فهرست مطالب محمود خرمی وفا

Karela is an economic medicinal plant belonging to Cucurbitaceae family. The production of karela plays a significant role in the country's economy due to its medicinal effect in diabetes control, simple processing and reasonable price. Karela production could be easily expanded because of farmers are well familiar with the production process of Cucurbitaceae plants. In addition, the high potential of Kermanshah province in the production of medicinal plants, karela cultivation can create employment, reduce the amount of water consumed during the production process, and reduce the migration of villagers to cities. Cucurbitaceae plants cultivation by flat method has several disadvantages such as occupying a lot of space and limitation on applying new irrigation systems. However scaffolding method provides some advantages such as water losses reduction, harvesting easiness, and higher light absorption. On the other hand, alternative organic fertilizers should be applied to produce medicinal plants where the application of chemical compounds is more limited. Poultry manure is a suitable source for this aim due to its reasonable price and high nitrogen amount, and also its positive effect on increasing the biological capacity and microbial activity of the soil. Therefore, according to the importance of reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and also the advantages of scaffolding cultivation compared to flat cultivation, this experiment was carried out with the aim of determining the effect of type of nitrogen supplier source and the cultivation method on the yield and yield components of karela.           

A field experiment was conducted as split plot based on randomized complete blocks design to investigate the possibility of replacing poultry manure with urea fertilizer, and also study of effect of flat and scaffolding cultivation methods on the karela production (cv. Jaunpur) at the research farm of Razi University during 2021. The main plots included urea and poultry manure and their combination (100 % urea, 75 % urea + 25 % poultry manure, 50 % poultry manure + 50 % urea, 25 % urea + 75 % poultry manure, and 100 % poultry manure). Half of the urea fertilizer in combination with poultry manure was added to the soil at the same time as the sowing date while the other half was added at the four leaves stage. Poultry manure was also covered with a layer of soil so that it did not decompose in front of direct sunlight. Two types of cultivations methods including flat and scaffolding were used as sub-plots.

Results showed that reducing urea consumption and replacing it with poultry manure caused a significant increase in fresh and dry weight of fruits. So that green fruit yield under urea consumption was significantly lower than that of under poultry manure application (879.17 and 1157.92 g m-2, respectively). In addition, scaffolding cultivation method increased the economic yield and harvest index comparing to flat method. The soil of the experiment site was facing a severe deficiency of iron, manganese, zinc and boron. This deficiency had been also aggravated because of the high pH and lime of the experiment site along with the high amount of bicarbonate in the irrigation water (6.2 meq L-1). Addition of poultry manure with low acidity (6.6) can adjust the pH of the soil and increase the absorption of micro nutrients. Based on the results as well as the correlations that were common in both flat and scaffolding cultivation, in scaffolding cultivation there was a relationship between a number of traits such as plant height and fruit weight, plant height and fruit dry weight, and a positive correlation was also observed with fruit length. Considering the absence of the mentioned correlations in the flat cultivation, the reason for this issue could be attributed to the effect of scaffolding and growth at a higher heights than the soil level and the absorption of more light and better stomatal conductance.

The results of this experiment showed that the use of the scaffolding method and the replacement of poultry manure with urea would be economically important due to preventing the disadvantages of flat cultivation and reducing dependence on chemical inputs. Poultry manure could be considered as suitable alternative to chemical fertilizers due to increasing quantity and quality crop yield, the reduction of harmful biological effects caused by the use of chemical fertilizers and the food security improvement. Also using of scaffolding with more durable materials can have more economic justification in the following years and even could be used for other processed products in crop rotation. In addition, with scaffold cultivation, it is possible to plan for the implementation of multi-cultivation types and get more income by using more space and light.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) is a plant with high nutritional value and has good adaptability to different growing conditions. To investigate the effects of planting date and density on the seed quality of three quinoa genotypes (Q29, Titicaca, and Red Carina), a field experiment was conducted in 2019-2020 at the research field of Agriculture and Natural Resources Campus, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. The seeds were sown on three dates (15th March, 15th April, and 15th May) under two planting densities (40 and 60 plants/m2). The experiment was conducted as a split-plot factorial design based on the randomized complete block design with three replications. The results revealed that both sowing date and plant density influenced the nutritional composition of the quinoa genotypes. The grain yield varied between 1642 and 2351 kg/ha, and the amino acids profile varied according to planting date and planting density. The amino acids histidine, glutamic acid, leucine, and lysine increased with delaying sowing date whereas threonine, tyrosine, arginine, methionine, glycine, proline, isoleucine, valine, serine, alanine, aspartic acid, asparagine, cysteine, phenylalanine, and glutamine decreased with delaying the sowing date from 15 March to 15 May. The Titicaca genotype produced maximum grain yield under the third sowing date while in the case of the first sowing date, all studied genotypes were more responsive regarding most amino acids. Also, the most suitable plant density to result in the highest grain yield was 60 plants/m2. The mineral content of the quinoa seeds was not influenced significantly by the sowing date, plant density, genotype, and their interactions, except for calcium which was affected significantly by the genotype. The lowest saponin content was observed in Titicaca under the planting density of 40 plants/m2. These results indicated that both sowing dates and plant densities influence the nutritional composition of quinoa genotypes.

