Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology
Volume:19 Issue: 1, Jan 2017

Theoretically and empirically, it has been often argued that production uncertainty affects the farmers’ production efficiency. Insurance can play an impactful role in reducing the uncertainty and, consequently, increasing the investment. Using multilevel models, we examined the effect of agricultural insurance programs on investment in the agricultural sector of Khorasan Razavi Province. The cross sectional data was collected by using the two-stage cluster sampling method in 2012-2013. The results indicated that the insurance background, insured cultivation area, compensation payments, and all of the socio-economic variables as well as the county and climatic situations affected the farmer's willingness to invest. Hence, insurance policies should be based on climatic conditions and particularized for the local situations of the specific counties. In addition, the payments of the compensation should be on time to encourage the investments.

For the rural population, an improvement in the income of the agriculture and allied sectors is essential for improving the welfare, rural economic prosperity, and the overall economic development. The objective of this study was to determine the optimal pattern in various activities of forest fringe villagers of Hezarjarib area in 2013 for management of resources and rural development planning. For this purpose, the sample size was estimated to be 160 households out of a total of 472, by the use of proportional random sampling method. To collect data, we used a questionnaire whose reliability coefficient was determined as 0.81, by using the split-half method. The results of linear and goal programming model showed that, among the conventional activities of villagers, animal husbandry activity with the highest proportion played the key role in households’ welfare, representing 51.42% of the total income of household. Moreover, Goal Programing (GP) model was determined as a useful model to increase households’ welfare (10.42%) and reduce deforestation (74.6%). Accordingly, it is indicated that there is a potential to improve existing conditions and access to greater welfare in the study area. Thus, the production planning and guidance according to the above results can play an important role in villagers’ activity development.

Most developing countries have achieved productivity growth in economic sectors like agriculture for more than 30 years. Universities and governmental research centers have tried to generate knowledge with direct social and economic effects during these decades. So, productivity and production growth can be attributed to technological changes made possible through investment in agricultural research. Also, investment in agricultural research can have high economic returns as well as helps to reduce poverty. Thus, this study investigated the impact of agricultural research investment on productivity growth and poverty reduction in Iran during 1971-2010. To this end, first, an agricultural productivity trend was estimated. Then, the effects of agricultural research expenditure on productivity growth and poverty reduction were evaluated using a system of simultaneous equations. Results indicate that agricultural productivity grew during this time and agricultural research expenditure had positive effect on agricultural productivity and helped reduce poverty. Nonetheless, barriers like low adoption rate of improved agricultural technologies, lack of awareness of potential research benefits, weak extension systems and poor infrastructural development limited the impact of agricultural research on poverty reduction. Therefore, improving the operation of extension services as well as credit and input supply systems are instruments with which to raise returns to agricultural research investments.

Agriculture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has witnessed many phases, from ancient small-scale Bedouin nomadic subsistence agriculture to mass-scale farming to ensure food security and self-sufficiency, to the present-day desire for sustainability. These transitions have made the work of extension staff very challenging. Effective extension work depends upon competent and well-trained agricultural extension staff. This study assessed the competencies of extension workers and identified the training needed to improve their work in the Saudi Agricultural Extension Service (SAES). Demographic information (age, length of service, and education level) was also collected. The study mailed a pre-tested questionnaire to all 250 extension professionals actively involved in extension work, and 181 responses were received. Most agricultural extension workers had qualifications in plant protection, plant production, and general agriculture before entering the Extension Service (19.3, 17.6, and 16.8%, respectively). Only 7.7% had specialized in agricultural extension and agricultural engineering. The study established the need for extensive training programs to enable extension workers to work efficiently and effectively in the changing farming scenario in the Kingdom. Results showed that training needs are correlated with the length of service and educational qualifications. Respondents wanted to have sufficient competency and skill to understand the relationships between the Extension Service and other agriculture related organizations; to understand how mass communication has influenced society; and to enhance their competencies in the area of the teaching-learning process. The primary areas of training needs identified in the survey are in the techniques of research and evaluation, and the teaching-learning process.

