فهرست مطالب بهرام بانی نسب

Although Pistachio (Pistacia vera) is classified as a salt tolerant plant, in recent years pistachio production has reduced, due to the drought and the low quality of irrigation water. The role of hydrogen sulfide in the defense mechanisms of plants under abiotic stresses indicates that this compound can reduce the salinity stress in plants. So, a greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate whether application of hydrogen sulfide would protect pistachio seedlings subjected to salt stress. The treatments were four levels of salinity (0, 40, 80 and 120 mM) and four concentration of hydrogen sulfide (0, 0.4, 0.8 or 1.2 mM). The results showed that salinity stress reduced shoot and root dry weights in pistachio seedling. Increasing NaCl concentration caused increasing proline and carbohydrate content and reduced the leaf relative water content and chlorophyll content in pistachio rootstocks. The use of hydrogen sulfide increased proline and relative water content and chlorophyll content of leaves compared with the control. The application of hydrogen sulfide at 1.2 mM resulted in increased carbohydrate concentration in pistachio seedling under salinity stress. Although increasing NaCl concentration caused increasing catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activities in salt tolerant pistachio seedling, application of hydrogen sulfide significantly increased the antioxidant enzyme activities. Overall, it could be concluded that applied hydrogen sulfide ameliorated the adverse effects of salt stress through preventing decrease in leaf chlorophyll and relative leaf water content, and increasing in carbohydrate, and antioxidant enzyme activity in pistachio seedlings.

Drought is one of the most common stresses experienced by plants and limits plant growth throughout the world, especially in the arid and semi-arid areas. In this research, the effect of vermicompost on olive (Olea europaea L. cv. Zard) morpho-physiological traits and drought tolerance was investigated. A factorial experiment was conducted in completely randomized design with two factors, including vermicompost application at four levels (0, 12.5%, 25% and 50%) and drought stress at two levels (full irrigation and non-irrigation) and 4 replications in the research greenhouse of the Department of Horticulture, Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran. Drought stress decreased relative leaf number, but addition of vermicompost increased it. Drought stress decreased the relative water content, chlorophyll a, b, carotenoids, and root P concentrations and increased leaf and root Na concentration, and application of vermicompost significantly decreased Na concentration of the roots. In spite of positive effects of all vermicompost levels on growth parameters and drought tolerance, the highest number of leaves, chlorophyll a, b and carotenoid concentrations and drought tolerance was observed in plants fertilized with 25% vermicompost. The results showed that applying 25% vermicompost to the soil led to improvements in an array of plant growth parameters and K and P concentrations of the roots, due presumably to an improvement in physical and chemical properties of the medium.

Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses that severely affect the yield and quality of plants. The use of hydrogen sulfide in low concentrations increases tolerance to various stresses, including salinity in plants. This study aimed to investigate the effect of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) on reducing the damage to almond rootstock under salinity stress. The experiment was performed as a factorial based on a completely randomized design with four replications. The treatments included four levels of salinity (0, 30, 60 and 90 mM NaCl) and four concentrations of H2S (0, 0.05, 0.10 and 0.15 mM). Results showed that salinity stress, especially at a concentration of 90 mM NaCl caused a significant decrease in stem height, relative chlorophyll and leaf relative water content and a significant increase in injury rating value, electrolyte leakage, proline and sodium concentrations of root and shoot, activities of catalase and peroxidase of leaf. However, H2S at concentrations of 0.10 and 0.15 mM improved plant growth with a decrease in electrolyte leakage and sodium concentration of root, and a significant increase in proline, relative chlorophyll and antioxidant enzyme activity ameliorated the negative effect of salinity stress and improved plant growth.

In order to evaluate the response of quince cv. Isfahan seedlings to sodium bicarbonate stress in the presence of mycorrhizal, a factorial experiment was conducted based on a completely randomized design in the presence of four levels of soil sodium bicarbonate (0, 5, 10, and 15 mM) and four levels of mycorrhizal (Rhizophagus intraradices, Funneliformis mosseae, the combination of two species and no inoculation (control)) with three replications. The results showed a significant decrease in root colonization, seedling height, leaf number, shoot dry weight, relative leaf chlorophyll content, and total leaf antioxidant capacity with increasing sodium bicarbonate concentration in the nutrient solution. In contrast, seedlings inoculated with mycorrhizal, especially R. intraradices, increased these indices compared to the control treatment. Although a significant decrease in the roots and leaves iron concentration of quince seedlings was observed with increasing the concentration of sodium bicarbonate, the use of R. intraradices significantly improved the iron content, especially at concentrations of 5 and 10 mM sodium bicarbonate. A significant increase in the concentration of phenolic compounds and the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase enzyme activity was observed in concentrations of 5 and 10 mM sodium bicarbonate by mycorrhizal treatments. In general, it can be suggested that mycorrhizal, especially R. intraradices, probably facilitates the iron uptake and increases iron content in roots and leaves of quince seedlings in the presence of different concentrations of sodium bicarbonate by affecting the synthesis of phenolic compounds.

