Babak Andalibi; Mansour Faraji; Mohsen Seilsepour; Sajjad Nasiri
Abstract
Objective: Drought stress is one of the most critical limiting factors affecting the overall growth and final yield of common bean. This study specifically aimed to evaluate the combined effects of seed priming and foliar application of ellagic acid on the yield, physiological performance, and biochemical ...
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Objective: Drought stress is one of the most critical limiting factors affecting the overall growth and final yield of common bean. This study specifically aimed to evaluate the combined effects of seed priming and foliar application of ellagic acid on the yield, physiological performance, and biochemical characteristics of common bean under drought stress conditions.Method: A detailed field experiment was conducted in May 2024 using a split-plot design based on randomized complete blocks with three replications at the Central Research Farm affiliated with the Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of Tehran Province, located in Varamin County. The main plots consisted of three irrigation levels (full irrigation equivalent to 100% of the crop water requirement, mild stress at 75%, and severe stress at 50%). The subplots included four treatments: control (no priming or foliar application), seed priming with 50 mg L⁻¹ ellagic acid, foliar spraying with 50 mg L⁻¹ ellagic acid, and a combination of seed priming and foliar application. Results: The results clearly showed that drought stress significantly reduced grain yield and biological yield of common bean. However, the application of ellagic acid, especially the combined treatment of seed priming and foliar spraying, effectively improved these traits. The highest grain yield (4198 kg ha⁻¹) was recorded under full irrigation with the combined treatment, whereas the lowest yield (2220 kg ha⁻¹) occurred under severe stress without ellagic acid application, representing a 47.1% decrease. Under mild stress, foliar application alone increased grain yield by 12.5%, and under severe stress, the combined treatment enhanced yield by 22%. Biological yield also increased in response to treatments, with the combined treatment increasing it by 10.5%, 9.5%, and 19.6% compared to the control under full irrigation, mild stress, and severe stress, respectively. Catalase enzyme activity and malondialdehyde content increased under stress condition; however, ellagic acid application, particularly the combined treatment, reduced these indices by 26.1% and 20.9%, respectively.Conclusions: Overall, the results clearly demonstrated that drought stress has a significantly negative impact on the yield and physiological traits of pinto beans. However, the application of ellagic acid—especially in the combined priming and foliar spray treatment—was able to mitigate oxidative stress effects and maintain cellular stability as well as water balance, thereby leading to improved growth and yield under water deficit conditions. Based on these findings, the consistent use of ellagic acid is recommended as an effective management strategy to enhance drought tolerance and sustain productivity in arid and semi-arid regions.
Mehdi Vatandoust; Mehdi Madandoust; Majid Rajaie; Mahmood Dejam
Abstract
Objective: Ameliorating resources (AR) play an important role in plant growth under environmental stress conditions by improving nutrient absorption and balancing physiological traits. The aim of this study was to investigate the nutrient absorption and physiological traits and growth of Echinacea purpurea ...
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Objective: Ameliorating resources (AR) play an important role in plant growth under environmental stress conditions by improving nutrient absorption and balancing physiological traits. The aim of this study was to investigate the nutrient absorption and physiological traits and growth of Echinacea purpurea with arbuscular mycorrhiza fungus (AMF), Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria (PFB) and salicylic acid (SA) foliar application in a saline soil under drought stress.Method: A field experiment was conducted as split plot in a randomized complete block design, during two consecutive years (2022 and 2023) with two harvests of Echinacea purpurea. The main factor was irrigation regimes included 25, 50, and 75% available water depletion (AWD) and the subfactor consisted of AR in eight levels including control (no AR), AMF, PFB, SA, AMF+ PFB, AMF+ SA, PFB+ SA and AMF+ PFB+ SA. The first, second and third irrigations were carried out based on the control irrigation treatment with 25% moisture depletion, for proper establishment of the seedlings. After the third irrigation, the other irrigation treatments were applied. Nutrient uptake, physiological traits, plant height, and above-ground biomass yield were measured.Results: The results showed that in irrigation of 25 and 50% AWD, the highest leaf nitrogen and phosphorus were observed in AMF + PFB + SA. Also, the combination of AMF+ PFB+ SA increased leaf potassium by 16 and 30%, in irrigation of 50 and 75% AWD, respectively. The greenness index in irrigation regimes with 75% moisture depletion showed a 12.81% decrease compared to 25% moisture depletion. The highest greenness index value was observed in the combination of AMF+ PFB+ SA. Also, the dual combination of AR increased leaf relative water content and photosynthesis rate compared to the control. In the first and second harvest, chlorophyll b content decreased by 15 and 17%, respectively, at irrigation intervals of 75% AWD compared to 25% AWD. In the first and second harvest, biological yield in AMF+ PFB+ SA increased by 15 and 13%, respectively, compared to the control.Conclusion: In general, due to the positive effects of AMF+ PFB+ SA on photosynthetic and yield indices of Echinacea, this treatment can be recommended under drought stress condition.
