Parisa Karami; farzad mondani; Rozhin Ghobadi
Abstract
Objective: Water deficit stress can be considered one of the most important abiotic stresses, and due to its great impact on the performance of various plants, a large part of agricultural planning is related to it. Therefore, the aims of this investigation were to evaluate effects of irrigation levels ...
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Objective: Water deficit stress can be considered one of the most important abiotic stresses, and due to its great impact on the performance of various plants, a large part of agricultural planning is related to it. Therefore, the aims of this investigation were to evaluate effects of irrigation levels on some eco-physiological traits and grain yield of some current corn hybrids under Kermanshah regions.Methods: A split plot experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design with three replications in the research farm of the Campus of Agriculture and Natural Resources of the Razi University in 2018. The main factor was irrigation regimes (IR) which included supplying 130, 100, 70% water requirement (IR130%, IR100% and IR70% respectively), and the sub factor comprised maize hybrids (SC704, Simon and BC678). Regardless of the type of treatments, the irrigation was carried out immediately after seed sowing and preferably until the six-leaf development stage, and then the irrigation treatment started. The evaluated traits included development stages, yield and yield components, and water use efficiency. To analyze the data extracted from this study, first the normality test of the data was performed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov method, then the normalization of non-normal data was performed using the Box-Cox method using the Minitab software (version 16). For variance analysis and comparison of means, the LSD test was used at the 5% level using the SAS software (version 9.4).Results: Results showed in the IR70%, length of developmental stages decreased with the reduction of water content, but reaction of developmental stages was different among hybrids. The highest total dry weight (16.96 ton ha-1) and grain yield (7.43 ton ha-1) were observed in IR130%, with a decrease of 30 and 60% in the amount of irrigation water, total dry weight decreased by 18.0 and 28.1%, and grain yield decreased by 15.5 and 39.8%, respectively. Total dry weight of SC704 and Simon hybrids in response to irrigation levels was relatively similar and higher than the BC678 hybrid. However, grain yield of the Simon hybrid was higher than that of the other hybrids. The highest (0.83 g mm-1) and lowest (0.66 g mm-1) grain yield of water use efficiency was related to Simon and BC678 hybrids, respectively. Simon hybrid had higher grain yield and water use efficiency. Irrigation levels had no significant effect on water use efficiency.Conclusion: Overall, the results showed that the Simon hybrid had higher grain yield and water use efficiency. The irrigation levels did not affect water use efficiency, indicating that the response of this trait to the irrigation levels was the same, which can be very important for the optimal use and saving of water consumption. Therefore, according to the results of this study, cultivation of Simon hybrid under optimal irrigation conditions for the climatic conditions of Kermanshah is recommended.
Hasan Ali Pooresmaeil; Mahdi Dahmardeh; Ahmad Ghanbari
Abstract
Objective: More than 60% of Iran's agricultural land consists of arid and semi-arid soils, which are poor in organic matter and subjected to severe degradation and erosion. Therefore, in order to evaluate the effect of the integrated organic fertilizer management systems on the quality forage of corn, ...