Environmental stresses are serious threats for agricultural production. Abiotic stress is a serious threat to agricultural products. Pistachio is one of the most important agricultural products in Iran and United States and its developing in other countries. Pistachio has good yields in rain fed condition and increases the flush and quality of yield by irrigation. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are one of the most useful microorganisms in the soil, and most plants can be symbiosis with mycorrhiza, that help to improve nutritional conditions and other functions such as photosynthesis and osmotic regulation under stress conditions.

AMF, (Funneliformis mosseae) were propagated using corn (Zea mays). Four pistachio rootstocks in symbiosis with mycorrhiza were subjected to drought and salinity stress in two separate experiments. Plants were divided randomly into three treatments (three replications and 6 plants per treatment), Treatments included drought, salinity, mycorrhiza and rootstock (In Shahrekord university, 2017-18, and 32 °21 N 50° 49 E ). At the end of the experiment, the plants were harvested. Then all parts of the plant, including roots, shoots and leaves, were separated and weighted. The amount of phosphorus was measured using a spectrophotometer (UV-Vis Spectrometer) at a wavelength of 470 nm (Olsen et al., 1954). Data were evaluated by Three-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with SPSS 25.0.0.

The rootstock biomass in this experiment influenced by different treatments (mycorrhiza, rootstock type and stress). P content of both leaves and root tissues of pistachio rootstocks was affected by both drought and salinity stress (data not showed). Mycorrhiza increased root, stem and leaf fresh weight under drought and salinity stress and leaf area ratio and specific leaf area under salinity stress. Mycorrhiza-inoculated plants had lower phosphorus use efficiency and more tolerance to drought and salinity stresses. Growth indices and phosphorus use efficiency of root, leaf and total, decreased under both drought and salinity stresses. The Sarakhs rootstock was more salinity-sensitive than other rootstocks.

In this research, pistachio rootstocks showed differences in biomass and biomass was diminished under salinity and drought stress. Biomass reductions under abiotic stress (drought and salinity stress) conditions in previous studies on almond, peaches, olives, apple and pistachio fruit trees has been reported. Biomass was higher in +M rootstocks, which could be owing to effects of mycorrhizal symbiosis on P absorption. The difference between rootstocks is related to rootstock absorption capacity that it is related to root condition. Therefore, rootstocks that have better roots growth and can obtain root survive under stress conditions, they can be better in mineral uptake and more tolerant to stress statue, because the ability of plants to withstand stresses depends to a large extent on roots.

An experiment was conducted to examine whether the foliar application of melatonin (MA) and nitric oxide (NO) would improve thermo-tolerance of strawberry plants subjected to high-temperature stress. For this purpose, a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications, in the college of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology was performed. The strawberry plants cv. Kurdistan were exposed to various temperatures (25, 35, and 40 °Ϲ) for 24 hours after pre-treatment with 0, 50, and 100 μM MA and NO. Heat stress significantly induced hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde content and increased proline accumulation, whereas reduced relative water content (RWC) and the maximal efficiency of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fm). In addition, heat stress increased glutathione and ascorbic acid contents and enhanced superoxide dismutase and guaiacol peroxidase activities, and reduced catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activities. Treatment with MA and NO decreased heat injury symptoms and induced antioxidant enzyme systems and increased non-enzymatic antioxidant contents. Melatonin and NO increased proline content, RWC, and improved Fv/Fm compared with the non-treated plants. These results suggested that in strawberry, MA and NO alleviate heat-induced oxidative damage by modulating antioxidant pathways, decreasing reactive oxygen species, and inhibiting lipid peroxidation.

The quantity and quality of olive oil have been affected by various factors such as climatic and regional conditions, cultivar, and harvest time. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different harvesting times on the oil quantity, quality, and profile of fatty acids in four cultivars of olive, including Roghani, Zard, Amphissis, and Beladi in Isfahan region. For this purpose, the olive fruits were harvested at four stages (two weeks intervals) starting in early October. At each stage of harvesting, the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the oil were evaluated and the profile of fatty acids was examined. The results showed that in all cultivars, with the progress of fruit ripening and increasing the maturity index, the percentage of fruit oil and the free fatty acid increased and chlorophyll content and phenolic compounds in the oil decreased. In this study, the lowest amount of saturated fatty acids (palmitic acid and stearic acid), the highest ratio of monounsaturated fatty acids (oleic acid) to polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic acid), and the lowest rate of cox index (oxidation index) that indicate higher quality of olive oil were obtained in the second stage of harvest time in Amphissis and Roghani and in the fourth stage of harvest time in Zard and Beladi cultivars. According to the results of this study, in all cultivars the highest oil content were obtained when fruits harvested at the latest time (November 14).

The present experiment has compared the resistance of different mycorrhizal pistachio rootstocks to salinity and drought stress in a completely randomized design with three replications. It has used Funneliformis mosseae and four pistachio species, Badami-e Riz Zarand, Qazvini, Sarakhs, and UCB1. In addition, the experiment of water stress in 4 levels (100%, 80%, 60%, and 40% FC), and experiment of salinity stress in 4 levels (0.91, 7.57, 16.12, and 24.63 dSm-1), have been applied for 60 days. At the end of the experiment, different characteristics such as total biomass, leaf area, tissue moisture percentage, and electrolyte leakage have been measured. Also, during the experiment, total chlorophyll, carotenoids and anthocyanin pigments have been surveyed and analyzed. The results indicate that mycorrhizal symbiosis has improved total biomass and leaf moisture content under both drought and salinity stress conditions, wherein tissue moisture content and total leaf chlorophyll content have decreased and anthocyanin content and electrolyte leakage increased. As for the lowest leaf, stem and root moisture content have been observed at the highest drought and salinity levels with UCB1 having the highest biomass and moisture under salinity stress and the highest leaf and stem moisture content and lowest electrolyte leakage are observed in Sarakhs rootstock under drought stress. It seems UCB1 and Sarakhs symbiotic with mycorrhiza can be useful for salinity and drought stress, respectively.

