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Agricultural Science and Technology - Volume:20 Issue: 2, Mar 2018

Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology
Volume:20 Issue: 2, Mar 2018

  • تاریخ انتشار: 1396/12/23
  • تعداد عناوین: 17
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  • R. Sabzali Parikhani, H. Sadighi *, M. Bijani Pages 205-219
    Despite the broad applications of nanotechnologies in the present age, there are concerns about its ecological consequences. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to analyze ecological consequences of nanotechnology in the field of agriculture. The research method was descriptive, which was carried out by a survey technique for gathering data. The statistical population of the study included all researchers, experts, and faculty members of national agricultural research institutes and centers across Iran (N=190); out of them, 123 individuals were selected by using Krejcie and Morgan sample size Table along with stratified random sampling method with proportional assignment (n=123).
    The research instrument was a questionnaire whose face and content validity was confirmed by a number of faculty members of agricultural extension and education and experts in the field of nanotechnology. The reliability of ecological consequences of nanotechnology items was also obtained by a pilot study using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α= 0.78). To identify the ecological consequences of nanotechnology by taking advantage of factor analysis, five factors entitled “social consequences”, “health-care consequences”, “economic consequences”, “cultural consequences”, and “biological consequences” were extracted. As a whole, these factors explained 58.40 percent of the total variance of ecological consequences of nanotechnology in the field of agriculture.
    Keywords: Biological consequences, Cultural consequences, Economic consequences, Health-care consequences, Social consequences
  • A. Nag*, S. Kumar Jha, A. Mohammad, S. Maiti, J. Gupta, D. K. Gosain, K. K. Datta, T. K. Mohanty Pages 221-234
    Agriculture has been facing an increasing problem, worldwide, on account of farmers quitting agriculture; and India is no exception to it. In view of this, a study was undertaken to find out the factors predicting future decision(s) of rural farm youth, hailing from Eastern States of India, regarding ‘Whether or not to remain engaged in the agriculture sector’. The data were collected through personal interview with 120 rural farm youth. The results showed that 41.67 per cent of the rural farm youth would leave farming in the future. Binomial Logit Model indicated that the factors like land-holding, entry to farming, attitude towards dairying and crop farming were significant, as far as decision on ‘quitting the farming in the near future’ was concerned. Apart from this, ensuring the ‘Food Security for the Family’ was found to be the main reason for choosing farming as an occupation, as reported by the rural youth engaged in farming. On the other hand, ‘To bring stability in life’ happened to be the prime reason cited by the rural youth that had moved into farming after having tried other occupation(s). Based on the quantitative results, coupled with qualitative information, two distinctive paradigms were developed to reflect ‘How youth becomes a Farmer?’ and ‘How and Why the youth quits Farming?’, with a view to enrich our knowledge on this subject via empirical evidences as obtained from the grassroots level, especially from the Eastern Part of India.
    Keywords: Decisions for future, Factors for quitting farming, Rural youth
  • M. Zaghari *, S. Maghami Tekieh, A. Safamehr Pages 235-247
    One hundred ninety two broiler breeder hens, from 40 to 49 weeks of age, were utilized in a precision feeding study for determining the hens’ energy requirement. Treatments were daily feed allotments containing metabolizable Energy Requirement (ER) estimated by empirical model, ER minus 10 (ER‒10), plus 10 (ER), and plus 20 kcal hen-1 d-1 (ER). Four levels of Metabolizable Energy Intake (MEI) were made by adding 0, 1.2, 2.4 and 3.6 grams corn oil, over the top of daily feed allotment. All birds consumed the same amount of diet, and were provided the same intake of nutrients, except energy. Hens with weight gain of 3.5 g per day had the maximum reproductive performance. Ovary weights were lower in ER-10 hens. This difference was also reflected in Small Yellow Follicle (SYF), and Large Yellow Follicle (LYF) numbers, in which the ER-10 hens had fewer SYF (7.6) and LYF (1.1). Hens that received 462.7 kcal d-1 (ER), produced 4.04 eggs more than those that received 452.7 kcal d-1 (ER‒10). However, addition of extra 10 and 20 kcal (ER, ER) on daily MEI had no beneficial effect on egg production. Using the linear broken line model, the ME requirements for egg production and hatchability were estimated at 458.5, and 456.2 kcal hen-1 d-1, respectively. Comparing the current estimated requirement value with earlier reports revealed that broiler breeder hens need more energy in a commercial house than those kept in an experimental house in the cage or pen. In conclusion, during post peak period with average 458.5 kcal MEI, 5 kcal hen-1 d-1 more than Ross 308 recommendation can improve broiler breeder hens’ performance.