sajjad bayat; Ezatollah Esfandiari; Ali Akbar Asadi; Ismail Karimi
Abstract
Objective: Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for plants, where it functions structurally and as a cofactor in numerous enzymes. In calcareous soils, Zn bioavailability is often reduced, leading to yield losses. One effective approach to mitigate this problem is to identify and rank pinto bean genotypes ...
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Objective: Zinc (Zn) is an essential micronutrient for plants, where it functions structurally and as a cofactor in numerous enzymes. In calcareous soils, Zn bioavailability is often reduced, leading to yield losses. One effective approach to mitigate this problem is to identify and rank pinto bean genotypes with tolerance to Zn deficiency using quantitative evaluation indicators under stress conditions.
Method: In this study, multiple zinc-deficiency tolerance indices—including zinc efficiency (ZE), stress susceptibility (SS), tolerance (TOL), stress tolerance (STI), geometric mean productivity (GMP), mean productivity (MP), and membership function value (MFV)—were used to screen pinto bean genotypes for Zn-deficiency tolerance. The experiment was conducted at the research farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zanjan during the 2019 growing season using an augment design with 10 blocks. To distinguish among 29 pinto bean genotypes, two Zn regimes were applied: no foliar Zn application and foliar Zn application at a concentration of 1/1000. Variance analysis was applied to confirm field uniformity using a completely randomized design. Grain yield data under Zn deficiency and under foliar Zn application were used to compute the indices, with MFV calculated based on their standardized performance.
Results: The results showed that both Zn deficiency and foliar Zn spraying had a significant effect on grain yield (p<0.0001). Across all genotypes, foliar Zn increased grain yield by an average of 29.84%. Based on the ZE-based classification, the 29 genotypes were grouped into five categories: one very zinc-efficient genotype (ZE=99.64), three zinc-efficient genotypes (90.38 ≤ ZE < 99.64), twenty relatively zinc-efficient genotypes (71.08 ≤ ZE < 90.38), four low zinc-efficient genotypes (64.51≤ ZE < 71.08), and one zinc-inefficient genotype (ZE=56.59). Furthermore, the correlations among STI, MP, and GMP were numerically close to unity, indicating that genotype ranking using these indices produced comparable outcomes. The genotype KS-21567 showed the highest MP value (367.19 g/m²) together with a relatively zinc-efficient ZE (85.59%), whereas KBC-22138 had the lowest MP (229.81 g/m²) with a relatively zinc-efficient ZE (77.32%).
Conclusions: In conclusion, the identification of zinc-efficient and high-yielding genotypes can support breeding efforts aimed at developing improved cultivars. The MFV and MP indices are recommended as useful tools for differentiating and classifying genotypes under Zn deficiency, and MFV may also be applicable to other abiotic stress conditions.
Khashayar Rigi; Mehdi Dahmardeh; Seyyed Mohsen Mousavi Nick
Abstract
Objective: Intercropping, by increasing the number of species per unit area, is recognized as a solution to maintain and increase production in agriculture. Intercropping is a method for increasing diversity in agricultural ecosystems, which leads to increased and sustainable yield and better use of ...
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Objective: Intercropping, by increasing the number of species per unit area, is recognized as a solution to maintain and increase production in agriculture. Intercropping is a method for increasing diversity in agricultural ecosystems, which leads to increased and sustainable yield and better use of environmental resources. So that it is also referred to as an operation to economize the use of growth resources, increase production and profitability per unit area and time, and due to the similarity of this system to natural ecosystems, its ecological relationships and principles are also more effective than monoculture systems. This study was conducted to investigate the changes in yield and yield components of Aloe vera under the influence of triple intercropping in the Sistan region.
Method: This experiment was conducted as a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The first factor (methanol solution-spraying) was in 3 levels and the secondary factor (mixed cultivation) was in 9 levels. An atomic absorption spectrometer was used to measure the amount of manganese, phosphorus, and copper elements. To measure the amount of gel, the leaves of each plant were washed with water, then each leaf was cut into several parts and the gel was removed from each leaf by hand. The amount of gel for each plant was weighed using a digital scale and then the average for each plot was calculated. After counting the number of Aloe vera leaves in each plant, the leaf weight was weighed using a digital scale for each plant and then the average for each plot was calculated. To measure the number of Aloe vera leaves, three plants were randomly selected and the leaves were cut from their attachment to the plant and the number of leaves for each plant was counted and then the average number of leaves for each plant was calculated.
