sara sabertanha; fatemeh amini; ali Izadi Darbandi; Seyed Ahmad Sadat Noori
Abstract
Abstract
Objective:
This study was conducted to evaluate the forage quality of Festuca pratensis genotypes under water deficit stress. The experiment was carried out over three consecutive years (2022–2024) at the Research Farm of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology, University of Tehran, with the ...
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Abstract
Objective:
This study was conducted to evaluate the forage quality of Festuca pratensis genotypes under water deficit stress. The experiment was carried out over three consecutive years (2022–2024) at the Research Farm of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology, University of Tehran, with the goal of identifying drought-tolerant genotypes that also maintain high nutritional value.
Materials and Methods:
Seeds of 20 genotypes of Festuca pratensis were obtained from the NordGen gene bank in Sweden and the ART Institute in Switzerland. The experiment was established in a split-plot design in time using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The genotypes were evaluated under two irrigation regimes: normal (100 percent field capacity) and water deficit (50 percent field capacity), following the full establishment of the plants. Sampling was conducted at the mid-flowering stage after two consecutive years of stress application, in May 2023 and May 2024. Several key forage quality traits were measured, including acid detergent fiber (ADF), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), cellulose, lignin, nitrogen content, ash, dry matter intake (DMI), in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), metabolizable energy (ME), and relative feed value (RFV).
Results:
The analysis of variance revealed that drought stress significantly affected all studied traits at the one percent probability level. Significant effects were also observed for genotype and harvest, as well as for the two-way interactions of stress × genotype and genotype × harvest, and the three-way interaction of stress × genotype × harvest for all traits except cellulose. Additionally, the interaction between stress and harvest was significant for all traits except ash. Based on the results of mean comparisons, genotypes 2, 13, 14, 15, 16, and 17 showed superior performance under drought stress, exhibiting higher crude protein and lower ADF and NDF values, which indicate better forage quality.
Conclusion:
This study confirms that forage quality evaluation under water-limited conditions is an effective approach to identifying high-value, drought-tolerant genotypes. The promising performance of selected genotypes suggests that Festuca pratensis has strong potential for development in arid and semi-arid regions. These findings provide a valuable foundation for future breeding programs aimed at producing drought-resilient cultivars while maintaining forage quality. Furthermore, integrating forage quality indicators with drought tolerance traits could enhance the precision and efficiency of genotype selection in breeding programs. Long-term and multi-location trials are recommended to verify the adaptability and stability of the identified genotypes under diverse environmental conditions. The results may inform water resource management strategies in forage production systems under similar climatic conditions.
Kaivan Bahmani; Ali Izadi Darbandi; Seyed Ahmad Sadat Noori
Abstract
Fennel is one of the oldest herbs and possesses appealing flavor and beneficial medicinal effects. Fennel(Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) belongs to the Apiaceae family and its essential oil and seeds are used to flavor foods including meats, ice cream, candy, baked goods and condiments. The increasing commercial ...
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Fennel is one of the oldest herbs and possesses appealing flavor and beneficial medicinal effects. Fennel(Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) belongs to the Apiaceae family and its essential oil and seeds are used to flavor foods including meats, ice cream, candy, baked goods and condiments. The increasing commercial value of fennel necessitates the need to develop elite ecotypes with high essential oil content and other desired breeding and market traits. In this study fifty ecotypes of fennelfrom different part of Iran were collected and days to 70% pasty seed and essential oil content in two years and essential oil components were studied. The stage of pasty seed is the best time for essential oil extracting with the highest quantity. The results indicated that the ecotypes of Sari, Kaleibar, Qazvin, Chahestan and Haji Abad are late bearing, ecotypes of the Moqan, Kohin, Meshkin Shahr, Alamot, Khalkhal, Damavand, Ardabil, Marvdasht, Kashan, Givi, Khash and Fozve are middle bearing plants, while the remaining ecotypes were early bearing plants. As average of two year, ecotypes with the highest essential oil content (more than 3.5% per dry mater) were Razan, Fozve, Marvdasht, Kashan, Sari, Kaleibar and Arak (3.96, 3.69, 3.68, 3.66, 3.65, 3.65 and 3.54%), respectively. The GC-MASS results showed that maximum value of limonene is observed in the ecotype of Sanandaj, the maximum value of fenchone is observed in the ecotype of Sari, the maximum value of transe-anethole is seen in the ecotype of Khash and the maximum value of methyl chavicole belongs to the ecotypes of Kaleibar.