مجله تولید و فرآوری محصولات زراعی و باغی
سال دهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 87، پاییز 1399)

In order to evaluate drought tolerance of some safflower genotypes, an experiment was conducted at the Research Farm of Isfahan University of Technology in 2016 and 2017. In this study, 18 safflower genotypes selected from different local populations along with 2 exotic cultivars and one local population (21 genotypes) were separately evaluated at two normal (non-stress) and water deficit (stress) irrigation regimes, using a randomized complete block design with two replications. Drought tolerance and susceptible indices were calculated based on the seed yield. The results showed that there was significant differences among genotypes for seed yield. The genotypes M420 (4703 Kg/ha) and C116 (2723 Kg/ha) had the highest and lowest seed yield, respectively in normal irrigation condition, however, genotypes of A2 (2906 Kg/ha) and Arak2811 (1373 Kg/ha) had the highest and lowest seed yield, respectively in water deficit condition. Based on the correlation coefficients between indices and seed yield under both irrigation regimes, the indices of MP, GMP, STI, MpSTI and MsSTI were recognized as the best ones for identification of drought tolerant genotypes in safflower. The graphic biplot and cluster analysis indicated that genotypes M420, S149, K21, K12, E2428, E2417, AC-Stirling and A2 were more tolerant genotypes to water stress.

The role of calcium in the growth, fruiting and preservation of the quality of strawberries, has been well known. In this research, effect of calcium chloride along with naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) under shade conditions on growth, yield and quality of Paros strawberry was investigated. The experiment was a factorial with two factors of light intensity (normal light and shade condition) and calcium chloride and NAA treatment (control, 0.75% calcium chloride, 25 mg/L NAA, and 0.75% calcium chloride + 25 mg/L NAA). The results showed that spraying NAA and calcium chloride under shade conditions increased plant growth when compared with light conditions. Under normal light conditions, calcium chloride treatment increased the fruit diameter and yield in comparison with control treatment under light and shade conditions. The highest fruit firmness (342.0 N/cm2) was observed in the treatment of calcium chloride under light and shade conditions. NAA treatment under shade conditions resulted in higher anthocyanin. The treatment of calcium chloride + NAA in normal light condition showed higher total phenol (1.12 mg/g FW) and antioxidant activity (72.12%). Calcium chloride treatment increased the amount of calcium in the fruits by nearly 50%. Moreover, calcium chloride treatment in shade condition led to a 12% increase in calcium content of petiole, in comparison to those of control in shade condition. Calcium chloride along with NAA treatment increased leaf calcium compared to control treatment in light conditions. From the present results, it can be concluded that treatment of plant by calcium chloride alone in both light and shade conditions can increase the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of fruits of Paros cultivar of strawberry. Similarly, in some conditions, the use of NAA can, increase the absorption of calcium by the leaves.

In order to evaluate the effect of seed priming and inoculation of two mycorrhizal species on a number of physiological characteristics, yield and yield components of a wheat cultivar (Parsi) in salinity stress conditions, an experiment was conducted as a split-plot factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in the years 2014-15 and 2015-16 at Isfahan Jihad Training Center. The experimental factors consisted of two irrigation treatments with saline water (electrical conductivity of 3 and 11 dS/m) in the main plots, and three levels of Glomus species (G. intraradices, G. mosseae and non-application) and two seed priming treatments (hydroprimed seeds as on-farm priming and non-primed seeds) were placed in the sub plots as a factorial. The combined analysis showed that salinity stress affected many of the measured traits and mycorrhiza application reduced the negative effects of salt stress on sodium accumulation in shoots, SPAD index, and spikes/plant and 1000-seed weight and had significant interaction with salinity stress. Application of G. intraradices reduced the sodium content of leaves in salinity conditions by 17% in comparison with G. mosseae. Also, mycorrhizal inoculation increased leaf proline by 20% and seed priming decreased this osmolyte by 18.5%. Application of G. mosseae species led to a 15.6% increase in the activity of superoxide dismutase in comparison with non-inoculation treatment and produced higher grain yield (9.5%). In this study, seed priming had no effect on yield and its components, except in the second year of the experiment when priming under inoculation with G. intraradices resulted in a 23% increase in the spikes/plant compared to non-priming. Another result was an increase of 14.5% of the harvest index due to the mycorrhizal inoculation. In general, the application of mycorrhiza in saline conditions is beneficial to the wheat plants, but the use of seed priming can only be useful if it is accompanied with the inoculation of wheat by the G. intraradices.

