فهرست مطالب reza darvishzadeh

A major challenge in global agriculture is to produce more food for another 2.3 billion people by 2050 worldwide. Salinity is a major stress that limits the supply of food products. The total land area is about 13.2 billion hectares, of which 7 billion hectares are arable and 1.5 billion hectares are under cultivation, and about 23% of the cultivated lands around the world (about 345 million hectares) are affected by salinity stress and its amount is increasing day by day. Plants can be classified into two types, halophytes (which can resist salinity) and glycophytes (which cannot resist salinity and eventually die), and most major crops belong to this second category. The purpose of this article is to review scientific research related to the effects, mechanisms of tolerance, research methods, important measurable traits, management and control of salinity and oxidative stress in agricultural plants.

This article is a review article that was obtained by searching related articles in reliable sites (Google scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, SID.

Salinity have adverse effects on various plant characteristics such as physiological, metabolic, growth, germination, strength, quantity and quality of plants. The most important damages caused by salinity stress include ion imbalance due to reduced absorption of necessary ions, accumulation of harmful ions and dehydration due to decreased water absorption which reduces protein synthesis, transpiration, ion transfer and finally decreases seed yield. Mechanisms of salinity stress tolerance include ionic homeostasis, compatible salt accumulation and osmotic protection, antioxidant regulation, polyamines, nitric oxide, and hormonal regulation of salinity tolerance. Under stress, reactive oxygen species such as superoxide radicals, singlet oxygen and hydroxyl radical are produced, which damage cell structure, proteins, cell membranes, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and eventually cause cell death.

Enzymatic or non-enzymatic antioxidants play a very important role in protecting plants against oxidative damage. Superoxide dismutase, catalase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase are enzymatic antioxidants and ascorbic acid, glutathione, carotenoids and tocopherols are non-enzymatic antioxidants which can reduce the damage caused by reactive oxygen species.

Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal after wheat and rice, which accounts for 26% of total cereal cultivated area and 37% of their production. Maize is a valuable raw material for extracting oil, starch, alcohol, glucose, plastic, lactic acid, acetic acid, acetone and paint, and it is possible to made paper, cardboard, and nitrocellulose from its stalks. As an important nutrient, phosphorus plays important role in energy transfer, photosynthetic oxidation-reduction reactions, as well as in biochemical compounds including nucleic acids, structural proteins, enzymes, and signal transmission. Due to the predominance of calcareous soils with high pH in arid and semi-arid agricultural climates, the amount of available phosphorus is limited. In order to increase available phosphorus for plants, large amounts of phosphorus chemical fertilizers are needed regularly. However, a large amount of phosphorus in fertilizers may be converted to insoluble phosphate, immediately by reaction with calcium in the soil after its application. On the other hand, indiscriminate use of phosphorus chemical fertilizers leads to many environmental problems such as surface runoff of phosphorus, eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems, reduction of biodiversity and abnormal changes in soil salt concentration and pH. Breeding cultivars that absorb phosphate or phosphorus more efficiently is one of the solutions to deal with the stress of phosphorus deficiency as a trait with low heredity. The use of selection indices can be an effective method for the indirect selection of traits with complex genetics.

93 maize genotypes prepared from different research centers were evaluated in terms of agro-morphological traits under normal and phosphorus deficit conditions using completely randomized design with three replications in the crop year 2016-2017 in an open area conditions. For this purpose, after analyzing the soil of different regions, soil with low phosphorus content (7.240 mg/kg) was selected and the pots (15 kg) were filled with soil and sand in a ratio of two to one. Usable soil phosphorus was determined by the Olsen method in the soil science laboratory of Urmia University. In both optimal and phosphorus deficit conditions, soil was strengthened with nitrogen fertilizers (in the amount of 9 g/pot (during three stages during the growth period)), potassium sulfate (in the amount of 13.5 g/pot), Sequestrin (1.5 g /pot), manganese sulfate (0.225 g/pot), zinc sulfate (0.99 g/pot), copper sulfate (0.3 g/pot) and boric acid (0.21 g/pot). In optimal conditions, phosphorus fertilizer in the form of triple superphosphate was added to each pot in the amount of 6 g/pot. Phosphorous fertilizer was not added to the soil in the phosphorus deficit conditions. With the beginning of the tasseling stage, various agro-morphological and chemical traits were measured. In the physiological maturity stage, the ears relating to each replication were separated from the plants. Seed yield per plant was determined by separating the seeds on the ears of each plant and weighing it. In order to select the desired genotypes, four selection indexes including Smith-Hazel, Pesek-Baker, Brim and Robinson indices were calculated. In this study, the same weight was considered for the attributes, which is done in this way in most studies. To select the best selection index, different criteria, including the genetic gain of traits (∆G), expected gain (∆H) and relative efficiency of selection index (RE) were calculated.

According to analysis of variance results, the effect of genotype and stress was significant on all studied traits at the probability level of 1%. Also, the interaction effect of genotype × stress was significant on all studied traits except for flag leaf length (FLL), flag leaf width (FLW), number of leaves (NL), plant height (PH), stem diameter (SD), ear length (EL), number of rows per ear (RpE), number of grain per row (GpR), ear diameter (ED) and 100 seeds weight (HGW). In the normal conditions (without stress) in the Smith-Hazel index (optimal index), the highest coefficient (7.21 and 3.98,) was observed in FLW and ear length (EL) traits, respectively, and the lowest ones (-3.03) was observed in RpE trait. In the phosphorus deficit conditions, the highest coefficient (3.91) was observed in EL and the lowest ones (-5.35) was observed in RpE trait. In the Pesak-Baker index, under normal conditions, the highest coefficient (5.64) was observed in GpR trait and the lowest ones (-9.28) was observed in EL. In phosphorus deficit conditions, the highest coefficient (8.49) was seen in FLW trait, followed by EL (4.53) and the lowest ones (-2.17) was observed in RpE. The highest coefficient in Robinson's index under normal conditions was 2.21 for LW, which was -5.91 for that under phosphorus deficit conditions. In this index, the lowest coefficient was seen in RpE (-0.92). In Robinson's index, under phosphorus deficit conditions, the highest coefficient (1.46) was seen in EL, and the lowest ones (-5.92) was seen in FLW, followed by RpE with a value of -2.13. The Smith-Hazel index with expected gain (∆H) value of 296.306 and 229.374, and relative efficiency of (RE) of 1.0011 and 1.0839 and the Brim with expected gain (∆H) value of 296.217 and 233.083, and relative efficiency of selection index (RE) of 0.9995 and 1.0836, in normal and phosphorus deficit conditions, respectively, were the best indices. Under both normal and phosphorus deficit conditions, biomass yield, seed yield, and plant height had the highest coefficients for these indices. Based on both indices, genotype with cod number 7 and the genotype with cod number 10 are introduced as superior genotypes under normal and phosphorus deficient conditions, respectively.