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Objective: More than 60% of Iran's agricultural land consists of arid and semi-arid soils, which are poor in organic matter and subjected to severe degradation and erosion. Therefore, in order to evaluate the effect of the integrated organic fertilizer management systems on the quality forage of corn, the physicochemical characteristics of the soil and the environment in two stages of growth, an experiment was conducted in the research farm of Zabol University.Methods: An experiment was conducted as factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in the year 2016-17 cropping year. The first factor included 10 organic fertilization levels: (without fertilization, 30% wheat residue, 60% wheat residues, 90% wheat residues, 30% vermicompost, 60% vermicompost, 100% vermicompost, 10% vermicompost + 90% wheat residues, 40% of vermicompost + 60% of wheat residues and 70% vermicompost + 30% of wheat residues) and the second factor of harvesting time were at two levels: (harvest in milky and dough stages). In this study, traits were investigated in three sections including the qualitative characteristics of corn forage (percentage of protein and protein yield, water-soluble carbohydrates), ecological environment characteristics (percentage of volumetric moisture, photosynthetically active radiation, and soil temperature), and physicochemical properties of soil (EC, pH, and soil porosity).Results: The results of analysis of variance showed that the effect of interaction between harvesting stage and integrated organic fertilizer management systems on water-soluble carbohydrates was significant. Also, the simple effect of harvesting stage and integrated organic fertilizer management system on crude protein and protein yield was significant. The highest crude protein (12.09%) and protein yield (629.51 kg ha-1) were obtained in milk line stage, While the highest crude protein (11.55%) and protein yield (769 kg ha-1) were obtained when applying of 70% vermicompost and 30% of wheat residues. Mean comparisons showed that the highest water-soluble carbohydrates (16.22%) were obtained in the dough stage of grain and under the application of 70% vermicompost and 30% of the wheat residues. The lowest soil temperature (33.64 °C) and the highest percentage of photosynthetically active radiation (81.79%) were observed under the application of 70% vermicompost+ 30% wheat residue, in the milk line and dough stage of corn kernels, respectively. Based on the results, the integrated system of 70% vermicompost+ 30% wheat residues caused a significant decrease in acidity (7.97) and soil electrical conductivity (2.18 ds m-1). Application of 100% vermicompost and integrated system of 70% vermicompost+ 30% residues showed the highest percentage of soil porosity (46%).Conclusion: In general, according to the results of this research, the integrated system of 70% vermicompost+ 30% plant residues was significantly superior compared to other fertilizer systems. Therefore, it is better to consider the application ratio of vermicompost double that of plant residues in the integrated system. Also, considering the importance of harvesting stage in the digestibility and palatability of forage, the most suitable time to harvest corn forage is the milk line stage of corn kernels.
saman valizadeh; mashalah danshvar; Sajjad Rahimi-Moghaddam; Abas Almoderes
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the potential for increasing the yield and quality of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) by utilizing nanochelates in low irrigation conditions.Method: This experiment was conducted using split plots with three repetitions over two years, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. The ...
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Objective: To investigate the potential for increasing the yield and quality of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) by utilizing nanochelates in low irrigation conditions.Method: This experiment was conducted using split plots with three repetitions over two years, 2016-2017 and 2017-2018. The irrigation regime was compared at two levels: 90% (normal irrigation) and 50% (deficient irrigation) of the field capacity in the main plots. Additionally, foliar spraying of Khazra iron nano chelate fertilizer was applied at five levels of 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 per thousand in the secondary plots. At the end, the characteristics of leaf relative water content, photosynthesis and transpiration rate, mesophyll conductance, the amount of photosynthetic pigments chlorophyll a and b, carotenoids, biological yield, seed yield and harvest index were evaluated. Photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate and mesophyll conductance were measured using a photosynthesizer (model CI-304 made in America) during the flowering stage on the youngest fully opened leaf between 10 am and 2 pm. Chlorophyll a, b and carotenoid levels were measured through randomly sampling mature leaves and extracting them using acetone.Results: The interaction between irrigation and iron nano-fertilizer (INF) had a significant impact on transpiration rate, mesophilic conductance, chlorophyll b, carotenoid content, and grain yield at a 1% significance level, and on biological yield at a 5% significance level. The application of iron nano chelate helped alleviate the negative effects of water deficit on grain yield traits, biological performance, chlorophyll b and carotenoid pigments, transpiration rate and mesophilic conductance. The combined effects of irrigation and fertilizer on mesophilic conductivity showed that there was no significant difference between irrigation regimes at 50% and 90% of field capacity for any levels of iron fertilizer except at the 4 per thousand level. Similarly, when comparing the interactive effects of water and fertilizer on transpiration rate and chlorophyll b characteristics of the plant, similar results were observed with mesophilic guidance. The use of 4 parts per thousand iron nano-fertilizer increased biological yield under 50% field capacity irrigation compared to the same irrigation without iron nano-fertilizer. Furthermore, grain yield in the 50% field capacity irrigation was 17% higher with iron nano-fertilizer application compared to without it.Conclusions: The foliar application of nano-chelated iron fertilizer, combined with irrigation at 50% of field capacity and a concentration of 4 per thousand of this fertilizer, is considered the most effective treatment for sweet sorghum in regions with deficiently irrigated conditions.
Mahyar Ramezani Tazehabad; Elaheh Motamedi
Abstract
Objective: Urea is one of the most widely used fertilizers in agricultural practices; however, its high solubility in water leads to rapid leaching from the soil before plants can effectively absorb it. This issue results in significant fertilizer losses, increased agricultural costs, and various environmental ...
