Agrotechniques in Industrial Crops
Volume:4 Issue: 1, Winter 2024

The city of Gotvand in Iran is located in a hot and semi-arid region, where it can be challenging to grow crops. Abiotic stresses such as drought and heat can affect crop productivity during both vegetative and reproductive growth. Melatonin plays a vital role in regulating various mechanisms in plants and acts as a primary defense against environmental stresses. However, its interaction with zinc is not well understood. In the experiment, a randomized complete block design with three repetitions was used. A field experiment was conducted to investigate the interaction effects of zinc fertilizer (ZnSO4) - no application, 1 mg/L, and 2 mg/L and different concentrations of melatonin (0, 25,  50, 100, 200 mg/L. Mung bean plants treated with melatonin and higher levels of zinc fertilizer showed increased vegetative growth and improved yield attributes. The specific combination of 200 mg/L of melatonin and 2 mg/L of zinc fertilizer emerges as a promising strategy to maximize yield components, including pod number, seed number per pod, and seed weight. Notably, this combination proved to be the most effective treatment for enhancing mung bean yield formation which resulted in the highest average seed yield to 1764 kg/ha. It is concluded that melatonin and zinc combination is an effective approach to alleviate environmental challenges such as high temperatures during fluorescence and reproductive growth.

Pecan (Peganum harmala L.) has many characteristics, such as antibacterial, antioxidant, antifungal, anticancer drugs, etc. In different genetic analyses, the calculation of the genotype correlation coefficient is more important than the phenotype correlation coefficient. Similarly, the use of other genetic parameters (such as heritability, etc.) is very useful in plant breeding projects. Therefore, it is not correct to choose the ecotype (genotype) with the help of other traits without considering the relationship and calculating the correlation between the traits, it strongly affects the desired results. For this research, First, pecan plant samples were identified and collected simultaneously. In this study, the pecan ecotypes identified in habitats (Three habitats in Asadabad-Hamedan including Mousi-Abad Village 1, Mousi-Abad Village 2 and Najaf-Abad Village, and the fourth habitat in Kangavar –Kermanshah include Karkhaneh Village (located in the west of Iran) traits related to the morphology of the pecan plant were evaluated. In order to calculate the genetic correlation and other genetic parameters, the form of random complete block design is designed and implemented with three replications. The genetic correlation coefficients calculated in this study indicated that there is a genetic correlation between traits associated with yield. In addition, the maximum percentage of heritability was assigned to the traits of number of branches per plant (0.99%) and stem diameter (0.99%), and the minimum percentage of heritability was assigned to the traits of number of nodes (0.24%) and fresh weight of a single stem (0.0009%), respectively. The stem diameter trait had the maximal heritability value and also had the maximal genetic advance rate. Also, the traits of number of nodes, fresh weight of whole plant and fresh weight of single stem, in addition to having the lowest heritability, had the lowest genetic advances.

Due to pathogen resistance as well as the high costs and adverse environmental effects of the use of chemical pesticides, researchers are looking for other ways to control pests and diseases such as biological control. Many studies prove the antibacterial effects of the biochemical compounds of the garlic plant, but there is no report on the antimicrobial activities of the heat-stable protein of the garlic plant. Considering the proven role of these proteins in response to stresses, this study was conducted to investigate the antibacterial role of these proteins on Ralstonia solanacearum and Streptomyces scabies bacteria. The antimicrobial properties of each bacterium were tested in separate experiments using a completely randomized factorial design with three factors and three repeats. Heat-stable protein from Clones, tissues, and various concentrations applied to R. solanacearum bacteria expressed a highly significant difference in the diameter of the inhibition zone and The highest inhibition zone was related to the leaf of Hamadan Clone. The lowest minimum inhibitory concentration MIC and minimal bactericidal concentration MBC were related to the leaf HSP of the Hamadan clone. As a result, Hamadan leaves with smaller MIC and MBC and the larger inhibitory zone in relation to the other treatments showed the highest inhibitory effect. In SDS-PAGE electrophoresis the leaves heat-stable protein electrophoresis banding only the HSP40 family was observed, while, on the garlic cloves families, small HSP (sHSP), HSP40, HSP70, HSP90, and HSP100 were seen. The results indicate that heat-stable protein from garlic could be used as a major antimicrobial agent against pathogenic R. solanacearum bacteria but had no biological role as an antimicrobial on S. scabies bacteria. The results of the present research show that the HSP of garlic plants can be used to create resistance to R. solanacearum bacteria.

