Agrotechniques in Industrial Crops
Volume:4 Issue: 2, Spring 2024

The major portion of daily dietary nitrate that enters the human body is derived from vegetable consumption. High concentration of nitrate in edible parts of vegetables causes a variety of poisonings, anemia in children and production of carcinogen nitrosamine in adults. To investigate the concentration of nitrate in potatoes and onions grown in Kermanshah province, sampling was carried out from the fields located in different counties at the time of harvest in the summer and autumn of 2019. After washing, drying, grinding, and extracting the samples, the nitrate concentrations were determined with a spectrophotometry method. The results showed that the mean nitrate concentration in potato and onion samples (94.56 and 74.62 mg kg-1 FW, respectively) of all regions was significantly lower than the World Health Organization standard limit (250 and 1000 mg kg-1 FW, respectively). The highest concentration of nitrate in potato (153.70 mg kg-1 FW) and onion (98.02 mg kg-1 FW) was observed in samples from the Qasr-e-Shirin and Kermanshah, respectively. The non-cancer hazard quotient (HQ) of nitrate via potato and onion consumption was below 1 for all age receptor groups. Although, it does not seem to be a particular problem with consuming these vegetables; however, the evaluation of nitrate concentration in potato and onion samples is recommended at regular time intervals.

Camelina (Camelina Sativa) is a hexaploid dicotyledonous plant from the Brassicaceae family, which is very similar to the Arabidopsis. The number of camelina chromosomes is 40=2n. WRKY transcription factors are one of the most important gene families in plants that play an important role in regulating growth and development and response to various stresses. In this research, 224 WRKY genes were identified in the camelina plant by searching the database, and the chromosomal position, gene length, and conserved motifs were identified in the camelina plant based on the Arabidopsis. Also, in this study, in order to validate the research, 2 genes WRKY8 and WRKY57 under drought stress were investigated by the qPCR method. The results indicated that both the above-mentioned genes were strongly expressed under drought stress conditions in tolerant varieties compared to normal conditions, but the trend was opposite in sensitive varieties. This study has provided acceptable and valuable information for studying the evolution and function of the WRKY gene family in camelina.

Coumarin as a secondary metabolite widely found in plant species. Coumarin with a strong inhibitory effect on germination will be a good alternative for weed control. The mechanism of inhibition effects of coumarin has not yet been well understood. In this research, coumarin effects on amylase activity, electrolyte leakage and growth of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) were studied using factorial statistical design. Results showed that coumarin with a concentration-dependent pattern (0.2 to 0.5 mM) reduced all growth indices. Coumarin had the greatest effect on root length and leaf length of seedlings. The results showed that the species sensitivity and resistance to coumarin are significantly different. Coumarin had no significant concentration-dependent decrease in amylase activity. Coumarin (0.2 mM and 20 mM) increased the electrical conductivity of the solution around the seeds and roots of wheat seedlings. The mechanism of coumarin inhibition may be through its inhibitory effect on the expression of amylase genes.  Increased electrical conductivity in the periphery of the living tissue can result in electrolyte leakage and damage to seed and root cell membranes which is called one of the mechanisms of coumarin inhibition of germination. Some allelopathic properties of coumarin may be attributed to its effect on amylase activity, cell membrane integrity, and stimulation of metabolite leakage in competing plants. Allelopathic studies of coumarin can be used in the field to weed and pest control and have a practical result.

To evaluate the effect of nitrogen (N) fertilization rate on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of drip-irrigated sugar beet, a two-year field experiment was carried out in two areas of Iran including Karaj and Moghan. Four different amounts of N fertilizer (no applied (N0), optimum rate (N100), 75% (N75) and 50% (N50) of optimum rate) and four varieties included two European varieties (Rosire and Flores) and two Iranian varieties (Pars and Ekbatan) were experimental treatments. The results in Moghan showed that the highest values of root and sugar yield were related to N75 by 74.09 and 9.13 t ha-1, respectively. Flores and Rosier had greater sugar yield than Pars and Ekbatan varieties in both locations. Our findings in Karaj demonstrated that SC decreased with increasing N rate, however there was no significant difference among nitrogen levels in SC in Moghan. N application rate had no significant influence on content of the non-sugar impurities in both areas except K concentration. As data, European varieties contained lower non-sugar substances and higher root quality than Iranian varieties. In addition, greater nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) was gained in European varieties compared to Iranian varieties. Increasing N application rate also caused to decrease in NUE under two area conditions. The greatest NUE occurred by no application of N fertilizer as 46.13 and 45.35 kg sugar kg-1 N in Moghan and Karaj, respectively. In general, N fertilizer consumption can be reduced to 75% of the recommended N rate under the drip irrigation system that is developing in the country.

Echinophora cinerea is grown in the mountains of Iran and has aromatic and medicinal properties. The secondary metabolites of this plant are used as sources of natural antioxidants and anticancer agents. This study aimed to investigate the chemical compounds of the essential oils in different parts of Echinophora cinereal. The E. cinerea plants were collected in July, in the Zagros mountains, Iran. The chemical compositions of different essential oils were detected using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The highest essential oil content belonged to the flower and root of E. cinerea (0.90 and 0.85%, respectively). The essential oil content of the flower and root was similar, and the amount of essential oil in the leaf and stem was also the same (P>0.05). The total components of essential oil in the root, stem, leaf, and flower of E. cinerea were 96.23, 97.28, 89.95, and 97%, which included 44, 36, 27, and 38 components, respectively. The major important components of root essential oil included α-phellandrene (25.86%), p-cymene (18.17%), γ-terpinene (11.87%), (-)-Spathulenol (5.58%), and α-pinene (5.17%). The greatest important components of the stem essential oil included p-cymene (35.25%), α-phellandrene (23.17%), and α-pinene (10.66%). The most important components of leaf essential oil include α-phellandrene (16.5%), 6-Octen-1-ol, 3,7-dimethyl-, (R) (14.02%), linalool (11.87%), p-cymene (7.8%), carvacrol (6.48%), β-phellandrene (5.87%), and sabinol (5.77%). The major important components of flower essential oil include α-phellandrene (27.31%), p-cymene (9.86%), β-phellandrene (6.84%), 1H-3a,7-Methanoazulene, octahydro-1,4,9,9-tetramethyl- (6.78%), linalool (5.75%), α-pinene (5.26%), sabinol (5.06%), and 6-Octen-1-ol, 3,7-dimethyl-, (R) (4.92%). In general, it can be concluded that the different parts of E. cinerea differ in terms of volatile components, and the amount of each compound can be considered for exploiting this plant for industrial and pharmaceutical purposes.

In order to evaluate the effect of different levels of nitrogen and selenium on the yield and nitrogen utilization efficiency, a factorial experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with three replications at Razi University. In this experiment, the first factor included different levels of nitrogen including 0, 50, 100 and 150 kg ha-1 and the second factor was selenium foliar spraying at three levels of 0, 5 and 10 mg L-1 of sodium selenate. Nitrogen, selenium and the interaction between two factors had a significant effect on the biological and economic yield of garlic. The interaction between nitrogen and selenium increased the harvest index of garlic. According to the obtained results, increasing the amount of nitrogen and selenium increased the yield and nitrogen utilization efficiency. The use of 150 kg ha-1 of nitrogen along with 10 mg L-1 of sodium selenate has caused garlic to have the highest nitrogen utilization efficiency in addition to its high ability to absorb nitrogen and produce maximum yield.