This study was conducted to investigate the changes in the levels of soluble carbohydrate, antioxidant capacity, total phenolic acid and fatty acid composition of olive during cold acclimation and deacclimation related with freezing tolerance (FT). Three olive cultivars, Amphisis, Gorgan and Manzanilla were selected and leaf samples were prepared from field-grown trees from autumn to summer at six times (November, December, December, February, April and July). The FT was measured by exposure to artificial freezing (0ºC to –25ºC). Result showed that there was a significant difference between the olive cultivars in terms of FT at each stage of sampling. The FT of cultivars increased during the cold acclimation stage and declined in deacclimation stage. Soluble carbohydrates, antioxidant capacity, total phenolic content, leaf dry matter, especially from the beginning of cold acclimation until full acclimation, in cold-tolerant –Amphisis– cultivar was more than the Gorgan and Manzanilla cultivars. The highest ratio of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids in both January and July was observed in Amphisis cultivar. Therefore, compounds such as soluble carbohydrates, total phenolic content, and fatty acids can be used as biochemical indicator of FT in screening of olive cultivars.

Low temperature resistance mechanisms are complex during dormancy. Plants can use several biochemical processes to counteract the direct and indirect effects of low temperatures. In order to investigate the seasonal changes of some biochemical compounds in flower buds of three domestic almond (Prunus amygdalus L.) cultivars, a split plots in time experiment was conducted with three replications, in 2017-2018. Experimental treatments included three domestic almond cultivars with different flowering times (ʻMohebʼ, ʻMamaieʼ and ʻRabiʼ, respectively) in region and 5 time periods of 20 days during the endodormancy until after breaking the endodormancy. The results showed that the proline amino acids accumulation increased during endodormancy and endodormancy release in cultivars, and ʻMohebʼ cultivar had lower proline content (10.55 µmol g-1 FW) compared to the ʻMamaieʼ and ʻRabiʼ (15.25 and 15.04 µmol g-1 FW, respectively). At the beginning of the experiment, the maximum starch content was observed before the cold accumulation in the studied cultivars (ʻMohebʼ, ʻMamaieʼ and ʻRabiʼ: 19.99, 19.08 and 21.39 mg g-1 FW, respectively), but it showed a decreasing trend in all three cultivars with the progress of the dormancy and the increase in the chill unit accumulation (ʻMohebʼ, ʻMamaieʼ and ʻRabiʼ: 15.33, 8.73 and 14.69 mg g-1 FW, respectively). Total phenols and flavonoids with 15.21 and 1.77 mg g-1 FW, respectively increased during the dormancy and approaching to dormancy release in all cultivars. The results showed a clear and positive relationship between proline amino acid and nonenzymatic antioxidant compounds at low temperature. Also, different cultivars of a species showed different responses during the dormancy. As a result, it is important to consider biochemical changes during the dormancy periods in the selection of resistant and cold-sensitive almonds to spring frost.

This study was designed to investigate the effect of Mycorrhiza symbiosis on some orphophysiological characteristics of four different pistachio rootstocks under salinity stress. This research was conducted in a completely randomized design with factorial arrangement with three factors. The factors were included rootstocks at four levels (Badami-e Riz Zarand, Qazvini, Sarakhs, and UCB1), mycorrhiza at two levels (inoculated and non-inoculated plants) and irrigation water salinity at four levels (0.91, 7.57, 16.12 and 24.63 dS/m). Sampling done of 6-month-old plants that they were under salinity stress conditions for 60 days. Then morphophysiological indices such as leaf number, height, relative water content (RWC), water use efficiency (WUE), chlorophyll and carotenoid, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MAD), sucrose and protein content were measured. The results showed that the leaves number of all rootstocks and height of all rootstocks except Sarakhs decreased and leaf abscission percentage increased. The RWC, WUE, a, b and total chlorophyll and leaf and root protein content in mycorrhizal plants were higher than non-mycorrhizal plants. As well as, leaf H2O2 and root MAD concentration on inoculated plants were lower than non-inoculated plants. The lowest content of a, b and total chlorophyll, RWC and WUE and the highest content of leaf and root H2O2 and leaf MAD were founded in Sarakhs rootstock, and there was no significant difference between Badami-e Riz zarand and UCB1 rootstocks in terms of total chlorophyll, leaf and root H2O2 and leaf MAD. Salinity stress decreased total chlorophyll, RWC and leaf and root protein and increased H2O2, MAD and sucrose in leaves and roots. Generally, in the present study, mycorrhiza improved rootstocks tolerance under salinity stress. The Sarakhs rootstock was more salinity-sensitive than other rootstocks and the Badami-e Riz zarand and UCB1 rootstock had almost the same response to salinity stress.