Some essential factors effectively reduce wheat yield; one of the most critical factors is weeds. The effect of this factor can vary at different fertilizer levels. To investigate the effect of different densities of wild oat in different nitrogen fertilizer levels on the wheat traits, an experiment was conducted in the form of split plots and in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments included the application of 30, 60, 100 and 120% of wheat nitrogen fertilizer requirement and densities of zero, 25, 50, 75 and 100 wild oat plants per m2. The results showed that the highest wheat grain yield (871.60 g/m2) and radiation use efficiency (1.49 g Mj-1) obtained at 120% fertilizer level and the absence of weeds, and the lowest obtained at 30% nitrogen and 100 plants per m2. The highest dry weight yield (381 g/m2) and radiation use efficiency (1.6 g Mj-1) of wild oats were obtained at 100 plants/m2 density and at the highest level of nitrogen fertilizer. In general, increasing the presence of wild oats and increasing its density under conditions of improper application of nitrogen can intensify interspecific competition and ultimately lead to yield reduction.

A factorial layout based on a randomized complete block design in three repetitions was carried out to evaluate and compare the effect of early and common planting on two potato cultivars in 2018-2019 in research farms at Razi University of Kermanshah. Experimental factors included 4 planting dates (November 16, 2018- March 16, 2019- April 9, 2019- May 10, 2019) and two cultivars (Sante and Marfona). Cultivar factor affected significantly on total yield, No. of small (less than 35 mm) and medium tubers, the weight of small and medium tubers (p< 0.01), marketable yield, and tuber dry matter (p<0.05). Also there were significantly different in total yield, marketable yield, the weight of medium and large tubers, number of large tubers, the weight of infected tubers, number and length of the main stem, dry matter percentage, and tuber starch percentage between various planting dates. The highest and the lowest mean marketable tuber yield were observed in November and May planting dates, respectively (53.1 and 36.6 tonnes per hectare, respectively). Also, planting date significantly affected on infected tuber weight (p<0.01), so November planting date resulted in no infected tuber compared to other planting dates. Water consumption (m3.h-1) was 5040, 7230, and 6962 in March, April, and May planting dates, respectively, that were more than the November planting date (4350). Then, net income increased 55% from the sale of tubers by shifting the planting date from common to autumn cultivation. In addition to producing higher quality tubers, potato cultivation in the autumn had a relatively higher price in the market.

Determining the environmental capability of optimally using land and preventing the degradation of natural resources arr important steps towards a sustainable development strategy. The present study was conducted in 2014-2017 aiming to assess the ecological capability for agriculture and rangeland of the Razin watershed in Kermanshah province, west of Iran, in seven classes using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and the application of Geographic Information System (GIS). The information layers were initially selected by the research group and those layers that were important were selected according to the research literature, then the final screening of the information layers was performed by fuzzy Delphi method. These layers were including land form units (slope, elevation, aspect), soil information (texture, depth, hydrological groups, erosion, granulating, gravel percentage, evolution, organic carbon content, exchangeable cations, available phosphorus), climate, water, land use, vegetation density, and lithology. FAHP technique was used to calculate the importance coefficients of the criteria and sub-criteria entered into the evaluation model. Weighted layer modeling was performed by ArcMap 9.3 software using the weighted linear composition method in overlay tool. The results showed that water, climate, slope, and soil texture criteria with 0.23, 0.132, 0.118, and 0.88, respectively, were the most important in modeling Razin ecological capability. 1776 environmental units with unique ecological characteristics were identified. This area has ecological potential for agricultural and rangeland use in seven classes. In terms of effective carrying capacity (ECC), all classes except class 2 and 5 were sustainable. Due to the very high accuracy of the FAHP-GIS integrated model in the use of agricultural land suitability, it is recommended to use this model instead of other conventional methods.

In the current study, the environmental impacts of tomato paste production were investigated based on the total life cycle of tomato including cultivation, processing, packaging and transportation, using the Centrum voor Milieuwetenschappen Leiden Impact Assessment, (CML-IA) method in Kermanshah regions. The required information was obtained through interviews, questionnaires and, Ecoinvent, LCA Food DK and IDMAT databases. Results showed that among the influential groups, during the production process of one kg of canned tomato paste, the ozone layer depletion and the reduction of organic resources were least effected and the open waters ecotoxicity received the highest impact. In the cultivation process, electricity consumption had the greatest impact on open waters ecotoxicity followed by the nitrogen fertilizer. The factory processing phase had the lowest impact among the influential groups (except open waters ecotoxicity). The energy efficiency was calculated as 0.63 kg/MJ. The net energy gain and the total energy consumption in the tomato farm were -42700 and 44.86 MJ/ha, respectively. The consumption of electricity and chemical fertilizers were the highest amount of input energies with 75.43 and 16.94% respectively. According to the results, the cultivation phase has the adequate potential to reduce the environmental impacts during the tomato paste production through the improvement of irrigation systems to reduce electricity consumption.