In general, the results of present investigation showed that in both normal and phosphorus deficit conditions, selection based on the Smith-Hazel and Brim indices will increase the biomass yield, seed yield and plant height due to their highest relative efficiency and expected gain. The selected genotypes after validation at the molecular level with different technologies, such as studying the expression of genes involved in tolerance to phosphorus deficit conditions using Real time PCR, can be used in the production of hybrid varieties as a way to reduce the use of phosphorus fertilizers.

Heavy metals especially cadmium (Cd), with potential toxicity and injurious effects for plants and humans, are one of the most important abiotic stresses for crop plants such as maize which lead to a considerable reduction in the crops production in developing countries including Iran. Therefore, assessing genetic diversity for Cd stress tolerance, as one of the basic principles of plant adaptation to abiotic stresses, is very important. In this regard, the present study was carried out to evaluate the genetic diversity of maize pure lines and hybrids based on important agronomic traits associated with grain yield under non-stress and Cd stress environmental conditions. The results of this research can be useful for maize breeders in identifying suitable parental genotypes for maize breeding programs to develop high-yielding and Cd stress-tolerant genotypes in regions contaminated to this heavy metal.

In this study, 95 maize genotypes comprising pure lines and hybrids, were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications under two non-stress and Cd stress conditions. The experiment was performed in a pot experiment in an open area of the Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Station of Jiroft, Kerman province, Iran, in two cropping seasons, 2020-21 and 2021-22. Under Cd stress conditions, cadmium chloride solution (CdCl2.2H2O) with a concentration of 30 mg.L−1 was applied at two important stages of maize plant growth, including six-leaf stage (Code 16 in Zadoks scale) and the appearance of first male flowers (Code 50 in Zadoks scale). The measured traits included 24 different phenological, morphological, and agronomic traits. Grouping of maize genotypes in term of the studied traits was performed using cluster analysis based on Ward’s minimum variance method, and discriminant function analysis was used to confirm and validate the results of cluster analysis.

The results of this study indicated that there was an extensive genetic diversity among the studied maize genotypes for most of the studied traits, especially for grain yield and its components under non-stress and Cd stress conditions. Cluster analysis grouped the maize genotypes into four separate clusters with accuracy probabilities of 91.6% and 97.9% under non-stress and Cd stress conditions, respectively. Comparison of means between these four groups showed that under non-stress conditions, 41 and 24 genotypes in the third and fourth groups were the high yielding genotypes of this experiment, respectively. Under Cd stress conditions, 49 genotypes with the higher grain yield and yield components in the second and third groups (such as Ma002, Ma003, Ma004, Ma005, and Ma007) were identified as Cd-tolerant genotypes. These genotypes mainly showed short to medium phenological periods. Also, 11 genotypes (Ma001, Ma008, Ma030, Ma033, Ma036, Ma039, Ma042, Ma045, Ma072, and Ma089), indicated the lowest means for important agronomic traits including yield and its components under both non-stress and Cd-stress conditions. These genotypes were unable to tolerate Cd stress under the conditions of this experiment and were identified as sensitive genotypes.

The present study led to the identification of 40 tolerant maize genotypes to Cd stress (such as Ma003, Ma005, Ma007, Ma013, Ma014, and Ma015). These genotypes in addition to exhibiting desirable yield and yield components under non-stress environment, also showed suitable yield under Cd stress conditions. Therefore, by carefully selecting the parents among Cd-tolerant genotypes and carrying out targeted crosses between them, it is possible to obtain suitable hybrids for cultivation in Cd-stressed environments by exploiting genetic phenomena such as transgressive segregation and heterosis.

Knowledge on genes effect and action (additive/dominance) is one of the necessities to achieve cultivars with high performance and quality. Estimating the breeding value (additive effect) can be done thanks to molecular markers through best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP). In the present study, 100 oilseed sunflower genotypes were evaluated based on the 10×10 lattice design during two crop years of 1392-1393 under normal and drought stress (irrigation limitation) conditions. The breeding value of 13 traits in 78 genotypes out of 100 was estimated due to having genotyping data with SSR and Retrotransposon based markers in each one of normal and drought stress (irrigation limitation) conditions through BLUP. For this purpose, the kinship matrix was calculated by SSR and Retrotransposon based markers data. According to total ranks of breeding values of all studied traits estimated by molecular data of both markers, in normal conditions, genotypes 47, 11, 8 and 35 and under drought stress (irrigation limitation) conditions, genotypes 8, 11 and 35 showed the highest breeding value. Based on SSR markers data in normal conditions; genotypes 76, 36, 34 and 41 and based on Retrotransposon based markers data; genotypes 61, 78, 72 and 52, and in drought stress (irrigation limitation) conditions based on SSR markers data; genotypes 76, 38, 34, 29 and 70 and based on Retrotransposon based markers data; genotypes 16, 71, 78 and 61 showed the lowest breeding value. Considering both studied conditions and all studied traits and both molecular markers information, genotypes 8, 11 and 35 with high breeding value are introduced as desirable parents for breeding programs.

Today, due to the widespread cultural interactions and movements, the element of place has lost its static nature, as it had ancient stories, and has become a dynamic element in terms of meaning and implication. This dynamicity is more visible in novels about immigration since the cultural confrontation and, consequently, the multiplicity of meanings is provided in these types of novels more than others. "Love in Exile", the famous novel of the Egyptian storyteller, Bahaa Taher, is one of the narrative works in which place plays an important role in the reader's perception of the overall plot of the story. Intercultural communication in this work has caused the place to become a cultural code with deep and complex implications. The present study attempts to discover the implications of place in the above-mentioned work by relying on the descriptive-analytical method and by emphasizing the achievements of cultural studies. The findings indicate that, in this novel, an international conference is depicted as a central place from which the concept of multiculturalism is inferred and all events are valued accordingly. Also, based on cultural relations, each place has a meaning the understanding of which can be fulfilled through categories such as ideological identity and intellectual and cultural patterns of characters.

Maize as a tropical cereal is a main source of food for humans and livestock, as well as biofuels and fiber in some regions of the world. Increasing maize production is one of the main priorities of the country, Iran. One of the columns of increasing production is development of new high-yielding cultivars. To improve a complex trait such as grain yield that has low heritability, indirect selection by other traits or developing a suitable index based on several traits can be used. In this study, linear phenotypic selection index (LPSI) and linear molecular selection index (LMSI) were prepared using the combination of morphological traits and informative ISSR molecular markers. The objective of the present study was to prepare appropriate selection indices in maize to improve grain yield.