Canola production is an important alternative for agricultural policy-makers in Iran to reduce dependency on the imported vegetable oils. Nevertheless, the canola planted area is only increasing at a slow pace, indicating a low willingness-to-accept of farmers. The general aim of this study was to determine the factors influencing the canola adoption in the Kermanshah Province in Western Iran. Employing stratified random sampling method, 106 farmers from each adopter and non-adopter group were selected. Helping to reach a suitable extensional program, two main categories of variables were defined; i.e. “farmers’ personal characteristics” and “extension parameters”. The analysis of farmers’ personal characteristics variables revealed that the adopters had larger farms and were younger. The results also show that 80% of the adopters were “highly” to “very highly” willing to cultivate canola. Furthermore, a logistic regression model estimated the influence of extensional parameters variables on the canola adoption. According to the regression model, the most effective factors are “contact with extension agents” and “participating in extension classes”. As a conclusion, it is suggested that the focus of extension services should be to reduce the distance to agricultural service centers in combination with more contact with extension agents and classes.

Net-screen covered greenhouses operating on natural ventilation are used as a sustainable approach for closed-field cultivation of fruits and vegetables and to eliminate insect passage and the subsequent production damage. The objective of this work was to develop a real-time assessment framework for evaluating air-temperature inside an insect-proof net-screen greenhouse in tropical lowlands of Malaysia prior to cultivation of tomato. Mathematical description of a growth response model was implemented and used in a computer application. A custom-designed data acquisition system was built for collecting 6 months of air-temperature data, during July to December 2014. For each measured air-Temperature (T), an optimality degree, denoted by , was calculated with respect to different light conditions (sun, cloud, night) and different growth stages. Interactive three-dimensional plots were generated to demonstrate variations in values due to different hours and days in a growth season. Results showed that air temperature was never less than 25% optimal for early growth, and 51% for vegetative to mature fruiting stages. The average in the entire 6 months was between 65 and 75%. The presented framework allows tomato growers to automatically collect and process raw air temperature data and to simulate growth responses at different growth stages and light conditions. The software database can be used to track and record values from any greenhouse with different structure design, covering materials, cooling system, and growing seasons and to contribute to knowledge-based decision support systems and energy balance models.

While weeds in sugar beet farming reduce crop yield and quality, they also lead to higher labor and material losses. In recent years, in order to eliminate or reduce the damage caused by weeds in sugar beet farming, weed control has gained importance. To this end, various studies have been conducted on robotic weed control by detecting weeds using image processing algorithms and hoeing or spraying the weeds. In this study, weeds in sugar beet fields were detected by the image processing algorithm and were sprayed with a liquid. When height of spraying nozzle above the ground was 30 cm and 50 cm, measurements of spraying robot were carried out for 8 different speeds. The weed surface covering area of spraying liquid was evaluated by two different methods. A decrease of 40% in nozzle height of smart spraying robot caused a decrease of about 12.18% at 4 different weeds surface covering area (cm2) of spraying liquid and a decrease of 16.70% at weed surface covering area (pixels) of spraying liquid.

Pistachio nut (Pistacia vera L.) is one of the popular and nutritious tree nuts in the world. Pistachio spread is a new product which is made from pistachio paste, icing sugar, Soy Protein Isolate (SPI), and Red Palm Oil (RPO). This study involved sensory acceptability (by 32 assessors) using Hedonic scale and development of suitable terminology for describing pistachio spread using Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA). This study represents the first report on using QDA for sensory evaluation of pistachio products. The QDA method is used to determine the sensory profile of the two pistachio spreads with higher acceptability in the Hedonic scale (Formulation 12 including 50% pistachio paste, 30% icing sugar, and 20% RPO and Formulation 16 including 58.3% pistachio paste, 25% icing sugar, and 16.7% RPO). According to the results, RPO has a direct effect on the sensory acceptance of pistachio spread (P

