30 μm transparent polyethylene film from 2 July
to 17 September 2004. Two days after planting,
branched broomrape seed was mixed with finely sieved
sand and placed in a soil layer at a depth of 10-15 cm
uniformly around the host plant. Over the harvesting
period physical (fresh weight, dry matter, colour,
firmness, mesocarp thickness, and seed number) and
chemical fruit determinations (reducing sugar, soluble
solids, ash content, titratable acidity, pH and vitamin C)
were carried out. Under the specific condition of these
experiments, the presence of branched broomrape was
significantly and clearly associated with a reduction of
fresh and dry weight, mesocarp thickness, red colour,
firmness, titratable acidity, reducing sugars, soluble
solid, ash and vitamin C content of tomatoes. On the
contrary, the number of seeds per fruit significantly
increased in infected plants.

As a field naturalist, my doctoral research in plant ecology has focused on the biodiversity of open Mediterranean environments, conducted in parallel with a professional activity in a design office. This knowledge of botany, extended to the entire western Mediterranean, has subsequently allowed me to write chapters of books (monographs, identification keys, synonymic indexes, catalogs) on the flora of France and North Africa, then of the Middle East.
In collaboration with various European teams and Maghreb researchers, I started work on new lines of research (integrative systematics, biogeography and phylogeny). I diversified biological models (molluscs) and assimilated new methods (biochemistry, molecular genetics). Various endemic species have served as integrative models that we are studying at all levels, from in situ inventory and conservation, to the phylogenetic and paleo-ecological origins of endemism, works done in the context of several Ph.D. I participated and/or co-directed.
Within the research unit AMAP, I collaborated with Tela Botanica on the Pl@ntNet project (https://plantnet.org/) which continues through the Floris'Tic project (http://floristic.org/), with activities dedicated to the flora of North Africa and the Middle East. I refocused my research on descriptive botany and biodiversity cataloguing, through collaborative networking and the use of computerised information storage and taxonomic identification tools on the Mediterranean flora. I now focus on describing the unknown biodiversity in the Mediterranean hotspot, combining classical (morphological) and modern (molecular) approaches.
My research project is to continue the momentum that I initiated over the last dozen years. This project deals with biogeography, taxonomy and conservation in the service of knowledge, protection and promotion of biodiversity in the Mediterranean, particularly in the countries of the southern and eastern shores. It aims in the medium and long term to participate in the filling of the taxonomic deficit in areas of biodiversity hotspots but coldspots of knowledge, such as the Maghreb and the Mediterranean Middle East. The objective is the reappropriation, by the Maghrebian and Middle Eastern scientific corps, of a long and rich history of the biodiversity knowledge, partially interrupted for half a century, and whose historical collections of Montpellier (MPU), Paris (P), Geneva (G) or Barcelona (B) herbaria are its precious memory. The project draws its regional coherence through a natural biogeographic convergence and integrates all the disciplines from the biodiversity inventory to the decision support tools.
The project is structured around three objectives: 1) Improvement and capitalization of fundamental knowledge on Mediterranean botany in the Maghreb and the Middle East; 2) Training and assistance, in southern countries, of field teams, mixing professionals and amateurs; 3) Production of practical identification tools, classical or modern, adapted to the needs of botanists and ecologists.

The influence of the root holoparasite Phelipanche
ramosa on the physical characteristics and chemical
composition of greenhouse-grown tomato fruits was
studied over two growing seasons. The presence of the
parasite significantly reduced fruit fresh and dry weight,
mesocarp thickness, fruit colour, firmness and titratable
acidity. The content of reducing sugars, soluble solids,
ash and ascorbic acid was also reduced, but the number
of seeds per fruit increased with the parasite. Since some
of these traits are important determinants of fruit
quality from the consumers point of view, it is clear
that P. ramosa infection reduces the marketable value of
tomato. The deterioration in fruit quality worsens over
time and hence, by inference, with the intensity of the
parasite infection.
Keywords: parasitic plant, branched broomrape,
tomato, fruit quality, chemical composition, physical
characteristic.

