vahid reza saffari

Highly urbanized modern lifestyle, has put human under severe psychological pressures. To overcome these depressions, plants are necessary in the home and workscape and ornamental horticulture plays an important role in this regard. In addition to cut flowers, as a specific and mainly herbaceous group of ornamental plants, the stem of some trees, shrubs, and woody vines are used for flower arrangement goals, and the technical term “woody cutsˮ is used for them. Woody cuts are an important group of ornamental plans forming a considerable section of production, export, and sale of flower and ornamental industry worldwide, hence, 25-30% of the cut flower market. Flowering stems, bare stems, foliage, buds, fruits, and bark of these plants have wide use for innovative designs in floral arrangements and flower baskets. Meanwhile, in addition to the use of woody cuts for garden and landscape design, their pruned parts could be used for cut flower markets, as well. Considering the reasonable diversity of woody cuts, they are available in all seasons and for any normal or special market. Some species of Salix, Eucalyptus, Cornus, Ilex, Syringa, Buddleja, Forsythia, Myrtus, Magnolia, Viburnum, Rosa, Callicarpa and Cottinus are among the most important woody cuts. In this article, the importance of the cultivation of woody cuts is reviewed.

Indian shot (Canna indica) is a multipurpose ornamental plant, and due to its foliage value, its leaves are used in flower arrangements. The leaves of Indian shot have a short life after harvesting and quickly turn yellow and deteriorate. This research was done in the form of a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with four replications. The experimental factors included three levels of benzylaminopurine (0, 10 and 20 mg/liter), four levels of antibacterial compounds including; silver nitrate (20 mg/liter), thyme essentioa oil (50 mg/liter), savory essential oil (50 mg/liter) and control, and two levels of the ambient temperature (10°C and 20°C). The results indicated that keeping the cut leaves of Canna indica flower at low temperature (10°C) was superior to high temperature (20°C) in all treatments and the lowest applied concentration of cytokinin (10 mg/liter) was more effective compared to higher concentration. Also, in terms of antibacterial compounds, the use of natural essential oils (thyme and savory), especially savory essential oil, was more effective than silver nitrate. The highest activity of enzymes peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, catalase, superoxide dismutase and proline accumulation and the lowest amount of hydrogen peroxide and malondialdehyde content were gained in the interaction treatment of 10°C, benzylaminopurine 10 mg/liter and savory essential oil (50 mg/liter). Therefore, the most desirable leaves with the longest vase life period and visual quality (33 days) were observed in this treatment, compared to the control (8 days).

Recently use of biochar and hydrochar have been considered as a suitable method for improving soil fertility, fixing soil pollutant and store carbon inside the soil. In this study the effect of different soil improvers at 5 levels including biochar at 1 and 2% w/w, hydrochar at 1 and 2% w/w and no soil improver and also salicylic acid at 3 levels (0, 200 and 400 mg-L) were applied on marigold plants. This experiment was a factorial based on complitly randomized design. Results showed that biochar and hydrochar at 2% w/w level increased flower life at 39 and 36%, respectively, but decreased ion leakage 22 and 21%, and also malondialdehyde at 36 and 29%, respectively compared to control treatment. Salicylic acid at 200 mg-L concentration increased flower life at 21% and decreased ion leakage and malondialdehyde by 19% compared to control treatment. Highest ratios of shoot dry weight, root dry weight, total chlorophyll content, peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase enzyme activity were obtained by application of biochar or hydrochar at 2% w/w and salicylic acid at 200 mg-L. These results indicated the positive role of soil improvers.

To investigate the effect of soil application and foliar application of iron on growth indices and its ability to be absorbed by Mirabilis jalapa, an experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications in greenhouses located in the Golgohar iron ore mine in Kerman. Different levels of iron chelate used in this experiment included soil application (zero, 15, 30 and 90 mg kg-1 soil) and foliar application (2, 4 and 6 mg l-1 ). Soil application of iron chelate was initially tested with potting soil and foliar application was applied at the stage of stem and flowering. The results of this study showed that iron had a significant effect on the evaluated traits, so that the highest fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots, plant height, root length, chlorophyll a, b and total in soil iron treatment of 90 mg kg-1 it was observed that also the highest uptake of iron in shoots and roots was obtained in soil application of 90 mg kg-1 soil. In general, the results showed that the application of iron increased the growth indices and photosynthetic pigments of Mirabilis jalapa. Also, soil application of iron (90 mg kg-1 soil) had a better result than foliar application, on the other hand due to its ability to absorb iron by aerial parts and roots of this plant can also be used as a purifier of iron-contaminated soils.