In recent years, young quinoa leaves are used as fresh or cooked vegetables. Due to its high quality vegetable protein, quinoa is a promising candidate for increasing food production in the world. Due to its tolerance to abiotic stresses, quinoa is known as one of the most valuable and nutritious food products. Environmental stresses, especially drought and salinity are one of the most important factors in reducing growth in plant growth and development stages, especially the germination stage of the plant. The increase in global demand for the production of nutritious and healthy food has challenged researchers to look for the production of products in marginal areas that are inefficient for producing agricultural products due to adverse weather conditions, low soil fertility, and lack of good quality irrigation water. As a result, in this study was conducted to study the effect of selenium and humic acid on germination percentage, seed germination characteristics and some morphological characteristics of quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) seedling under drought and salinity stress as a factorial experiment in the form of completely randomized design with three replications.

The research was conducted as two independent experiments. The experiments were  carried out in the physiology laboratory of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Engineering. The first experiment consisted of four levels of selenium (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg L-1 sodium selenate), three levels of humic acid (0, 100 and 300 mg L-1) and four levels of drought stress (0, -4, -8 and -12 bar). The second experiment with four levels of selenium (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg L-1 sodium selenate), three levels of humic acid (0, 100 and 300 mg L-1) and six levels of salinity stress (0, 0.5, 4.3, 8, 11.8 and 16 ds/m) were performed. Titicaca variety was used in this research. The criterion for seed germination was the emergence of roots approximately 3 mm long. At the end of the seventh day, the characteristics of germination percentage, germination rate, mean daily germination, mean germination time, germination rate coefficient, seed vigour and seed germination index were measured. At the end of the experiment, the length, fresh and dry weight of seedlings, stems and roots were examined.

Drought and salinity stress had a negative effect on germination percentage and seed  germination indices and morphological characteristics of quinoa seedlings. Whiles, according to the results, selenium and humic acid under salinity and drought stress had a positive effect on germination percentage and some morphological characteristics of quinoa seedling. Considering that one of the salinity resistance indicators is having longer root length, selenium and humic acid increased the root length of quinoa under salt stress conditions compared to the control. Humic acid and selenium had a positive effect on germination and plant growth by increasing water uptake and root volume, so that the highest germination percentage and morphological characteristics in the treatment without stress with 20 mg L-1 sodium selenate and 300 mg L-1Humic acid was observed. According to the obtained results, the highest percentage of germination, germination rate germination rate coefficient, seed vigor, seedling, stem and root fresh weight in the treatment without salt stress with 20 mg L-1 of sodium selenate and 300 mg L-1 humic acid was observed. With the increase of sodium chloride concentration, the germination percentage and germination indices of quinoa seeds decreased. Under salinity stress, in all four levels of selenium, with increasing humic acid concentration, the percentage of germination and investigated characteristics increased.

Therefore, the use of humic acid at a concentration of 300 mg L-1 along with 20 mg L-1 sodium selenate is recommended to improve germination and seed growth of quinoa under drought and salt stress conditions. As a result, the use of selenium and humic acid in the direction of sustainable agriculture and healthy crop production is cost effective and the use of selenium and humic acid fertilizer is recommended. Humic acid improves product performance by increasing nutrient absorption and affecting antioxidant defense mechanisms. In salinity stress, humic acid leads to osmotic regulation by maintaining water absorption. Selenium has beneficial effects on plants at low levels. Selenium can affect germination and root length. Plant seeds are able to absorb selenium from the environment and convert it into various organic forms or inorganic selenium compounds during germination.

in this study, the effect of silver nanoparticles and humic acid on some morphological characteristics of quinoa seedlings under drought stress was investigated. The experiment was performed as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications. The experiment consisted of three levels of silver nanoparticles (0, 10 and 20 mg L-1 AgNPs), three levels of humic acid (0, 100 and 300 mg L-1) and three levels of drought stress (0, -6 and -12 bar). In this study, Titicaca cultivar was used. The highest amount of seed vigor and seed germination rate were observed in the highest level of AgNPs and humic acid, which indicates the positive effect of AgNPs and humic acid on germination percentage, germination rate and quinoa seed vigor. According to the obtained results, drought stress led to a decrease in germination percentage and growth characteristics of quinoa seeds. AgNPs and humic acid had a positive effect on germination and growth characteristics of quinoa seedlings under drought stress conditions compared to control treatment. With increasing the concentration of AgNPs and humic acid, the amount of proline, soluble sugars, total phenol, flavonoids and catalase activity under drought stress increased, indicating the positive role of AgNPs and humic acid to increase drought tolerance in quinoa. Therefore, the use of humic acid at a concentration of 300 mg L-1 along with 20 mg L-1 AgNPs is recommended to improve germination and seed growth of quinoa under drought stress conditions

 Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) a member of the Amaranthaceae family is a dicotyledon pseudocereal. Quinoa is a plant that is very resistant to unfavorable environmental conditions and shows high resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Quinoa seeds have a higher nutritional value than many cereal grains and contain higher quality protein and large amounts of carbohydrates, fat, vitamins, and minerals, which are used both in human food and for feeding animals. The high adaptability of this product to different weather conditions has increased the yield of its various types in countries outside of South America. The existence of nutritious compounds in quinoa seeds, including the combination of amino acids, minerals, and vitamins, has led to more research on the properties of this plant.

