علی فدوی

Ashwagandha, or Indian ginseng (Withania somnifera), is of considerable importance in the Solanaceae family due to the presence of a group of steroid lactones called withanolides. Given the limited production of these metabolites in the roots and leaves of the plant under natural conditions and the high demand from the pharmaceutical industry, it is crucial to use the hairy root method to increase metabolite production. To induce bacteria under laboratory conditions, tissue culture and its various steps are typically required. However, nowadays, an alternative and simpler transgenic method is used that does not rely on tissue culture and can produce transgenic plants with an increased yield of secondary metabolites. In this experiment, Agrobacterium rhizogenes strain A4 was injected into the plant at the wound site located at the first node of the seedling. Fifteen days later, hairy roots appeared, and after the growth of the transgenic plants in the greenhouse, growth characteristics (such as root volume and root area) were measured, and phytochemical analyses were performed on both transgenic and control plants. The experiment followed a completely randomized design with 3 replications. The transgenic plants outperformed the controls in terms of agronomic traits: root length (1.12 times longer), root volume (2 times greater), and root area (1.49 times larger). As a result of this study, catalase enzyme activity and flavonoid levels were found to be lower in transgenic plants than in control plants. Correlation results showed that catalase enzyme activity and flavonoid content had positive and significant correlations with root length, volume, and area. Based on the findings of this research, the transgenic method, without the need for tissue culture, can be introduced as a useful approach in this plant to increase root hair production without increasing antioxidant enzyme activity.

As a useful fruit for humans, apple (Malus domestica) is a good sourceof antioxidants, minerals, ascorbic acid, vitamins, polyphenols, fibers and other essential elements with medicinal properties. Improving the storage time of apple juice and maintaining the stability of extracts with high Brix value (during transportation and storage) and its marketability by removing the remaining water as well as reducing the turbidity, viscosity and brown color caused by colloidal suspended solids. Large (pectin, protopectin, pigments, polymeric carbohydrates, tannin, starch, cellulose, hemicellulose, fibers, etc.) is of great importance. Due to the presence of colloidal suspended solid particles and compounds that settle over time (mold, bacteria, plant cell fragments, pectin-tannin complex), apple juice must be clarified before concentration. Due to the high-energy consumption, time-consuming, degradation of thermo-sensitive components, and reduction of nutritional value in traditional methods, recently, the use of membrane concentration in food and beverage production holds great potential.. Despite all the benefits of membrane processes, one of the critical problems is permeate flux decline due to the concentration polarization and membrane fouling. In this study, an innovative mechanical motion was developed to remove the cake deposits on the membrane surface towards mitigating adverse effects of polarization and fouling.

Membrane scraped surface module was designed and made with polyethylene material. The membrane was enclosed between the lower and upper parts of the module. These two parts are connected with screws and create a cylindrical part. Also, two caps are pressed axially to this cylindrical part by a metal frame to eliminate any unwanted leakage. The rotor shaft was coupled with an electric motor and the rotation of the output shaft was regulated by an inverter. A pump transferred the fresh fruit juice to the module through the inlet port and then it was divided into two output streams, permeate and retentate. The permeate was collected from the bottom of the module for further investigation and the retentate was returned to the juice tank. A polyethersulfone (PES) membrane with molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of 4 kDa was used to clarify apple juice. Effects of the blade rotation speed (0, 600, 1400 and 2200 rpm), transmembrane pressure (TMP) (0.5, 1 and 1.5 bar), feed flow rate (FFR) (10, 15 and 20 ml/s) and the distance of the blade from the membrane surface (2 and 5 mm) on volumetric concentration factor (VCF) and fouling phenomenon were evaluated. Hermia model was used to study the main fouling mechanism and it was verified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images.