Results: Based on the results obtained, the interaction effect of experimental treatments on the yield and yield components of Aloe vera, as well as the absorption of copper, phosphorus, and manganese elements, was highly significant. The highest and lowest yield of Aloe vera, as well as the elements absorbed by peanuts, were obtained from the treatments of 30% by volume methanol+ 100% sour tea+ 25% peanuts+ 75% Aloe vera and 10% by volume methanol+ 100% sour tea+ 75% peanuts+ 25% Aloe vera, respectively.
Conclusions: Considering that intercropping has many advantages such as increasing diversity, reducing diseases, weeds and increasing resource use efficiency, the present study also shows the positive effect of intercropping of sour tea, Aloe Vera and peanuts compared to Aloe Vera monoculture. Methanol affects plant weight by reducing photorespiration and increasing the amount of cell swelling of plant tissues, and among the methanol treatments, the highest and lowest Aloe Vera yields belonged to the 30 and 10% methanol volume treatments.
Gholamreza Shahidi; Gholam Akbari; Ali Akbar Asadi; Gholamali Akbari; Mohammad Hadi Ghafarian Mogharab
Abstract
Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of combined nutritional regimes, including organic and inorganic fertilizers along with precise foliar spraying applications, on yield components, grain yield, biomass, and harvest index of pinto bean under challenging water deficit stress condition.
Method: ...
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Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of combined nutritional regimes, including organic and inorganic fertilizers along with precise foliar spraying applications, on yield components, grain yield, biomass, and harvest index of pinto bean under challenging water deficit stress condition.
Method: The experiment was carefully carried out over two growing seasons (2022–2023 and 2023–2024) at the Kheirabad Agricultural Research Station in Zanjan, using a split-plot experiment based on a randomized complete block design with four replications. Treatments included two levels of soil fertilization (control and combined application of 50 kg potassium sulfate + 2 kg humic acid per hectare), four levels of foliar spraying (control or water spray, nano-zinc fertilizer, amino acids, and potassium silicate), and two irrigation regimes (full irrigation at 5-day intervals and deficit irrigation at 9-day intervals).
Findings: Results clearly showed that water deficit significantly reduced reproductive components and yield. Plant density per square meter, pods per plant, grains per pod, and 100- grain weight decreased by 8.9%, 9.1%, 10.5%, and 6.1% percent, respectively, under stress condition. The highest number of grains per pod (7.92) was obtained under full irrigation combined with potassium silicate, while the lowest value (7 grains) was observed under deficit irrigation without foliar spraying, representing an 11.65% reduction. Grain yield decreased by about 29% under stress, dropping from 3038 to 2150 kg per hectare. Potassium silicate recorded the highest yield with an average of 2733 kg per hectare, about 7% higher than other foliar treatments. Regarding harvest index, full irrigation resulted in an average of 57%, whereas deficit irrigation reduced it to 48%. The highest harvest index (56%) was observed with nano-zinc fertilizer, highlighting its crucial role in the remobilization of photosynthates to reproductive organs. The highest biomass (3165.32 kg per hectare) was achieved under full irrigation with potassium silicate, which was 1.6% and 2.8% higher compared to nano-zinc and amino acid treatments, respectively. Even without basal fertilization, potassium silicate maintained a relatively high biomass level (2762.21 kg per hectare).
Conclusions: Overall, potassium silicate foliar spraying, by enhancing photosynthesis, improving cell wall stability, and reducing lipid peroxidation, was able to effectively mitigate the negative effects of drought stress and enhance yield and biomass. Furthermore, the positive role of nano-zinc fertilizer in improving harvest index was clearly confirmed. These comprehensive results can serve as a reliable basis for developing advanced nutritional strategies to increase the resilience of pinto bean under increasingly unstable climatic condition.
Yousef Nasiri
Abstract
Objective: Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), an annual medicinal plant of the Apiaceae family, produces essential oil that is widely used in cosmetic, hygiene, food, and pharmaceutical industries. This study evaluated the effects of weed control and intercropping coriander with fenugreek on coriander ...
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Objective: Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.), an annual medicinal plant of the Apiaceae family, produces essential oil that is widely used in cosmetic, hygiene, food, and pharmaceutical industries. This study evaluated the effects of weed control and intercropping coriander with fenugreek on coriander grain yield and essential oil production.