 The field experiment was conducted to study the relationship between agronomic traits (including plant height, panicle length, number of seeds per plant, plant yield, thousand seed weight, seed yield, biological yield, and harvest index) and mineral elements of quinoa seeds (including Zn, Fe, Mn, Na, Ca, K, and P). The experiment was conducted in the 2018-2019 growing season at the faculty of agriculture, Razi University, Kermanshah with a randomized complete blocks design as a split-plot factorial with three replications. The experimental treatments included three planting dates (March 15, April 15, and May 15) as the main factor and the combination of planting densities (40 and 60 plants/m2) with genotypes (Q29, Titicaca, and Red Carina) as subplot factor.

 The results of the experiment showed that the seed yield (2297.5 kg/ha) on the sowing date of April was significantly higher than March and May (1484.5 and 2137.7 kg/ha) sowing dates, respectively. The effect of the studied treatments on the mineral elements of quinoa seed was insignificant. The mean comparison for plant density showed that the density of 60 plants/m2 had a higher seed yield than the density of 40 plants/m2. The results of canonical correlation analysis showed that Wilk's lambda statistic was significant at a 5% probability level in the case of the first function, indicating the existence of a significant correlation between the two groups of the studied traits.

 The results of this evaluation showed that zinc (Zn) and phosphorus (P) had the highest correlation with the corresponding focal function among the mineral elements. Among the agronomical traits, the highest correlation was between the traits of 1000 seed weight and panicle length with the first focal function. Therefore, the plants with higher values of 1000 seeds weight and panicle length, can be used to select seeds with higher amounts of zinc (Zn) and phosphorus (P).

In order to investigate the effects of drought stress and nitrogen on yield, yield components and some physiological characteristics of Quinoa (Santamaria cultivar), a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design (CRD) in the Campus of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran in 2020. Factors including drought stress levels (control, moderate and severe stresses) by increasing the frequency of irrigation and nitrogen (0, 50, 100, 150, 200 and 250 kg ha-1) were from the urea source. The results showed that the highest biomass (42.87 g plant-1) and grain (17.20 g plant-1) yields were in control and 200 kg ha-1 of nitrogen and the lowest in severe stress and 250 kg ha-1 of nitrogen 9.49 and 2.14 g plant-1, respectively. The amount of reduction of grain yield under the moderate stress at nitrogen levels were in the range between 32.9-80.1% and in the severe stress between 73.0-87.9% compared to the control and 200 kg ha-1 nitrogen. Increasing drought stress decreased other traits such as 1000-seed weight, harvest index, plant height, relative water content and superoxide dismutase, but increased peroxidase. Ascending the nitrogen descended the relative water content (up to 100 kg ha-1), peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase. In non-drought stress condition increasing nitrogen went up chlorophyll a, b, carotenoids, soluble proteins, chlorophyll fluorescence and stomatal conductance but went down in drought stress conditions (moderate and severe). The results of this experiment showed that in Quinoa (the Santamaria cv.), the effect of nitrogen depends on the amount of water available and with increasing drought stress decreases the effect of nitrogen.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) is world-renowned for its nutritional and health benefits and its adaptability to different environments. Despite some research on quinoa cultivation, determining the appropriate planting date and density for different genotypes and regions needs to be studied. The main objective of this study was to determine the effects of planting date and planting density on quinoa seed yield in climatic conditions of Kermanshah. In this regard, field experiments were conducted during two growing seasons (2019-2020) at the research farm of Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. The experiments were conducted as split-plot factorial in randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Three sowing dates (March 15th, April 15th, and May 15th) were assigned to the main plots, two planting densities (40 and 60 plants m-2), and three genotypes including Titicaca, Q29, and Red Carina as subplots. The results showed that the highest seed yield (2179.72 and 2267.39 kg ha-1) were achieved on April 15th, 2019 and May 15th, 2020, respectively. Sowing dates of April 15th in 2019 and May 15th in 2020 with a plant density of 60 plants m-2 and Titicaca genotype had the highest seed yield for quinoa in Kermanshah climatic conditions. The results showed that panicle length and biological yield had a positive and significant correlation with grain yield in all studied planting dates. There was a positive and significant correlation between grain yield and grain weight per plant, 1000-grain weight, and biological yield at both densities. The path analysis revealed that panicle length had the highest positive direct effect on seed yield followed by 1000-seed weight on the first sowing date in 2019 and 2020, while biological yield and panicle length had the highest positive direct effect on seed yield on the second and third sowing dates, respectively. This experiment showed that genotypes and planting dates are the most determining factors affecting quinoa growth, development, and yield compared with planting densities.

