m. n. ilkaei

Sugar beet is one of the most important industrial plants cultivated under diverse weather conditions. Nutrition management plays an important role in the yield and quality of sugar beet. Nowadays, foliar spraying of nano fertilizers is an effective method of agricultural products. Methanol foliar spraying reduces photorespiration, also increases carbon dioxide and ultimately improves photosynthesis of plants. The application of glycine protects plant cells by regulating osmosis, stabilizing proteins, protecting the photosynthetic apparatus, and reducing reactive oxygen species. There is not enough studies about the effect of methanolic sodium nanosilicate on plants, especially under different weather conditions. Therefore, regarding the application of methanol, especially methanolic sodium nanosilicate, and the effect of glycine on plant yield, the present study was conducted to investigate the foliar application of methanol and glycine and their interaction effect, also introduce the best level of application of foliar application on the yield and quality of sugar beet in two regions with different weather conditions.

The experiment was conducted in the 2018-2019 cropping year as a factorial randomized complete block design with three replicates at the research field of the Karaj and Qom two different climate locations. Karaj is a cold and mountainous region with mild summer and Qom is a dry and desert region with hot and dry summer. Treatments were 6 levels of methanol (0 (no use), 15 and 30% v v-1, 5, 10 and 15 % v v-1 methanolic sodium nanosilicate) as well as 3 levels of glycine amino acid (0 (no use), 2 and 4 g l-1). Sugar beet yield and quality were measured. Foliar spraying was done 3 times during the plant growth season with 14 day intervals on the aerial parts of the sugar beet plant and the control plots were sprayed with water. Data were analyzed using SAS (Ver. 9.4) software and the means were separated by the Duncan test at a 5% probability level.

The results demonstrated that sugar beet yield and quality in the Karaj region were better than in Qom. Spraying methanol and also glycine increased the yield and quality of sugar beet compared to the control (no application). The application of 15% methanolic sodium nanosilicate improved the quality and yield of sugar beet compared to 30% methanol. The consumption of methanolic sodium nanosilicate 15% v v-1+ glycine 4 g l-1 increased the yield of root dry matter 65% and the yield of white sugar 50% compared to the control. Methanol is a source of carbon and glycine improved plant growth by increasing carbon efficiency. Also, with the increase of auxin hormone, it has produced more sugar substances and expanded the transfer of sucrose from the aerial parts to the roots. Therefore, the sugar percentage increased and the root impurities decreased. Among the methanol treatments, increasing the concentration of methanol up to 30% v.v-1 not only did not improve the quality of sugar beet, but also reduced the quality and yield compared to methanolic sodium nanosilicate 15% v.v-1. Methanolic sodium nanosilicate treatment of 15% v.v-1 was much more effective than other treatments. Thus the yield of this treatment was better than the 30% v.v-1 treatment. Because nano technology has provided suitable conditions for plant growth due to its high potential and better absorption by plants. In addition to nutrition, sugar beet production is greatly influenced by weather and environmental conditions. Sugar beet cultivation in Karaj was more satisfactory than in Qom, which can be said to be due to the presence of more soil organic matter, as well as more suitable weather conditions, especially at the end of the growing period in the Karaj region.

Based on the results of this study, spraying methanolic sodium nanosilicate 15% v v-1 and glycine 4 g l-1 were recommended to improve the yield and quality of sugar beet in climatic conditions similar to the Karaj region.

Paclobutrazol is a plant growth regulator that reduces gibberellin in plants. In this research, paclobutrazol and nitrogen foliar application was investigated on the yield and grain quality of superwheat hybrid cultivar in Karaj region, in the form of split plots in the form of randomized complete block design with three replications in the crop year 2017-2018. The main factor in this experiment included three different levels of nitrogen (60, 105 and 150 kg/ha) from the urea source, the second factor included two levels of paclobutrazol (zero and 200 mg/liter). The results showed that the application of paclobutrazol increased the grain yield and grain quality of wheat, and with the increase in the amount of nitrogen, the yield, yield components and quality of wheat grain increased. The highest amount of seed yield was 14.05 ton/ha, the number of seeds per spike was 89.35 seeds, the harvest index was 43.41% and the seed protein was 12.44% related to the mutual effects of nitrogen 150 kg per hectare and the application of paclobutrazol. Therefore, in order to increase the yield and quality of wheat grain, it is recommended to use paclobutrazol along with nitrogen at 150 kg per hectare.

Plant germination and establishment is one of the challenges of farmers in arid and semi-arid areas, and organic priming is a suitable solution to reduce environmental pollution caused by the use of chemical inputs. For this purpose, a factorial research was carried out in the form of a completely randomized design on the seeds of Lemon balm (Melissa Officinalis L.) in three replications in the seed technology laboratory of the Islamic Azad University, Karaj branch. The treatments of this experiment include five levels of priming (chitosan, humic acid, vermicompost, distilled water and control (no prime)) and four levels of drought stress (0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 Mpa). The results showed that drought stress decreased the germination percentage, growth, and quality of lemongrass seedlings in non-prime conditions, and as the intensity of drought stress increased, the growth of seedlings decreased. Chitosan, humic acid, and vermicompost priming was more effective than distilled water priming (hydropriming) in increasing germination characteristics and coping with drought stress, and reduced the negative effects of drought stress. Seed priming with the mentioned treatments caused a decrease in proline concentration and ascorbate peroxidase enzyme activity. Priming with humic acid and vermicompost in non-stress conditions led to 19.52% and 19.93% germination increase in lemon balm respectively, compared to the treatment without priming and 0.9 MPa drought stress conditions.