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Objective: Urea is one of the most widely used fertilizers in agricultural practices; however, its high solubility in water leads to rapid leaching from the soil before plants can effectively absorb it. This issue results in significant fertilizer losses, increased agricultural costs, and various environmental concerns. A promising approach to address this challenge is the application of organic materials to coat urea granules, thereby slowing their dissolution rate in water. In this study, to mitigate fertilizer loss and enhance efficiency, carnauba wax (CW) was selected due to its biocompatibility and abundance. Additionally, urea granules were coated separately with CW combined with paraffin wax and stearic acid, polyethylene wax, and paraffin wax to evaluate the effectiveness of these materials in reducing urea dissolution.
Method: The method of dip-coating was employed as the primary technique for applying the coating onto the urea granules. To assess the release of urea over time, a specific quantity of the coated urea granules was carefully placed into 10 ml of distilled water, and the solution was monitored by collecting samples at predetermined time intervals. The concentration of urea released into the water at each interval was quantitatively determined using a UV-VIS spectrophotometer. Additionally, the diameters of the various coatings formed on the urea granules were examined and recorded on the seventh day of the experiment using a stereo microscope equipped with 40X magnification for precise measurements.
Results: The release of urea was monitored over a 41-day period, and the results revealed significant differences in the release rates based on the coating material used. Urea granules coated with carnauba wax exhibited the slowest release rate, with only 71.5% of the urea released by the end of the 41-day observation period. In contrast, granules coated with a mixture of carnauba wax and paraffin wax released their entire urea content into the water within just 7 days. Among the coatings tested, carnauba wax demonstrated the highest efficiency with a coating diameter of 0.504 mm, which also represented the smallest thickness compared to the other coating formulations.
Conclusions: The study results revealed that carnauba wax serves as an efficient coating material for urea granules, significantly prolonging their release time. This wax offers numerous benefits due to its natural origin, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-toxic properties. Its application enhances sustainability while ensuring safety, making it a highly suitable choice for controlled-release purposes in agricultural or similar settings. These findings highlight its potential to revolutionize fertilizer usage, reducing environmental impact and improving cost efficiency.
Leyla Hoseinzadeh; Alireza Salami; Mohsen Ebrahimi; Ali Izady
Abstract
Objective: Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a perennial, sterile, and triploid plant. Moreover, dried saffron stigmas have many uses in the food and medicine industry. Saffron plants propagate by corms due to sterility. Therefore, it has limited diversity and a poor plant breeding background, leading to ...
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Objective: Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is a perennial, sterile, and triploid plant. Moreover, dried saffron stigmas have many uses in the food and medicine industry. Saffron plants propagate by corms due to sterility. Therefore, it has limited diversity and a poor plant breeding background, leading to genetic erosion. As a result, being under severe risk of genetic erosion is an obstacle to the breeding and production of saffron. The objective of this study was to investigate the diversity among saffron ecotypes, to evaluate the correlation between morphological traits and the amounts of secondary metabolites, and to classify the ecotypes.
Methods: A complete randomized block design with two replications in three harvests has been conducted to investigate the biological diversity of 22 saffron accessions collected from different regions of Iran at the Tehran University research farm, Mohamadshahr, Alborz, Iran. The most important morphological traits and amount of secondary metabolites, including crocin, picrocrocin, and safranal, were measured by using high-performance liquid chromatography.
Results: Analysis of variance showed significant differences among accessions for studied traits in three consecutive harvests. Qaenat accession had the highest means of obtaining the most morphological characteristics. The factor analysis based on PCA showed that the two first components explained 97 percent of the total variance of traits. The traits of leaf length, stigma fresh weight, stigma length, and safranal in the first component and picrocrocin, crocin, and petal length in the second component had the most positive role in justifying 66.7 percent of the total variance, respectively. Based on cluster analysis, accessions were divided into five clusters. The Qaenat and Firdos 16 accessions had the most genetic similarity, and the Qaenat and Arak accessions had the farthest genetic distance. Moreover, the studied traits are divided into three clusters, so that the amount of crocin and picrocrocin and petal length are in the first category, the amount of safranal, the length of leaf, length of stigma and length of flower, fresh weight of flower and stigma are in the second category, and the final yield, the total number of flowers, and dry weight of stigma are in the third category.