Optimizing the effectiveness of herbicides by additives is one of the ecological and economical approaches for weed management. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of vegetable oils on the efficacy of clethodim herbicide in control of foxtail as a factorial based on a completely randomized design including clethodim concentration in six levels (0, 7.5, 15, 30, 60 and 120 g ai per ha) and additives in eight levels (without vegetable oil and vegetable oils of sesame, bitter almonds, sweet almonds, cottonseed, canola, rapeseed and soybean) with four replications in 2014 in Research Greenhouse of Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran. The results of this study showed that clethodim concentration, vegetable oil types and interaction effect of concentrations in vegetable oils had a significant effect on measured traits of foxtail including height, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root and root volume. Increasing relative potency for all traits measured based on 50% effective dosage was observed, which indicates an increase in the efficiency of clethodim in foxtail control. The results of this study also showed a 90% effective dose reduction for fresh and dry weight of green foxtail in the presence of all vegetable oils. The higher relative potency for fresh and dry weight of roots compared with fresh and dry weight of the shoot showed greater root susceptibility to the application of vegetable oils by increasing the transfer of clethodim to the root. The application of sesame, bitter almonds, sweet almonds, cottonseed, canola, rapeseed and soybean oil led to 1.20, 1.26, 1.42, 1.39, 1.41, 1.43, and 1.41 times increases, respectively, in clethodim performance. Finally, application of vegetable oils as additives to clethodim herbicide can be considered as an ecological and environmental approach for controlling green foxtail.

This study was conducted to investigate the genetic diversity of bread wheat, durum wheat and triticale using agronomic and physiological traits. Genetic diversity of 24 genotypes was evaluated in 2 locations (Research Farm of College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology, located at Lavark, Najaf-Abad and Asheghabad farm), Isfahan, Iran, using a randomized complete block design with two replications in each location during 2016-217. In this study 20 bread wheat, 2 durum wheat and 2 triticale genotypes were examined. Results of analysis of variance showed that the effect of genotype for all traits, except for maximum fluorescence, was significant. In the studied traits, phenotypic and genetic variation coefficients did not considerably differ for most of the traits, indicating the prominent genetic effects on these traits. The correlation coefficients showed that there is a positive and significant correlation between grain yield with number of spike per plant, biological yield and harvest index. Factor analysis revealed four hidden factors that justified a total of 66.47 percent of the variation in the experimental materials. These factors were introduced as maturity period, grain, yield and photosynthesis, respectively. The cluster analysis of genotypes based on the studied traits divided the genotypes into four groups, some of which have desirable traits and are relevant for the breeding program.

Plant growth regulators (PGRs) are used to prevent reduction in rapeseed grain yield under limited moisture conditions. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of paclobutrazol (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mg L-1) on canopy surface temperature and some quantitative and qualitative characteristics of two rapeseed cultivars (Okapi and Natalie) under full irrigation and late season drought stress conditions at Research Station of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources of Payam Noor University of Fereydunshahr, Isfahan, Iran, in 2016-2017 growing season. The experimental design was split split plot based on randomized complete block design with three replicates. Results showed that all the treatments including late season drought stress, paclobutrazol and cultivar had significant effects on number of seeds per pod, pod length, seed weight, canopy temperature and seed yield. Both cultivars were highly sensitive to late season drought stress at flowering, so that drought stress led to a nearly 40% decrease in grain yield of both cultivars. In both cultivars the application of 100 mg L-1 paclobutrazol under full irrigation and 200 mg L-1 under late season drought stress produced the highest grain yield. Both cultivars had similar responses to drought stress and paclobutrazol, while Natalie (5346 kg ha-1) produced higher yield than Okapi cultivar (4910 kg ha-1). Also, in both cultivars the application of paclobutrazol reduced canopy temperature under drought stress conditions. According to our results, although drought stress suppresses rapeseed grain yield and yield components, the examined plant growth regulator could be harnessed to compensate, at least in part, for the yield suppression imposed by the late season drought stress. Therefore, use of paclobutrazol could be recommended to alleviate the drought stress effect on rapeseed.

To investigate some common herbicides of transplanted rice for direct wet-seeding of Hashemi cultivar, this study was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments were as follow: (i) recommended dose of pretilachlor, (ii) oxadiargyl + bensulfuron-methyl, (iii-vi) adding propanil or thiobencarb to treatment (i) and (ii), (vii-x) adding cinosulfuron to treatment (iii) to (vi), (xi) weed free condition, and (xii) weed infested condition. The highest total weed infestations were observed when pretilachlor, oxadiargyl + bensulfuron-methyl and pretilachlor plus propanil or thiobencarb had been applied. The highest rice height was recorded in weed infested, but for other traits, comparison of herbicide treatments showed the least rice growth and yield for pretilachlor (due to the highest weed competition) and oxadiargyl + bensulfuron-methyl + thiobencarb. In the recent treatment panicle and grain number, and 1000-grain weight were lower than those for individual application of pretilachlor. Since applying oxadiargyl + bensulfuron-methyl suppressed weeds better than treatments containing pretilachlor, and also considering the effective control of nutsedge by bensulfuron-methyl, and barnyardgrass by thiobencarb, it seems that the phytotoxicity effects of oxadiargyl + bensulfuron-methyl + thiobencarb on rice are serious. In the herbicide applied treatments, the maximum number of tiller and panicle, and biological and grain yield were observed in oxadiargyl + Bensulfuron-methyl+ Propanile treatments. Despite the acceptable weed control, it seems that Hashemi cultivar was susceptible to herbicides in saturated soil condition and symptoms of phytotoxicity were appeared in crop plants.