 Results showed that rotating the blade with speed of 600 rpm at TMP of 0.5 bar, FFR of 10 ml/s and 2 mm distance from the membrane surface had the best performance in VCF and reducing fouling. The main mechanism of fouling was cake formation. Rotation of the blade decreases the intensity of cake formation and its thickness on the membrane surface and enhances the standard pore blocking. Also increasing the blade rotation speed changes the main fouling mechanism to the standard pore blocking due to the cake disintegration on the membrane surface and the penetration of fine particles into the membrane pores. As a result, the rotation of blade had a significant positive effect on increasing the VCF. On the other hand, the total resistance decreased with the rotation of the blade and by increasing the distance of blade from the membrane surface, the intensity of cake formation reduced. Also, the SEM images showed that in without blade rotation mode, the accumulation of cake particles on the membrane surface is thicker and denser than in with blade rotation mode. On the other hand, the low thickness of the cake layer formed on the membrane surface in the process of blade rotation is due to the turbulences resulting from the rotating blade. These observations confirm the results of the Hermia model in the previous sections.

 In conclusion, the TMP 0.5 bar, FFR of 10 ml/s, blade rotation speed of 600 rpm with a distance of 2 mm from membrane surface were considered as the best conditions for ultrafiltration of apple juice using scraped-surface membrane unit.

Artificial seed production is a developing technology in plant biotechnology that provides considerable potential for conserving rare, endangered, and threatened species that are difficult to propagate through conventional propagation methods. In the present investigation, Image J software was used to process the digital image of the capsules and determine the volume, sphericity, and artificial seed centrality index. Response surface methodology (RSM) and artificial neural network (MLP and RBF) were utilized to model, predict and optimize the physical properties of the artificial seed of Phalaenopsis orchid. The training and validation data sets of the studied models were compared using regression coefficients (R) and sums of squared errors (SSE). Artificial seeds were obtained through encapsulation of Phalaenopsis orchid protocorm using various levels of sodium alginate concentration (3, 4, and 5%), calcium chloride concentration (100, 125, and 150%), and drop height (1, 1.5, and 2 cm) as input variables. Physical properties of artificial orchid seeds, including (capsule volume, sphericity index (SI), and concentric index (CI)) were considered as output variables. The results showed that image processing is an effective method for determining the physical properties of artificial seeds. According to the regression models, Results showed that interaction effects of the main factors are positively correlated with volume (p< 0.05). The effects of sodium alginate× calcium chloride concentration were significantly correlated with the CI index (P< 0.05). In addition, the sphericity value was positively correlated with sodium alginate concentration. In general, based on R2 and SSE values, the MLP model showed a much more accurate prediction than RSM and RBF models in terms of the values R2 and SSE. The optimum condition for volume, sphericity and CI index values was obtained using MLP 3-10-1 (R= 0.79, SSE= 0.0014), MLP 3-14-1 (R= 0.57, SSE= 0.0031) and MLP 3-14-1 (R=0.67, SSE= 0.0042), respectively. It is concluded that the ANN (MLP) is a desirable tool for the prediction and optimization of the physical properties of Phalaenopsis orchid synthetic seed.

Orchids, especially Phalaenopsis orchids, are known as one of the most popular ornamental plants in the world markets. The use of in vitro cultivation system is the only way to produce these orchid plantlets. Producers of this plant have to buy and import it from foreign companies. Currently, increasing the costs of plantlet production and cultivation in the country, which requires the buy of imported chemicals for prepare in vitro culture media, has caused problems for domestic producers of this product. Therefore, making a suitable and low-cost culture medium to produce inexpensive and high-quality tissue culture seedlings on a commercial large scale was the main purpose for this study.

In this study, 5 mm protocorm explants were cultured in eight treatments of culture media (including 1/2 MS (control), FAST and six types of hand-made medium used of made in Iran inexpensive fertilizers with numbers one to six (M6 to M1) were named) and three replications in a completely randomized design. Explants were subcultured every 30 days and their total fresh weight was recorded. Also, three months after cultivation, some physiological traits (total fresh and dry weight, leaf and root dry weight), biochemical (concentration of photosynthetic pigments, anthocyanins and soluble, storage and total carbohydrates) and maximum efficiency of photosystem II were measured in plantlets.

The results showed that plants grown in different culture media in all traits had a significant difference at the level of 1% probability. The highest total fresh and dry weight, photosynthetic pigments and the maximum efficiency of photosystem II, occurred in M5 and M6 culture media and the lowest in M2. Also, M6 with 155.7 and 1/2 MS 40.2 mg g-1, respectively, had the highest and lowest total carbohydrate content. The highest (31.3 μmol g-1) and lowest (14.9 μmol g-1) anthocyanin content were observed in M2 and 1/2 MS culture media, respectively.

