مهرشاد زین العابدینی

Pomegranate is a valuable fruit tree that exhibits favorable genetic diversity in Iran. The investigation of genetic diversity is the basis of plant breeding and is of particular importance. For this purpose, 38 morphological and pomological traits of 30 pomegranate genotypes were evaluated over two consecutive years. The results indicated that the genotypes displayed a high diversity in the studied traits, with the exception of the presence of anthocyanin in the branch of this year, aril color, fruit size, fruitful flower size, and intermediate cut of the leaf. The physiological disorder of fruit skin sensitivity to bursting had a positive correlation with fruit skin sensitivity to sunburn, but it showed a negative relationship with fruit skin thickness and tree mean yield. A positive correlation was observed between fruit size and fruitful flower size, and between fruitful flower percentage and flower position. The results of the principle component analysis revealed that the characteristics of fruit skin sensitivity to bursting, tree mean yield, fruit skin thickness, flower position, and fruit shape were the most key traits in determining the diversity between the studied genotypes. Based on the results of cluster analysis, the genotypes were divided into three groups, and the first group included genotypes with the lowest fruit skin sensitivity to bursting and sunburn. Among the cultivars studied, Rabab Malas Fars, Garch-shahvar, Shahvar-ghasrdasht, and Malas-Yazdi could be considered superior and desirable cultivars due to their low sensitivity to bursting and sunburn, as well as their high fruit number and tree yield

Drought conditions at the terminal of grain filling stage are one of the main factors limiting barley yield. In stressful conditions, due to the limitation of current photosynthesis, the importance of storing more stems and its contribution to the production of the final product will be significant. Among other internodes of the stem, the penultimate internode plays the most important role in remobilization. The aim of this study is to investigate the drought tolerance of two cultivars and one line of barley with different degrees of remobilize of substances and also to investigate the comparative metabolic analysis on the penultimate internodes of three genotypes of barley Yousef (tolerant), Morocco (sensitive) and line PBYT17 (semi-tolerant) under the terminal of grain filling stage

Evaluation of metabolomics analysis of barley genotypes (Yousef, Morocco and line PBYT17) in response to drought stress was carried out 21 and 28 days after the application of drought stress in the grain filling stage. Also, the ability to remobilize stem penultimates of Yusuf, Morocco and PBYT17 genotypes in response to drought was investigated. Identification of metabolites profile which included 17 metabolites including soluble sugars, sugar phosphate, sugar nucleotide, organic acids, phosphorylated metabolites and nucleotides.

The results obtained from the metabolomics data showed that Youssef cultivar had a significantly higher efficiency than other cultivars in retransmission, related to penultimate. Among the investigated genotypes, 17 metabolites were identified. The amount of transferred reserves and the amount of remobilization efficiency were significantly different among different genotypes. Two cultivars Yousef and Morocco had the highest and lowest remobilization efficiency under stress conditions, respectively. Our results showed that the tolerant genotype, by increasing UDP-glucose and glucose-6-phosphate, led to the synthesis of trehalose-6-phosphate, which plays a key role in remobilization materials in the stem.

In general, the results of this research show that the effective metabolites in the remobilze of stem reserves can play a major role in maintaining the performance of barley plants during the drought stress at the end of the season, and this issue can be targeted solutions to increase the genotype performance. The desired varieties of barley that face drought stress at the end of the season should be used. This study may provide potential directions and valuable resources for further study of drought stress in the barley.