The plant materials of this research were 97 maize genotypes that were cultivated in a randomized complete block design with six replications in the research field of the Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. Morphological traits were measured from the tasseling stage to the physiological maturity. Sixty ISSR primer combinations were also used to prepare the molecular profile of the studied maize genotypes. To select the suitable genotypes, two indices including linear phenotypic selection index and linear molecular selection index were used, and the efficiency of the indices was compared with the estimation of different parameters such as the rate of genetic gain and response to selection.

The results of the linear phenotypic selection index showed that the highest rate of genetic gain based on the index (DG) was observed for chlorophyll content (99.15) and the lowest one for number of ears per plant (0.01). The expected genetic gain for all studied traits (DH) and response to selection was estimated at 163.2234 and 0.774, respectively. Based on the linear molecular selection index, the highest rate of genetic gain (DG) was observed for leaf area (99.31) and the lowest one was observed for number of ears per plant (0.02). The expected genetic gain for all studied traits (DH) and response to selection was also estimated at 50.972 and 0.774, respectively. The results showed that the correlation between index and breeding value (rHI) in the LPSI index was relatively favorable (less than one), and in the LMSI index was optimal (one), but both correlations were significant at 0.05 probability level according to the t-test. However, the efficiency of selection based on the index (ΔH) was 163.22 for the LPSI index and 50.97 for the LMSI index. On the other hand, the degree of genetic gain of trait (DG) was different depending on the type of index. For example, the ratio of genetic gain (DG) derived from molecular to phenotypic index for the number of ears per plant and grain yield (2.00 and 1.28, respectively) was higher than the other traits. Also, the best genotype based on both indices was genotype number of 61.

According to the results obtained from the present study and the review of sources in this field, it seems that it is possible to benefit from the advantages of development of the LMSI index in the breeding programs in early generations, but in advanced generations, it is better to select genotypes using the LPSI index, in which case the cost of molecular evaluations will be reduced.

Plants are exposed to various environmental stresses during their life cycle. Considering the essential role of crop plants in the production of food, fodder, oil and biofuels, it is important to evaluate their responses to environmental stresses. Plants have developed complex molecular systems to respond and adapt to environmental stress conditions such as drought, salinity, cold and heat during evolutionary processes. The response to abiotic stress is significantly different in species and even in different cultivars of the same species. Identification of plant responses to abiotic stresses has caused a great revolution in post-genome era. Physiological and molecular analyses have helped to better identify plant responses, and in this regard, Arabidopsis genome sequencing has played an important role. Quantitative phenotyping system of plants using imaging technology and its combination with information technology has facilitated the understanding of complex responses of plants to abiotic stresses. Studies on new regulatory mechanisms including use of small RNA molecules, chromatin modulation and genomic DNA modification, have enabled researchers to recognize complex plant molecular systems in response to abiotic stresses. Researchers have found that plants have types of sensors and signaling systems to respond to environmental changes and stresses. The molecular patterns of these signals are transmitted for the proper induction of the downstream molecular events. Obtaining necessary information related to DNA function at gene levels, RNA transcription and protein products, requires the use of various functional genomics methods such as next generation sequencing and genome editing, with large amounts of data. These data, which are essential information for all genes, including gene products and their functions, transcription levels, cis-regulatory elements and alternative splicing patterns, are obtained as a result of accessing the complete genome sequence. With progress in functional genomics methods, many genes related to stress tolerance can be identified and used to improve the level of tolerance of crops to environmental stresses. In this article, studies related to functional genomics for identification of complex response systems in crop plants that cause adaptation to abiotic stresses have been reviewed.

Drought stress is one of the main environmental factors affecting the growth, yield and quality of agricultural products. Unfortunately, global climate change and mismanagement have led to the expansion of the arid and semi-arid lands of the world. Meanwhile, sunflower is one of the important oilseed plants relatively resistant to drought stress. The present study was conducted to identify molecular markers associated with genomic regions controlling agro-morphological traits in sunflower under drought stress. The associated markers are potentially useful for breeding programs and can accelerate the selection of drought tolerant genotypes. 100 sunflower genotypes were planted in a 10 ×10 simple lattice design with two replications in each one of normal and irrigation limited conditions for two consecutive years. Molecular profiles of the lines were prepared with 7 IRAP primer combinations. According to mlm, 12 and 10 markers showed significant relationships with the studied traits (P≥ 0.01) under normal and irrigation limited conditions, respectively. “61655” showed a significant relationship with oil percentage under both normal and irrigation limited conditions. The markers “616510” and “61655” and “CfCr1” showed a significant relationship with several traits under normal and irrigation limited conditions, respectively, that can be due to pleiotropic effects or linkage between genes controlling traits. Accordingly, “616510” marker related with genomic regions controlling yield under normal conditions and "CfCr1" marker related with genomic regions controlling yield components traits (head and stem diameter) under irrigation limited conditions, after validation, can be used for selection of optimal genotypes under these water treatment conditions.

Salinity stress is one of the main abiotic stress factors and environmental problems affecting crop yields worldwide, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Land salinization is increasing, with 10 million ha of agricultural land destroyed annually. An increase in the concentration of salts in soil solution or irrigation water adversely affects plant growth and productivity, which can substantially reduce yield production. Maize (Zea mays L.) is the third most important cereal grain after rice and wheat, due to its high yield and nutritive value and also known as the queen of cereal crops and is moderately sensitive to salinity stress. Accurate screening of maize tolerant genotypes using selection indices for salinity stress tolerance is an efficient approach to improve salinity tolerant crop plant genotypes, as well as reduce the effect of salinity on this crop.

This study was conducted at the Urmia University Research Farm in 2017 to evaluate the influence of salinity stress (8 dSm-1) on the grain yield of 86 maize lines, as well as identify salt-tolerant maize lines based on selection indices for salinity stress tolerance. The pot experiments in normal and salinity stress conditions were set up in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replicates. Ten selection indices for salinity stress tolerance including Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI), Tolerance Index (TOL), Stress Tolerance Index (STI), Mean Productivity (MP), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP), Harmonic Mean (HM), Abiotic Tolerance Index (ATI), Drought resistance Index (DI), Modified Stress Tolerance Index in normal condition (MpSTI), and Modified Stress Tolerance Index in stress condition (MsSTI) were calculated based on grain yield of lines under normal and salinity stress conditions.