In order to reduce vegetative growth and increase the quality of strawberry fruits a research was carried out using paclobutrazole and calcium prohexadione on cultivar Paros. In this study calcium prohexadione at three concentrations (0, 100 and 150 mg L-1) and paclobutrazole at four concentrations (0, 60, 90 and 120 mg L-1) in two stages (four and seven weeks after planting) were sprayed. The results showed that the effects of paclobutrazole, calcium-prohexadione, and their interaction significantly increased the photosynthesis rate, chlorophyll content, leaf carotenoids, yield, and fruit anthocyanins. The effect of paclobutrazole at 5% probability level and calcium prohexadione at 1% probability level increased significant in the photosynthetic efficiency. Calcium prohexadione and its interaction with paclobutrazole at 1% probability level increased significant in the firmness of the fruit tissue and significantly decreased in the titratable acidity. Soluble solids were not affected by these retardants. Using from calcium prohexadione alone at 5% probability level increased significantly in the vitamin C. Generally, the physiological characteristics of the plant were increased by the use of both growth retardants, while the qualitative factors were more affected by calcium prohexadione.

In order to evaluate the role of paclobutrazol (PBZ) and prohexadione-calcium (ProCa) in reduction of vegetative growth and improvement of reproductive growth of strawberry (cultivar Paros), a 4-replicate completely randomized design was carried out in greenhouse. ProCa in three concentrations of 0, 100 and 150 mg L-1 and PBZ in four concentrations of 0, 60, 90 and 120 mg L-1 were sprayed on the strawberry plants in two stages (four weeks after planting and three weeks after the first stage). The results showed that the application of PBZ, ProCa and also their interaction had a significant effect on plant height, plant fresh weight, petiole length, specific leaf weight, root weight ratio, crown number, fruit number, fruit yield and harvest index. Application of 120 mg L-1 of PBZ without the use of ProCa resulted in the lowest plant height. The interaction of 100 mg L-1 of ProCa and 60 mg L-1 PBZ resulted in the highest number of flowers and crowns. The use of these retardants did not have a significant effect on fruit weight. The effect of ProCa and its interaction with PBZ was significant on the number of flowers and the interaction of PBZ and ProCa was significant on fruit set. Treatment with 100 mg L-1 ProCa without PBZ was the most effective treatment on increasing fruit set. In general, the results showed that the use of retardants reduced the vegetative growth and increased reproductive growth of the Paros strawberry genotype. The concentration of 100 mg L-1 ProCa and 60 mg L-1 PBZ was the most effective treatment for increase in reproductive growth of the examined strawberry cultivar.

Temperature is one of the most important factors limiting the production and distribution of olive. Different olive cultivars show diverse responses to low temperature and so, the selection of cold tolerant cultivars is the most effective method to avoid frost damages. The main purpose of this study was to compare freezing tolerance of seven olive cultivars and to investigate the relationship between freezing tolerance and maximum quantum yield of PSII, soluble carbohydrates, malondialdehyde, stomatal density, leaf tissue density and leaf relative water content during cold acclimation. After measuring the chlorophyll fluorescence, leaf samples from each cultivar were collected and were divided into two groups. The first group was subjected into different freezing temperatures (0, -5, -10, -15, -20 and -25 °C) for 12 h, in order to determine their freezing tolerance. The second group was used for some biochemical and physiological parameters analysis. The results showed that there was a significant difference among olive cultivars with respect to freezing tolerance. The highest freezing tolerance was related to ‘Amphisis’, ‘Shengeh’ and ‘Conservallia’ cultivars (LT50 -13.14, -11.72 and -11.20 °C, respectively) and the lowest tolerance to the ‘Rashid’ (LT50 - 6.90 °C). In freezing tolerant cultivars, Fv/Fm, soluble carbohydrates and leaf density were more than other cultivars, indicating a positive relationship with freezing tolerance. The concentration of malondialdehyde, stomatal density and relative leaf water content in freezing tolerance cultivars such as ‘Amphisis’, ‘Shengeh’ and ‘Conservallia’ were less than freezing sensitive cultivar of ‘Rashid’.

Eggplant is a crop that has been cultivated for a long time in different areas of Iran. Nevertheless, no sufficient studies have been done on variation of morphological traits and yield of this crop in Iran, and it has not been well-attended in breeding programs. Therefore, to study genetic diversity in collected local varieties, the experiment was conducted in a Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications at the Isfahan University of Technology, Isfahan, Iran. There were significant differences (p<0.01) among genotypes for all traits except for fruit density and leaf dry matter. Fruit yield varied from 2410 to 4023 g plant-1 between the varieties. Plant width, leaf dry matter, number of short style flowers, number of fruits per plant, plant growth habit and leaf blade lobing had significantly positive correlations with fruit yields per plant. Cluster analysis grouped the varieties into four clusters. Fruit number and yield per plant (as the most important traits) had the higher values in third group. Factor analysis recognized five factors, which explained 83.11 percent of total variation. In the first factor, the most variation was explained by fruit number and yield per plant which generally named fruit component. In conclusion, the results of this study indicated that there was a broad genetic diversity among local varieties of Iran’s eggplant which makes it possible to use valuable varieties by desirable traits such as high yield and sweat flavor of fruit in breeding program aimed at improving traits.