Plants use a variety of strategies to cope with abiotic stress, depending on the species and the growth of the plant. Abiotic stresses such as drought is the most important stress that affects yield of agricultural products. In addition, drought stress is one of the main limiting factors in plant growth, it can also inhibit respiration, photosynthesis, and thus affects the growth and physiological metabolism of plants. Plants activate several mechanisms such as morphological and structural changes as well as the expression of drought-resistant genes, the synthesis of hormones and osmotic regulators to reduce drought stress. Drought accelerates grain leaf senescence, altering the expression of thousands of genes and ultimately affecting grain protein content and grain yield. However, the genotypic variability exists for drought induced disruption and tolerance in barley. In this review, the approaches can help for improving barley genotypes in response to drought stress through breeding and physiological traits, genetic engineering, and marker-assisted selection (MAS). We detected genes and proteins involved in response to drought-tolerance using proteomics, transcriptomics and metabolomics approaches. Also, the introduced Quatitatives Traits Loci (QTLs) related to yield and Stay green and physiological traits found in this study can be used for MAS in barley improvement for drought tolerance in the future. In particular, comparative studies of genetically diverse germplasm exposed to adverse conditions such as drought provide valuable insights into plant responses to stress and create information on biochemical pathways involved in adaptation to environmental limitations. Proper evaluation of omics data can help the biomarker discovery.

Today, using advanced technologies such as the global positioning system (GPS), agricultural drones, satellite mapping, remote sensors, and precision agriculture machinery provides farmers with a lot of big data during production. According to the reports, this can be considered a part of the digital economy in precision agriculture and be economically exploited. The analysis of this data cannot be processed by traditional processing systems due to its complexity. Given the size and complexity of big data, artificial intelligence can transform this data into valuable information through machine learning algorithms. This technology is being used to performance prediction algorithms, reducing agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and poisons, monitoring the growing conditions, pest management, breeding, molecular studies and finally value chain management. Developing programs using artificial intelligence technology will soon be able to manage the time of agricultural products entering the market, in addition to determining the planting time in order to increase productivity. The production of bio fertilizer from agricultural waste can be another achievement of the development of algorithms based on artificial intelligence to reduce the negative environmental effects and increase the economic productivity of the remaining waste from agricultural products. This study discusses the important applications of artificial intelligence in agriculture and its impact on Precision agriculture.

To evaluate the interaction of genotypes in the environment (GEI) and promising clones, 60 potato genotypes were used during the growing seasons of 2018-2019. To identify the best potato genotypes in response to water deficit, GGE biplot and AMMI models were performed under two treatments (water deficit and normal conditions) with two commercial cultivars Agria and Sante. The experiment was performed in eight environments (2 treatments, 2 locations, and 2 years) using a randomized complete block design with three replications. AMMI and GGE biplot analysis showed that the G21 clone was more different than other genotypes for selecting the superior genotype. The yield of the tuber of promising clones G21 (90227), G31 (8708.177), G44 (KSG95), G28 (8707/861), and G18 (90127) was higher in all environments. The best-proposed genotypes for introduction are based on their greater stability for the target environment or parallel environments. In this study, using AMMI and GGE biplot analysis, superior genotypes were identified and selected.

Water deficit poses severe limitation to potato cultivation as a drought-sensitive crop plant. Selection of tolerant genotypes based on a combination of tolerance indices can provide useful criteria for breeding drought tolerant potato varieties. Water deficit affects plants at various levels and stages of their life cycle. This abiotic stress not only affects plant–water relations through the reduction of leaf water content, turgor, and total water, but it also affects stomata closure, limits gas exchange, reduces transpiration, and disturbs photosynthesis. In potato, tolerance to drought is a very complex trait. Photosynthesis is one of the basic physiological processes of plants with internal and external conditions. Any reduction of the intensity of this process causes a decrease in the amount and quality of crop plants. One of the indicators for early prediction of potato yielding can be the measurement of chlorophyll content. It is an informative tool for studying the effects of dif ferent environmental stresses on photosynthesis.  Chlorophyll content has an important role in photosynthesis and in understanding plant functions.  In any research, measuring of the chlorophyll content is used for assessment of potato genotypes tolerant and/or sen sitive to environmental stresses.

In this study, 20 potato genotypes were evaluated under two water levels; normal and water deficit stress conditions. The experiment was performed as spilt-plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Seed and Plant Improvement Institute, Karaj, Iran in 2018. The correlations among the different traits were measured and estimated by calculating Pearson correlation coefficients using the statistical tool in Minitab 17. Tuber yield, yield components, growth parameters, and morphological traits were measured under both well-watered and water stressed treatments. Morphological and reproductive characteristics such as plant height, leaf dry weight, chlorophyll content, yield tuber, ware yield, seed yield, non-marketable yield, and marketable yield were measured. 