Abstract
The distribution of Orobanche gracilis and its infraspecific taxa in Bulgaria are investigated using recent herbar sheets and data from the literature. One subregion is added to the distribution of O. gracilis var. sprunerii. The trophic and phytosociological relationships are observed. The exclusion of O. rapum-genistae from Bulgarian flora is commented.

Soil solarization is a preplanting technique used in hot climates to control weeds and soilborne pathogensconsisting of mulching the soil surface with polyethylene sheets. The increase in temperature associatedwith solarized soil could affect nitrogen availability for grain legume crops through effects on nitrogen fix-ing soil microorganisms or other mechanisms. To examine the effects of solarization on natural root nodu-lation and nitrogen accumulation and partitioning in the plant, two solarization field experiments werecarried out over two planting seasons, involving genotypes of both faba bean (
Vicia faba
) and chickpea(
Cicer arietinum
). The effect of sowing date was also studied in the first season. Solarization increased themaximum soil temperature by 9–10

C in the first, and by 13–15

C in the second season. At 5 cm belowthe solarized soil surface, a temperature of over 46

C prevailed for 146 and 280 h over the two respectiveseasons, while this temperature was not attained in unmulched soil. Solarization delayed the initiation of nodulation and consistently reduced the nodule number per host plant, but generated an approximate dou-bling of mean nodule weight. The total nodule mass per plant was not affected by the treatment in the firstseason, but was reduced in the second season. Solarization significantly increased the concentrations of NO
3

-N, Na
+
, Zn
2+
, Ca
2+
and K
+
in the soil extract, and the total nitrogen accumulated in the wholeplant. This latter increase was due to both higher plant growth and a greater plant nitrogen concentration.The increased nitrogen level in the plant was not uniform with respect to plant component, varying from57% in the roots to 198% in the pods and seeds. The plants grown in non-solarized soil accumulated about31% of their total N content in the shoots of the parasitic weed
Orobanche crenata
. Solarization dramati-cally improved grain yield by 300–900% in both seasons and in all genotypes studied, due to increased Navailability in soil, N accumulation in plants, improved plant growth, and complete control of the parasiteweed
O. crenata
. On the basis of these beneficial effects, soil solarization, which avoids site contaminationand is suited to organic farming, should be a good opportunity in Mediterranean areas where the level andstability of grain yields are low, and the infestation of
O. crenata  is high.

The new locality of knapweed broomrape Orobanche elatior s.str. was found in 2014 in the Śnieżnik Mountains range. The species had not been reported from Polish part of the Eastern Sudetes Mts. before, and actually it is known only from two localities in Polish Sudetes, both are located in Kłodzko district. Populations, habitat conditions and plant communities for both known localities are characterized in the paper. In Polish Sudetes Orobanche elatior s.str. should be treated as endangered species (EN redlist category).

New collected material of genus Orobanche sect. Orobanche subsect. Glandulosae (G.Beck) Teryokhin and both specimens existing in Bulgarian herbaria and data published before are revised and used for creation of maps. The chorological data about the known species and intraspecific taxa are reconsidered. The known host plants are discussed comparing both herbar data and literature reviewed. On the basis of the specified data is compiled an identification key of the species and intraspecific taxa.

Orobanche L. is a large genus mainly distributed throughout subtropical and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. The Mediterranean region is one of the most important centers of diversity. The genus Orobanche has been represented by 39 species due to this new record in Turkey. (Zare et al., 2009) Sunflower cultivation has gradually increased in the eastern Mediterranean region since 2004.). In 2011, sunflower broomrape began to appear in cultivated area in Adana and increased rapidly until today. Based on this research results and natural condition observations show that infested new broomrape races areas are increasing seriously year by year in the mediterranean region. As a result it will be required of new sources genetic resistance to the most virulent races or herbicide resistant hybrids for this region.