Cold stress is one of the limiting factors for plant growth and yield production in most parts of the world. Cold stress damages cells through changes in the activity of macromolecules, decreasing osmotic potential, and significant changes in other parts of the cell. Cold stress in young seedlings generally reduces leaf development, induces wilting and chlorosis and in more severe cases, browning and necrosis become visible. Cucumber is a sensitive plant to low temperature and its cultivation, except the southern and central parts of Iran, occurs in areas where there is a possibility of cold stress in the early part of the growing season due to the low temperature. The different ways for controlling cold stress had been used; one of them is using plant growth regulators such as spermidine. Spermidine is one of the polyamines that has been used in recent years to control cold stress. The effect of cold treatment on the amount of indigenous leaf polyamines has been reported differently between cold-resistant and sensitive cucumber cultivars. During the cold stress, the amount of indigenous spermidine in leaves of cold-resistant cucumber cultivars and sensitive cultivars increased significantly and remained unchanged, respectively. The increase in the content of putrescent, spermidine and spermine in cold resistant cultivars during cold stress was probably due to the increased activity of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC). The amount of polyamines in chickpea plants that were exposured to low temperatures (12-15°C and 4-6°C are related to mean maximum and minimum temperature of the farm, respectively) increased six to nine times. Adding spermidine to the cucumber growing medium before applying cold treatment increased spermidine amount in all organs and increased cold tolerance. To study the effect of spermidine on cold tolerance of cucumber, seedling of ‘Rashid’ cultivar, an experiment was conducted based on completely randomized design with four replications and four treatments consist of different concentrations of spermidine (0, 0.1, 0.5 and 1 mM) in incubator of College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology. So seeds were exposed to 20°C for 7 days in a humid condition and then were treated with 0, 0.1, 0.5 or 1 mM spermidine, the remaining 8 days they were kept at 6 or 9°C. The treatments performed in dark conditions until the second day of germination and received 8 hours of light daily from the third day until the end of the experiment. At the end of each experiment, shoot and root length were measured by use of the ruler, shoot and root fresh and dry weight were measured by use of digital scale, shoot and root ion leakage were measured based on Lates method (3) and shoot and root proline concentration were measured based on Bites et al., (2) method. To compare the effects of temperature and its interactions with spermidine, data of two experiments analyzed as split plot experiment (Different temperatures and spermidine concentrations were as main and subplots, respectively). The findings of this study showed that application of the highest concentration of spermidine (1 mM) in 9°C had the inverse effect on cold tolerance, so it decreased the fresh and dry weight of root. In 6°C, 0.5 mM spermidine was more effective than other concentrations, and it increased root fresh weight, shoot proline concentration and decreased root ion leakage. It has been shown that the non-saturated lipid profile of membranes of cold-resistant plants in comparison of non-resistant plants is significantly increased, and this increase is associated with a decrease in cell ion leakage. Proline works as a nitrogen source and soluble substance that helps the plant to combat again stress conditions. The split-plot analysis of data showed that 0.5 and 0.1 mM spermidine treatments increased root length, root fresh and dry weight significantly. The study of spermidine concentrations ×temperatures showed that the increasing effect of 0.5 mM spermidine on root length, root fresh and dry weight was only visible in 6°C.

Drought is one of the most frequent abiotic stresses. Use of chemical fertilizers resulted in pollution of soil, water and air. For this reason today again considered organic fertilizers. Vermicompost is an organic fertilizer which has a potential influence on plant growth as well as stress tolerance. Deficiency irrigation water, severely reduce the yield of crops, especially olives. Thus, a greenhouse experiment was coducted in 2015 to study the effect of vermicompost on growth and drought tolerance of olive cuttings cultivar Zard. The experiment was set up as factorial experiment in completely randomized design with two factors, including vermicompost application at four levels (0%, 12.5%, 25% or 50% ) and drought stress at two levels (full irrigation or non-irrigation) and 4 replications. The results showed that drought stress decreased and addition of vermicompost increased vegetative growth parameters significantly compared to plants cultivated in unamended soil. Water stress treatment decreased the total chlorophyll and increased ion leakage, ascorbat peroxidase and catalase activity and proline content and application of vermicompost significantly decreased ion leakage. Although, all vermicompost levels of 12.5, 25 or 50% continued to be positive effects, 25% vermicompost treatment was numerically superior to others, increased chlorophyll and proline contents and antioxidant enzyme activity and decreased ion leakage from leaves.