Analysis of variance showed that stem number, chlorophyll content, stem thickness, plant height, leaf dry weight (LDW), total yield, ware yield (yield>55 mm), seed yield (yield 35-55 mm), non-marketable yield (yield<35 mm), and marketable yield (ware and seed yield) were significantly affected by genotype and drough and their interaction. Analysis of variance showed that the simple effect of genotype treatment on all studied traits including yield, ware yield, seed yield and marketable yield, LDW, stem thickness, plant height, chlorophyll content, and stem number were significant at 1% level. Correlation of stem number and plant height was highly positive and significant at the 0.01 level. Principal component analysis (PCA) and measured traits showed that genotypes 2, 5, 7 and 13 had high performance in the studied stress environment. To fully reflect the various factors that played a principal role in the comprehensive indicators, PCA was carried out on quantitative traits. The accumulative contribution rate accounted for 99% of the total variation for PC3. Analysis of PCA by the correlation matrix and the biplot analysis methods used in this study revealed that these parameters could be used for evaluating the responses of potato genotypes to water deficit in different environments.  The associations among traits related to yield and genotypes are graphically revealed in a biplot of PC1 and PC2. The PC1 and PC2 axes mainly distinguish the morphological traits and yield-related traits in three different groups.   

Parameters related to yield and leaf photosynthetic pigment content (chlorophyll content) were used to rank the clones and cultivars tested for comparative analysis. Based on our results, genotype 7 performed well under normal and water stress conditions. Water deficit is an important constraint limiting the crop productivity worldwide. Plants show a wide range of responses to water deficit which are mostly expressed by a variety of alterations in the growth and morphology of plants. Field experiments revealed that water deficit affects all evaluated morphological and yield related traits.

In sour cherry, as in other species of the genus Prunus, there is a gametophytic self-incompatibility (GSI) phenomenon. In this research, relations between pollen and pistil of 10 superior sour cherry genotype were investigated by using biological and molecular methods. In biological methods, pollen grains are prepared in balloon stage (D phenological stage) and then after evaluating the growth and percentage of pollen germination in medium, in suitable time flowers were emasculated, open pollination, controlled self and cross pollination were carried out in the orchard. In the molecular method, PCR-based methods were used to identify S alleles. The results showed that the highest pollen germination was observed on the stigma in self-pollination, and regarding of the number of pollen tube at the upper and lower parts of the pistil and ovary, the highest was related to open pollinating. Nine known S-haplotypes (S4, S6, S9, S6m2, S24, S26, S35, S36b and S36a) were identified, that alleles S6/S6m2, S9, S24 have a high frequency. Our study showed the low diversity of S alleles between studied genotypes. According to the growth of pollen tubes in style and ovary in all cases of pollination all of studied genotypes are compatible.

Nitrogen is one of the most important components of biomolecules, amino acids, nucleotides, proteins, chlorophyll, and many plant hormones, which are essential and necessary for plant growth and development. In the condition of nitrogen deficiency very different responses such as yield reduction, leaf chlorosis, plant growth and root structure formation appears in phenotypes of plants. In the last decade, to increase the amount of biomass and as a result the yield of plants, a wide use of nitrogen has attracted the attention of researchers. In this study, the expression analysis of seven nitrate transporter genes (NRT2) was investigated in Arabidopsis in response to nitrogen deficiency stress at 4 and 7 days after this stress. The expression analysis of NRT2.3 and NRT2.4 genes showed increased expression at 7 days after applying nitrogen deficiency stress. But all the genes did not show a significant increase in expression at 4 days after N stress application. NRT2.4 gene showed a significant increase in 4 and 7 days after applying nitrogen stress compared to other genes. Overall, our results showed that increased nitrate transporter gene expression in leaves contributes to nitrogen uptake for plant growth and nitrogen accumulation in response to long-term low nitrogen stress. These findings can lead to a better understanding of the mechanism of low nitrogen tolerance and therefore the increase of other cultivars with nitrogen deficiency stresses.