Various methods are suggested for the removal and detection of heavy metals in the environment, most of which require a lot of time and money. Therefore, phytoremediation is a method that requires less time and money than other methods to remove heavy metals from the environment. In the present study, the image processing technique by smart mobile phone was used to determine the contamination of pennyroyal hyper accumulator plants by three heavy metals lead, nickel, and cadmium. Thirty plants were planted in thirty pots in perlite. For 28 days, these plants were photographed by mobile phones, both inside the box and contact imaging. Matlab R2017b software environment was used for image processing and artificial neural network operations. To determine the structure of artificial neural network, 12 neurons (Includes red, green and blue of RGB color space, hue, saturation and brightness of HSB color space, luminosity, blue Chroma and red Chroma of YCbCr color space and bright, red/green and bright yellow/blue L*a*b* color space) neurons as input layer and 4 neurons for output layer once (includes lead, nickel, cadmium, and control) again 2 neurons (containing heavy metal and control) in the output layer, both box and contact images were considered and the best network structure was identified.

Increased global food production has been associated with increased nitrogen fertilizer application, followed by risks such as nitrate accumulation, water resources pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions. It seems that poultry manure is a suitable case for replacing chemical fertilizers in potato cultivation due to high mineralization rate and micro nutrients. For this reason, two field experiments were carried out based on CRD with 11 treatments in three replications at two sites, Azna and Khoramabad in Lorestan province at 2016 on potato (Banba cultivar). Treatments included nitrogen resource from urea fertilizer and poultry manure along with control. According to results of the experiment, mean tuber yield in Khoramabad (43.7 t.ha-1) was higher than Azna (38.9 t.ha-1). This difference can be attributed to the different growth period in the two locations (Khorramabad and Azna, 114 and 147 days, respectively). Although in both locations, the highest tuber yield was obtained with the application of 700 kg.ha-1 urea, application of 10 t.ha-1 poultry manure resulted in yield approximate to the use of chemical fertilizers, especially in Azna region.However, the results of this experiment showed that agronomic nitrogen use efficiency in urea fertilizer was higher than poultry manure, due to the slight differences in yields between the two types of nitrogen sources, it can be concluded that replacement of chemical fertilizers with organic fertilizers to achieve food security and an efficient and sustainable food chain, is reasonable.

This research was conducted to investigate the effect of seed priming on the grain yield and its related traits of linseed under post flowering water deficit in Razi University during the 2015-2016 years. 

A factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications in Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran was used. Three factors including: two cultivars (Indian and Hungarian), seed pre-treatment factor in eight levels including five seed bacteria inoculations (Bacillus sp., Bacillus megatrium, Bacillus amyloliqueufaciens, Bacillus pumilus, Pseudomonas geniculata), Hydro priming, KNO3 and control treatment and 3) Stop watering after flowering and control were evaluated. 

The results showed that, in control treatment, grain yield of Indian and Hungarian cultivars (1536 and 1497 kg.ha-1 respectively) had not significant difference, but biomass yield of Hungarian cultivar (6129 kg.ha-1) was significantly higher than of Indian cultivar (4575 kg.ha-1). Water deficit caused significant reduction in grain yield, biological yield, the number of pod per plant, the number of grain per plant, thousands grain weight, the number of empty pod per plant, plant height, the number of main branches and the number of subsidiary branches in two evaluated cultivars. Seed priming treatments not only significantly mitigated water deficit effect on grain yield and its components but also in control treatment, increased these traits significantly. Bacillus megatrium and Bacillus amyloliqueufaciens had the best positive effect on evaluated traits.

It seems that use of appropriate and indigenous strains of plant growth promoting bacteria can be one of the suitable strategies for increasing the productivity of crops under drought stress conditions.

In western Iran, mountainous rangelands provide significant resources for livestock productions. Many ecosystems that are of high environmental and economic value are threatened by climate change and social economic pressures. This is especially important for semi-arid rangelands, which have a multifunctional system. Quantifying the direct and indirect effects of grazing disturbance on plant biodiversity in the semi-arid mountainous rangelands can provide sight into the appropriate measures to restore degraded rangelands and conserve biodiversity. Here, the effects of different levels of grazing intensity (Light Grazing (LG), Moderate Grazing (MG), and Heavy Grazing (HG)) on plant biodiversity were examined in Nava-mountain rangeland in Kermanshah Province, Western Iran, in 2016. The results showed that increasing grazing intensity led to a decrease in species richness, Margalef's richness index, and Shannon-Wiener index (p <0.05). Stepwise regression analysis was used to investigate the effect of grazing intensity as (independent variables) on species diversity and richness as (dependent variable). The estimates parameter were significant (p <0.01) for species richness, Margalef's richness and Shannon-Wiener indices in the different levels of grazing intensity. In overall, grazing intensity explained 47%, 47% and 50% of the variation for species richness, Margalef's richness, and Shannon-Wiener indices, respectively. In addition, species richness and diversity were affected in response to grazing disturbance intensity and reducing grazing pressure can contribute to maintaining relatively high species diversity in Nowa-mountain rangeland.