A wide range of genetic variability was obtained among the studied maize lines in terms of grain yield under normal and salinity stress conditions as well as in terms of selection indices for salinity stress tolerance, which provided suitable conditions for evaluating tolerance indices and selection of tolerant lines. STI, MP, GMP, and HM had the highest correlation with grain yield in both normal and salinity stress conditions and were suitable to screen salt-tolerant and high-yielding maize lines. The three-dimensional (3D) plot obtained from these indices showed that the lines Ma025, Ma010, Ma026, Ma011, Ma009 Ma015, Ma116, Ma012, Ma028, and Ma062, which were in group A, had high yields in both normal and stress conditions. The results obtained from the use of principal component analysis showed that the first two principal components account for 93% of the total variance. The first component, called yield potential, had a very significant correlation with STI, MP, GMP, HM, DI, MpSTI, and MsSTI and was able to separate high-yielding maize lines in both normal and stress conditions. The second component, called sensitive or tolerant to salinity stress, had a very high correlation with SSI, TOL, and ATI and was able to distinguish stable maize lines. According to the hierarchical cluster analysis, a total of 86 maize lines were grouped in three tolerant, semi-tolerant, and sensitive clusters somehow this clustering was completely consistent with the separation of maize lines by the first principal component. In addition, each of these clusters had two subclusters that were separated according to the second principal component, so that in each cluster, the lines that had high yield stability were placed in the first subcluster, and the lines that had lower yield stability were placed in the second subcluster. Thus, Ma010, Ma026, Ma009, Ma027, Ma023, Ma007, and Ma005 were introduced as salt-tolerant maize lines with stable yields to use in breeding programs.

Based on the available findings, the present study, as the first study on a large number of maize lines (86 lines) in the country, evaluated salinity stress tolerance using selection indices. The results of this study revealed the importance of using selection indices for stress tolerance as a reliable and useful tool to improve salinity stress tolerance in maize lines. Accordingly, STI, MP, GMP, and HM were identified as the most appropriate indices for the selection of tolerant and stable maize lines using multivariate statistical methods. It is recommended that the selected maize lines be considered as parent lines in future breeding programs in order to improve salinity stress tolerance and stable grain yield.

The first step in breeding programs is to use the genetic diversity among existing populations, cultivars and lines. Maize is used as a model plant to study the genetics of various traits. Compared to other crops, maize has a high demand for zinc (Zn) and is known as an indicator of zinc deficiency in the soil. In terms of climatic conditions, Iran is located in a arid and semi-arid region, and there is a lack of micronutrients specially Zn in this region. Lack of nutrients such as Zn is one of the important abiotic stresses that affects the growth and development of plants including maize. The objective of this study was to evaluate the genetic diversity of a number of corn lines under normal and zinc deficiency conditions.

To assess the genetic diversity of 95 maize lines using agro-morphological traits, an experiment was carried out in alpha lattice design in two replications under two normal (use of zinc sulfate fertilizer) and zinc deficiency (no use of zinc sulfate fertilizer) conditions in Zabol Agricultural Research Center during two years. The studied maize lines were obtained from Razi University of Kermanshah, Khorasan Razavi Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center, and Seed and Plant Improvement Institute (SPII) in the form of research project No. 94/101/T.T. approved by Biotechnology Institute of Urmia University. Twenty-nine traits were measured and recorded. Combined analysis of variance of the studied traits under normal and zinc (Zn) deficiency conditions were performed using SAS ver. 9.4 software. Other statistical analyzes including descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, forward stepwise regression and factor analysis method were done using R software by pastecs, corrplot, olsrr, and psych packages, respectively.

The results of this study revealed high phenotypic variation among the studied maize lines for all investigated traits under both normal and zinc (Zn) deficiency stress conditions. The results of analysis of variance confirmed the presence of high phenotypic diversity among maize lines. All traits were affected by environment, and a statistically significant difference was observed between two environments for the all measured traits in maize lines. Genotype × environment interaction was also significant for most of the studied traits. Descriptive statistics showed a considerable diversity among the lines, and the highest diversity in both normal and zinc deficiency conditions was observed for yield per unit area, economic yield, and number of grains per cob. In correlation analysis, weight of five cobs, number of grains per cob, and 100-grain weight showed a positive and significant correlation with economic yield in both normal and zinc deficiency conditions. Therefore, these three can be introduced as important traits in the initial selection of zinc deficiency tolerant lines. In factor analysis of morphological traits using the parallel analysis method, four hidden and independent factors were determined under both normal and zinc deficiency conditions, which explained 63% and 57% of the total variation of the lines, respectively. Based on the results of the factor analysis, the traits number of days to tasseling, number of days to pollen emergence, number of days to cob emergence, plant height, ear diameter and width, number of grains per cob, economic yield, yield per unit area, and harvest index with high degree of commonality under both normal and zinc deficiency conditions, can be suggested as key traits for the selection of zinc deficiency tolerant lines.

The results of this research showed that there is a high genetic diversity among the studied maize lines in terms of morphological traits under both normal and zinc deficiency stress conditions. It makes it possible to use these lines in breeding programs as a valuable genic source to improve the performance of lines and produce improved lines under normal and zinc deficiency conditions.

The thinning of the ozone layer due to nitrogen oxides and halogenated hydrocarbons has caused an increase in ultraviolet radiation on the planet. This radiation can affect many physiological and anatomical characteristics of plants. This study aimed to investigate the effect of UV-B radiation on the morphological, physiological, and molecular parameters of the peppermint plant (Mentha piperita L.) and the effect of salicylic acid (SA) on reducing the harmful effects of this radiation. 

The eight treatments, including 0.0SA, 0.5mM SA, 1mM SA, 2mM SA, UV-B, SA0. 5+UV-B, SA1+UV-B, and SA2+UV-B were evaluated using a completely randomized design with three replications. Treatments were applied four weeks after planting. Different concentrations of SA were applied as a foliar spray three times at an interval of 10 days. UV-B rays were applied for eight days (40 min each day). Different morpho-physiological parameters were measured. For the gene expression assay, leaf samplings were done one day after the UV treatment stop (named first stage; 18 days after SA spraying) and after recovery time (named second stage; 30 days after SA spraying). 

Compared to the control plants, UV-B radiation caused a significant decrease in the roots' fresh and dry weight. The highest root fresh and dry weights were observed in the SA1mM and the lowest in the UV-B treatments. Under the influence of UV-B rays, the number of leaves significantly decreased in peppermint compared to the control. The highest number of leaves was observed in the SA0.5mM, and the lowest in the UV-B treatment. The amount of anthocyanin under UV-B rays increased significantly compared to control plants. The highest amount of anthocyanin was observed in SA1+ UV-B and the lowest in control plants. The amount of soluble protein in shoots and roots significantly decreased under UV-B rays compared to the amount in the control plants. The highest amount of soluble protein was observed in the shoots in the SA2mM and the roots in the SA2+ UV-B, and the lowest amount was observed in the shoots and roots under UV-B treatment. The amount of proline increased significantly in the shoots and roots under UV-B radiation compared to control plants. The highest amount of proline was observed in shoots and roots in the SA0.5+ UV-B and the lowest amount was observed in the control plants. LS gene expression increased in recovery time compared to the first stage. 

