مجله علوم و فنون باغبانی ایران
سال بیست و سوم شماره 2 (تابستان 1401)

In order to investigate the effects of humic acid and mycorrhiza on gerbera cv. Dune, an experiment was performed as a completely randomized design with two factors and three replications in hydroponic conditions. First factor included humic acid at 4 concentrations (0, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg L-1 as media drench). The second factor contained two levels of mycorrhizal fungi (with and without mycorrhiza at root zone). Attributes such as leaf number, rosette diameter, root fresh and dry weight, flower diameter, flower stalk diameter and number, time from bud emergence to anthesis, total phenol content, colonization percent and the activity of ascorbate peroxidase and hydrogen peroxide were measured. The results showed that humic acid and mycorrhizal fungi treatments led to increase in the leaf number, rosette diameter, fresh and dry weight of roots and antioxidant enzymes activity and decreased the time from bud emergence to anthesis comparing untreated plants. Phenol content was significantly increased compared to control plants by application of 1000 and 2000 mg L-1 of humic acid plus mycorrhizal fungi. The combined use of humic acid and mycorrhiza was effective to improve some morphological and physiological properties of gerbera and the concentration of 1000 mg L-1 humic acid plus mycorrhiza application were the most effective treatment.

Papaver pseudo-orientale Medw is a hexaploid plant with 42 chromosomesfound in the northwest of Iran and throughout eastern Turkey.  In this study, three populations of P. pseudo-orientale species were collected from three habitats (Solik, Golshikhan, and Qotur) in West Azerbaijan province, and their morphological characteristics as well as amino acids, fatty acids, and thebaine contents were measured.  The results showed that within all three populations, petiole length had the highest variability. The distance between two lobes of leaf and petiole length as two important features had the highest coefficient of variation among examined populations. In the studied populations, the highest amount of thebaine was found in the plant capsules. In this regard, Golshikhan population showed the highest amount of thebaine concentration in capsule. Also, this population was superior to other studied populations in term of thebaine amount in roots. The highest total amount of amino acids in stems  and leaves were observed in Golshikhan and Solik populations, respectively. The results of this study might be applied for breeding programs of this species and could be used for domestication of this valuable alkaloid containing plant.

Occurance of recent droughts and expanding cultivation area of rain-fed fig orchards in Fars province requires the supplemental irrigation for increasing the economic productivity of fig crop cv. Sabz. Thus, the present study was conducted to improve water use efficiency of this crop. Three supplemental irrigation methods included surface, subsurface drip, and microjet were used. Control trees received no supplemental irrigation. Irrigation water volume for each tree was 1500 liters that was given to the trees in three times and equal amounts in March, May, and August. The results showed that supplemental irrigation significantly increased the yield of dried fig fruits compared to control. Microjet method increased leaf width, shoot growth length, node number, content of chlorophylls and carotenoids, and number of AA fruits (fruit diameter > 22 mm) and light yellow color fruits. Teherefore, microjet method is introduced as the superior irrigation method to improve vegetative and reproductive traits of fig cv. Sabz.

The development of environmentally friendly technologies in synthesizing materials is of considerable importance for expanding their biological applications. Todays, various types of nanoparticles have been synthesized by the method of green synthesis with a well-defined chemical composition, size, and morphology and their applications in many advanced fields of technology have been studied. This study was performed to find the optimal conditions for the green synthesis of silver nanoparticles from an aqueous extract of lettuce leaves. To find the optimal condition, different concentrations of silver nitrate and aqueous extract, different ratios of aqueous extract and silver nitrate, different light spectra with different concentrations of aqueous extract were studied. The results showed that the aqueous extract containing 20 g of lettuce leaves in 100 ml of distilled water, 1 mM silver nitrate concentration, and 1:1 ratio under blue light for 24 hours had the maximum absorption rate among other samples. The results of X-ray diffraction spectroscopy also confirm the crystallization of nanoparticles in this sample.

Chilling injury (CI) is one of the main factors involved in reducing pomegranate quality during cold storage. In the present study, the interaction between 1-MCP and three different coatings (cellophane, confectionery waxy paper and 1%, 2% sodium alginate) on maintenance of postharvest quality of pomegranate fruits were investigated during 120 days of cold storage .The results showed that uncoated fruits had higher weight loss and total soluble solids (TSS) than coated fruits during storage. The results also showed that untreated (control) fruits showed higher weight loss, decay and total soluble solids (TSS) than 1-MCP treated fruits during cold storage. Cellophane had a significant effect on delaying ion leakage and preventing weight loss of pomegranate fruit.The 1-MCP+cellophane and 1-MCP+confectionery wax paper could reduce chilling injury by delaying the reduction of bioactive compounds such as total phenolics and antioxidant activity. The lowest decay severity was also observed in fruits treated with 1-MCP. In general, it can be concluded that postharvest application of 1-MCP+cellophane was the most effective treatment to induce chilling tolerance and extend the storage life of pomegranate.