    Keywords: Egg production, Hen's energy requirement, Ross 308, Yellow follicle
  • H. Darvishi *, P. Mohamamdi, M. Azadbakht, Z. Farhudi Pages 249-264

    In this study, the influences of drying conditions on the mass transfer characteristics of kiwi slices are investigated using the analytical model proposed by Dincer and Dost. The experiments were conducted at temperature range of 50–80°C with 0.5 m s-1 air velocity for convective drying and in the microwave power range of 200–500W for microwave drying as single layers with sliced thickness of 3, 6, and 9 mm. The results show that the mass transfer characteristics strongly depend on the drying conditions. Through the convective drying method, parameters including moisture diffusivity, mass transfer coefficient, Biot number, and drying time were varying from 0.16-1.45×10-8 m2 s-1, 1.93-4.95×10−7 m s-1, 0.103-0.225, and 90-604 minutes, respectively. In comparison, for microwave drying, they were within the ranges of 0.66-25.60×10-8 m2 s-1, 0.62-5.64×10−5 m s-1, 0.960-1.742, and 4-23.5 minutes, respectively. Results reveal that the activation energy for moisture diffusion is higher than that needed for the convective mass transfer process.

    Keywords: Activation energy, Analytical modeling, Drying method, Moisture diffusivity
  • S. Soleimanifard, M. Shahedi *, Z. Emam-Djomeh, Gholam Reza Askari Pages 265-276
    Since the microwave technology is well considered in food processing due to the speed and mechanism, in this study, cupcake was baked at different levels of MicroWave (MW) power (150, 300, 450 and 600W) and the effects of different kinds of operational time (3.5, 5, 8, 16 minutes) and power on physical properties (density, porosity, colour and height) and textural properties (crispness, hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, resilience, gumminess and chewiness) of cupcake were investigated. Results showed that the MW baking time to obtain desirable baking properties was affected by MW power. The obtained results showed that the total differences in colour from the reference batter (∆E) and colour intensity increased with increasing of MW power. Moreover, the MW cupcake baked at a power of 600W had the least hardness, density, chewiness, gumminess values, the shortest baking time, and the highest values of cohesiveness, resilience, porosity, height, and browning index. Also, it had the highest cohesiveness, resilience, porosity, height and browning index, compared to the other powers. Therefore, the best operational power for desirable quality obtained during baking was 600W.
    Keywords: Colour, Cupcake texture, Hardness, Operational power, Porosity
  • F. Ardalanian, V. Fadaei * Pages 277-287
    Nowadays, Ginseng is used in production of functional foods because of its beneficial effects in prevention and treatment of cancers, diabetes, central nervous system disorders, etc. Ginsenosides, the largest and most prominent compounds in Ginseng, are responsible for the known health effects of Ginseng plant. The present study aimed to produce a functional beverage and evaluate the quality characteristics of this health beverage. The effects of adding red Ginseng extract at different levels (0, 0.5, 1 and 2 g L-1) on pH, titratable acidity, color values, the viability of Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium lactis and overall acceptability of probiotic Doogh containing mint powder (1 g L-1) were investigated during 21-day storage at 4ºC. The results showed that with increasing the level of red Ginseng extract up to 2 g L-1, no significant difference was observed in the pH and titratable acidity of probiotic Doogh samples (P> 0.05); color values of the Doogh samples changed significantly (P
    Keywords: Doogh acceptability, Functional food, Ginsenoside, Probiotic bacteria, Sinbiotic Doogh
  • M. Sadeghi, A. Keramat Amirkolaie *, H. Ouraji Pages 289-297
    Foam fractionation or foam floatation technology has been introduced to remove fine particles in the Recirculation Aquaculture System (RAS). The main objective of this study was to assess the effect of a dissolved air flotation reactor on foam floatation efficiency in a conventional RAS. In this study, two different types of air bubble producers were tested for 30 days: dissolved air flotation reactor was compared to a commercialized air bubble producer in a skimming column. Nitrogen concentrations and particles removal rates were measured every other day during the study. The results showed that average rates of ammonia and nitrite concentration were lower in the system equipped with air flotation skimmer compared to those in the air bubble system (0.39 and 0.35 versus 3.45 and 0.65 mg L-1, respectively; P 0.05). Nitrogen concentrations were almost similar in the two treatments up to day 15 of the study and then showed higher values for the air bubble system.Total particle collection was significantly higher in the systems containing air flotation skimmer (296.1 versus 276.4; P