The results showed that the application of UV-B rays to the peppermint plant caused a decrease in the fresh and dry weight of the root, the number of leaves, soluble protein, and LS gene expression and a significant increase in the amount of anthocyanin and proline. Treatment using salicylic acid reduced the damage caused by applying the UV-B rays to the plants.

Bread wheat is the first grain and the most important annual crop in the world. Like other crops, wheat faces many environmental constraints such as a lack of trace elements during its growth period. Zinc deficiency is a common micronutrient disorder in wheat-growing areas of the world. The growing degree-days (GDD) index is reliable compared to the time calendar due to its stability. These indices are important for comparing genotypes whose physiological developmental stages do not match. Temperature is an important meteorological variable in the study of plant growth and development processes and therefore its study on short time scales leads to a more accurate estimate of thermal need due to the relatively wide range of temperature changes in different phenological stages, setting the planting date. Studying the effect of temperature on wheat genotypes should be based on sufficient time and temperature to complete the phenological stages in which grain yield components are formed.

To study the phenological stages, cumulative growing degree-days, and grain yield and its components in 64 spring wheat cultivars under optimal and zinc deficiency conditions, a study was conducted in the 2019-2020 cropping season based on a simple lattice design in the research field of Urmia University, Iran. Phenological stages include the number of days to germination, the number of days to booting, the number of days to pollination, the number of days to physiological maturity, and the grain filling period with their GDDs during the growing season in each pot based on 50% of the samples were determined to have reached the relevant vegetative stage. In addition to phenological stages along with the number of grains per spike, thousand-grain weight, and grain yield were examined.

Analysis of variance revealed that there is a statistically significant difference among all cultivars in terms of all studied traits except the number of days to pollination under optimal and zinc deficiency conditions. According to the results of descriptive statistics, grain yield, the number of grains per spike, and thousand-grain weight decreased and phenological traits increased under zinc deficiency conditions compared to optimal conditions. Among phenological traits, not only the number of days to spike showed relatively high variability but also had a significant relationship with grain yield under zinc deficiency based on the results of correlation and regression analyses. The factor analysis showed that under optimal conditions, the first four components explained 87.81 percent of the total variation, so that the contribution of the first to fourth components were 38.38, 21.52, 15.88, and 12.3 percent. Under zinc deficiency stress conditions, the first five components explained 95.68 percent of the total variation, so that the first to fifth components explained 34.62, 18.48, 17.51, 14.66, and 10.40 percent, respectively. Cluster analysis classified all spring wheat cultivars into three and four clusters under optimal and zinc deficiency stress conditions.

Based on the results of cluster analysis under optimal and zinc deficiency stress conditions, Neishabour, Golestan, and Gahar cultivars were identified as desirable and tolerant cultivars that can be used in future breeding programs. The results of cluster analysis were confirmed by results of canonical discriminant function results

 Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a critical and practical technology in various biological and medical sciences fields. Using this technique, millions of copies of a specific pattern can be reproduced in vitro with a minimal amount of DNA. This has made significant advances in molecular biology and medicine. This technique has many applications in biological sciences. PCR primers are an integral part of PCR. Well-designed primers allow the PCR system to work accurately. To create a good PCR primer pair, several factors must be considered, including base pair length, melting and annealing temperature, base pair repeats, etc. Carefully designed PCR primers increase sensitivity and specificity and reduce the effort spent on experimental optimization. The poorly designed primer and the lack of optimization of the reaction conditions probably lead to decreased technical accuracy and false positive or negative detection in the amplification of the target DNA fragments. Bioinformatics has become an essential tool for basic research and applied research in life sciences. Primer designing tools provide optimal and efficient design of primers by automating complex and accurate calculations in the shortest possible time.

 This review article is a content analysis study performed by searching Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), PCR type, and primer design for PCR in related articles on Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed and Scopus.

 This article aims to provide an almost complete guide for designing efficient and optimal primers for PCR and qPCR analyses by reviewing the PCR method, its types and applications and using the links and web-based services. In this regard, in the first part of the article, various methods, such as standard PCR, reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR), quantitative PCR (qPCR), combined RT-PCR/qPCR, etc., will be explained with suitable figures. The following summarizes the use of PCR types, emphasizing cereal research. In the end, primer design methods, especially for qPCR, classification and review of existing software and their capabilities, methods and software for testing the features of primers to obtain maximum specificity and PCR efficiency, extracting the gene sequence for PCR primer designing is presented with practical examples.

 A PCR with weak primers can produce little or no product due to non-specific amplification or primer dimer formation. Several online tools were introduced that are used to prepare effective primers for PCR in the field of molecular biology. 

Polyploidy, as one of the main factors in the speciation and adaptation of plants, can increase the pharmaceutical constituents of medicinal plants. Salvia officinalis L. is a perennial plant from the Lamiaceae family with various medicinal properties. This study aimed to analyze and compare some phytochemical characteristics, such as essential oil and phenolic acid contents and examine the expression of some genes involved in the biosynthesis pathway of phenolic acids in diploid and induced tetraploid plants of S. officinalis by GC-MS and real-time PCR, respectively. The results revealed that S. officinalis essential oil components such as α-pinene, camphene, camphor, borneol, and fenchyl acetate were significantly increased (P < 0.05) in tetraploid plants compared with diploids. Furthermore, tetraploidy increased the level of phenolic acids of gallic, caffeic, rutin, coumaric, rosmarinic, quercetin, cinnamic, apigenin, and chlorogenic acids in S. officinalis. Also, based on RT-PCR results, a higher expression of C4H (Cinnamate 4-Hydroxylase), PAL1 (Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase), 4CL (4-Hydroxycinnamate coenzyme A ligase), TAT (Tyrosine aminotransferase), HPPR (Hydroxyphenylpyruvate reductase), and CYP98A14 (cytochrome P450-dependent monooxygenase) genes involved in their biosynthesis pathway was observed tetraploids compared with diploids. The results confirmed that polyploidy breeding in medicinal plants could be applied to enhance secondary metabolite production.