In order to introduce and promote high quality commercial cultivars in Iran, the apricot breeding program began in 1996 with the aim of achieving the desired cultivars. After conducting preliminary experiments, supplementary evaluations and regional experiments, the Parsi variety was released in 2018. This new variety is obtained from the crossing between Ghermez Shahroud × Nasiri 90 cultivars. The fruit of this variety has standard quality for drying and fresh market properties such as flesh firmness, long post-harvest life, free stone, high TSS (19%), red over color and good taste. On the other hand, the productivity and fruit quality of this variety is higher than most of other local genotypes. Also its flesh firmness of fruit, fresh consumptions and its T.S.S. is more than its parent Ghermez Shahroud cultivar. Parsi is self-incompatible and Ourdubad 90, Haft Baradaran and Jalil cultivars have been determined as the best pollinizers for its pollination. Based on the high quality of fruit and good yield of these varieties, they can be used as a commercial cultivar in the appropriate and well adapted areas along with Parsi cultivar.

Abiotic stresses are among major factors limiting crop yields. Cold, heat, and high-light are the most important abiotic stress among plants. Thus, it is considered the understanding of molecular mechanisms response to stress.  FtsH metallopeptidase is one of the key regulators of plant response to abiotic stresses. Many surveys were performed on the FtsH in different plants. However, there is not report on potato under cold, heat, and high-light stress.

In this study, the gene expression of StFtsH5, StFtsH6, and StFtsH10 was evaluated in root, stem, and leaves under cold, heat, and high light stresses. Agria genotypes were planted under controlled greenhouse conditions. After cold, heat, and high light treatment duration, leaves, stem, and root sampling were performed under two conditions stress and normal after 24h and 48h treatment. The relative expression of selected genes was estimated.

StFtsH5 gene was strongly up regulated in leaves and stem at the 24h and 48h under cold stress as compared to non-stress condition, respectively. Further, this gene had the higher mean relative expression than normal condition in root and leaves at the 24h and 48h under heat stress. At 24h after high light stress, the more mean relative increase StFtsH5 gene than control condition was observed. However, StFtsH6 gene is not increased gene expression under low temperature, and high light after utilization of stress treatment in leaves, stem, and root. StFtsH10 gene showed the significantly increased expression of in stem and root under high-light stress at the 48h. It showed an increase in gene expression in stem and leaves under cold stress at the 48h after stress treatment. However, this gene had the high gene expression in stem and root as compared to control at the 24h and 48h after stress treatment. The results of this study showed that StFtsH5 and StFtsH6 had the maximum and minimum gene expression in stem, leaves, and root under three stress treatments.

Among three genes, StFtsH5 showed the high expression in three tissues under cold, heat, and high-light stress. According to the above results, changes in gene expression of StFtsH5 could refer to the key roles of this gene in abiotic stresses, particularly cold, heat, and high light stresses.

Seed germination is an important process that determines the beginning of the seed plant life cycle. However, the mechanism underlying seed germination in barley remains unclear. To understand the molecular mechanism of the seed germination in barley, WGCNA analysis was used to detect the hub and responsive genes and to reveal the expression of the genes on seed germination. WGCNA is a valuable tool for studying the correlation between genes, identifying modules with high correlation, and identifying Hub genes in different modules.

Raw microarray data related to germination stage were obtained from the GEO microarray database for 0h, 3h, 9h, 18h, 33h and 71h after germination stage. Then, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was utilized for detection of co-expressed network genes. In the present study, a barley cultivar, Mahtab, was utilized to show expression pattern after 9h, 18h and 71h after germination stage. A total number of 4137 differentially expressed genes (DEG) were identified, with some genes showing higher expression in Mahtab and three genes verified by qRT-PCR

Most of these DEGs were involved in metabolic processes, cellular processes, glycolysis, and response to stimulus. Hub gene in MEbrown was alpha/beta-Hydrolases superfamily protein, MEpurple was U-box domain-containing protein 4, and MEdarkgrey was B3 domain-containing transcription factor ABI3 which were positively correlated with germinated seeds. The results showed a microarray database and candidate genes for further study of barley at germination stages. In addition, DEGs were divided into three modules by WGCNA. In this study, gene modules associated with seed germination during barley seed germination were identified. Transcription factor and alpha/beta-hydrolase played an important role at germination stage. Also, gene modules and hub genes at 9h, 18h, and 71h after germination were detected. As there is lack of information on seed germination requirements of barley, this research was conducted to study seed germination mechanisms as well as evaluation of hub genes to study molecular mechanism seed germination in barley.