By adding banana powder and activated charcoal to M5 (300,000 Rials and 7.15 $) and M6 (440,000 Rials and 10.52 $) inexpensive culture media compared to orchid conventional culture media (1/2 MS and FAST) and reducing in vitro cultivation costs 23% and 12%, respectively, were selected as suitable low-cost solid culture media for growth and development of Phalaenopsis orchid plantlets, which according to the biomass partitioning curve can be introduced M6 as an inexpensive and suitable culture medium due to the production of more well-formed plants in comparison of all culture media.

The extinction threatens some native orchids which has economic value. Artificial seed technology can prevent the extinction of these plants and can be suitable for producing and exporting of product. In this study, protocorms of Dactylorhiza umbrosa were encapsulated. The effects of three temperature treatments 4, 20, and 25°C were investigated during three periods 30, 60, and 90-days of artificial seed storage. Percentage of artificial seed germination during storage conditions, after storage, total percentage of germination and number of days required for germination incidence, were investigated. The highest germination percent during storage conditions was related to 90-days storage at 4 and 25 ° C, and the lowest obtained after 30 days at 4 ° C, which did not show any germination. The highest germination percentage of artificial seeds after storage and cultivation was observed in 60 days stored seeds at 4 °C. The highest total percentage of germination was obtained after 60 and 90 days storage at 20 and 4 °C, respectively. The highest number of days befor germination incidence was observed after 60 days of storage. The best treatment for storage of artificial seeds was 4 °C for 30 and 60 days, which showed the lowest percentage of germination during storage conditions and the highest percentage of germination after culturing.

Ajowan (Trachyspermum Ammi L.) is one of the most important medicinal plants native to the Middle East and Iran. The antibiotic properties of its essential oils are related to the relatively high content of thymol. In this study, the possibility of hairy root production was investigated in a pre-experimental study considering many factors affecting transgenic efficiency, including explant type, immersion time, and the type of culture medium. Optimal conditions for the pre-experiment were set up based on the completely randomized design with seven Agrobacterium rhizogenes strains (A3, A6, A7, 4404, AATCC15834, R1000, A4) and six selected Ajowan ecotypes (Ardebil, Shiraz, Arak, Sarbishe, Qom, and Rafsanjan). The root-related morphological characteristics were measured to study the effect of main factors on the hairy root production and the bacterial strains in terms of hairy root induction. Based on the results, the highest percentage of hairy roots in Ardebil ecotype was induced by ATCC15834 strain (50%) and the lowest percentage was related to Rafsanjan ecotype induced by A6 (10%). The highest positive and significant correlation was observed in dry and wet weights (r=0.95), root frequency percentage and root length (r=0.80). The highest amount of phenolic compounds in hairy roots (240 mg/g dry weight matter) was associated with the Ardebil ecotype induced by strain ATCC15834. In this study, Shiraz and Ardebil ecotypes were identified as the best ecotypes, A4 and ATCC15834 strains as the most suitable strains, and suggested for future studies.

Common fog production methods in aeroponic systems have some the disadvantages and limitations. So, an initial study was carried out to assess the feasibility to use the fog production technology through ultrasound. The effect of four independent variables, namely, over piezoelectric fluid head at three levels of 20, 30 and 40 mm, three levels of reservoir dimensions, three levels of piezoelectric location at the bottom of the reservoir, and fertilizer concentration in solution at four levels of 0, 2.5, 5, and 7.5 g.L-1 on fog production rate, electrical conductivity changes, and total dissolved solids as dependent variables were investigated. The effects of three variables of concentration, piezoelectric position and reservoir dimensions on the rate of fog production were significant at 1% probability level. Also, the effect of fluid head was significant at probability level of 5%. The results indicated that the water-soluble nutrients could be transported better by ultrasound at a certain range of soluble concentrations.

Phalaenopsis (Phalaenopsis amabilis) is a kind of tropical orchids that in recent years has been very popular as a pot and cut flower plants in the Iranian market. Due to Specific methods of cultivating and inability of plantlet producing in our country, growers have to import Phalaenopsis seedlings from other countries. Despite many problems such as transport losses, hard quarantine, high prices and production costs, import of plantlets have always been increasing. Introducing of new cultivars with high quality, beauty and attractiveness to satisfy world markets, had led to strengthen and intensify of this permanently dependence. Finding a way to reproduce the cultivars of this plant is the first step to get rid of this dependency. therefore, goal of this research was assessment of the effects of light spectra, plant growth regulators and wounding effect to find suitable conditions for inducing somatic embryogenesis and mass clone production of this plant.