Method: A split-plot experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates at the Meshkin-Shahr Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Station in 2018. Weed control constituted the main plot factor (weeded vs. unweeded). Cropping system was the sub-plot factor and included sole coriander and sole fenugreek, as well as five coriander–fenugreek intercropping treatments differing in fenugreek seed spacing (7.5, 10, 12.5, 15, and 17.5 cm).
Results: Weed control significantly increased most measured coriander traits, with the exception of harvest index. Cropping system significantly affected all coriander traits except plant height, number of secondary branches, and essential oil yield. The interaction between weed control and intercropping was significant for plant height, number of umbels per plant, and grain yield. The highest essential oil percentage was recorded at 17.5 and 15 cm fenugreek spacings. The number of grains per umbel increased across all intercropping treatments, whereas the highest biological yield occurred under sole coriander. The maximum 1000-grains weight was obtained at the 7.5 cm spacing, and the highest grain harvest index was found in intercropping treatments at 17.5, 15, and 12.5 cm. Under weed-controlled conditions, the greatest number of umbels per plant (11.1) was achieved at 10 cm. However, the highest grain yield (660.7 kg·ha⁻¹) was produced by the weeded sole coriander crop. Land equivalent ratio (LER) exceeded unity for all intercropping treatments, indicating the overall superiority of intercropping compared with sole cropping. The highest LER values were observed in the 7.5 and 10 cm intercropping treatments under both weeded and unweeded conditions.
Conclusions: Intercropping coriander with fenugreek—particularly at denser fenugreek spacings (7.5 and 10 cm)—is an effective and sustainable strategy to improve yield components and, in selected treatments, enhance essential oil quality, while mitigating weed-associated losses. Combined weed control and intercropping therefore offers a practical approach to increase coriander productivity and quality.
Meaysam ashtari; Mohammad Ali Askari Sarcheshmeh; Mesbah Babalar; Orang Khademi
Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of selenium foliar spraying at four concentrations (0, 2, 4, and 6 mg/L) on the qualitative and biochemical characteristics of Malase-Saveh pomegranate fruit. Selenium is an essential micronutrient known for its role in plant growth, stress resistance, ...
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Objective: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of selenium foliar spraying at four concentrations (0, 2, 4, and 6 mg/L) on the qualitative and biochemical characteristics of Malase-Saveh pomegranate fruit. Selenium is an essential micronutrient known for its role in plant growth, stress resistance, and fruit quality enhancement. This research sought to determine the optimal selenium concentration for improving fruit quality and antioxidant properties and to assess its role in enhancing fruit resistance to environmental stresses.Method: The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications in a garden located in Saveh. Selenium treatments were applied at three stages: fruit formation on June 4th, July 4th and Augest 4th. This ensured gradual nutrient uptake and allowed for comprehensive evaluation of selenium impact over different growth stages. At the commercial ripening stage, fruit and leaf samples were collected from treated and control trees. Measured qualitative traits included fruit length, diameter, shape, volume, 100-aril weight, aril length and diameter, fruit number, sunburn percentage, cracking percentage, marketability, and throatworm infestation. Biochemical traits included macro- and micronutrient levels, selenium content in leaves and fruit, soluble solid content (SSC), titratable acidity, vitamin C, phenols, anthocyanins, and antioxidant capacity. These traits provided a comprehensive understanding of selenium impact on fruit quality and plant health.Results: Foliar application of selenium, particularly at 6 mg L⁻¹, significantly increased fruit length, diameter, volume, weight, and 100-aril weight. The number of fruits per tree was also higher compared to the control. Quality indices such as total soluble solids, titratable acidity, vitamin C, total phenolics, and antioxidant capacity improved significantly in the 4 and 6 mg L⁻¹ treatments. The highest fruit weight was obtained at 6 mg L⁻¹. Moreover, the incidence of sunburn, fruit cracking, and infestation by the pomegranate fruit borer decreased, although no significant effect was observed on fruit shape. Nutritional analysis showed that selenium application increased selenium concentration in fruit and leaves, along with higher nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium levels. The highest iron and zinc contents were observed at 6 mg L⁻¹, whereas an antagonistic relationship was found between selenium and manganese.Conclusions: Overall, pre-harvest foliar spraying of selenium, especially at 6 mg L⁻¹, significantly improved both quantitative and qualitative traits of pomegranate. This treatment enhanced mineral composition, vitamin C, and phenolic compounds, while reducing physiological disorders and improving marketability. Therefore, foliar application of selenium at 6 mg L⁻¹ is recommended as an effective strategy to increase yield, improve fruit quality, and reduce postharvest losses in pomegranate.