    Keywords: Air bubble, Air floatation, Foam fractionation, Particle, Water quality
  • A. Shojaei *, K. Talebi Jahromi, V. Hosseininaveh, G. Sabahi Pages 299-308

    For more than a century, chemical insecticides have been the most primary tool used by growers to control the cotton aphid, Aphis gossypii, as an important polyphagous pest worldwide. The application of insecticide mixtures through different modes of action is currently favored for resistance management of this pest. In this study, the synergistic interactions between amitraz with each of the two commonly used insecticides, i.e. imidacloprid and malathion, were studied using A. gossypii as target pest. The effects of amitraz combination on the activity of three detoxifying enzymes of cotton aphids were then evaluated using physiological assays. The synergistic effects of amitraz on imidacloprid were observed at all Lethal Concentrations (LC10-LC90), while, for malathion it was observed at concentrations higher than LC30. The highest synergist ratio in the mixture of amitraz with malathion (LC90) and imidacloprid (LC10) was 1.5 and 3.09, respectively. The inhibition of Glutathione S-Transferase (GST) activity seems to be the main reason for amitraz to impose its synergistic effects.

    Keywords: Detoxifying enzymes, Insecticides, Lethal concentrations, Synergism
  • J. Razinger *, H. J. Schroers, G. Urek Pages 309-320
    The number of active substances registered for wireworm control is decreasing. Consequently, inventorization programs were launched to find and identify potential wireworm biological control agents. Metarhizium brunneum Petch was isolated from an adult Agriotes sp. (Coleoptera: Elateridae) in Slovenia. The strain belongs to a phylogenetic lineage of M. brunneum accommodating isolates from Asia and North America while it was reported from Europe (Denmark and Switzerland) only recently, and for the first time in Slovenia. Its pathogenicity to field-collected Agriotes spp. was tested in feeding and soil experiments. The latter lasted either 15 or 90 days and adopted different concentrations of fungal conidia. Coating potato slices with conidia had no effect on mortality. However, M. brunneum in soil significantly increased wireworm mortality in short- and long-term bioassays. The average LT50 based on Probit analysis was 44.6 days for the M. brunneum treated wireworms and 741 days for the negative controls.
    Keywords: Biological control, Entomopathogenic fungi, Integrated pest management, Potato, Soil pest
  • J. M. A. Souza *, S. Leonel, J. H. Modesto, R. A. Ferraz, B. H. L. Goncalves Pages 321-331
    The study of mango (Mangifera indica L.) cultivars in different regions is of great importance, due to the enormous diversity of cultivars and hybrids, as well as different soil and climatic conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics and bioactive compounds of mango fruits under subtropical conditions. The experiment was conducted at the São Manuel Experimental Farm, School of Agriculture, Botucatu, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Brazil. Espada Vermelha, Keitt and Palmer cultivars were evaluated. For physical analysis, weight, longitudinal and transverse diameters, fruit shape, pulp yield, peel, seed, peel color and pulp color were evaluated. Regarding chemical characteristics and bioactive compounds, titratable acidity, soluble solids, SS/TA ratio (relationship between soluble solids and titratable acidity), reducing sugars, non-reducer, total ascorbic acid, carotenoids, flavonoids, polyphenols and antioxidant activity were determined. The results showed that Palmer and Keitt cultivars had higher physical quality, such as higher pulp yield, analyzed under subtropical conditions of Brazil. However, Palmer cultivar had higher chemical quality, which was observed in the values of SS/TA ratio, high antioxidant capacity, high ascorbic acid content, greater amount of total polyphenols, and suitable quantities of flavonoids and sugars.