Hawthorn is one of the crucial tolerant seedling rootstocks to iron deficiency chlorosis for quince and pear trees in calcareous soils. In this investigation, owing to double seed dormancy, low percentage of seed germination and producing seedling rootstocks, two factorial experiments in a completely randomized design with three replications were conducted to overcome seed dormancy in hawthorn. In the first experiment, the effect of seed scarification with concentrated sulfuric acid (98%) in three times period including 0, 1.5 and 3 hours and four warm-cold temperature treatments on C. atrosanguinea was investigated. In the second one, the germination of seed embryos of C. atrosanguinea were evaluated under different concentrations of potassium nitrate (0, 5000 and 10000 mg l-1) and gibberellic acid (0, 100 and 200 mg l-1) in vitro. The results of first experiment showed that the scarification time and temperature treatments, had significant effects in increasing germination percentage (GP), mean daily germination (MDG), length of hypocotyl and epicotyl, germination index (GI) and Seed viability index (SVI), and reduced the germination rate (T50) and mean germination time (MGT) compared to control. The results of the second experiment indicated that the aapplications of 100 mg l-1gibberellic acid, and 5000 mg l-1 of potassium nitrate significantly increased GP, MDG, GI, SVI and decreased T50 compared to the control.

Almond trees have been grown in Iran for many years. Despite almond has been classified as salt semi-tolerant plant, poor quality of irrigation water in association with salt has reduced the yields of almond over recent years. Salicylic acid (SA) is responsible for inducing tolerance to a number of biotic and abiotic stresses. Thas, an experiment was conducted to study the effect of SA on salinity stress alleviation of bitter almond seedling. The experiment was set up as factorial experiment in completely randomized design with two factors including NaCl concentration (0, 40 or 80 mM) and SA at three levels (0, 0.5 or 1 mM). The results showed that salt stress decreased some vegetative growth parameters and relative water content and increased ion leakage and leaf proline content in almond seedlings. Application of SA improved vegetative growth parameters, decreased proline concentration, increased water relative content and leaf chlorophyll index. Improved stress indexes in SA- treated seedlings showed that applied of SA ameliorated the adverse effects of injury caused by salt stress.

Salinity is a common abiotic stress that seriously affects crop production in some parts of the world, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. The deleterious effects of salinity on plant growth are associated with low osmotic potential of soil solution (water stress), nutritional imbalance, specific ion effect (salt stress), or a combination of these factors. Paclobutrazol (PBZ), a member of the triazole plant growth inhibitor group, is a broad-spectrum gibberellin biosynthesis inhibitor. Triazoles have both fungal toxicity and plant growth regulatory effects. They also increase tolerance of various plant species to biotic and abiotic stresses, including fungal pathogens, drought, air pollutants, and low- and high-temperature stress. According to our knowledge, there are no reports on the effects of exogenous PBZ enhancing vegetative peach- almond hybrid (GF 677) rootstock tolerance to salt stress. Therefore, the objective of this work was the possibility test of this idea that PBZ application would protect GF 677 rootstock from damaging effects of salinity.
One-year-old rooted cuttings of GF 677 were grown in in plastic pots in the research greenhouse of Agricultural College, Isfahan University of Technology of Iran. The minimum and maximum temperatures during the experiment period were 19 and 32˚C, respectively. After cutting establishment (3 months), the plants were sprayed twice (with a 7 days interval) with 0 (control), 20 and 40 mg l-1 PBZ to the point of run-off. One week after the second foliar application of PBZ, each plants was subjected to one of several salt stress treatments. The salt treatments (0, 25 and 50 mM NaCl) were applied to the pots intervals in 0.5 l of irrigation water. To avoid osmotic shock, the NaCl concentration was increased gradually. The layout was a 3×3 factorial experiment in a completely randomized design, with four replications. The experimental measurements were carried out 60 days after beginning the salt treatments.
The results showed that salt stress and application of PBZ significantly affected injury rating valve (IRV). The Injury rating value of plants was found to increase significantly as the salt concentration was raised. After exposure to salt stress those plants that did not receive PBZ exhibited higher symptoms of salt injury. There was a significant interaction between salinity and PBZ application. The lowest IRV in all NaCl concentrations observed when 20 mg l-1 PBZ was applied. Salinity caused significant decrease leaf parameters so that the lowest means of leaf number (12.5) and leaf fresh weight (6.52 g) were recorded at 50 mM NaCl treatment, showing a 55.80% and 41.78% decrease compared with the control, respectively. The application of PBZ significantly increased leaf number, with the largest increase when 40 mg l-1 PBZ was applied. The interaction between salinity and the application of PBZ showed that at 25 mM NaCl maximum valve of leaf number was observed in plants after spraying with 40 mg l-1 PBZ. Relative leaf chlorophyll (RLC) was not affected by salt stress. Application of PBZ significantly increased relative RLC value compared with the control, with the largest increase in RLC measured when 20 mg l-1 PBZ was applied. The interaction between salinity and the application of PBZ showed that at 50 mM NaCl maximum valve of RLC was observed in plants after spraying with 20 mg l-1 PBZ. The proline content of leaves was significantly influenced by the salt stress and PBZ application, but not their interaction. Salinity stress, increased proline content in the leaves of salt-treated plants. At 50 mM NaCl, proline content was maximum compared to those of the controls and other salt levels. PBZ treatment increased proline content in leaves. The highest proline content was obtained from leaves of the plants treated with 40 mg l-1 PBZ (55.62μmol g-1 FW), which was 39.18 % more than the control. Salt stress significantly reduced the relative water content (RWC) with maximum reduction observed in plants grown by 50 mM NaCl. Application of PBZ significantly increased RWC compared with the control, with the largest increasing in RWC at 20 mg l-1 PBZ application. Leaf electrolyte leakage was affected by both salt stress and PBZ application. Salt stress significantly increased leaf electrolyte leakage, with a maximum increase observed in plants grown by 50 mM NaCl. The application of PBZ significantly decreased electrolyte leakage in leaf discs, with the largest decreaseing in leaf electrolyte leakage measured at 20 mg l-1 PBZ application..There was a significant interaction between salinity × PBZ concentrations. However, the greatest decreasing in leaf electrolyte leakage occurred at 40 mg l-1 PBZ in non-saline condition. In this study, the correlation between vegetation and physiological parameters of GF677 plants subjected to salt stress was analyzed. These correlations suggested that salt injury symptoms was negatively correlated with number and fresh weight of a leaf, RWC, RLC, but positively correlated with proline content and leaf electrolyte leakage.
in overall, this investigation revealed that salt stress had an inhibitory effect on the vegetative growth of GF 677 plants. The responses of GF 677 plants to the PBZ treatments suggest that the application of PBZ could partially increase the survival capacity of GF 677 plants and protect the plants against injuries such salt stress.