The aim of this study was to optimize the encapsulation conditions of Garlic Oil (GO) with β-cyclodextrin (GO/β-CD) inclusion complex by the co-precipitation method. Response surface optimization of encapsulation of GO with β–CD was performed with a three-variable, three-level and the optimum conditions were as follows: temperature: 35oC, Core/Wall: 8/100, and Wall/Solvent: 5.5/100. The complex was characterized by different techniques including UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and differential scanning calorimetry. Spectroscopic techniques and morphological analysis by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) confirmed formation of GO/β-CD. The in vitro release profile of GO from the GO/β-CD complex at different pH values (1.5, 4, 5.5, and 6.5) at 37oC showed that the maximum and minimum release of GO after two days were 36.59% at pH 6.5, and 1.12% at pH 4, respectively. In simulation of gastrointestinal tract, the maximum and minimum release of GO were in colon (10.29%), and stomach (0.60%), respectively. Therefore, GO/β-CD complex could be suggested in formulation of food systems such as salad dressing and sausage.

Pesticides are one of the major pollutants in the environment. The residue of pesticides has been reported to be at a critical level in agricultural crops, especially in greenhouse crops. Tomato is considered as an important vegetable in Iranian food basket and is produced in fields and greenhouses. So, the current study aimed to assess diazinon and oxydemeton-methyl levels in tomatoes sampled from five Kerman greenhouses. The extraction of these pesticides was carried out by mixture of dichloromethane and acetone. The extracts were cleaned up according to solid-phase extraction method. The pesticide residue was then determined by capillary gas chromatography and through nitrogen-phosphorus detection. The obtained results showed that the recovery level was estimated at 86.7 and 84.3% with RSD≤ 16.0%, the limit of detection was estimated at 0.026 and 0.035 mg kg-1, limits of quantification stood at 0.091 and 0.115 mg kg-1, and linearity r2= 0.997 and r2= 0.989 for diazinon and oxydemeton-methyl, respectively, in tomato samples. The mean of diazinon residue was calculated at 0.276 mg kg-1, which was 5.52 times the national Maximum Residue Limit (MRL= 0.05 mg kg-1), and the mean of oxydemeton-methyl was 1.624 mg kg-1, being 1.624 times the MRL (1 mg/kg).

The impact of three different fabaceous host plants including cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), chickpea (Cicer arietinum), and mung bean (Vigna radiata) seeds was investigated using biochemical approaches on possible changes of gut proteolytic activity of the cowpea weevil, Callosobruchus maculatus at 30±1˚C and 70±5% RH and a photoperiod of 8:16 (L:D). Results revealed that pH of 4-5 and 9 was optimal for the activity of larval gut proteases using azocasein and hemoglobin as general substrates. Different serine (BApNA, SAAPFpNA, PMSF, TLCK, and TPCK) and cysteine (Z-Arg-Arg- pNA, Z-Phe-Arg-pNA and DTT) specific substrates inhibitors and activator were used as a further proof of the proteolytic profile in the gut of C. maculates. Although combinations of serine and cysteine proteases were observed, the cysteine proteases had the highest rate on the studied hosts. The protease activity, especially cystein protease, was the highest on cowpea, which was supported by hemoglobin (0.156±0.045 U mg-1), Z-Phe-Arg-pNA (2.85 U mg-1) substrates and DTT (90.00±0.10%) as an activator. Due to the importance and frequency of cysteine proteinases and their effects on biological and physiological process, it would be better to design pest management programs based on cysteine plant proteinase inhibitors as transgenic plants.