IntroductionEnvironmental stresses such as nutrients deficiency stress are serious threats to agricultural products. Zinc is one of the low-consumption essential nutrients but with high nutritional value, which plays an important role in root growth, increasing yield, plant resistance to diseases, photosynthesis, cell membrane integrity, pollen formation, energy production and increasing antioxidant enzymes and chlorophyll in plant tissues. Furthermore, zinc is essential for production of plant hormones such as abscisic acid, auxin, gibberellins and cytokinin, and its deficiency causes disruption in plant cell reprodution. Wheat grain contains zinc about from 20 to 30 mg/kg. About 50% of the soils used for cereal production in the world do not have enough usable zinc. One of the strategies to compensate for zinc deficiency is to improve zinc-efficient cultivars. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct basic research to identify the genes controlling zinc. In the current research, 64 spring wheat cultivars were studied under normal and zinc deficiency stress conditions, and the objective of this experiment was to identify genomic locations controlling phenological, physiological and biochemical characteristics using LD-based GWAS method based on SNP markers.Materials and methods To genome-wide association study of yield and physiological and biochemical traits in Iranian bread wheat varieties, 64 varieties of spring wheat were cultivated as a pot experiment in a simple lattice design under two normal and zinc deficiency stress conditions in the research farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. The studied traits include days to germination, days to booting, days to pollination, days to physiological maturity, grain filling period, canopy temperature, total chlorophyll, leaf area index, fresh and dry shoot weight, relative water content, shoot zinc concentration, grain protein concentration and grain yield. Genotypic evaluation of the population was performed using 36360 SNP markers. To determine the population structure, principal component analysis (PCA) was used and PCA results were considered as covariate variables instead of the Q matrix for association analysis. For association analysis and identification of linked markers to the genes controlling the studied traits, GLM and MLM methods were used and significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) were separately identified for each of the experimental conditions. Research findingsThe results of association analysis using the GLM method identified 145 marker-trait associations (MTAs) under normal conditions and 135 MTAs under zinc deficiency stress conditions, while using the MLM method, 165 and 142 MTAs were identified under normal and zinc deficiency stress conditions, respectively. The highest and lowest number of significant marker-trait associations with both GLM and MLM methods under normal conditions were identified for dry weight and grain filling period, respectively, while under zinc deficiency stress conditions, the highest number of significant MTA with both association analysis methods was observed for leaf relative water content and the lowest number of MTA was observed for grain protein content and shoot zinc concentration. Identified markers can be used in breeding methods such as selection with in breeding programs. The significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) identified in this experiment can be used to increase the efficiency of breeding programs using the marker-assisted selection.ConclusionThe results of the present study showed the efficiency of the association analysis method as well as the GLM and MLM models in identifying markers linked to evaluated traits in wheat. The information obtained from this experiment also showed that SNP markers are a powerful tool for evaluating genetic diversity and preparing the structure of wheat populations and can be used in breeding programs via marker-assisted selection. Although, it is necessary to investigate the markers identified in larger populations to ensure their relationship with the studied traits. In this study, several common and similar gene loci were also identified for the studied traits, which can be used for the simultaneous multi-traits selection in future breeding programs.

Protection of food security is one of the basic priorities of any country, which is achieved through the development and introduction of new, high-yielding and stress-resistant crop varieties. Considering the wide range of usage; human nutrition, livestock and poultry nutrition as well as use in industrial products production, maize is of special importance in agricultural development programs. To improve a trait with complex behavior and low heritability, indirect selection by other traits or a suitable index developed based on several traits can be used. In this research, 86 maize genotypes were cultivated in the form of randomized complete block design with three replications in the field in the Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University under two normal and salt stress conditions. The measurement of the traits was done from the tassel appearance to kernel physiological maturity. In order to speed up genotype selection and increase the acuracy of selecting high yielding genotypes, four selection indices including Smith- Hazel, Pasek- Baker, Brim and Robinson were used and calculated. The results of present study revealed that selection based on the Smith- Hazel index with the highest selection efficiency (∆H) will increase the grain yield in normal and grain yield and plant height in salt stress conditions. This index, with its high correlation with the breeding value is introduced as a superior index. Based on this index, R59 and 6*/88 genotypes were introduced as the superior genotypes under normal and salt stress conditions, respectively. Nonetheless, these genotypes were recognized as the best genotypes considering the results of all other investigated indices. Identifying and introducing genotypes tolerant to salinity stress is of particular importance due to the expansion of saline lands and the limitation of access to water suitable for irrigation. Based on the above results, 6*/88 genotype is recommended for the development of promising hybrids for cultivation in areas with water or saline soil.

Tobacco is one of the important agricultural, industrial, and commercial plants that plays an important role in the economies of producer and consumer countries. Broomrape is an absolute parasitic plant that is attached to the roots of many important crops such as tomato, sunflower, cucumber, and tobacco. due to its lack of chlorophyll, it absorbs water and nutrients from the host plant and then reduces the growth and yield of the host plants. In the process of crop breeding, knowledge of relationships between traits is important for indirect selection of traits that are not easily measurable or that have low heritability. So far, few studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between yield and yield components of tobacco under broomrape stress conditions. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between morphological traits and leaf yield (dry weight of leaf) and to determine the important traits effective in increasing the leaf yield of tobacco under normal and broomrape stress conditions.

In order to determine the most important traits affecting tobacco yield, 92 oriental tobacco genotypes were studied in a completely randomized block design with three replications in the presence and absence of broomrape during two years in the Urmia tobacco research center. The leaves of tobacco genotypes were harvested during industrial ripening and sun -cured. Characteristics such as plant height (cm), day to flowering (day), number of leaves, leaf area (square centimeters), fresh weight of leaf (g), dry weight of leaf (g), fresh weight of root (g), dry weight of root (g), and fresh and dry weight of shoot (g) were measured under normal and stressful conditions. Genotypic correlation coefficients were calculated among traits using Restricted (or residual, or reduced) maximum likelihood in SAS software. The stepwise multiple regressions were performed to identify traits affecting the leaf yield under normal and broomrape stress conditions. By path analysis based on genotypic correlation coefficients, the direct and indirect effects of traits affecting leaf yield were calculated. By path analysis based on genotypic correlation coefficients, the direct and indirect effects of traits affecting leaf yield were calculated.

Based on step-wise regression analysis, under the absence of broomrape conditions, fresh weight of leaf and leaf area were explained, and in the presence of broomrape conditions, fresh weight of leaf explained 80 and 73% of leaf yield variation, respectively. Based on path analysis, in both conditions, the fresh weight of the leaf showed the highest direct effect on leaf yield. In regression analysis for fresh weight of leaf in the absence of broomrape, aerial part fresh weight and in the presence of broomrape, aerial part fresh weight, leaf area, day to flowering, and plant height explained 61 and 72 % of fresh weight of leaf variation, respectively. In path analysis for fresh weight of leaf, in both the presence and absence of broomrape conditions, aerial part fresh weight showed the highest direct effect on fresh weight of leaf.