Menthol mint (Mentha arvensis L.) is an aromatic and medicinal plant worldwide cultivated for high-value essential oil.  It comes under angiospermic plant and belongs to family Lamiaceae commonly known as Japanese mint. The high-value essential oil is obtained from the stem and leaf of plant by the process of hydro-distillation through which major ingredient L-menthol is obtained that is used in aroma and pharmaceutical industries. This investigation aimed to reduce water requirements which can enhance its productivity for sustaining menthol mint cultivation in India. The present investigation has been undertaken as treatment combination which includes two varieties viz. i) Kosi and CIM-Kranti; three depths of soil moisture viz. i) 3 cm, ii) 6 cm and iii) 9 cm along with three moisture regimes, i.e., i) 20±5%, ii) 40±5%, and 60±5% available soil moisture (ASM) were tested in split-split plot design during 2018 and 2019 (from February to June). Results from the present study revealed that the maximum oil yield was recorded 116.78 kg ha-1in cv. Kosi and 107.23 kg ha-1 in cv. for CIM-Kranti, whereas menthol yield was recorded 89.23 kg ha-1in cv. Kosi and 85.13 kg ha-1in cv. CIM-Kranti under 6 cm depth of irrigation when applied irrigation at 40±5% available soil moisture (ASM) in menthol mint. However, the lowest water requirement was recorded 118 mm in cv. Kosi and 148 mm in cv. CIM-Kranti. The highest water use efficiency was recorded 0.61 in cv. Kosi and 0.51 kg oil ha-1 mm-1 in cv. CIM- Kranti under 3 cm depth of irrigation and when irrigations were applied at 20±5 % ASM. The highest net returns of $ 1140.91 ha-1 and $ 989.70 ha-1 have been recorded in Kosi and CIM-Kranti, respectively were computed at 6 cm depth of irrigation and when irrigations were applied at 40±5% available soil moisture as compared with other treatments. The irrigation depth (6 cm) applied at 40±5% ASM was found to be a perfect combination for obtaining maximum oil yield, water use efficiency, net returns, and benefit-cost ratio.

Drought stress is one of the most impactive factors of severe modification in plant physiology eventually leading to a reduction in crop productivity. A split plot-factorial experiment was conducted at the Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University of Khuzestan in the 2021-2022 growing season to investigate the effects of irrigation interruption and plant density on spring rapeseed genotypes. The experiment was set up in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The experimental treatments included three levels of irrigation as main plot: (I) (1. Control: no interruption of irrigation, 2. Interruption of irrigation at the beginning of flowering (phenology code 60) until the formation of 50% of the pods (phenology code 75) and 3. Interruption of irrigation at the stage of panicle formation (phenology code 99) until the stage harvest (phenology code 99)) and three levels of plant density (D) (80, 110 and 140 plants per square meter) and canola genotypes (G) (Hayola 4815 and Aram) were arranged in subplots. The study evaluated various sensitivity and tolerance indices to stress, and results showed that the triple interaction effect of IDG on cell membrane stability, photosynthetic pigments, grain protein content, grain yield, and canopy temperature was significant. Significant interaction effects were also observed between IG on grain oil content, DG, and I×D on relative water content leaf (LRWC). The genotype that demonstrated superior tolerance to drought stress had higher values for indices such as STI, YI, MP, GMP, and HM. In general, the highest grain yield was observed in control treatment and density of 110 plants M2 and genotype of Hayola4815 (1572.6 kg. ha-1) and the lowest was observed from interruption of irrigation at the stage of pods formation until harvest and plant density of 140 plants per M2 and Aram genotype (661.87 kg. ha -1).

Computer skills and mathematical modeling have recently advanced quickly. Their development has gone without a hitch. The developments have accelerated our scientific analyses. Therefore, it is beneficial and necessary to seize these opportunities. One of the most significant characteristics of a tree is its leaf area, which is strongly correlated with its physiological and ecological variables such as growth, evapotranspiration, light interception, photosynthesis, and leaf area index. A sub-model of an artificial neural network is the group method of data handling (GMDH-type NN). Applications of such a self-organizing network are effective across a wide spectrum when used. However, the use of GMDH-type NN is still unusual in several fields, including horticultural science. Research on the individual leaf area of plants, both in horticulture and physiology, requires accurate and nondestructive techniques. Measuring the length (L) and width (W) of leaves is one way to calculate the individual leaf area (LA) of olives (Olea europaea). This study examined if an equation could be created to determine the leaf area of various olive genotypes using seventeen olive genotypes in an open-field situation in 2017. In this case, a new approach for designing the whole architecture of the GMDH-type NN uses a genetic algorithm. The purpose of this work was to determine if leaf area (output) could be estimated using GMDH-type NN given certain variables, such as leaf width and length. The findings demonstrate that GMDH-type NN is a useful tool for quickly and accurately identifying patterns in data, producing a performance index based on input investigation, and predicting leaf area depending on leaf width and length.