مجله علوم و فنون باغبانی ایران
سال بیست و پنجم شماره 1 (بهار 1403)

In order to study the effect of Putrescine on some quantitative and qualitative traits of barberry in “on” (2018) and “off” (2019) years, an experiment was carried out in a completely randomized block design with factorial arrangement and three replications. Putrescine solution (0, 0.1, and 1 mM/L) sprayed at full bloom and the fruit set stage. Wet and dry fruit weight, length and diameter, pH, anthocyanin and phenol content of berry measured in two years. The results showed that all parameters differed significantly in the “on” and “off” years. The content of acids, anthocyanins, and phenols was higher (9.52, 2.98 and 2.26 percent, respectively) in the “on” year than in the “off” year. In addition, Putrescine at a concentration of 1 mM /L was the most effective treatment for increasing all parameters except acidity and phenolic content. In addition, this treatment increased pH, soluble solids content, length, and fresh and dry weight (21.59, 9.45, 12.47 and 23.58 percent, respectively) of berries in the “on” year. There was no significant difference between measured parameters in the “on” and “off” years. Putrescine treatment (1 mM /L) reduced some quantitative and qualitative traits in on year.

This experiment was conducted for two years to study post–harves bulb losses of onion genotypes in uncontrolled storage (no heating, cooling and ventilation systems) at Behbahan Agriculture Research Station. Seeds were sown in nursery in early October and seedling transplanted at 2-3 leaf stage. Bulbs were harvested when 50-80% of foliage top had fallen and collapse. The research was performed using split factorial experiment based on RCBD including 120 treatments with 3 replications. Main plot consisted of six bulbs observation in storage (one months after storage with one month interval). Sprayed and non-sprayed plots and ten onion genotypes named Behbahan, padook, Ramhormoz, Iranshahr, Borazjan ,Dorcheh Esfahan, and Kamerei Khomain landraces, Primavera and Texas early grano cultivars and improved population of Behbahan onion were considered  as factorial. Thrips increased bulb weight losses, damage of black mould and total losses. The damage of bulb rotting decreased in non- sprayed plots as compared with sprayed plats. The effect of thrips was not significant on bulb sprouting. The minimum bulb weight losses and damage of black mould were recorded in Primavera cultivar and Behbahan improved population respectively. The lowest bulb rotting was observed in Ramhormoz landrace. The highest bulb sprouting was found in Iranshahr landrace. According to results, Texas early grano cultivar and Dorche Esfahan landrace, showed the maximum and minimum bulb storability respectively.

In recent years, the use of biodegradable and antibacterial coatings as a suitable alternative to polymer packaging, with the aim of maintaining food security and product quality has been highly regarded by researchers. Browning of pistachio shell reduces its post-harvest life and marketability. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of preharvest foliar application of chitosan (500 and 1000 mg/L) and Nano-chitosan (250 and 500 mg/L) and distilled water (control) on the quality and shelf life of pistachio (Pistacia vera L. cv. ‘Ahmad-Aghaei’) at four different times (0, 25, 50 and 75 days after harvest) in a cold room at 0 °C and 90% RH. The findings show that in the treatment of Nano-chitosan containing 250 mg/L, the lowest weight loss (WL), the highest amount of total phenolic content (TPC), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), protein, and oil were observed on the 25th day after harvest. The highest amount of flavonoids was observed in Nano-chitosan treatment containing 500 mg/L on day 25. Nano-chitosan treatment containing 500 mg/L increased tissue stiffness and had the highest amount of tissue stiffness. Also, the parameter of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) content showed a different trend in four measurement times, and pistachios coated with chitosan and Nano-chitosan had higher NDF than the control. The highest amount was observed in chitosan treatment containing 500 mg/L on day 50 after harvest. Also, the application of Nano-chitosan in the preharvest stage can maintain the quality characteristics of fresh pistachio shell of 'Ahmad Aghaei' (TPC and flavonoids, TAC and carbohydrates) while maintaining the optimal shelf life of  the  fresh pistachios for 75 days to control and chitosan treatment.

The medicinal plant Gotucola (Centella asiatica L.)  has many therapeutic properties including improving memory, prolonging life, anticancer, treating skin diseases. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to achive a suitable protocol for propagation of this plant in in vitro and appropriate determinations of growth regulators for micropropagation of this valuable species. In the first experiment interaction of different concentrations of BAP (0,0.5, 1, 1.5, 2.5, 3.5 mg/L) and NAA (0,0.25,0.5,1,2 mg/L) were examined on leaf explants. The results showed the best calling was obtained in the leaf explants in combination BAP 1.5 mg/L and NAA 0.5 mg/L. In the next step, the interaction of BAP in 0,1,2,3 mg/L and IBA in 0,0.5,1 mg/L was investigated in proliferation of nodes explants.The results show MS medium containing 2 mg/L BAP and 1 mg/L IBA was determind the most suitable medium for micropropagation. Also the medium containing IBA in concentrations 1 and 2 mg/L showed the best results for rooting.