Iron is an essential element in many physiological processes of the plant, but in high concentrations, it contaminates water and soil, which can be cleaned by using appropriate ornamental plants. In order to investigate the effect of iron heavy metal on growth indices and phytoremediation ability of Althaea rosea in a completely randomized design with three replications in greenhouses located in Golgohar iron ore mine in Kerman. The different levels of iron chelate used in this experiment were zero, 15, 30 and 90 mg/kg soil. Soil concentrations of iron chelate were initially mixed with potting soil. The results of this study showed that with increasing different levels of iron, growth indices and plant chlorophyll content showed a significant decrease, so that the highest fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots, plant height, root length, chlorophyll a, b and total was observed in the control treatment, also the highest iron uptake in shoots (1.84 ppm) and roots (1.56 ppm) was observed in the treatment of 90 mg/kg soil. In general, the results of this study showed that due to the ability to absorb iron in the tissues of this plant, ornamental Althaea rosea can be used for phytoremediation of heavy metal iron.

In order to evaluate the effect of sodium nitroprusside (SNP) as nitric oxide donor (NO) on some morphophysiological and biochemical characteristics of cock's comb plant under cadmium stress, this experiment was designed as a complete randomized factorial design with three replications (pot with sand loamy soil) in greenhouse condition (temperature 25-30 °C, relative humidity 60%, and a 14/10 light–dark cycle) in spring and summer 2017. The first factor included two levels of Cd (30 and 60 mg.kg-1) with noncontaminated soil, and the second factor included three levels of SNPfoliar application (0,100 and 200μM). The results showed that with increasing Cd concentration, the activity of antioxidant enzymes, amount of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialdehyde (MDA), Cd in roots and shoots increased, while the content of total chlorophyll, shoot and root dry weight decreased. On the other hand, the pplication of 100 μM SNP at the highest level of cadmium, compared to non-application, dramatically increased root dry weight (2.4 fold), cadmium concentration in the roots (51%), total chlorophyll (50%), proline (74%), and also, decreased H2O2 (28%) and MDA (41%). It seems that the application of this material caused further uptake of cadmium in the roots and prevent its translocation towards the shoots, can improve the adverse effects of cadmium by a reduction in oxidative damage.

In current study, the enhanced efficiency of copper (Cu) phytoremediation potential of Calendula officinalis L. was investigated in a Cu-spiked calcareous soil, using foliar and soil application of humic acid. For this purpose, in a greenhouse experiment, seedlings of C. officinalis were transferred to Cu-spiked soils (0, 250 and 500 mg/kg) and treated separately with soil (soil drench) and foliar (spraying plant leaves) humic acid applications at different levels (0, 10, 20 μM). The humic acid treatments were applied 2 weeks after transferring plant, and eventually the various biochemical-physiological traits and phytoremediation indices of Cu in C. officinalis were measured at (specific) time points. According to the results, C. officinalis grew normally without any toxicity signs in Cu-spiked soils, however with increasing the Cu levels, the dry weight biomass decreased and antioxidant enzymes activities increased. Both foliar and soil humic acid application in Cu-spiked soils increased dry weight biomass, photosynthetic pigment contents, Cu concentration, and bioconcentration factor (BCF). Furthermore, the application of this organic substance, obviously moderated the Cu stress since the antioxidant enzymes activities reduced compared to the control. Based on the results, the obtained translocation factor (TF) and BCF values of Cu, which were >1, indicated that this plant is a Cu-hyperaccumulator, which could extract Cu via phytoextraction mechanism. Generally, the results of this study showed that, among the humic acid treatments, application of 20 μM (especially soil drench application) had the best effect on increasing Cu phytoremediation efficiency in the studied soil and it recommended to enhance the efficiency of Cu phytoremediation in calcareous soils.