The results of the present study provide new insights into the molecular mechanism underlying barley seed germination. Based on the network analysis, transcription factors (TFs) and ubiquitin proteins were involved in germination. Most of the genes related to each module were related to proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism, glycolysis, and protein degradation. Our gene expression results can serve as molecular markers in barley cultivars during seed germination. These findings can be suitable for molecular assisted selection and breeding of fast germinating barley genotypes.

Drought stress is one of the most important factors in reducing yield and barley production in rainfed arid regions, and counteracting or reducing the effect of stresses as a useful solution to increase barley yield. Therefore, improvement of stress-tolerant and suitable barley cultivars for arid and semi-arid regions is essential.

In order to evaluate drought tolerance of 121 genotypes, lines and barley cultivars and identify tolerant and susceptible genotypes based on grain yield and drought tolerance indices, an experiment in a randomized complete block design with two replications in Maragheh rainfed agricultural research station was carried out in rainfed and irrigated conditions during the cropping years of 1394-94 and 1394-95. Evaluated traits included spikes number, seeds numder, 1000-seed weight, days to heading, days to maturity and grain yield.

The results of correlation between drought tolerance indices and grain yield in rainfed and irrigated conditions showed that tolerance index (STI), mean productivity (MP), harmonic mean (HM) and geometric mean productivity (GMP) were positively correlated, and had significance with grain yield traits in both environmental conditions. So, they were suitable indicators for selecting high yielding cultivars in both rainfed and irrigated environments. Also, the number of fertile spikes and 1000-seed weight had a significant correlation with STI, GMP, MP and HM indices in both conditions. In the principal components analysis based on drought tolerance index and grain yield under water conditions, the three components together accounted for 81% of the diversity of the initial data. In rainfed conditions, the three components described about 88% of the total diversity.

In this study, genotypes 10 (71557), 100 (Tokak / Demir-2) and 38 (72480) in both rainfed and irrigated environments showed higher grain production potential than other genotypes.

Potato virus Y (PVY) and Potato virus X (PVX) are the most important potato-infecting agent causing yield loss and tuber quality reduction. In this study, an experiment was conducted in Karaj, Iran, to investigate the effects of mentioned viruses on the yield and resistance level of 33 potato genotypes. The experiment was performed based on randomized complete design in factorial format under two levels viruses with three replications. The results revealed that the viral infection had a significant impact on mean yield, seed yield (tuber size 35-55), ware yield (tuber size > 55 mm), and non-marketable yield (tuber size< 35). Based on cluster analysis for PVY, cluster VII was considered maximum resistant genotypes to PVY in terms mean absorption and yield, while cluster VI was identified susceptible genotypes in to PVY. According to cluster analysis of PVX virus, cluster I was considered highest resistant genotypes in terms mean absorption and yield and cluster III were maximum susceptible genotypes to PVX infection. Results of this study showed that genotype G23 with a mean-absorption of 0.01 and 0.032 for PVY and PVX, respectively, and mean yield of 4.1 kg/m2 was considered as a highly resistant genotype to both viruses. The concurrent selection of genotypes for high yield and resistant to both viruses (PVX and PVY) can facilitate potato breeding programs.