Drought is one of the most important environmental stresses in agroecosystems. In order to determine the optimum level of water-superabsorbent that can reduce drought effect on growth traits in foxtail millet, an experiment was conducted as a factorial based on completely randomized design at Research Greenhouse, College of Agricultural Science and Engineering, Razi University. Different levels of drought included non-drought (short-term irrigation interval) and drought (long-term irrigation interval). Different rates of superabsorbent included 0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.8 g per kg of soil. Results showed that non-drought with water-superabsorbent rate of 0.8 g per kg of soil produced the highest leaf dry weight, stem dry weight and seedling dry weight. Drought with non-application of water-superabsorbent produced the lowest leaf dry weight, stem dry weight and seedling dry weight. Application of water-superabsorbent increased leaf relative water content in foxtail millet. Drought increased chlorophyll index in foxtail millet, but application of water-superabsorbent decreased this index. In conclusion, the results show positive effect of water-superabsorbent on growth and dry matter production in foxtail millet under drought condition.

Selenium is an essential element for humans and animals. However, its effects on plants are less well known. In the present study, the effect of different levels of selenium and nitrogen split on activity antioxidant enzymes and flavor precursors of Isfahan yellow iandraces onion was studied.In this experiment, the factors involved the management of nitrogen use in 3 levels including control, total fertilization at the time of transplantation and one-third fertilization recommended at the time of transplantation+ one-third fertilization at the time of bulb initiation+ one-third fertilization at the time of bulb growth, and the second factor is the selenium in 3 levels: 0, 10 and 50 mgL-1 sodium selenate. The results showed that peroxidase activity increased with increasing selenium concentration. Foliar application of selenium with nitrogen split in three steps had a positive effect on the activity of catalase. At all three levels of selenium, total nitrogen, total sulfur and amino acids (serine, cysteine, methionine and glutathione) increased with increasing nitrogen concentration. As the concentration of selenium increased, the total sulfur content decreased, which resulted in a decrease in the amount of amino acids and flavor precursors. The results showed that the combined use of selenium and nitrogen had a positive effect on the amount of antioxidant enzymes, amino acids and onion flavor precursors.

This experiment was conducted at Mehrgan Agricultural Research Station, Kermansha, Iran, in 2012. The maize parents of hybrid 704 cultivar was cultivated in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The treatments includes: 1-ammonium nitrate (1/3 before planting and 2/3 after planting) 2-solupotas 3-iron chelate, 4-zinc sulfate, 5-manganes sulfate 6- boric acid, 7- Combine treatments 1 to 6 with each other. 8- Combine treatments 1 and 2 with each other. 9- Combine treatments 3 to 6 with each other. 10- Control (without spraying). The applied treatments were sprayed in three stages: 1- growth stage from 6 to 8 leaves 2- maximum leaf area index 3- after pollination. The length of plots was 7 meters and width was 4.5 meters (including 4 mother line and 2 father line) with spacing rows of 75 cm and plant spacing on the 18 cm row. The cultivation was carried out on May 1 and irrigation system was sprinkler. The treats measured was include macro and micro elements in seed, germination percentage, seedling vigor index (SVI), germination rate and Seedling growth rate (SGR) for each treatment. The results showed that foliar application did not significantly differ in the amount of nutrients in corn seed. Despite the lack of significant difference in the amount of nutrients in the seed, seedling growth and germination rate were superior in some treatments, so that the highest seedling growth was observed in potassium spraying treatment. The highest rate of germination was also due to spraying with high consumption elements.

In order to investigate the effects of selenium and nitrogen on some growth and biochemical characteristics of edible onion (Cultivar Yellow Isfahan), a factorial experiment was conducted base on randomized complete block design with three replications at Razi University in year 2017. In this experiment, the first factor includes the time of split of nitrogen fertilizer (based on soil test, which includes 500 kg urea per hectare) in six levels including control, total fertilization at the time of transplantation, half fertilization at the time of transplantation, third fertilization at the time of transplantation, half fertilization at the time of transplantation+ half fertilization at the time of bulb initiation, third fertilization at the time of transplantation+ third fertilization at the time of bulb initiation+ third fertilization at the time of bulb growth and three levels of selenium (0, 10 and 50 mg.L-1 sodium selenate). The highest yield (21.44 Kg.m-2), fresh weight (251.83 g.bulb-1), the bulb length (84.19 mm), bulb diameter (78.66 mm), total phenol (19.87 mg.g-1 FW: fresh weight), total phenol (19.87 mg.g-1 FW: fresh weight), total flavonoid (9.30 mg.g-1 FW: fresh weight) and antioxidant activity (11.44 %) of the onion bulb were observed with nitrogen application of in three stages (third fertilization recommended at the time of transplantation+ third fertilization at the time of bulb initiation+ third fertilization at the time of bulb growth). Selenium had a positive effect on yield, fresh weight, length and diameter of bulb and total flavonoid in onion. Therefore, use of sodium selenate along with nitrogen plays an important role in improvement the growth and physiological characteristics of onion such as bulb dry weight (84.73 g.bulb-1) and nitrogen use efficiency (1 Kg.mg-1 DW: dry weight). In conclusion, split application of of 500 kg.ha-1 urea at the time transplantation, bulb initiation and bulb formation equally one third in each stage, and 50 mg.L-1 sodium selenate can be recommended for onion production.