To conducted this research, after seed culture, 3-month-old in vitro protocorms were used as explant which cultured in cutted and intact form on a 1/2 MS medium containing 0 and 3 mg g-1 TDZ concentrations and were exposed to six Lighting treatments include (Blue, Red, White, Green, Blue-Red, Red+ Far-red that supply of LED lamps) and Dark condition too, for 4 mounth. subculture were repeated every 3 weeks. Twice imaging of fluorescence has done to evaluation of the maximum efficiency of photosynthetic II (QY-max).

The results showed that different light spectra and plant growth regulator affected the inducing and formation of embryos but wounding had no effect on embryo induction. Intact protocorms had The highest percentage of direct embryogenesis (100%) in treatment with 3 mg L-1 TDZ and Red+ Far-red spectrum without significantly difference compared to red spectrum. The lowest rate of embryogenesis was observed in Blue spectrum, Dark condition and Blue-Red spectra, respectively. In the first imaging the highest QY-max level was observed in blue light treatment and in the second imaging, the highest QY-max was observed in white and green light treatments.

use of the red-red optical spectrum with plant growth regulator (TDZ) is generally recommended for the successful induction of embryogenesis in this kind of orchid. According to the fluorescence measurement of chlorophyll in somatic embryos, blue spectrum for embryo inducing and then white or green spectrum for embryo development can be used to achieve the maximum efficiency of the photosynthetic system.

Mechanical properties of grain are influenced by various factors including soil nutrients and grain moisture content at harvest time. In order to reduce mechanical losses، the design of different processing operations should be performed based on the knowledge of factors influencing the mechanical properties. The effects of urea fertilization methods and grain moisture content at harvest time on mechanical properties of dried corn were investigated in a field experiment as a strip split plot with four replications based on randomized complete block design at Khorram Abad Agricultural Research Station in 2010. The investigated factors were urea fertilization methods (urea foliar application and urea side-dress application)، grain moisture content at harvest time (20، 30 and 40%) and four corn hybrids (NS 640، Konsur 580، Jeta 600 and control SC 704). The moisture content of dried grains due to different absorption property of the treatments was about 7±1 percent. The results showed that the interaction of fertilization methods and hybrid was significant (P < 0. 05) for grain toughness. However، the grain moisture content at harvest time had significant effect on all studied traits except on grain firmness. The highest maximum fracture force، displacement at the maximum rupture force، energy consumption at maximum force point، specific deformation، rupture power and toughness were obtained at 20% grain’s moisture content Also، the results showed that NS hybrid had the highest maximum rupture force (219 N)، displacement at the maximum fracture force (0. 37 mm)، energy consumption at maximum force (42. 51 mj)، rupture power (3. 89. 10-3W) and toughness (0. 33 mj mm-3).

A field experiment was conducted to study the physical properties of maize grain in response to different urea fertilization methods (urea foliar spraying and soil application)، three harvest times (grain moisture content of 20، 30 and 40 pecent) in four maize hybrids (three foreign hybrids e. g. NS640، Jeta600، Konsur580 and one common hybrid، SC704 as control) at Khorram Abad Agricultural Research Station in 2010. The experimental design was a strip split plot based on a complete block design with four replications. The fertilization method was considered as horizontal factor and the vertical factors were hybrid and grain moisture content (harvest time) in a split plot arrangement. Analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences among grain moiusture at harvest time treatments in terms of length، bulk density، real density and specific grain area. The 20% grain moiusture at harvest time was the best based on the physical properties. Also the effect of fertilization methods was significant for grain width and 1000-grain weight. Results showed that the highest grain width (7. 81mm) and thousand kernel weight (257. 38g) was achieved at urea soil application.. According to the results، Jeta Hybrid showed better physical properties compared to the other hybrids. Because، this hybrid had the highest real density (1. 71 g/cm3)، porosity (54. 23%) and thousand kernel weight (266. 57g)، indicating higher grain quality.