To observe the effect of plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and salicylic acid under drought stress conditions on yarrow, an experiment was arranged as split-plot factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in a research farm in Basht, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-ahmad provice, during two years (2018 and 2019). Drought stress as the main factor in two levels (drought and non-drought stress), and secondary factors include foliar spraying with salicylic acid in two levels: control (no foliar spraying) and foliar spraying with salicylic acid (400 mg/L), and PGPR at four levels: control (no inoculation with bacteria), inoculation with Pseudomonas, inoculation with Azotobacterial and inoculation with both bacteria were assigned to the main and sub-plots, respectively. The results of a two-year combined variance analysis showed that effects of year, drought stress, bacteria, salicylic acid and drought stress × salicylic acid × bacteria on plant height, thousand seed weight, flower yield, biological yield, essential oil content, and essential oil yield were significant. The average flower yield in the first year was 731.45 kg/ha, which had a significant difference compared to the second year. The highest plant height (65.94 cm) was obtained from azotobacterial and salicylic acid treatment under non-drought stress conditions. Meanwhile, in both conditions (non-drought stress and drought stress), the maximum thousand seed weight (0.29 and 0.23 g), flower yield (1389 and 492 kg/ha), biological yield (8634 and 4106 kg/ha), harvest index (16.09 and 11.99 %), essential oil content (1.41 and 0.80 %) and essential oil yield (1.77 and 19.54 kg/ha) were obtained for bacteria and salicylic acid treatment. Although drought stress caused a significant decrease in all traits, especially flower yield, essential oil content and yield, the use of growth-promoting bacteria or salicylic acid, especially in the treatment of simultaneous application of two bacteria and salicylic acid, significantly reduced the damage of drought stress on flower yield, essential oil content and yield compared to the control.

The majority of Citrus species and some related genera in this family produce nucellar embryos. Nucellar seedlings are similar to maternal parents. The existence of such embryos next to the embryo from fertilization leads to the polyembryony phenomenon which during that, two or few embryos are developed in one seed simultaneously. The nucellar embryo is a big obstacle in citrus breeding, however, the aim of producing genetic uniformity in stock production is valuable. In this study, for distinguishing between seedlings resulting from fertility and nucellar seedlings, a leaf sample was prepared from maternal plants and seedlings resulted from seeds of 11 citrus cultivars. After DNA extraction from samples, PCR was performed using 8 microsatellite primer pairs. The results indicated that 8 primer pairs were polymorphic for nucellar or zygotic traits of seedlings in 9 cultivars. The number of all alleles in the population was 45, and the range of alleles amplified by the primers was 3-11 with an average of 5.75. 35 alleles were polymorphic for nucellar or zygotic traits. Among polymorphic primers, TAA41 primer and TAA1 and TAA27 primers produced the highest number of alleles (11) and the lowest number of alleles (3) in studied cultivars, respectively. Polymorphic primers of this research especially TAA45 and TAA33 can be used to identify nucellar and zygotic seedlings of all citrus genotypes, cultivars, and hybrids in different breeding programs.

Persian sage (Salvia mirzayanii L.) is a medicinal plant belonging to the mint family, which has been of interest since ancient times due to its many medicinal properties. In order to investigate the effect of different concentrations of amino acids (0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 gr/L) and storage duration (0, 2, 4 and 6 months) on the amount and changes of Iranian sage essential oil, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design. Amino acid foliar application had a positive effect on the measured vegetative and reproductive traits of Iranian sage plant as well as the percentage of compounds after harvest. In this study, the most important compounds found in Iranian sage essential oil after harvesting were 5-neo-sedranol (20.11%), Lnalyl acetate (16.52%) and alphaterpinyl acetate (14.28%). The content of total phenol increased by increasing the level of amino acid foliar application up to the level of 1 mg/L (82.6 mg/L) and after that it decreased, and by continuing storage for 6 months after harvesting, it increased by 23.15% compared to four months. The highest antioxidant activity was obtained from foliar spraying of amino acid with a concentration of 1 mg/L, and storage for 6 months after harvest reduced it by 29% compared to the time of harvest. Based on the results of this study, it is recommended to use amino acid up to a concentration of 0.5 gr/L in order to achieve the maximum fresh and dry weight of the plant.