Conclusion: Although studied accessions were cultivated and preserved in the same geographical environment, they had significant differences at morphological and phytochemical levels. Therefore, it can be concluded that the origin of the observed diversity is the result of the existence of diversity at the genome, transcriptome, or epigenome levels.
hamid Mohammadi; Rana Alipour Fakhry; Mehdi Joudi; Mohammad Esmailpour
Abstract
Objective: In order to investigate the response of sage to delayed planting, the present study was performed as a randomized complete block design with three replications in the Meshkin Shahr Faculty of Agriculture research farm in 2020.Methods: The treatments were two planting dates including conventional ...
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Objective: In order to investigate the response of sage to delayed planting, the present study was performed as a randomized complete block design with three replications in the Meshkin Shahr Faculty of Agriculture research farm in 2020.Methods: The treatments were two planting dates including conventional planting date (as control) and delayed planting which were cultivated on May 5th and June 15th, respectively.Results: The results showed that delayed planting-mediated high temperature significantly increased total phenol, total flavonoids, anthocyanin, essential oil yield, and antioxidant properties by 25, 44, 85, 80, and 39 percent, respectively and decreased plant height, leaf width, and shoot fresh and dry weight by 8, 13, 41 and 34 percent, respectively compared to control. There were also negative and significant correlations between plant fresh or dry weight and essential oil percentage as well as the other measured phytochemical constituents. In addition, some essential oil constituents including α-Thujone, β-Thujone, β-Pinene, Borneol, and Viridiflorol were increased by 23, 15, 28, 37, and 46, respectively under heat stress compared to the control.Conclusion: In general, an increase in secondary metabolite in delayed planting treatment indicates that sage plants probably employed the strategy of allocating more photosynthetically fixed carbon to the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites to improve plant tolerance to high-temperature conditions via a decrease in reactive oxygen species production and/or increase in the scavenging potential of those radicles.
Fatemeh Sefidkon; Fatemeh Zakerian; maryam jebelli; Fatemeh Askari
Abstract
Objective: This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of different nutritional treatments on the yield and compositions of Satureja bachtiarica Bunge essential oil. Satureja bachtiarica Bunge is an endemic aromatic and medicinal plant from the Lamiaceae family. Satureja bachtiarica ...
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Objective: This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of different nutritional treatments on the yield and compositions of Satureja bachtiarica Bunge essential oil. Satureja bachtiarica Bunge is an endemic aromatic and medicinal plant from the Lamiaceae family. Satureja bachtiarica is found in the west and center of Iran, in the habitat of rocky and stony slopes in some areas.Method: This experiment was performed during four years (2018 to 2021) in the agricultural conditions of the Alborz province. Sixteen nutritional treatments included chemical fertilizer, animal manure, vermicompost, mixtures with different amounts of chemical fertilizer, animal manure and vermicompost, Glomus mosseae, Glomus intraradaices, Azospirillum lipoferrum, Pseudomonas putida, Thiobacillus thioparus, Thiobacillus thioparus+ different amounts of sulfur, Thiobacillus thioparus+ vermicompost, and the control treatment. In treatments containing mycorrhiza, before planting the seedlings in the field, 10 grams of Glomus mushroom were poured into each planting hole. In treatments containing bacteria, to inoculate the seedlings with the desired bacteria, first the seedlings were placed in the inoculum for 20 minutes, then they were transferred to the culture pits and irrigation was done immediately for these treatments. Plants were harvested at the full flowering stage, dried at room temperature and hydro-distilled for obtaining the essential oils. The oils were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC-FID) and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometer (GC/MS).Results: The results of composite variance analysis showed that the effect of timing (as indicated by the year) and the interaction of year in nutritional treatments on the percentage of essential oil (weight/weight) were significant at the 5% probability level. The highest yield of essential oil (2.30%) in the second year was obtained from the treatment of 50 tons of nitrogen, 25 tons of phosphorus and 25 tons of potassium per hectare+ 60 tons per hectare of animal manure. Additionally,the highest percentage of carvacrol was observed during 4 years with an average of 61.2% in the treatment of 60 tons per hectare of manure.Conclusions: The results showed that the use of nutritional treatments were effective in increasing carvacrol and the efficiency of Satureja bachtiarica essential oil compared to the control.