The center of origin of quince is Talysh region in northwest of Iran and the Caucasus. There are numerous centers of diversity of this tree species in Iran, Republic of Azerbaijan, Turkey and Europe. In this study, the genetic relationships of genotypes and cultivars of quinces collected from the center of origin of this tree species in the west of Guilan in Iran and the Caucasus region were compared with the genotypes and cultivars from different centers of diversity of this species in Khorasan, Isfahan, Ardabil, Western Azarbaijan and Tehran provinces in Iran as well as genotypes from Turkey and Europe using 12 and 14 pairs of SSR markers developed from apple and pear. SSR markers were successfully transferred to the quinces and led to the distinction of Japanese and Chinese quinces from the genotypes belong to the genus Cydonia, and also grouped 63 quince genotypes in seven clusters. The highest allelic frequency (0.968) was observed in CH03g06 and KU10 markers. The germplasm of Europe was clustered in an independent group, while Quince C was grouped with the germplasm of northwest of Iran and the Caucasus. Analysis of genetic structure of the germplasm approved the results of cluster analysis and confirmed the previous reports in relation to two independent evolutionary pathways of the quinces from the Caucasus and northwest of Iran to Turkey and Europe, and the second pathway toward central and northeast regions of Iran. Comparison of these evolutionary relationships of the quince genotypes with the previous reports on morphological and organoleptic evaluations of fruits indicated that each group of identified germplasm has different breeding potential for being used in quince breeding programs.

The alternate bearing, severe fluctuation in annual fruit yield, causes a type of abiotic stress in olive trees during ON-year, i.e. the year with high fruit load. Hence, one could assume a hypothesis in variation of leaves antioxidant capacity in this regard. The current study was conducted aimed at assaying this hypothesis through analyzing some antioxidant enzymes activities and their gene expression patterns. For this, leaves samples were collected from 12-year-old olive (cv. Conservalia) trees, both ON- and OFF-type, at flower bud induction phase during two successive years. Among studied criteria such as antioxidant capacity, phenol, flavonoid and total protein contents, the amount of phenol in OFF-trees was substantially higher than ON-trees. The activity of peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) was considerably influenced by bearing status. In comparison to OFF-trees, the activity of the POD enzyme was higher in ON-trees, and the opposite trend was revealed in terms of SOD and PAL activities. The relative gene(s) expression of POD and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in ON-trees, and SOD and PAL in OFF-trees was significantly high. While the SOD showed downward trends, the POD witnessed an upward pattern in terms of its activity and gene(s) expression profile in ON-trees. In general, the phenolic compounds synthesis and their consumption are the dominant metabolic process in OFF- and ON-trees, respectively.

Species distribution model is important to protect and to manage the roe deer as an elusive and national protected herbivore species in Iran. In this study habitat modeling was carried out via Biomod2 package in R software environment using 91 presence points of the spices as well as environmental and human factors. Ensemble model of habitat suitability was prepared based on six species distribution model algorithms for a study area of 74000 km2. AUC for ensemble model was 0.97 which showed an excellent performance. Suitable habitat for roe deer covered an area about 15 percent of the studied area. Also, the results showed that altitude (29%) and land-use (29%) then, maximum temperature in the warmest month and slope variables were the most influential factors on species distribution. Also, the results indicate that anthropogenic factors were not much effective on the species presence. Roe deer prefers the denser forests since this habitat can reduce its visibility and provide sufficient cover and food for the species.

Potato is considered as a strategic product in the food security of the country and is the fourth most consumed food product in Iran.  Due to its shallow rooting system, this plant is sensitive to water deficit.  In order to study the response of 20 potato genotypes to drought stress, a field experiment was conducted during 2018–2019 at the Seed and Plant Improvement Institute located at Karaj, Iran. The experimental design utilized was a Strip-plot based on randomized complete block design with three replications under two irrigation regimes (normal and stressed). ANOVA showed a significant difference for genotypes at 1% level for overall tuber yield, ware yield (tubers larger than 35 mm), seed yield (tubers between 35 and 55 mm), small yield (non-marketable potatoes), and marketable yield (total ware yield and seed yield). Eleven drought tolerance indices including STI, SSI, TOL, HARM, GMP, MP, YSI, DSI were calculated based on tuber yield under water deficit (Ys) and irrigated (Yp) conditions.  Our results showed a highly significant and positive correlation between MP, Yp and Ys.  The results of the analysis of PCA and the analysis of clustering showed that the drought-tolerance and drought-sensitive genotypes with the clustering pattern are consistent.  The MP, GMP, STI and MSTI identified 902027 genotypes as the best genotype under normal and stress conditions.  Among the genotypes and cultivars studied, 902027 and 8703- genotypes showed the highest MP and GMP, indicating high stability of genotypes in response to drought stress and thus can be considered as drought tolerant genotypes.

