Journal of Nuts
Volume:6 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2015

Random amplified microsatellite polymorphism (RAMP) is a PCR-based marker which uses a combination of two classes of markers: Simple sequence repeat (SSR) and Random amplified DNA polymorphism (RAPD) markers. RAMP has been demonstrated to be a potentially valuable molecular marker for the study of genetic relationships in cultivated plant species. The objective of this study was to optimize the application of RAMP markers for the molecular characterization of a F1 almond progeny from the cross between ‘Tuono’ and ‘Shahrood-12’ cultivar. In this first study, genomic DNA was extracted from young leaf tissues and PCR reactions were done using two nuclear SSR markers (assaying forward and reverse primers) and two selected RAPD primers. In addition, to check the transferability of these RAMP markers across Prunus genus, a F1 apricot progeny from the cross between the North American cultivar ‘Goldrich’ and the Spanish ‘Currot’ was assayed. Results showed the dominant nature of these markers with a great abundance and transferability although with a reduced polymorphism.

Pistachio is one of the most important commercial trees grown in Iran arid and semi-arid regions. Salt stress has been reported to cause an inhibition of growth and development, reduction in many plant characteristics. Adverse effects of salinity on growth, and characteristics of pistachio have demonstrated. Salicylic acid (SA) is known to have an affect on normal conditions and stresses in plants. This study evaluated the vegetative characteristics (fresh and dry weight of shoot and root) and physiological characteristics (chlorophyll) as responses to salinity and salicylic acid in pistachio under a pumice substrate. A factorial experiment was conducted on the basis of a completely randomized design with three replications at the research greenhouse of Islamic Azad University of Damghan. The study was designed to evaluate two factors, included 9 treatments at three replication. The first factor was three levels of irrigation water salinity including: Ecw0 = 2.7 dS.m-1, Ecw1 = 4 dS.m-1, Ecw2 = 8 dS.m-1. The second factor was salicylic acid with three concentrations as following: 0 mg.l-1 (control), 80 mg.l-1 and 160 mg.l-1. The studied parameters were fresh and dry weight of the shoots & roots and chlorophyll a. Analysis of variance indicated significant differences due to salinity and salicylic acid on fresh and dry weight of shoot and root of pistachio at the all levels in comparison with the control. The interaction between the salicylic acid concentrations and type of irrigation water gave significant differences in all of the study parameters (except for chlorophyll a). The most significant results were obtained with salicylic acid treatment at 160 mg.l-1. Results indicated that salinity treatments decreases studied parameters including: Shoot (FW), Shoot (DW), Root (FW), Root (DW) and Chlorophyll a. Results showed that lower salinity brings improved plant growth. Results showed that salicylic acid improved the chlorophyll a content of pistachio.

Pistachio is one of the most important nuts and its mass production using tissue culture techniques is of great importance. Micro-propagation has many complications. Contamination is one of the critical limitations in the establishment stage. This study focused on different NaClO and HgCl2 concentrations and exposure times. Shoot tip necrosis (STN) is one of the most common problems during large-scale in vitro propagation of UCB1 rootstock. This physiological disorder is associated with the deficiency of calcium and boron content in the medium. Thus, in order to prevent STN, in this study, explants were cultured in varying concentrations of calcium using multiples of concentrations of calcium chloride (1x, 1.5 x and 2x), and boric acid (1x, 2x and 3x) in Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium with Gamborg''s vitamins containing 30 gl-1 sucrose, 2 mgl-1 BA and 6.2 gl-1 agar. To evaluate the effects of various concentrations of calcium and boron on STN, the experiment was conducted as a factorial on completely randomized design. Results showed that soaking explants in 15% NaClO for five minutes followed by soaking in 0.01% HgClO for seven minutes efficiently removed contamination. It was also revealed that increasing calcium concentration enhanced proliferation rate and decreased STN. Moreover, doubling boric acid decreased the rate of necrosis while, tripling its concentrations increased the rate of necrosis. Increasing the concentration of boric acid also decreased proliferation. Finally, the lowest necrosis rate (17%) was obtained in the treatment containing 3x calcium chloride concentrations in combination with 2x boric acid concentration. In contrast, maximum rate of necrosis was obtained in the treatment containing 1x calcium chloride concentration in combination with 1x boric acid. Finally, in order to improved proliferation of shoot deferent, concentrations of NH4NO3 and KNO3 were used. The maximum proliferation rate of shoot was obtained for 2280 mgL-1 KNO3 as well as 1320 mgL-1 NH4NO3

Regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is commonly used during different phenological stages of fruit growth and development in almond trees to reduce the amount of irrigation water applied without or with only very small reductions in yield. Therefore, to study the effects of deficit and cutoff irrigation during different phenological stages of fruit growth and development in almond cv. “Mamaei” production, an experiment was carried out in a split plot on randomized block design with three replications. The main plots were three different phenological stages of fruit growth and development i.e. Stage I (fruit growth period), Stage II (kernel growth period) and stage III (preharvest period). The subplots had different irrigation regimes, namely T1= 100% ETc (Full irrigation), T2= 80% ETc (deficit irrigation), T3= 40% ETc (deficit irrigation) and T4= 0% ETc (cutoff or drought period). Traits such as fruit size (length, width and diameter), fresh and dry weight of fruit, fresh and dry weight of kernel, percentage of fruit drop, kernel percentage and yield were measured. The results showed that deficit and cutoff irrigation during stage-I decreased fruit size, both fresh and dry weight of fruit. Deficit and cutoff irrigation during stage-II decreased fruit fresh weight, fresh and dry weights of kernel, but no significant differences were observed for the measured traits when irrigation treatments were applied at stage III. These results indicated that preharvest stage (stage III) in ‘Mamaei’ cultivar has low sensitivity to deficit irrigation. Therefore, it is concluded that deficit irrigation with 40% of full irrigation (%40 ETc) during stage III for two months prior to harvest can be used without considerable reduction of yield for this cultivar under the climatic conditions in Saman region.

Pistachio is one of the most important agricultural products that have always been associated with Iran, and its production has a long historical background in our country. In this research, protein patterns of 10 cultivars of Pistacia vera L. were compared in which cultivars grown in normal conditions where compared with cultivars grown in salinity and water shortage to determine diversity. For this purpose, after extraction of storage proteins of seeds, the density of proteins was determined using the Bradford method. Then, the SDS-PAGE method was used to separate extracted proteins. In order to analyze electrophoretic data, we allocated 0 to absence and 1 to presence of each of bands. The results showed that stresses resulted in expression or loss of expression of some of the bands in cultivars, and the total distance between bands in each of the cultivars from origin of bands’ movements from the gels was considered as one of the studied characteristics. The data was analyzed using cluster and Principal component analysis using SPSS software. Analysis of variance showed that average protein concentration of species was 19.59% and that the maximum protein percentage belongs to the Badami cultivar of Rafsanjan with 22.09%, and that the minimum protein percentage belongs to the Fandoghi cultivar of Rafsanjan with 13.98%. There was a significant difference among the amounts of proteins at the 5% level. In qualitative analysis of storage proteins of seeds, a total of 18 bands were observed. The maximum number of protein bands belongs to Kalehghochi and Fandoghi cultivars of Sirjan (saline area). In cluster analysis, species were classified in 10 different groups.

Flowering time is an important horticultural trait in almond since it is essential to avoid the late frosts that affect production in early flowering cultivars. Evaluation of this complex trait is a long process because of the prolonged juvenile period of trees and the influence of environmental conditions affecting gene expression year by year. In this research flowering time was studied in an F1 almond progeny of 90 seedlings from the cross between the Marcona and the Fragness. In addition, a set of 63 co-dominant microsatellites or simple-sequence repeat (SSR) markers developed from peach, cherry and almond were used for the molecular characterization of the progeny. A genetic linkage map was created with 17 of these SSRs. Molecular studies at the DNA level confirmed this polygenic nature by identifying several genome regions (Quantitative Trait Loci, QTL) involved. QTL mapping detected two loci for flowering time (Ft-Q1 and Ft Q4) in Linkage groups 1 and 4 that close with BPPCT011 and UDP96-021 respectively. Finally, the development of efficient MAS strategies applied to almond and other Prunus breeding programs are also discussed.

Eastern black walnut (Juglans nigra L.) is used as a rootstock for the Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) in some parts of the world and also has an important role in forestry and wood industry. Due to the deep physiological dormancy, the seed often shows an inconsistent or low germination percentage, making establishment difficult. This experiment was carried out as a completely randomized design with eight treatments and 16 replicates in a controlled greenhouse. The objective of this study was to determine the best treatment of breaking dormancy. Treatment groups consisted of seed priming with GA3 (400 and 800 ppm) solution for 24 hours, chilling stratification (one month and two months) and the combined treatments of chilling stratification and GA3. Results showed that the germination rate for separate application of both concentrations of GA3 and one month chilling treatment was zero, as no seeds germinated. The highest percentage of seed germination (69.27 %) was recorded with the combined treatment of two months chilling and GA3 (400 ppm). Also, this treatment showed significant differences for morphological, physiological and biochemical parameters compared to other treatments. It was found that the application of the combined treatment of chilling stratification and GA3 was effective in increasing seed germination percentage and rate as well as improving growth parameters of Eastern black walnut seedlings.