By comparing the results of step-wise regression and path analysis between two normal and broomrape stress conditions, it was observed that fresh weight of leaf is one of the traits that was effective on tobacco leaf yield in both conditions. In both conditions, the fresh weight of the leaf had a high and positive direct effect on leaf yield and explained a high percentage of changes in leaf yield, which shows the importance of this trait in the selection of high-yielding oriental tobacco genotypes. Of course, under normal conditions, the direct effect of the fresh weight of the leaf on tobacco leaf yield was greater than in the broomrape stress conditions. Therefore, the fresh weight of the leaf is introduced as the most important factor in both normal and broomrape stress conditions for increasing oriental tobacco leaf yield in breeding programs.

The increase in the world's population, along with climate change, which reduces the efficiency of agricultural products, is a major challenge for food security. Abiotic stresses such as drought, salinity, heat and cold cause many changes in the physiological, biochemical and molecular processes of plants. By knowing the role of proteins expressed in response to stress, the mechanisms and processes of stress tolerance can be accurately and comprehensively analyzed and evaluated. Also, by discovering new stress-resistant proteins, it is possible to improve stress resistance in transgenic plants with genetic engineering and genome editing methods and increase yield performance. The study of proteomics as a powerful tool for the separation and detection of stress-responsive proteins will help us in this way.

This article is a review paper that was obtained by searching related articles on reliable sites (Google Scholar, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, SID).

Proteomics studies have led to the identification of several biological and physiological pathways responsible for tolerance to abiotic stresses in different plant species. In this regard, the identification of genes encoding the proteins involved in these processes as well as the transfer and overexpression of these candidate genes in plants is an effective strategy to improve stress resistance in economic agricultural products. In addition, the differential expression of genes in response to different stresses showed that some proteins have the same morphological and physiological manifestations in response to multiple stresses applied to them.

Among biotic and abiotic stresses, broomrape (Orobanche cernua L.) is the most important factor in reducing the yield of tobacco plant, so it is necessary to determine the genotypes that produce relatively acceptable yield under stress conditions. In order to identify tolerant genotypes to broomrape stress, 92 tobacco genotypes were investigated based on randomized complete block design with three replications in two control (without broomrape) and stressful (along with broomrape) environments at the research farm of Urmia tobacco research Centre during two successive years in terms of flowering date, plant height, leaf number, fresh and dry weight of root, leaf area, fresh and dry weight of leaf, fresh and dry weight of plant aerial parts. Broomrape stress was applied by mixing 0.06 grams of broomrape seeds with pot soil. The results of analysis of variance in the two experimental environments during two years showed that there is not significant difference between the experimental environments for most of the studied traits. There was a significant difference between genotypes for all of the studied traits. Genotype × environment interaction was significant for all of the studied traits indicating the presence of different reaction of genotypes within each environment. Mean comparisons showed that broomrape stress reduced the mean of all morphological traits. So that the fresh weight of shoots except leaf (23.50%) and dry weight of shoots except leaf (23.70%) had the highest decrease percentage; whereas flowering date (-0.7%) and number of leaves (5.02%) had the lowest decrease percentage. In general, based on the results of the percentage reduction of mean of studied traits, it was found that C.H.T.283-8, Kharmanli, Immni 3000, F.K.40-1, Pz17, K.B, L 16a, Rustica, C.H.T.209.12e, C.H.T.283-8, Basma 181-8, SPT 413, T.K.L and Samsun 1 are among the most susceptible genotypes to broomrape stress. While Ploudive 58, Ts 8, Mutant 3, OR-379, P.D.328, Jahrom14 and Lengeh genotypes did not show any decrease in any of the traits and are tolerant genotypes to broomrape stress.

With expensing the amount of data, speed and accuracy in breeding evaluations are very important. The multivariate statistical methods, such as GGE Biplot that reduce the data volume and computational complexity, help in this direction. The use of GGE is useful for introducing genotypes with high stability and performance. Therefore, in order to introduce a stable genotype with high adaptation to drought stress, 100 oilseed sunflower genotypes were evaluated in a 10×10 simple lattice design under normal and limited irrigation conditions during two successive years (2013-2014). The results of composite variance analysis revealed a significant difference among genotypes in terms of the evaluated agromorphological traits. Based on graphical evaluation of genotype × environment interaction using GGE Biplot in metan program under R, genotypes 57 (SDR19), 41 (F1250/03), 8 (254-ENSAT), 24 (8ASB2) and 26 (H049+FSB) were introduced as the best genotypes in terms of stability and performance. The genotype 8 (254-ENSAT) had the highest performance among all genotypes in all environments. Meanwhile, genotypes 26 (H049+FSB) had the highest performance in Y1D (First year-limited irrigation) and Y1N (First year-normal irrigation) environments, and genotypes 57 (SDR19), 41 (F1250/03) and 24 (8ASB2) had the highest performance in Y2D (Second year -limited irrigation) and Y2N (Second year -normal irrigation) environments. Based on the results, genotype with code number of 8 with high and stable performance can be used in all environments as a parent in the development of high-yielding and stress-tolerant hybrids. The results show that GGE Biplot is a useful statistical method to achieve practical and accurate results.

Genetic resources in each country are valuable assets for sustainable development. Accurate knowledge of genetic behaviour and identification of genomic loci associated with important economic traits will help breeders to run efficiently their breeding programs. Fourteen important pomological traits were measured on 45 table grape cultivars during three successive years (2016, 2017 and 2018). The molecular profile of the studied cultivars was prepared with 39 SSR primers pairs. Genetic structure analysis based on the SSR markers revealed two subpopulations in the association panel. In association analysis using the mixed linear model, seven loci were found to be significantly associated with the studied traits at the 5% probability level. Breeding values were also estimated for the pomological traits using BLUP. 'Saghal Solian', 'At Ouzum', 'Garmian', 'Rishbaba Qermez', 'Taifi', 'Shahroudi', 'Sahebi Qermez', 'Lal Qermez', 'Alhaghi', 'Sarghola', 'Chava Ga', 'Qzl Ouzum' and 'Agh Shani' table grape cultivars showed high and positive breeding values for cluster length, width and weight. Whereas 'Garmian', 'Rishbaba Qermez', 'Fakhri', 'Agh Shani', 'Lal Sefid' and 'Shirazi' had positive and high breeding value for pollen germination, fruit set in open pollination and fruit set under controlled pollination. Finally, 'Sarghola' and 'Qzl Ouzum' showed the positive and highest breeding value for berry weight, flesh weight, cluster length, cluster width, and cluster weight. The cultivar with high and positive breeding value can be used as a good parent for the breeding of the traits in hybridization programs because they can better transfer the desirable characteristics to the progeny in each case.