Babak Sepehri; Hami dreza tohidi Moghadam; Farshad Ghooshchi; Meysam Oveysi; Pourang Kasraie
Abstract
Objective: Periwinkle herb, with the scientific name (Catharanthus roseus (L.) G.DON), is one of the most important medicinal plants globally. Besides having aesthetic features and ornamental applications, the plants’ leaves and root are rich in very important alkaloids. It is used in the chemotherapy ...
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Objective: Periwinkle herb, with the scientific name (Catharanthus roseus (L.) G.DON), is one of the most important medicinal plants globally. Besides having aesthetic features and ornamental applications, the plants’ leaves and root are rich in very important alkaloids. It is used in the chemotherapy of various cancers and the treatment of hypotension.Methods: In order to investigate the effect of growth regulator and spraying by zinc and magnesium nanoparticles under the conditions of drought stresses on total alkaloids, anthocyanin, total chlorophyll, the weight of wet and dry branches contain alkaloids, and the number of lateral branches of the periwinkle herb, an experiment was arranged with a factorial layout based on a completely randomized design under greenhouse conditions during years 2020 and 2021 in Tehran, Iran. The first factor was the dryness factor using evaporation pans (at three levels of 40, 60 and 80 mm), the second factor comprised the growth regulators (Shahid, auxin, gibberellin, cytokinin each at a concentration of 50 ppm) and the third factor included the nanoparticles (control, Zn, and Magnesium, each at a concentration of 1 mg, and the combination of zinc and magnesium, each at a concentration of 0.5 mg) were applied.Results: The results showed that in study of the effects of drought stress and spraying of zinc and magnesium nanoparticles on all investigated traits (total alkaloid, anthocyanin, total chlorophyll, fresh and dry weight of alkaloid-containing branches, and the number of lateral branches), there was a statistically significant difference at the level of 1% (P≤0.01). Also, in the investigation of the effects of growth regulators on investigated traits other than total alkaloid, a statistically significant difference was established at the level of 1% (P≤0.01). In the investigation of the mutual effects of drought stress and growth regulators on the fresh weight of alkaloids-containing branches, a statistically significant difference was established at the level of 1% (P≤0.01). The highest dry weight of aerial parts was observed under optimal irrigation conditions and under the influence of the gibberellin hormone (34.96 gr). However, in other cases, no statistically significant effect was observed on the target traits.Conclusion: Drought stress revealed defense mechanisms such as anthocyanin pigments and secondary compounds, and total alkaloids also increased with increasing drought stress. The highest percentage of total alkaloids was obtained under severe drought stress (1.57%). The use of micronutrient fertilizers in nano form increased the accumulation of dry matter and secondary compounds, and the effect of magnesium was greater than the effect of zinc. In the application of hormones, the use of gibberellin hormone had a greater effect on the fresh and dry weight of shoots under optimal irrigation conditions and drought stress.
Majid Maleki; Sepideh Kalateh jari; Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand
Abstract
Objective: The present research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effects of seaweed (Sargassum vulgare and Spirulina platensis) on the growth, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of violet plant (Viola×wittrockiana).Methods: The effect of drought stress at three ...
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Objective: The present research was conducted with the aim of investigating the effects of seaweed (Sargassum vulgare and Spirulina platensis) on the growth, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of violet plant (Viola×wittrockiana).Methods: The effect of drought stress at three levels (100% field capacity - no stress; 75% F.C.- mild stress; and 50% F.C.- severe stress) and algal extract with four levels (control, 1% liquid Spirulina extract, 2% liquid Spirulina extract, 1% liquid Sargassum extract, and 2% liquid Sargassum extract) was investigated in a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design in three Replication.Results: The 50% F.C. significantly reduced morphological traits, flower number, shoot and root dry weight, and flower longevity, as well as the number of photosynthetic pigments in the plant. The application of 2% Sargassum extract under 75% F.C. (mild drought stress) conditions resulted in the highest levels of total phenols, flavonoids, and antioxidant activity, which are correlated traits. Drought stress increased the activity of catalase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and malondialdehyde, as well as soluble carbohydrates and proline, all of which were positively influenced by the algal extract (especially at a concentration of 2% liquid Sargassum extract). Among the algae, Sargassum had a greater positive effect on all studied traits, and the 2% liquid Sargassum extract was more effective.Conclusion: The Pansies (Viola) was relatively sensitive to drought stress, and the algal extract mitigated the negative effects of drought stress by enhancing the growth and production of metabolic compounds in Pansies.