The important problem of quince and pear orchards¡ in country¡ is sensitive of this trees on chlorosis that occurrence because of present of bicarbonate in soil or irrigation water. So tolerance to Fe deficiency of seedling rootstocks of quince¡ Q.B¡ Q.C and PQBA29 were evaluated by exposure to two levels of Fe (3 and 50 µM) in the presence or absence of bicarbonate (10 mM) in soilless culture in greenhouse condition. Results showed that in PQBA29 vegetative growing factors¡ relative leaf chlorophyll¡ chlorophyll fluorescence¡ leaf active Fe¡ leaf electrolyte leakage¡ relative water content of leaf and catalase activity was less influenced by low concentration of Fe or present of bicarbonate in nutrition solution¡ in comparison with other rootstocks. In this condition¡ seedling rootstocks of quince was more susceptible to iron chlorosis. Also Q.C showed better performance in comparison with Q.B¡ in iron deficiency condition.

Salinity is a common abiotic stress that seriously affects crop production around the world, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions.The deleterious effects of salinity on plant growth are associated with low osmotic potential of soil solution (water stress), nutritional imbalance, specific ion effect (salt stress), or a combination of these factors. Olive is one of the most important fruit crops in Iran and the world. Despite olive has been classified as moderately salt tolerant plant, poor quality of irrigation water in association with salt build-up soils has reduced the yields, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. The tolerance of the olive to salt is to a great extent depends on the cultivar. Selecting salinity-resistant cultivars is one of the most important strategies used for mitigating salinity effects on olive. Therefore, this study was performed to assess the salt tolerance of four olive cultivars under greenhouse condition.
For this purpose, one-year-old rooted cuttings of Iranian olive cultivars (‘Dakal’, ‘Shiraz’, ‘Zard’) and non-Iranian cultivar ‘Amigdal’ were grown in the research greenhouse of Agricultural College, Isfahan University of Technology of Iran. Plants were grown in plastic pots. The pots were 180 mm in diameter and 20 mm in depth with volume of 7 L. The minimum and maximum temperatures during the experiment period were 19 and 35˚C, respectively. After sticking the cuttings, the pots with uniform plants were subjected to the treatment with 0 (control), 100, 150 or 200 mMNaCl. The electrical conductivities of these solutions were 0.003, 10.52, 15.43 and 19.55 dS m-1, respectively. To avoid osmotic shock, the NaCl concentration was gradually increased. The layout was a 4×4 factorial experiment based oncompletely randomized design, with four replications. The experimental measurements were carried out three months after beginning the salt treatments.
The results showed that salt stress and cultivar hadsignificant effects on all of vegetative and physiological parameters. Injury rating valueof plants wasfound to increase significantly as the salt concentration was raised. Among the cultivars, the highest injury rating value (2.75) belonged to Amigdal cultivar, while the lowest means (2.00) was related to Dakal cultivar. By increasing the salinity level, stem heightincreasing ratesignificantly decreased. The lowest means (18.17%) belonged to 200 mMNaCl treatment, showing 81.83% decrease compared with control. Among the cultivars, Zard showed the highest means of increase in stem height (71.75%). Leaf area influenced significantly by salinity, sothat the lowest means of leaf area (35.05%) was recorded for200 mMNaCl treatment, showing a 69.91% decrease compared with the control. The highest leaf area belonged to Shiraz cultivar, which had a significant difference with Zard and Amigdal cultivars. Compared with the control, salinity caused 50.83% and 54.36% decreases in shoot fresh and dry weight in 200 mMNaCl, respectively. The highest shoot fresh and dry weightswere recorded forZard cultivar. The lowest shoot fresh and dry weights were observed forAmigdal cultivar.Increment of salinity concentration significantly declined root fresh and dry weight. Among the cultivars, the highest means of root fresh weightbelonged to Amigdal cultivar, whereas the lowest was related to Shiraz cultivar. The highest and lowest root dry weightswere observed forDakal and Amigdal cultivars, respectively.Salinity significantly decreased relative water content.The lowest leaf relative water content (66.04%) was recorded in 200 mMNaCl treatment, showing a 23.43% decrease compared with the control.Zard cultivar showed the highestleafrelative water content. Salinity stress decreased chlorophyll fluorescence in leaves of salt-treated olive plants. At 200 mMNaCl, leaf chlorophyll fluorescence was minimal as compared to control and other salt levels. The highest leaf chlorophyll fluorescence ratio (0.74) was recorded forZard cultivar. However, Amigdal cultivar showed the lowest means for this index (0.60).Salinity significantly decreasedleaf chlorophyll content.The lowest leaf chlorophyll content (69.39%) was recorded in 200 mMNaCl, showing a 66.80% decrease compared with the control.Among the cultivars, Zard showed the highest leaf chlorophyll content (170.33). In the present study, the increase in proline content in the NaCl-treated plants was noted, with the highest level being attained with 200 mMNaCl. The highest proline content (1.03 µmol.g-1 F.W.)was observed in Zard cultivar. Salinity stress increased malondialdehyde content in the leaves of salt-treated plants. The highest malondialdehyde content was obtained from leaves of plants treated with 200 mMNaCl. The highest malondialdehyde content was recorded in Amigdal cultivar.Shirazl cultivar showed the lowest malondialdehyde content. In this study, the correlation betweenvegetative and physiological parameters of olive plants subjected to salt stress was analysed. These correlations suggested that salt injury symptoms was negatively correlated with relative water content, leaf chlorophyll fluorescence and leaf chlorophyll content, but positively correlated with proline content and malondialdehyde content.
In overall, this investigation revealed that salt stress had aninhibitory effect on the vegetative growth of olive plants.The responses of olive cultivars to salt stress suggested that Zard and Shiraz cultivars were more tolerant and ‘Amygdal’ was the most sensitive to changes in the salt levels.