Using of ornamental plants for phytoremediation of heavy metals (HMs) in soil environments have been grown due to its cheapness and ease of use in urban environments. The aim of this study was to assess the potential use of C. officinalis, for soil copper (Cu) phytoremediation in the presence of different type of chelating agents (Ethylene diamine tetra-acetic acid (EDTA), citric acid (CIT), and tartaric acids (TAR)) in different levels of Cu in a calcareous soil. Moreover, to investigate the effects of stress caused by the use of chelating agents on biochemical changes of C. officinalis, the response of some antioxidant (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APX), peroxidase (POD), and polyphenol oxidase (PPO)) activity of C. officinalis were evaluated. According to the results, C. officinalis showed an increase in shoot and root Cu concentration in the presence of all chelating agents compared to the control. The highest accumulation of Cu in the root/shoot was observed in EDTA-treated plants. However, an increased Cu level in plant parts (due to consuming of EDTA) was corresponded to lower dry weight in shoot and root; higher H2O2 and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, and antioxidant activity (APX, PPO, CAT, SOD, and POD) in plants compared to the control treatment. On the contrary, the application of CIT and TAR primarily increased shoot and root dry weight and Cu concentration. Altogether, these results could be suggested that plants possess a well-organized resistance mechanism against oxidative stress caused by using of CIT and TAR.

Low efficiency of phytoremediation process of some heavy metals in calcareous soils, due to low mobility of these elements, has led to a significant growth in research on the use of chelating agents and biostimulants to improve the efficiency of this process. In present study, the efficiency of cadmium (Cd) phytoremediation of Calendula officinalis L. was investigated in a Cd-spiked calcareous soil as affected by foliar and soil application of humic acid. For this purpose, in a greenhouse experiment, seedlings of C. officinalis were transferred to Cd-spiked soils (0, 50 and 100 mg kg-1) and treated separately by soil (soil drench) and foliar (spraying plant leaves) application of humic acid at different levels (0, 10, 20 M). The humic acid treatments were applied two weeks after transferring plant and eventually the various biochemical-physiological traits and phytoremediation indices of Cd in C. officinalis were measured at specific times. According to the results, in Cd-spiked soils, the C. officinalis had apparently a normal growth without any toxicity signs (chlorosis and necrosis symptoms), however with increasing the Cd levels, the dry weight biomass decreased and antioxidant enzymes activities (catalase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and ascorbate peroxidase) increased. Both foliar and soil humic acid application in Cd-spiked soils increased dry weight biomass, Cd concentration, and bioconcentration factor (BCF). Furthermore, the application of this organic substance, obviously moderated the Cd stress since the antioxidant enzymes activities reduced compared to the control. Based on the results, the obtained translocation factor (TF) and BCF values of Cd, which were >1, indicated that this plant is a Cd-hyperaccumulator, which could extract Cd via phytoextraction mechanism. Generally, among the studied treatments, the application of 20 M (especially soil drench application) had the best effect on increasing Cd phytoremediation efficiency in the studied soil.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of drought stress on yield and some physiological characteristics of wheat cultivars. Six cultivars were grown under normal and drought stress in greenhouses and field conditions. Leaf samples were taken for physiological measurement including relative water content, transpiration rate, membrane stability, chlorophyll content and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and stomatal frequency and length. Grain yield was determined for plants grown under field condition. Results showed that treatments have a significant impact on plant traits. Drought stress decreased leaf chlorophyll content and photochemical efficiency of PSII due to increasing F0 and decreasing Fm and increased ion leakage. Drought stress also decreased grain yield and the highest yield was obtained in plots with normal condition. Cultivars Alvand and Chamran showed the highest level of photochemical efficiency of PSII, membrane stability and grain yield under drought stress and were considered as the more tolerant cultivars to drought stress than other cultivars under conditions of this investigation.

This experiment was carried out to determine the effects of putrescine and methyl jasmonate on lipid peroxidation and altering the peroxide hydrogen of peel and pulp of Valencia orange fruit. Orange fruits were treated with 0 (control), 2.5 and 5 mM putrescine, and 0 (control), 10 and 20 µM methyl jasmonate, then stored at 5±1 °C, 85-90% relative humidity for four months. Oranges treated with 5 mM putrescine and 10 µM methyl jasmonate had significantly lower lipid peroxidation and peroxide hydrogen of peel and pulp and lower chilling injury percentage than the non-treated fruits. Polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity was considerably increased in the treated and non-treated fruits but, the treated fruits exhibited significantly lower activity of PPO. Peroxidase (POD) activity increased at first and then decreased. However, the treated fruits exhibited significantly higher activity of POD than the control fruits during the storage period. In conclusion, fruits treated with 5 mM putrescine combined with 10 µM methyl jasmonate showed the best effect.