Species distribution models (SDMs) are a tool for the management of wildlife including the roe deer, Capreolus capreolus, as an elusive and national protected herbivore in Iran. Habitat suitability modeling can be one of the most important steps to protect this species. This study was carried out to evaluate the potential distribution of the roe deer in the north and northwest of Iran and to identify the important habitat patches for this species. The habitat suitability modeling was applied 95 presence points and nine environmental variables by MaxEnt®. Thereafter, we focused on the extraction of important habitat patches based on presence points. The land cover, as the most important variable on the habitat suitability model of roe deer and its highest probability presence, is classified as the high and moderate densities in the forest. Habitat patches covered an area of about 4467.81 km2 (i.e., 6.04%of the study area). The largest habitat patch, covering an area about 4022 km2, created a continuous patch in the east of the study area. There were several inter-connected small patches in the most western part of the study area in Arasbaran forests. Actually, Habitat patches should be taken into consideration in the conservation of the roe deer.

Background and objectiveRapeseed (Brassica napus L.) is a major crop cultivated worldwide mainly for oil, human consumption and renewable fuel. Plant growth is controlled by several factors, of which water plays a vital role. Large parts of the world are increasingly affected by drought. Drought stress is one of the most important abiotic factors which adversely affect growth, metabolism and yield of crops worldwide. Drought stress, during any particular growth stage of crops results in yield reduction. Under shortage of water, plants accumulate metabolites, such as sugars and inorganic ion, to regulate osmotic potential. Mixed linear model (MLM) methods have proven useful in controlling for population structure and relatedness within genome-wide association studies. Materials and methodsIn other to identify the informative markers of physiologic traits and indices of 22 canola genotypes under drought stress, 36 microsatellite markers linked to the QTLs controlling morphologic characteristics (shoot dry weight, total dry weight, root dry weight and plant height) under drought stress were used. In order to identify genomic regions involved in controlling physiological traits, GLM and MLM association models were used. Results and discussionsThirteen six selected primers produced 166 bands, with 157 (94.58%) being polymorphic, indicating considerable genetic diversity among lines and genotypes. The polymorphic information content values of loci was varied from 0.043 (CB10502) to 0.398 (CB10234), respectively. The highest PIC values were for CB10234, CB10143, SR94102, NA10-E02 and BRMS-030 primers, and the lowest for CB10502, Ol10-B02, CB1003, and FITO133 primers.The results of Mantel test showed that the correlation coefficient for stress and non-stress conditions was 0.024 and 0.06, respectively. According to this test, the correlation between physiological traits and molecular data matrix was not significant. Based on the 36 microsatellite markers used in this study, population genetic structure subdivided into eight subpopulations (K=8) that barplat results also confirmed it. In association analysis based on GLM and MLM models, 6 and 16 loci showed significant relation with assessed traits at non-stress conditions, respectively. Also based on GLM and MLM models, 42 and 46 loci indicated significant relation with assessed traits at drought stress conditions, respectively.In this study, 16 markers include Ol10-B02, BRAS084, Na10E02B, BRAS074a, CB10526, Na10-C01f, CB10003b, OL11-H06, FITO133, Na14-096, BRAS072a, CB10143, NA10-E02b, BRMS-031, CB10502, CB10010 hadn’t significant relationship with the physiological and morphological traits. The markers BRAS041, CB10597, BRMS-036, Sorf73b, CB10081c, MR013c, Na12-B05 and NA14-E08a were associated with the traits in non-stress conditions. Also, the markers CB10597, BRMS-036, SR94102, BRAS100, CB1059b, BRMS-024, BRMS-096, BRMS-30, MR013c and Pmr52 showed a significant relationship with physiological and morphological traits in drought stress conditions. ConclusionFinally, the markers BRMS-036, SR94102, BRAS100, CB1059b, BRMS-024, BRMS-096, BRMS-30, MR013c and Pmr52 showed the most significant relationship with physiological traits in drought stress conditions. Therefore, it is probably that these markers would be a very suitable and promising candidate for drought stress tolerance programs, such as marker assisted selection for canola. Also, probably the genes associated with these traits are near genes in the chromosomal location and may be useful in providing basic information about the indirect selection of traits through relevant markers.