The mating disruption technique has been widely used for the control of several lepidopteran pests. In the present study, we assessed the efficiency of two formulations of SPLAT Neo, a wax emulsion containing E-11-hexadecenol, with and without the insecticide cypermethrin, in affecting mating disruption of Neoleucinodes elegantalis (Guenée). We also determined the best phenological age or stage of the crop for the application of the pheromone formulation, based on its effectiveness in reducing injuries on tomato fruits. We performed two field trials. The first field trial had three treatments: (1) Areas treated once (30 days after transplanting seedlings) with SPLAT Neo (mating disruption, formulation without cypermethrin); (2) Areas treated once with SPLAT Cida Neo (attract and kill, formulation with cypermethrin), and (3) Control plots, i.e. areas treated with the growers’ pest management procedures, based on pre-scheduled calendar applications of conventional insecticides. The use of SPLAT Neo with and without cypermethrin resulted in a significant season-long reduction of the average number of N. elegantalis eggs throughout the tomato cycle, compared to the control. Areas that received two SPLAT Neo applications had a lower number of males captured by monitoring pheromone traps, a lower number of eggs laid in the field, and significantly lower levels of fruit injury at pre, first, and second tomato harvests. The crop subjected to a single SPLAT Neo application, however, experienced reduction in fruit injury only at the second harvest. Our data suggest that two SPLAT Neo applications promote efficient control of N. elegantalis, resulting in significant reduction of fruit damage in tomato.

Enhancement of antioxidant capacity of plants by natural antioxidants obtained from medicinal plants can be a simple way to produce stress tolerant plants. Zataria multiflora essential Oil (ZO) is one of the useful antioxidants with potent antioxidant activity. ZO is insoluble in water and can be degraded by light, oxygen, and high temperature. Incorporation of ZO into Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) dispersion is a simple way to improve its stability. In this research, the antioxidant activity of PVA/ZO dispersion was measured by studying the effect of the Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and Hydroxyl radical (HO•) scavenging of the dispersion. The efficiency of the PVA/ZO dispersion on the production of Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate Oxidase (NOX), SuperOxide Dismutase (SOD), and Catalase (CAT) mRNAs in the wheat seedlings in hydroponic condition was investigated too. PVA/ZO dispersion had a non-Newtonian shear-thinning liquid behavior with the negative zeta-potential (-12 mV) and nanoscale particle size (134 nm). PVA/ZO dispersion had effective H2O2 and HO• scavenging in a dose dependent manner with IC50 value of 220 and 170 µg mL-1, respectively. PVA/ZO dispersion up-regulated NOX (2 folds, at 30 µg mL-1), SOD (10 folds, at 30 µg mL-1) and CAT (8 folds, at 250 µg mL-1) mRNAs production. Thus, there was a potent cooperation between NOX and SOD activity and low cooperation between SOD and CAT activity. The potent antioxidant activity of PVA/ZO dispersion implies that it can effectively be used as a promising natural antioxidant to reduce oxidative stress in the plants under stress.

Inter Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) markers were used to assess the genetic diversity among 23 outcross and self pollinated populations of fennel collected from different geographical regions of Iran and some European countries. The experiment was carried out to determine the effect of self-pollination on morphological traits and genetic diversity in the next generation. Fifteen primers produced 248 polymorphic bands with an average of 16.53 fragments per primer in outcross populations, while 217 polymorphic fragments with an average of 14.46 fragments per primer were generated in self-pollinated populations. UPGMA dendrogram using Jaccard’s similarity coefficients placed outcross populations in five major groups. The maximum and minimum gene diversity over loci was observed in Albania (0.53) and Poland (0.42) populations, respectively. In general, European fennel populations revealed higher expected heterozygosity (0.47) in comparison with Iranian ones (0.35). Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) ranged from 0.37 to 0.49 in self-pollinated populations, while it varied from 0.39 to 0.46 in out-cross ones. The classification based on morphological data did not confirm the molecular ones in most cases. Self-pollination led to decline in plant height in most of the studied populations. In overall, plant height of the European populations (54-66.02 cm) was less than that of Iranian ones (55-109.54 cm). Self-pollination elevated the yield of essential oil in studied fennels through its influence on fruit set. In conclusion, Albania population had the highest oil content affected by self-pollination; hence, it can be introduced as one of the valued sources in fennel breeding programs aimed for oil yield improvement.