In this research the effect of application of different levels of folic acid and time on some quality and agronomic characteristics of strawberry (cultivar Paros) was investigated. The plants were treated by folic acid with concentrations of 0, 20 and 40 mM at two stages (30 days after planting and first blooming) as a factorial experiment using a randomized complete block design with four replications in the greenhouse conditions. Results showed that fruits of treated plants by folic acid, as compared to the control treatment improved quality and agronomic characteristics. Application of folic acid increased yield, weight of primary and secondary fruits and number of their achenes, total soluble solid, inducing sugar, titratable acidity, anthocyanin, phenol, and vitamin C. The most effective treatment with the best spraying time was 40 mM folic acid at 30 days after planting. The present study is the first evidence that folic acid enhances fruit quality and yield of strawberry.

To investigate the effects of priming and foliar spray by 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) on some of Marigold morphological, biological and biochemical traits, an experiment was conducted as factorial on completely randomized design with three replications at experimental laboratory of department of horticulture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in 2014. Each of priming and foliar spray of EBR had four concentrations (0, 0.1, 1 and 10 µM). Results showed that growth parameters and photosynthetic pigments increased proportional to the increment of EBR in priming and foliar spray treatments. . The greatest shoot weight (79 percent), root (33 percent), fresh (28 percent) and dry (26 percent) weights of pot marigold compared to control were obtained at priming with 0.1 µM plus foliar spray at 0.1 µM of EBR. Furthermore, the highest chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll and carotenoids were found at the same concentration (0.1 µM priming 0.1 µM foliar spray of EBR) with 2.4, 3.1, 2.6 and 2.7 percent increase respectively. The EBR increased protein and reduced sugar up to (35 percent) and (18.3 percent) compared with control. The results of this experiment indicated that application of EBR can be used to improve the growth and development traits of pot marigold.

Today, hormones and nutrients are used in order to improve vegetative and reproductive growth of many agricultural products in the world. The purpose of this study, was to increase fruit set, fruit weight, and finally, increase of yield along with improvement of vegetative growth with putrescine treatments (0, 0.01, 0.001M) and potassium nitrate (0, 2 and 4%) of quince (Cydonia oblonga cv. Esfahan) fruits. Trees were sprayed at two stages of bud tip green and full bloom, as a split-factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Comparison of means showed 0.01 M putrescine treatment alone or in combintion with potassium nitrate (4 and 2%) showed a significant effect on increasing percent of fruit set, average fruit weight and yield. Putrescine and potassium nitrate treatments also could increase leaf area, leaf chlorophyll index and the length of current season shoots compared to the control. Results showed that, treatments with higher concentrations of putrescine and potassium nitrate as well as their combination had the best effect on measured parameters. In addition, spraying in green tip stage was the best timing to improve the measured characteristics.

Peach has high nutritional value that can be used fresh-edible or processed. This study, the effect of different levels of methyl jasmonate (0, 100 and 200mgL-1) and salicylic acid (0, 1 and 2mM), and their interactions on increasing qualitative and antioxidant characteristics at harvest time of “Elberta” peach to be considered. Thus, trees sprayed by treatments in two stages of green tip and pink tip of bud, in a split-factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with 4 replications in field conditions. At harvest time, many of the qualitative and antioxidant characteristics of fruits such as total soluble solid, organic acids, vitamin C, carotenoids, anthocyanin, phenol content were studied. Generally, the results showed that spraying at both stage increased qualitative and antioxidant characteristics characteristics of fruits compared with control fruits and between treatments, methyl jasmonate 200mgL-1 and combined with salicylic acid 1mM had highest effect on improving quantitative characteristics of fruits and spraying at green tip was effectiveness compared with pink tip stage.

Peach (Prunus persica L. Batsch.) is produced in most areas of Iran, where flowering is hindered by temperature. Using plant growth regulators to delay bloom is a suggestive measure to avoid frost damage. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of methyl jasmonate (MJ) and salicylic acid (SA) on peach bloom delay and yield. This study evaluated the applications of MJ 0 (control, water only), 100 and 200 mg L-1 and SA at 150 and 300 mg L-1 at swollen bud and green tip stages. In ‘Elberta’ peach, MJ at 200 mg L-1, its combinations with SA at 150 mg L-1 and MJ 200 mg L-1 and SA300 mg L-1 together at the two stages (green tip, swollen bud stages) delayed blooming for 6 and 8 days, respectively. The maturity and ripening of treated peach fruits were delayed for 8-12 days in green tip and swollen bud stage. Flowering percentage amount (57.83-61.80%), fruit set amount (22.59-23.53%) and yield (1.69-1.72 kg cm-2 branch) were increased by MJ 200 mg L-1 and SA300 mg L-1 treatments compared to the control treatment (flowering percentage amount (39.31%), fruit set amount (6.25%) and yield (0.82 kg cm-2 branch). The interactions of MJ and SA had more impacts on flowering (89.53%), fruit set (33.22%), fruit weight average (124.93 g), and yield (2.09 kg cm-2 branch)compared to their individual application. The present study was the first evidence for the SA and MJ effect on bloom delay, flowering and fruiting of peach.