Fenugreek (Trigonella L.) is one of the most important and oldest known medicinal plants in the world, used in the treatment of many diseases due to its various secondary metabolites. The plant has more than 135 species growing throughout the world and in most climates. Trigonelline is the most important and most abundant alkaloid and one of the valuable metabolites found in fenugreek that is used to treat diabetes and reduce blood lipids. In this research, 22 genotypes from 10 species of fenugreek including: T. uncata, T. monantha, T. persica, T. anguina, T. stellate, T. spruneriana, T. astroites, T. monspeliaca, T. tehranica and T. foenum-graecum were collected from Khuzestan, Tehran, and Hormozgan provinces and their trigonelline levels were measured using HPLC technique. The results showed that T. foenum-graecum and T. tehranica had higher trigonelline content (1.34 and 0.9 mg/g seed, respectively) than other species. Also, there was a significant difference between genotypes for trigonelline content. The clustering based on Ward’s method separated genotypes into two groups. This study could be the basis for further work on the extraction of pharmaceutical compounds from other fenugreek species, especially native species of Iran such as T. tehranica.

Recognition and evaluation of qualitative traits of peach fruit is an important step in breeding programs and preservation of germplasm. For this purpose, the qualitative and biochemical properties of 18 peach cultivars and genotypes in East Azarbayjan province were investigated in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Some pomological traits like firmness, TSS, pH, TA, vitamin C, total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity, total flavonoid and total anthocyanin of peel and flesh were evaluated. In order to determine the relationship between traits, a Pearson correlation between traits was calculated. Results showed that the effect of cultivar and genotype on the traits was significant at P

The present study was performed with the aim of investigation in phenotypic variations of Cyprinus carpio as an economically worth species in south basin of the Caspian Sea. In winter of 2015, totally 74 specimens were collected from Anzali, Miankaleh and Gomishan and the morphometric information were extracted. The obtained results of ANOVA were indicated a high rate of phenotypic variations (23 out of 25). PCA detected HH1 (head height character) as the most important feature in making variations among populations. Cluster Analysis classified all samples in three major clades. So it can be concluded that there is at least three separate stocks of common carp in the southern basin of the Caspian Sea which it is high recommended that should be considered in stocks management in order to prevent subsequent problems including inbreeding and reduction in genetic fitness.

Genetic diversity among Russian olive genotypes in three different regions of East-Azerbaijan province (includes Tabriz, Maragheh and Malekan) were assessed using morphological and molecular (AFLP) markers. Results of the quantitative and qualitative traits statistics showed a significant genetic variation among studied germplasm and categorized them in five distinguished groups. The most number of genotypes from Maragheh region were in group 1, while, the group 3 consisted of the majority of genotypes from Tabriz region. All genotypes were analyzed with 14 EcoRI-MseI primer combinations. A total of 439 informative and polymorph AFLP markers was generated and analyzed. Based on Jaccard Similarity Index, the minimum genetic similarity was observed between genotype 19 (from Malekan region) and 27 (from Maragheh). The principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) showed the suitable genomic distribution of AFLP markers among individuals. The highest (0.83 %) and lowest (0.33 %) polymorphic information content achieved by primers combination MTTT-EGA and MGT-ETA, respectively. Cluster analysis using molecular data and UPGMA algorithm, classified the studied genotypes in three distinguished groups. The genotypes at the same geographical region did not classify in the same group based on clustering by molecular data. However, this achieved to a large extent when they were classified groups using morphological traits. This result might be explained in terms of convergent evolution and some in part due to asexual propagation of Russian olive from the limited maternal genotypes and distribution across the different geographical regions.