Transplanting or pot culture has been mentioned as a promising approach to increase crop yield and decrease irrigation water use in recent years. Using simulation models to assess pot culture is a valuable way in investigating the effect on yield, water consumption and other properties of crops such as soybean. For this purpose, several pot culture levels (seedling sizes) plus direct sowing were evaluated in soybean using SSM-iCrop2 for four different sowing dates in Gorgan, Iran. Seedling sizes were 13, 18, 24 and 29 cm2 per plant leaf area and at 200, 250, 300 and 350 °C cumulative temperature, respectively. Sowing dates were June 10 (early), June 25 (usual), July 14 (late) and July 27 (very late). The results of simulation showed that direct seed planting method at late sowing date (14 July) and all treatments at very late sowing date (27 July) are not feasible and cannot be recommended due to disturbance that cause in sowing of next crop in double cropping system of the region. Transplanting method at early (10 June), usual (25 June) and late planting dates resulted in earlier maturity. There was no significant difference between two methods regarding seed yield at early and usual planting dates, but at late planting date transplanting method resulted in higher yield compared to direct seed planting method. Seedling size had no significant effect on yield. In addition, there was no significant difference among sowing methods in all planting dates in terms of net irrigation requirement of soybean. It was concluded that transplanting is only preferred at late sowing date for its higher yield, but considering the higher production costs of this method compared to direct sowing, it is necessary to find some cost-effective measures before pot culture could be adopted by farmers.

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of biological fertilizer and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi in four levels (without biological fertilizer, Rhizophagus irregularis, Funneliformis mosseae and vermicompost) on growth and shoot mineral nutrients composition of two strawberry cultivars (Parus and Kurdistan) in factorial experiment based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications in greenhouse conditions. The results showed that the application of vermicompost and AM fungi significantly increased the shoot dry weight of strawberry in comparison to control but there was not a significant difference between two species of AM fungi. Total uptake of nutrients was significantly increased by inoculation of strawberry with AM fungi in comparison to the control but inoculation did not leave significance effect on shoot nutrients concentration. Vermicompost application significantly enhanced the uptake and concentration of phosphorus, potassium, iron, zinc, and copper compared to control. Dry weight, zinc concentration and uptake, phosphorus, manganese and copper uptake in shoot of Kurdistan cultivar were significantly higher than Parus cultivar but there was not a significant difference between the cultivars in root colonization. Mycorrhizal dependence (Md) percentage by Rhizophagus irregularis was significantly higher in Parus cultivar than Kurdistan cultivar but Md (%) by Funneliformis mosseae in Kurdistan cultivar was higher than Parus cultivar. In conclusion, application of biological fertilizers will increase the growth of strawberry plant through an increased nutrient uptake, in which the role of vermicompost is more pronounced than that of AM fungi due perhaps to the presence of nutrients and useful soil organisms.

This research was carried out to study the grain yield, yield components and NDVI (normalized difference vegetation index) responses of four wheat cultivars to growth retardant cycocel under terminal drought stress conditions. The experiment was laid out as a split split plot with three replicates at the experimental farm of the School of Agriculture, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 growing seasons. The treatments consisted of two levels of water stress (full irrigation and irrigation cut off at the beginning of flowering), exogenous cycocel in two levels (4 g ha-1 and 0) and four wheat cultivars (Sirvan, Baharan, Varedati and Ofogh). Water stress reduced the measured traits including, grain number per ear (19%), 1000-grain weight (14%), biological yield (22%), grain yield (29%), and NDVI (17%). Exogenously-applied cycocel compensated for some of such reductions including, number of spikes per square meter (18%), grain number per ear (29%), 1000-grain weight (6%), biological yield (11%), grain yield (17%), and NDVI (5%). Ofogh and Sirvan cultivars showed a better response for most of the measured traits to water stress conditions when cyclocel was used. Regarding the ameliorating role of cycocel in reducing negative impacts of terminal water stress, application of this growth regulator could be recommended for similar conditions.