RNA extraction from hardwood tissues, especially in date palm flowers, is very hard because they have high concentrations of phenolic compounds, polysaccharides, fibers, proteins, and secondary metabolites(tannins, fatty compounds, and lignin); Some RNA extraction methods yield that are poorly soluble, indicating the presence of unknown contaminants, whereas others are gelatinous, indicating the presence of polysaccharides. RNA can make complexes with polysaccharides and phenolic compounds render the RNA unusable for applications such as the RNA-Seq technique. Therefore, it is important to a suitable extraction method to produce a good quality RNA. Therefore, in this study, to obtain quality RNA for RNA-Seq studies, seven RNA extraction methods (including three kits (Column RNA Isolation Kit, Total RNA Extraction Mini Kit, and Neasy Mini Kit) and four extraction buffers (Triazole, Phenol-Chloroform, Lithium Chloride, and RNX-PlusTM)) were compared and the nucleic acid extraction method from the flowers of this plant was optimized. Modifications for optimization of RNA extraction were preheating treatment of extraction buffer, and decreasing centrifuge rounds to eliminate DNA contaminations and DEPC. For genomic DNA and protein elimination, extracted RNA was treated with DNase and Proteinase-K enzyme. After RNA extraction, its quantity and quality were assessed by spectrophotometry and gel electrophoresis. Based on the results of this study, it was found that among the kits and methods used, Lithium chloride method after DNase and Proteinase-K treatment and modifications for optimization had high quality and quantity in terms of extracted RNA concentration (247.5 ng/µl) and resolution of 28SrRNA and 18SrRNA bands on agarose gel as well as high absorbance ratios of A260/A280 and A260/A230. Therefore, based on the results of this study, it can be said that the selected optimized method has overcome the problems of extracting RNA from tissues rich in polyphenolic compounds, polysaccharides, and secondary metabolites such as date palm flowers and the samples of RNAs extracted by this method were sent by these researchers for sequencing for RNA-Seq studies.

Sour orange, among the cold, drought tolerant rootstocks, is suitable for planting in poor drainage soils. Since salinity is one of the destructive stresses on the growth of citrus plants,  providing a suitable solution can be effective in reducing its harmful effects. So, a factorial pot research as a completely randomized design with three replications was conducted to evaluate the impact of saline water and potassium phosphite on sour orange plant. Sour orange plants were healthy and free disease six-months seedlings (height about 60 cm). The treatments were included salinity (1.5, 3, 4.5 and 6 dS/m) and potassium phosphite (0, 1.5 and 3 g L-1). The results showed that the high level of salinity led to a decrease in stem fresh and dry weight (63 and 60.22%, respectively), nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, calcium and iron contents (4, 15.7, 8, 18.6 and 12.2 %, respectively) in sour orange. Potassium phosphite treatment (1.5 g L-1) increased the potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen, iron (32.6, 20.6, 19.7, 46.5%, respectively) contents, the fresh and dry weight of the stem (63.9 and 60.2%, respectively), the fresh and dry weight of roots (58.18 and 61.01 %, respectively) and finally the harmful impacts of salinity stress were reduced in sour orange plant. Generally, the application of potassium phosphite (1.5 g L-1) improved morphological characteristics, absorption of elements and reduced the adverse effects of salinity in Sour orange.

In order to determine the chilling and heat requirements of blackberry cultivars, three thorny (Tupi, Marion, Silvan) and thornless (Merton) cultivars were collected from the blackberry collection of Sari of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University (SANRU) placed in the refrigerator. Treatments were included cultivars and chilling hours (300,500,700,900, 1100 and1300) in three replications and 10 samples. Then the floricanes were placed in the greenhouse under 16 hours of light and 24 ° C and the number of days to flowering of the first bud, the number of days to flowering of 50% of buds and the final percentage of bud breaks were recorded and the heat requirement was calculated. The results showed the highest rate of first bud burst occurred in the thorny cultivars of Silvan, Marion and Tupi in 700 hours of chilling and the cultivar thornless Merton in 500 hours of chilling. Among the thorny cultivars, two very early and late cultivars (Silvan and Marion) in 700 hours and late cultivar (Tupi) in 300 hours of chilling reached 50% full bloom earlier. While thornless Merton cultivar reached this level with 1100 hours of chilling. Examination of heat requirements of different cultivars showed in thorny cultivars, with increasing chilling hours, the need for heat decreases. So that all three cultivars of Silvan, Marion and Tupai in 300 hours of chilling, needed more heat, which has decreased with the increase of chilling hours until reaching 700 hours. In thornless Merton cultivar, from 300 hours of chilling to 700 hours, the need for heat has decreased, but after that, reaching 900 to 1300 hours of chilling, the need for heat has also increased. In general, thorny cultivars needed less chilling than thornless cultivars to open the first bud and achieve full flowering. Therefore, cultivation of thornless cultivars in areas with chilling units of less than 500 hours is difficult and requires additional treatments.