The date is one of the important agricultural crops in tropical and subtropical regions, having different stages growth up to ripening. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of urea and potassium sulfate spraying on the qualitative and quantitative changes of dates Zahedi cultivar in Hababouk and Kimri stages. This factorial study was designed in a complete randomized block using repeated measure technique with 3 replications. Application of urea (0, 0.5, and 1%) and potassium sulfate (0, 0.5, and 1%) were accomplished. Results elucidated that spray of 0.5 and 1% urea was significantly effective on some of the morphological traits of date fruit, reducing, non-reducing and total sugars positively. However spraying had no significant effect on fruit color and chlorophyll. In Rutab and Tamar, reducing sugars elevated significantly. Regarding obtained results, urea and potassium sulfate spraying (0.5 and 1%) caused to improve the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of date fruit Zahedi cultivar in this experimental condition.

This study was carried out to determine the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of 60 almond cultivars and genotypes in climatic conditions of Meshkin Dasht Horticultural Research Station in Karaj and to determine their characteristics in order to select the best cultivars. These cultivars and genotypes were planted in a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. The studied cultivars and genotypes were evaluated for important vegetative and pomological traits. Results showed that K9-7, K2-22, K3-16, K2-9, Sh15 and KD-11-01 genotypes and Shokofeh, Nonpareil and Price cultivars had paper shell nuts that had good marketability. Shokofeh, Ferragnès, A230, A200 cultivars and K13-40 genotype had a lower chance of being exposed to late spring frosts due to late flowering on average 20 to 25 days depending on the cultivars compared to Sefid cultivar. Also, for two years in terms of yield in 2016 and 2017, Filippo Ceo, Ferragnès cultivars and K9-24 and K8-24 genotypes had the highest yield. In the general evaluation of important traits of cultivars and genotypes; Nanparil cultivar and KD-11-01 genotype were identified as the best cultivar and genotype in terms of soft shell fruit and A230, A200 and Ferragnès cultivars and K13-40 genotype with hard shell fruit.

Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) has a short shelf life, and browning, weight loss, and microbial contamination are significant changes that occur after mushroom harvesting, reducing their economic value. Vitamins, hormones, and amino acids improve mushroom growth and increase the yield. To investigate the effect of IBA and tryptophan on growth and yield of button mushroom and its post-harvest life, this study was done in two separate experiments in the mushroom factory post-harvest storage. The experiment was performed as a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design with three replications, including three levels of 0, 1, and 2 mM IBA and three levels of 0, 3150, 6300 mg/kg of the amino acid tryptophan. The results showed that the nutritional supplements used in this study effectively increased vegetative growth and yield as well as cap diameter, ion leakage and two hardnesses measured in T1 and base diameter, water loss and total weight.   1 mM IBA treatment had the highest dry weight, water loss and total weight and 2 mM IBA treatment had the highest base diameter and cap and ion leakage. In general, although the yield was higher in 6300 mg/kg tryptophan treatment but vegetative and post-harvest traits at 3150 mg/kg tryptophan were the highest. On the other hand, the use of lower concentrations of IBA is recommended due to better or equal results with higher concentrations.

In order to evaluation of simultaneous application of biochar and Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) on the growth, yield and concentration of aloin of Aloe vera at different growth stages under greenhouse conditions, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications. Treatments included biochar at three levels (0 (control), 250 and 500 g per pot) and AMF at two levels (non-inoculation and inoculation). AMF inoculation without biochar application has a significant effect on traits compared to other treatments at both harvest times, the number of leaves were 28 and 19%, leaf fresh weight 41 and 36%, gel fresh weight 40 and 34%, gel dry weight 57 and 74%, fresh weight of root 65 and 69% compared to control plants. The result showed the highest concentration of aloin was obtained in the treatment of 500 g of biochar with inoculation with AMF. Also, the highest amount of soluble carbohydrates in dry gel in the second (62.40 mg/g) was obtained in the application of 500 g of biochar with AMF inoculation. According to the results of this experiment, inoculation of roots with AMF can be useful to increase the growth and yield and quality of A. vera, but the use of biochar, especially in high amounts, had a negative effect on A. vera.

Rootstocks are very important for the production of a healthy and fruitful product, and without having well-matched rootstocks with the physical and chemical conditions of the soil as well as the weather conditions; one cannot hope to have productive orchards. The objective of this research is to find the efficiency of leaf nutrient uptake on fruit quality and shelf life (brown spot) in quince (Cydonia oblonga Mill.) cultivars (Behta,Vidoja and Isfahan) and promising genotypes ("KVD2", "NB2") grafted on hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) and quince seedling (Cydonia oblonga) rootstocks grown in heavy calcareous soil. This study suggests that, higher mineral nutrient uptake of studied cultivars or genotypes favored by hawthorn (Crataegus spp.) rootstocks, makes them suitable for heavy and calcareous soils. ‘KVD2’/hawthorn combination in our experiment demonstrated higher mineral nutrient uptake than other studied combinations in heavy (56% silt; 14% loam) and calcareous soils (28% calcium carbonate equivalent in soil) with slight saline (2.08%) and pH of 7.67. None of the studied cultivar/rootstock combinations were found to have adequate nutrient ratios in fruit that could reduce the risk of brown spot and increase storage capacity in the cold storage.