 Food security (FS) is defined as sustainable access to safe and nutritious food for a healthy and active life. The present study was designed to investigate and determine FS status of rural households and the relevant influential factors. It was conducted on 432 rural households in six subdistricts of two districts of Sarpolzahab, West of Iran, in 2016.

 The samples were selected using random cluster sampling, and FS status was assessed using United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) household FS questionnaire. Therefore, both socio-economic questionnaire and the household FS questionnaire were completed during a face to face interview. Data were analyzed using the statistical software package SPSS-22. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis, and forward multiple logistic regression were used for data analysis.

 Prevalence of food insecurity (FI) in all of the surveyed households was 65.3%, and household FS status between the subdistricts had a significant difference (P< 0.01). The results of the study showed that the prevalence of FI in the subdistricts of Posht-Tang and Sarab (83.3% and 76.4%, respectively) was higher than other subdistricts. Number of household’s members, land ownership, education of household’s head, activity status, and household’s income had significantly relationship with household FI (P< 0.01).

The high prevalence of FI is a major threat to the abnormal utilization of environmental resources in this realm. Therefore, given the impact of horticultural activities and diverse cultivation on household FS, macro and regional policies should be provided to increase the diversity of products through agroforestry and intercropping.

This research presents the basic information on the FS status of rural households in Sarpolzahab and some related socio-economic factors the results of which can help planners and managers to implement interventions to improve the FS and welfare of rural households.

Humic acid by binding to biotoxin, can vary their toxicity and mobility at different environments. Therefore, the interaction between nanoparticles and humic acid is considered environmental point of view specially. The objective of this study was investigation of ZnO nanoparticle toxicity on rapeseed at germination growing stage, and also study of the nanoparticle toxicity reduction by humic acid in laboratory condition. The experiment was conducted with 9 concentrations of 0, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1750, 2000 mg / L zinc oxide nanoparticle and two concentrations of 0, 100 mg / L humic acid, as factorial in a completely randomized design with three replications. The results showed that increasing the ZnO nanoparticle concentration resulted in increasing the activity of superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, catalase and peroxidase enzymes. While the protein content showed a reduction trend and humic acid application decreased the toxicity effects of ZnO nanoparticle. Increasing the concentration of ZnO nanoparticle caused reduction in germination indices (such as final germination percentage, germination energy, germination rate and seed vigor index). However, application of humic acid resulted in improving the germination indices and antioxidants activity in the plant and reduction of toxicity by protecting the plant against the ZnO nanoparticle

Selenium due to its physiological and anti-oxidative properties is considered to be essential micronutrient for humans, animals and plants. The positive effects of selenium on reduction of various environmental stresses in plants is, however, still unclear and need to be explored. In this study, the effect of selenium on increasing drought tolerance of yellow landrace onions in Isfahan was investigated by factorial experiment in a completely randomized design under greenhouse conditions. Treatments were drought stress at three levels (0, 50 and 75% of field capacity) and levels of selenium at three levels (0, 5 and 10 mg.L-1 sodium selenate). Foliar application of selenium was performed in two plant growth stages. The first foliar application at the onset of stress (onion production stage) and the second application was carried out two weeks after the onset of stress (onion development stage). Increasing selenium concentrations, under all levels of drought, traits like plant height (62.66 cm), leaf number (11.66), fresh weight (36.82 g) and dry weight of bulb (4.66 g) were increased. In contrast to drought stress, selenium concentrations increased onion physiological properties (total phenol, flavonoid, total soluble sugar, relative leaf water content and stomatal conductance). Increased onion growth under drought stress is attributed to the antioxidant property of selenium. Because, selenium acts as an oxidant at high concentrations it decreased growth. Selenium at 10 mg.L-1 did not have any detrimental effect on onions. It increased the growth of bulb and seedling onion. These results suggest that selenium application may improve antioxidantal defense system of onions under drought stress conditions. Thus, its use may be recommended under arid and semiarid regions.

Commercial production of seed potato tuber by means of traditional and conventional methods resulted in the spread of bacterial and fungal disease. In contrast, high cost of nutritional supply is one of the problems in the some methods such as aeroponic. Hence in order to study seed tuber potato production in aeroponic condition using substances with natural origim, an experiment was conducted with eight treatments as completely randomized design with three replications. The treatments were 1- Otazo nutritional solution, 2 and 3- Tea vermicompost solution with 1:5 and 1:10 ratio, 4- Vermi wash solution, 5 and 6- Liquid poultry manure with 2 and 6:1000 ratio, 7 and 8- Mixed solution as mixed of cow manure with fruits and plants waste with 2 and 6:1000 ratio. Among the tested organic nutritional solutions, the vemi wash and tea vermicompost be able to substitute for Otazo chemical solution due to their satisfactory function. Whereas nutritional elements absorbtion was interrupted in pH of higher than 7.3 and EC over than 2 dS/m, therefore, the most important reason for low yield in liquid poultry manure and mixed solutions were their pH (7.9 and 7.6 respectively) and EC about 3. According to the role of phosphorous in carbohydrates transfer from leaves to tubers, the more tuber yield can attributed to more phosphorous contents in vermi wash and tea vermicompost solutions compared with liquid poultry manure and mixed solutions.