Olive (Olea europaea L.) is one of the most valuable and widespread fruit trees in Iran. Salt stress-induced changes in membrane stability, photosynthesis and antioxidant enzyme activity were examined on four olive cultivars (Dakal, Shiraz, Zard and Amigdalifolia) by emphasizing the correlation between measured parameters and ion (K+, Na+) accumulation. Plants were subjected to four salt treatments (0, 100, 150 or 200 mM NaCl) under greenhouse conditions. The exposure of the olive plants to increased salinity resulted in a decline in relative leaf chlorophyll content (RLCC), photosynthesis rate (Pn), transpiration rate (E) and leaf and root K+ content. NaCl increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) and peroxidase (POX) activity of olive leaves. Increasing the concentrations of NaCl in soil increased the concentration of Na+ in the leaves and roots. Differences in the effectiveness of Na+ exclusion mechanism among cultivars at high salinity reflected differences in salt tolerance. ‘Zard’, the better-adapted cultivar, displayed tolerance to high internal salt concentrations without apparent cell damage. Relationships between parameters involved in salinity response are discussed in relation to ion accumulation in leaves and roots of olive cultivars.

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the influence of four clonal rootstocks (Quince A، Quince B، Quince C، PQBA29)، and two seedling rootstocks (Gownjony and pear) on growth and performance of two pear scion cultivars namely Shahmiveh and Natanz. In the course of the experiment، vegetative growth indices including، current’s season shoot length، height of scion cultivars، trunk diameters (20 cm above the graft:: : union:: :، at graft:: : union:: :، and 10 cm below the graft:: : union:: :)، leaf relative chlorophyll content، leaf stomatal conductance (gs)، and internal carbon dioxide concentration (Ci) were measured. The results indicated that، in Shahmiveh scion cultivar، the trunk diameter at 20 cm above the graft:: : union:: : and at the graft:: : union:: : was significantly higher than the Natanz pear cultivar. Among the clonal and seedling rootstocks، the greatest trunk diameter was observed in Gownjony rootstock. The maximum current’s season growth was related to PQBA29 rootstock، which was two times greater than pear seedling rootstock. The greatest and smallest height of trees were obtained in Gownjony and Quince A، respectively. Among the rootstocks، no significant differences was observed in terms of net photosynthesis and leaf stomatal conductance، but the results showed that، the net photosynthetic rate and leaf stomatal conductance in Shahmiveh scion cultivar was significantly higher than the Natanz pear cultivar. The leaf relative chlorophyll content in Gownjony rootstock was significantly greater than the Quince B rootstock. Therefore، based on the above results، Quince C seems to have a slower vegetative growth than the other rootstocks and is potentially more suitable for dense orchards.

Low quality of irrigation water along with increasing salinity level has reduced the olive yield over recent years in Iran. Screening of salinity tolerance in olive cultivars using gas-exchange parameters، water use efficiency، and relative leaf chlorophyll content are important in olive development programs. This study was carried out to assess the salinity tolerance of four olive cultivars (Amygdala، Dakal، Shiraz and Zard) under greenhouse condition. A factorial experiment through completely randomized design with four replications and four levels of salinity including 0، 100، 150، and 200 mM NaCl were used. The results showed that with increasing salinity levels CO2 assimilation rate، stomatal conductance، transpiration rate، water use efficiency، and relative chlorophyll content decreased and internal CO2 concentration increased. The results also indicated that there were significant differences among the examined olive cultivars. In overall، the results showed that “Zard” and “Shiraz’ cultivars were the most tolerant cultivars to salt stress.