Broomrape as an obligate parasite that threatens tobacco production (Nicotiana tabacum L.), has destructive effects on its characteristics. The reduction in yield caused by this parasite is so great that sometimes farmers are forced to leave their fields due to the severity of the infection. Since the stages of contamination and pathogenicity mainly occur underground, and the major damage of the parasite to host plants produce before the diagnosis of contamination, the development of effective controlling strategies is a great challenge in front of scientists. Unfortunately, no control method (agricultural, chemical, mechanical, etc.) has been effective so far. The lack of effective agro-chemical controlling methods makes the need more obvious for biotechnological methods. Host resistance as an integrated pest management method is a multifaceted process that can occur at several stages of the parasite's life cycle; before attaching to the host during root penetration, or after attaching to the phloem. In recent years, various breeding activities have been started to develop “Orobanche-resistant” genotypes. In this paper, the conducted research activities on the genetic variability and resistance of tobacco to broomrape have been reviewed. The results determine the importance and also the path to achieving “Orobanche-resistant” varieties.

Environmental stresses such as drought, salinity, cold and heat stress as one of the consequences of climate change are the main factors of reduction in agricultural products. Study of gene expression (transcriptomic studies) plays an essential role in understanding the mechanism of plants in dealing with environmental stresses. Gene expression is the process by which information encoded in a gene is produced in the form of a transcript, which often the transcript itself or its protein product involves in various molecular processes and mechanisms in the cell and ultimately in the life of the organism. Assessing gene expression levels is an important step in elucidating gene functions temporally and spatially.

This review article is a content analysis study that has been performed by searching Transcriptome analysis, RNA sequencing, suppression subtractive hybridization, microarray, polymerase chain reaction keywords in related articles on google scholar, science direct, PubMed and scopus websites.

Decades ago, typical studies were focusing on a few genes individually via techniques such as northern blot, or RNA blot, western blot, microarray hybridization, subtractive hybridization (SH), suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH), real-time polymerase chain reaction (real-time PCR), whereas now researchers are able to examine whole genomes at once thanks to sequencing based approaches such as RNA sequencing (RNA-seq). The upgrade of throughput levels aided the introduction of systems biology approaches whereby cell functional networks can be scrutinized in their entireties to unravel potential functional interacting components. The birth of systems biology goes hand-in-hand with huge technological advancements and enables a fairly rapid detection of all transcripts in the studied biological samples. Even so, earlier technologies that were restricted to probing single genes or a subset of genes still have their place in the research laboratories.

The objective of this study was to describe the types of methods used in the gene expression analysis in plant responses to environmental stresses, or, more generally, any other conditions of interest. The choice of technique or strategy used is determined by the available technology and equipments along with the costs and limitations of the analysis. In selection of techniques for a particular study, these limitations should be minimized methodologically or statistically so that the results are reliable and representative of the situation under study.

Grape is one of the most important fruit products globally and has a high nutritional value with strong antioxidant and anti-cancer activity. Today, the use of healthy natural compounds, including organic nitrogen compounds, has become very important to improve the qualitative performance of fruits. The use of amino acids as one of the natural compounds of nitrogen can increase the nutritional values of fruit crops. In the present study, gamma aminobutyric acid was used as a non-protein amino acid to improve the quality characteristics of Qizil-Uzum grape fruit.

The experiment was performed in two separate orchards located in two regions of Urmia city with different microclimatic conditions in a completely randomized design with GABA foliar application at 4 concentrations (0, 5, 10, 25 mM) in two stages (veraison stage and one week later) with 3 replications on 13-year-old cv. Qızıl Uzum grapevines. Some fruit quality characteristics include titratable acids (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), total antioxidant content, total phenol, total flavonoid, total anthocyanin, the activity of phenylalanine ammonialyase (PAL), catalase enzymes, phenolic compounds of fruit including flavonols, flavan-3-ols and phenolic acids, and also a relative expression of PAL and CHS genes were evaluated.

Based on the results, GABA at a concentration of 10 mM, caused the highest content of titratable acids, total soluble solids, total phenol, total flavonoids, total antioxidant and total anthocyanin of fruit. The highest activity of PAL enzyme was also observed at this concentration. Catalase enzyme had the maximum activity at 25 mM. The phenolic compounds that were measured by HPLC in this study included the flavonol compounds: myricetin, quercetin, kaempferol, syringetin; the flavan-3-ols compounds: catechin; and the non-flavonoid compounds: gallic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid and resveratrol, most of which had the highest level at 10 mM, followed by 5 mM GABA. Also, PAL and CHS genes had the highest expression at both sampling times (48 and 72 hours after foliar application) at the concentration of 10 mM GABA and their lowest expression was at the concentration of 25 mM GABA.

This study showed that GABA at the concentration of 10 mM at the veraison stage and one week later had an effect on increasing fruit quality indicators, including total soluble sugars, as a basic substrate for the biosynthetic pathway of effective fruit quality compounds, and with effect on antioxidant content improvement, as well as enhancing the expression of related genes for PAL enzyme activity, as a key enzyme of the biosynthesis of the phenolic compound, can improve fruit quality and marketability of grape fruit of Qızıl Uzum cultivar.

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) is an important oilseed crop that is cultivated worldwide because of its high-quality oil and be rich in linoleic acid. The present study is a review of the effects of salinity on morphological and physiological traits, resistance mechanisms, breeding, and agronomic methods to deal with salinity tolerance in sunflower. Sunflower is classified as semi-tolerant species. The negative effects of salt stress on sunflower include browning of root tips, reduction of cotyledons and root proliferation, leaf surface, accumulation of dry matter, yield, and seed oil content. Salt stress also leads to decrease in CO2 absorption, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance, and photosynthetic capacity in sunflower. The resistance reactions to salinity stress in sunflower include: modulating the expression of oubain-sensitive ATPases through calcium, delaying the degradation of membrane proteins of oil bodies, increase serotonin and melatonin, increase the expression of nitric oxide, increase S-nitrosylation of cytosolic proteins, increased content of lipid peroxide, activity of glutathione peroxidase, and the abundance of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in the cells around the secretory channels . Among the important breeding approaches to cope salinity stress in sunflower are the identification of HT089, HT175, HT185, HT215, HT216, and HT227 salinity resistance genes, the identification of H. paradoxus as the most salinity resistant species, the production of HA429 and HA430 lines tolerant to salinity, the transfer of the TaNHX2 gene from wheat to sunflower that improved its salinity tolerance and the identification of genes involved in salinity stress in sunflower by next generation sequencing technology. The results of this extensive study will be important in achieving a comprehensive plan for sustainable improvement of yield and quality of sunflower oil under salt stress conditions.