In most semiarid and arid areas, fresh water shortage compels managers to use low quality water sources with high salinity to irrigate turf and landscape. Recent research has noticed that management of nitrogen fertilization can alleviate salinity effects on plants. This greenhouse sand culture experiment was conducted in order to investigate morphological and physiological responses to salinity stress in Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.) grown using different nitrogen sources. Three salinity levels (0, 40 and 80 mM NaCl) and three NO3-/NH4 ratios (6/0.5, 6/1 and 6/2) were applied in nutrient solutions. Under non saline conditions, higher ammonium concentration increased Turf Quality (TQ), leaf NO3-, proline content, Nitrate Reductase Activity (NRA), shoot and root growth. On the other hand, leaf potassium (K) sodium (Na) and MalonDiAldehyde (MDA) content were not affected. During the first week, the 40 mM NaCl treatment showed that the positive effects of NH4 on salinity tolerance were still perceptible. However, the 80 mM NaCl treatment showed that the adverse effects of high salinities were more pronounced when turf received high ammonium rate nutrient solution, as manifested by the decrease of TQ, NO3-, NRA, Kﳖ ratio, shoot and root growth and by the increase of leaf MDA content. This suggests that effects of NO3-/NH4 ratio on salt tolerance varies with salinity levels.

Salinity tolerance is a genetically and physiologically complex trait, controlled by Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs). In order to map the QTLs associated with agronomic and physiological traits, 149 doubled haploid lines derived from a cross between Clipper (salt susceptible) and Sahara 3771 (salt tolerant) barley genotypes were evaluated under natural saline-stress and non-stress conditions using 14 traits. QTL analysis was performed based on the composite interval mapping method, using the genetic linkage map consisting of 517 molecular markers which spanned a total of 1502.4 cM. A total of 78 QTLs for days to heading, relative water content, chlorophyll content, plant height, spike length, days to maturity, biomass, grain yield, harvest index, grain number per spike, 1,000-kernel weight, Na, K concentrations and Kﳖ ratio, were determined, with 40 and 38 QTLs under normal and salinity environments, respectively. Most of the detected QTLs were located on chromosome 2H. The phenotypic variation explained by individual QTLs ranged from 3.3 to 68.6%. A major QTL was identified at both saline-stress and non-stress conditions in the vicinity of Vrs1 on chromosome 2H, related to biomass, grain number per spike, 1,000 kernel weight, plant height and grain yield. This QTL may be useful in the barley breeding programs for improving salt tolerance by marker-assisted selection. Furthermore, some stable QTLs, were identified for days to heading, biomass, spike length, grain number per spike, 1,000 kernel weight, and K content which can be regarded as promising QTLs for breeding purposes.

Phenotypic and genotypic diversity as well as symbiotic effectiveness of twenty one symbionts isolated from nodules of four Acacia species (Acacia melanoxylon, A. mearnsii, A. saligna and Acacia tortillis) grown in Morocco were evaluated. Growth in various media (YMA, YMA-BBT, YMA-RC), colony morphology, tolerance to stress factors (temperature, pH, salt concentrations, various heavy metals) and different carbon sources were used as phenotypic markers. The genetic characterization was studied by Random Amplification of Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. The symbiotic effectiveness of rhizobial isolates on acacia was evaluated using plant nodulation assay in controlled conditions. Results showed that twelve isolates were fast growing, all of the twenty one isolates tolerated pH between 4.8 and 8.8 and temperatures of 14, 22, 28, and 37°C, while only five could grow at 44°C and three at 55°C. Highest resistance to heavy metals was recorded for arsenate, mercury, chromium; in contrast, low resistance was noted for copper (15 isolates resisted to10 mg mL-1). Most of the isolates were able to grow in a wide range of carbohydrates. The genotypic analysis of the tested isolates showed that they could be regrouped into three principal clusters based on their RAPD profiles. Acacia saligna was principally nodulated by Bradyrhizobium sp. while the other species were nodulated by different rhizobial species. Both phenotypic and genotypic studies showed great rhizobial isolate’s diversity. The symbiotic effectiveness tests showed that two isolates (AsF and AsAg1) had high N2 fixing potential on Acacia saligna.