Salt stress is a factor limiting crop growth and productivity around the world. Developing salt tolerant cultivars using desired plant features has been considered as a way to cope with the problem. In this study، a factorial experiment was used in order to determine the effects of salt stress on stomatal length at abaxial and adaxial leaf surfaces، relative water content (RWC) and transpiration rate (TR) under controlled condition. In another experiment yield performance (GY) of the same hybrids was evaluated in a split-plot experiment under field growing condition. Both experiments were based on a RCBD with 3 replications and conducted at the Faculty of Agriculture، Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in 2011. Results showed that salt stress and hybrid have significant effects on all plant characteristics. Generally، all plant characteristics were decreased by increasing salt stress level. Significant correlation coefficients were found between TR and GY and also RWC and GY. Results also showed that the hybrid SC-704 has the highest levels of RWC and GY under salt stress conditions compared to the others indicating that it can be considered as a salt tolerant one.

A pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of foliar spray of salicylic acid (0, 50, 100 ppm), ascorbic acid (0, 100, 200 ppm) and thiamine (0, 50, 100 ppm) on vegetative growth, flowering and photosynthetic pigments of marigold (Calendula officinalis L.) plants at greenhouse of SB University of Kerman, Iran. Results showed that application of salicylic acid and thiamine increased number of flowering stems. Stem height increased only by application of thiamine. Fresh and dry weight of the plants affected by all treatments. Foliar spray of all treatments significantly influenced chl.b and total chl contents but differences in the amount of chl.a and carotenoids content was not significant. Application of all treatments reduced stomatal length while number of stomata and electrolyte leakage reduced only by application of salicylic acid. The highest amount of reducing sugars obtained by application of ascorbic acid at 200 ppm and thiamine at 100 ppm, respectively. Application of salicylic acid and thiamine significantly increased the amount of medicinal compound hyperoside.

The effect of electromagnetic field was examined on Zinnia (Zinnia elegans) seeds to enhance seed germination and early growth. The seeds were exposed to four magnetic strengths of 15, 100, 400 and 800 μT in four durations of 30, 60, 120 and 240 min. The experiments were carried out in two forms of laboratory germination and soil emergence. Results showed that magnetic field application enhanced seed performance in both terms of laboratory germination and soil emergence. The magnetic field significantly (p≤0.05) affected root length, shoot length, fresh and dry root weight, fresh and dry shoot weight, seedling length and weight, germination percentage, speed of germination, vigor index I and II in laboratory germination. Also, the magnetic field exposure significantly affected soil emergence factors of root length, shoot length, dry root weight, dry shoot weight, seedling length, emergence percentage and emergence speed at 0.05 level of probability. The other factors were significantly (p≤0.05) different compared with unexposed control. No significantly differences were found on the interaction of time and exposure field. The best results were found to 400 μT (micro Tesla) on seed germination and seed emergence. The exposure durations of 240 and 30 min showed promising results over all magnetic fields in seed germination and emergence, respectively. However, there was no significant difference among exposure times.

Sesame is one of the most important oilseed tropical plants. In order to investigate the effect of two plant growth regulators, Naphtalene acetic acid (NAA) and Benzylamino purine (BAP) on yield, yield components, oil and protein content of sesame genotypes an experiment was carried out at the research farm, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in growing season 2006. The studied factors were two plants growth regulators BAP NAA each of which containing three levels as well as control with four sesame genotypes (cultivars of Moghan and Karaj , Baft and Sirjan landraces) which distributed randomly using factorial experiment in randomized complete block design with three replications. Foliage spray at 30 ppm and 200 ppm of NAA and BAP concentrations were carried out at the beginning of flowering stage. The results of analysis of variance showed that NAA and BAP treated plants showed a better performance in yield, yield components and some parameters. The results indicated significant main and interaction effects for seed yield in the experiment. land races were better than cultivars with hormonal treatment. Also different genotypes had interaction effects for seed oil and protein percentages using treatments Yield components had positive correlation with seed yield but seed protein and oil percentages had negative correlation with seed yield. Higher seed yield belonged to Sirjan and Baft landraces but Moghan and Karaj cultivars had higher seed oil and protein percentages. So cultivation of breeding cultivars using plant growth regulators can increase the oil product.