    Keywords: Mangifera indica, fruit quality, antioxidants
  • R. Norouzi Ghare Tapeh, I. Bernousi *, A. Fayaz Moghadam, B. Abdollahi Mandoulakani Pages 333-345
    Understanding of genetic diversity is essential in breeding programs and plant genetic resources management. In this study, the genetic diversity of 77 individuals of Teucrium from different regions of Iran was investigated using 18 ISSR markers. A total number of 198 bands were detected by ISSR primers, of which 184 (92.9%) bands with an average of 10.2 bands per primer were polymorphic. The Percentage of Polymorphic bands (PPL) ranged from 80 (UBC834) to 100% (UBC811, 812, 818, 820, 825, 826, and UBC855). The average Polymorphic Information Content (PIC), Shannon’s Information index (I), and Number of effective alleles (Ne) were 0.39, 0.526, and 1.6, respectively. The Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) revealed the higher level of genetic variation within populations (77%) compared to among populations (23%). Cluster analysis separated the individuals into three major groups using WPGMA based on Nei’s genetic distance coefficients. In addition, a model-based Bayesian approach subdivided the individuals into three major subgroups. The results of this study revealed that estimation of population genetics parameters using ISSR markers can be applied for assessing the differences between Teucrium populations and management of the genetic resources.
    Keywords: AMOVA, Model-based cluster, Shannon's information index, Teucrium polium L
  • A. Amiri-Nowdijeh, F. Fazelipour, K. Haghbeen, M. Taheri, M. Hosseini Mazinani * Pages 347-357
    Various nutraceutical properties of olives are ascribed to their different oil compositions and diversity of their active substances. Iran is endowed with great olive diversity which deserves to be studied. Accordingly, nine minor Iranian olive varieties, i.e. Tarom (T) varieties, were studied. Characterization of these minor varieties (T10, T15, T16, T17, T18, T20, T22, T23, T24) along with 3 major Iranian and 4 Mediterranean varieties with 11 chromosomal SSR markers revealed remarkable diversity among them. Most of T varieties had oil and Total Phenolic Content (TPC) comparable to Mediterranean olives. In comparison with Mediterranean varieties, T18 and T22 had higher Oleic Acid (OlA). T24 and T18 contained the highest and the lowest Linoleic Acid (LiA), respectively. T18 exhibited the highest OlA/LiA ratio. T24 was exceptionally phenols-rich variety followed by T20. Radical Scavenging Activities (RSA) results hardly suggested linear correlation between TPC and antioxidant capacity of the examined varieties. Nonetheless, T22 showed Phenol Antioxidant Coefficient higher than Mediterranean samples. Harvest time was influential on LiA content and the (RSA/TPC) ratios. Considering nutraceutical potential, some of T varieties are superior to the prevailing Iranian and Mediterranean varieties, so, they deserve to be introduced to olive improvement programs.
    Keywords: Oleic acid-linoleic acid ratio, Phenols Antioxidant Capacity, Radical Scavenging Activity, Tarom varieties
  • S. M. M. Mortazavian *, B. Safari, S. A. Sadat Noori, B. Foghi Pages 359-372
    Cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) is the second most popular spice in the world and one of the important medicinal plants in Iran. Cumin seed yield is highly affected by water stress, which is one of the most important abiotic stresses affecting seed yield. So far, drought tolerance studies in cumin have been done on limited cumin ecotypes. In the present investigation, forty-nine diverse cumin ecotypes were tested under normal and water stress conditions during 2013 and 2014. The experiment was conducted under two different irrigation regimes of normal irrigation and mid/late season water stress i.e., during flowering. Each of experiments was conducted in a simple lattice design with two replications. The combined analysis of variance showed significant differences among all sources of variation. Twelve drought tolerance indices were calculated based on seed yield under drought and irrigated conditions. Yield under stress and non-stress conditions was significantly and positively correlated with Geometric Mean Productivity Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP), Stress Tolerance Index (STI), Harmonic Mean (HM), Drought Resistance Index (DI), modified Stress Tolerance Index in normal irrigation (K1STI), modified Stress Tolerance Index in stress irrigation (K2STI), Stress Non-stress Production Index (SNPI) and Stress Tolerance Score (STS). PCA and cluster analysis were followed to reveal the relationship among different indices. To visualize the GE interaction effects on cumin seed yield, the data were subjected to GGE-Biplot analysis. Finding superior ecotypes in each environment was done using GGE-Biplot. Regarding mean yield and drought tolerance indices, ecotypes from Maneh (Northern Khorasan), Shahmirzad (Semnan), and Rafsanjan (Kerman) were identified as the most favorable candidates for further research in cumin breeding programs. GC/MS analyses of elite ecotype Kerman (Rafsanjan) was also done for both conditions, the main components of essential oil were found to be γ-terpinene, β-pinene, m-cymene, and cuminic aldehyde.