Apple Stem Pitting Virus (ASPV) is one of the most common viruses of apple and pear trees. During 2012 to 2013, a total of 1053 symptomatic and asymptomatic leaf samples were collected from orchards in nine provinces of Iran. ASPV infection was detected by DAS-ELISA and PCR in 54 samples (5.12%) from seven provinces. Based on the geographical origin, 22 representative isolates were selected for phylogenetic analysis. Twenty-two amplicons with a size of about 370 base pair (bp) comprising partial sequence of the Coat Protein (CP) coding regions of the viral genome were sequenced. Sequence data analysis, showed that the identities of 3'-terminal region of CP gene at both nucleotide and amino acid levels among the Iranian isolates were 95–100% and these isolates were closer to the Asian ASPV isolates than to the other isolates. Constructed phylogenetic tree by Neighbor-joining on the basis of the 3'-terminal region of CP gene sequences showed that the Iranian isolates were categorized into two major groups. Furthermore, phylogenetic and population genetic analysis were carried out on the basis of 3'-terminal region of CP gene which revealed that ASPV isolates were not geographically resolved. Also, all values in the GABranch analysis showed a ratio of substitution rates at Non-synonymous and Synonymous sites (dN/dS) below one, suggesting strong negative selection forces during C-terminal region of the ASPV CP gene history. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of distribution and partial genome sequence analysis of the ASPV in Iran.

Risk assessment of soil erosion, one of the most important land degradation problems worldwide, is very essential for land and water resources management, and development of soil conservation methods. In the present study, the temporal changes of soil erosion risk were assessed from 1987 to 2010, based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) using Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for the Navrood Watershed, Iran, with an area of 270 km2. Two Landsat satellite imageries obtained in 1987 and 2010 were used to assess the changes in vegetation cover during this period, and to obtain the Cover factor (C) of RUSLE. Rainfall and soil texture data and a digital elevation model were used to calculate the rest of RUSLE factors, which were taken as constant for the study period. The results showed that the average annual soil loss over the watershed ranged from 0 to 1,056 t ha-1 y-1(Cumulative percentage> 99.9%). The area mapped as very high erosion risk (> 100 t ha-1 y-1) increased from 10% in 1987 to 12% in 2010, and the area of the next risk class (51-100 t ha-1 y-1) increased from 8 to 9%. These changes cover an area of about 800 ha in the watershed, in which erosion risk has been doubled or tripled in the last 23 years. Forest clearing and rangeland overgrazing were identified as the most important reasons for the increase in erosion risk.

Zero tillage practices have a direct effect on soil microbial communities modifying soil productivity and sustainability. The crop sequences used can change the aforementioned properties, too. In this study, we evaluated the effect of crop sequences under zero tillage management on soil biological and chemical properties including vertical distribution of soil organic carbon, soil basal respiration, and dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase, and urease activity along a seasonal year and at different soil depths. The sequences included in this study were: (I) Single crop per year (sunflower-wheat-sorghum-soybean); (II) Mixed agriculture/livestock with pastures, without using winter or summer forages (wheat sorghum/soybean-canola-pasture); (III) Winter management (wheat-canola-barley-late soybean); (IV) Mixed with annual feed crop (wheat-oat/Vicia sativa- soybean or sunflower), and (V) Intensive management (wheat-barley-canola, with alternation of soybean or late soybean). Soil organic carbon decreased with increasing depth, depending on sequences (Pseq×depth= 0.0173). Soil basal respiration was higher in the 0-5 cm layer than in the 10-20 cm layer of the topsoil irrespective of the crop sequences (Pdepth= 0.0062). Dehydrogenase, acid phosphatase and urease activity were affected by crop sequences, sampling season, and depth. Mixed sequences (sequences II and IV), including perennial pastures or annual feed crop could favor dehydrogenase and phosphatase activity. Sequences with cover crops (sequences II and IV) could favor microbial activity and, therefore, improve soil quality.