Due to the increasing production of nanoparticles in recent years and their applications in various applications such as medicine, imaging, catalysts, semiconductors, cosmetics, microelectronics, coatings on various materials, etc., there are currently concerns about the potential hazard and environmental pollution. Nanoparticles have been created globally. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of copper oxide nanoparticle toxicity on the activity of some antioxidant enzymes, protein and germination indices of canola, and also to investigate the effects of humic acid on nanoparticle toxicity in laboratory environment. An experiment was conducted at the germination stage of rapeseed (Octopus cultivar) to investigate the effect of copper oxide nanoparticles in concentrations of 0, 250, 500, 750, 1000, 1250, 1500, 1750, 2000 mg per liter and humic acid in concentrations of 0, 100 mg / L, in 3 replicates, a factorial in a completely randomized design. The results showed that, with increasing concentrations of copper oxide nanoparticles, the levels of activity of all four superoxide dismutase enzymes, ascorbate peroxidase, catalase and peroxidase increased (5.00, 2.9, 2.00, 2.35), respectively, but the amount of protein 2 times lower. Germination indices (root length, stem length) also decreased (39.3, 56.6, 12.7), respectively. The use of humic acid reduced the toxicity effects of copper oxide nanoparticles, especially at the level of 2000 mg / L, so that the root length, stem, root and shoot stomatal length (respectively) 68/9, 0/3, 0/6, 5/5) decreased compared to the control. It can be stated that humic acid can increase the activity of antioxidant enzymes and increase growth by increasing the activity of quasi-hormonal activity.

Intercropping is one of the suitable management methods in crops production that improves absorption and use efficiency of resources by plants. Higher production in intercropping systems compared to sole cropping systems is attributed to morphological differences and different needs of the plants to utilize of environmental resources such as light, water and nutrients. There are the adequate logical and reasonable grounds to intercropping of potato and sweet corn because of their economic importance and physiological and morphological differences. Furthermore, harvesting of these crops had not any disorder. While, access to information such as resources use efficiency is need to find the best intercropping combination. Then the objective of this study was evaluation of radiation absorption and use efficiency (RUE) of sweet corn (Zea mays. Var. saccharata) intercropped with potato (Solanum tuberosum) under Kermanshah climate condition. The experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in the research farm of campus of agriculture and natural resources, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran during the growing season of 2013. Treatments were included the intercropping of sweet corn (Chase) and potato (Agria) with 1:1, 2:2, 2:1, 1:2 ratios (that shows the sweet corn and potato rows, respectively) along with sole cropping of sweet corn and potatoes. Planting intra rows spacing were 13 and 25 cm for sweet corn and potato respectively. Planting inter rows were 75 cm with 7 m long for both crops. The destruction sampling was done at two weeks after emergence. In every stage, three plants were selected from each plot randomly. Absorbed radiation was calculated by simulated entrance radiation and absorbed radiation percent multiply: and cumulative total absorbed radiation was obtained by simulated entrance radiation× integral of absorbed daily radiation to time ratio. Ultimately, RUE of sweet corn and potato was evaluated as g MJ-1 by linear regression slope between total accumulative dry mater (g m-2) and accumulative daily radiation (MJ m-2) for each plot individually. Results showed that leaf area index (LAI) was higher in all intercropping treatments than sole cropping. Among intercropping patterns, the highest and lowest LAI were observed in 2 rows sweet corn + 1 row potato (4.12) and 1 row sweet corn + 2 rows potato (3.4), respectively. Also dry mater accumulation trend was affected by intercropping patterns and radiation absorption increased by sweet corn and potato canopy appropriate to LAI rising. RUE of sweet corn and potato in intercropping was higher than of sole cropping. Among different intercropping patterns, the highest amount of sweet corn RUE were 2.18 and 1.86 g MJ-1 ,respectively that obtained in intercropping of 1 row sweet corn +2 rows potato. The highest sweet corn shelled kernel for conserving (3300 kg ha-1) and potato yield (9460 k ha-1) were obtained in 2 row sweet corn + 1 rows potato and 2 row sweet corn + 2 rows potato, respectively. On the contrary, increasing the number of potato rows resulted in higher RUE. Results also showed that land equivalent ratios were bigger than 1 in all intercropping patterns. Pattern of 2 rows sweet corn + 1 row potato, was recommended with the highest LER (1.41) economically. The additional obtained yield can attribute to better radiation use because of the morphological and physiological differences between sweet corn and potato. There was no considerable dissimilarity in dry matter accumulation trend between intercropping of sweet corn with potato and their sole cropping because of little plants in early growth season. However, the dry mater trend continued as linear stage at 30 days after sowing date as the differences were appeared between intercropping and sole cropping plots. Compared to sole cropping, results of present study showed that the intercropping of sweet corn and potato resulted in LAI improvement, dry matter rising, more efficiency in radiation absorption and increasing of radiation use efficiency. Also this intercropping is recommended economically based on obtained LERs. Therefore, this study suggests the intercropping of 2 rows sweet corn + 2 rows potato economically. However, the water consumption and water use efficiency must be investigated to choose the best intercropping pattern.