    Keywords: Cumin, Drought Stress, GC, MS, GGE-Biplot, Tolerance Indices
  • S. Yousefi, H. Saeidi *, M. Assadi Pages 373-386
    Progress in plant breeding requires a broad genetic basis. Knowledge of genetic diversity in cultivated species and their wild relatives is of critical importance for breeding purposes. The red clover, T. pratense,grows wildly in Iran in a vast range of habitats, mainly along the Zagros and Alborz Mountains. Despite being economically important in many other countries, information regarding the genetic diversity of this species in Iran is significantly lacking. In this study, the genetic diversity of 56 genotypes of red clover collected from Iran and one genotype of T. diffusum, used as outgroup, was evaluated using nine SRAP markers. The nine SRAP primer combinations created a total of 294 bands from DNA of 57 genotypes, from which 291 (98.9%) were polymorphic. All the measured parameters showed significantly high genetic diversity in the Iranian genepool of T. pratense with no clear geographic partitioning of genotypes. However, genotypes collected from around Tehran, Isfahan, and Kermanshah-Hamedan were loosely clustered with their co-regional genotypes. Based on the results of the STRUCTURE analysis, genotypes were genetically divided into two clusters, but these were not correlated with the eco-geographical groups. There was no correlation between genetic distance and geographic distance of genotypes. The result of this study showed value in sampling the Iranian genepool of the red clover, with the Western and the Northwestern genepools in more depth, for conservation and breeding purposes.
    Keywords: Genetic distance, Genotypes, Molecular markers, Plant breeding, Systematic relationships
  • M. Pouresmael *, H. Kanouni, M. Hajihasani, H. Astraki, A. Mirakhorli, M. Nasrollahi, J. Mozaffari Pages 387-400
    Identification of high performance stable genotypes is an important objective for chickpea production in drylands of Iran. Hence, the stability of 12 chickpea local landraces and three check cultivars were evaluated during three consecutive cropping seasons (2010-2013). The experiments were laid out as a randomized complete block design with four replications in four locations. Combined analysis of variance was performed to verify the existence of differences among genotypes. AMMI analysis was performed to analyze the residual multiplicative interaction. The stability was estimated through ranking of genotypes based on different quantitative stability parameters including IPCA score, AMMI Stability Value (ASV), Sustainability Index (SUI), and Genotype Selection Index (GSI). Main effects of year, location, and genotype as well as their two- and three-way interaction effects were significant (P≤ 0.01) for grain yield. Significant effect of genotype, location, and year interaction implied presence of genetic variability which provides an opportunity to identify new superior genotypes for each location. AMMI analysis showed that the three main components accounted for 62% of the total genotype by environment interaction. Based on the results, the landraces G1, G2, G3, G8, and G12 had the highest average performance and stability compared to check cultivars and could be used in breeding programs for the development of new chickpea varieties.
    Keywords: AMMI analysis, Cicer arietinum L, High yielding, Local genotypes, Rainfed
  • Z. Leblebici *, M. Kar Pages 401-415
    In the present study, impact of different irrigation sources on metals (Cd, Pb, Zn, Cr, Cu, Ni and Fe) uptake by Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), Onion (Allium cepa L.), Pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) and Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) grown in Nevsehir Province were determined using ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy). Heavy metal concentrations in vegetables irrigated by wastewater and river water were significantly (P
    Keywords: Beans, Bioconcentration factor, Health risks, Onion, Pepper, Tomato
  • M. Ghasemzadeh Ganjehie, A. Karimi *, A. Zeinadini, R. Khorassani Pages 417-432
    Pistachio is one of the important and strategic crops in Iran. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of soil properties on the yield and selected morphological properties of pistachio in Faizabad area, in northeastern Iran. For this purpose, in an area of 20,000 hectares, four geomorphic surfaces were recognized at the margin of Bajestan playa. In each geomorphic surface, three good, medium, and poor quality orchards were identified. A representative soil profile in each orchard was described and sampled. Yield, height, leaf nutrient elements, and morphological properties of three pistachio trees were measured in each orchard. The highest yield (24.5 kg tree-1) was observed in the good orchard in non-saline clay flat geomorphic surface and the lowest (5.2 kg tree-1) was observed in the poor orchard of alluvial fan-clay flat geomorphic surface. Morphological characteristics were in suitable conditions in the good orchard with non-saline clay flat geomorphic surface. The results of correlation and multivariate regression showed that soil salinity (EC), clay content, and soil boron concentration had a significant negative impact on the yield, morphological characteristics, and leaf nutrient elements.
    Keywords: Clay flat, Leaf nutrient elements, Soil boron, Soil salinity