Agriculture and horticulture
Nasrin Biyabani; Vahid Abdossi; Marziyeh Ghanbari Jahromi
Abstract
Background and objectives:
Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses that reduces the production of agricultural products. Salinity is usually associated with oxidative stress due to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The use of growth stimulating compounds in order to reduce ...
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Background and objectives:
Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses that reduces the production of agricultural products. Salinity is usually associated with oxidative stress due to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The use of growth stimulating compounds in order to reduce the effects of environmental stress in plants is of particular importance. The use of silicon sources such as potassium silicate plays an important role in modulating salinity stress in plants. By increasing plants' resistance to salt stress, potassium silicate can help improve the growth and performance of plants in areas with salty soils. These compounds cause ion balance in cells in adverse conditions and by improving water absorption and retention in plants, they reduce ion leakage and the negative effect of salinity stress.
Methodology:
The present study aimed to investigate the effect of potassium silicate on the growth and physiological and biochemical characteristics of goldenrod in a factorial design based on a completely randomized design with the factor of salinity stress at three levels (0, 60, and 120 millimolar) and foliar application of potassium silicate at three levels (0, 50, and 100 milligrams per liter) under greenhouse conditions. Foliar application was carried out three times at 15-day intervals. The first foliar application was performed at the 4-leaf stage. After the second foliar application, salinity stress was induced by applying 200 milliliters of sodium chloride solution to each pot for 40 days. To prevent salt accumulation in the pots, all pots were rinsed with non-saline water after every 4 irrigations with saline water. The investigated morphological variables include wet and dry weight of shoots and roots and plant height and other traits including plant pigments (chlorophyll a, b and total), relative leaf water content, ion leakage rate, proline, sodium and potassium absorption rate of roots and It was the aerial parts that were measured in the middle of the golden grass flowering period.
Results:
The results of the research showed that salinity stress caused yield reduction and potassium silicate moderated the negative effects of salinity stress by improving plant growth conditions. The results of the research showed that 120 mM salinity decreased the fresh weight of shoot (28%), dry weight of shoot (29%), fresh weight of root (38%), dry weight of root (37%), total chlorophyll (40%). percent), the relative content of leaf water (17%), root potassium (14%) and leaf potassium (16%) and increased ion leakage (23%), proline (13%), root sodium (256%), leaf sodium (325 percent) Potassium silicate, especially 100 mg/liter, moderated salinity stress by increasing plant weight, chlorophyll, leaf water content and potassium in leaves and roots, and reducing sodium accumulation in leaves and roots and ion leakage.
Conclusion:
The general results of the research showed that increasing the intensity of salinity stress is very destructive for the growth and functional characteristics of golden grass and potassium silicate 50 to 100 mM will moderate the salinity stress by increasing the quantitative and qualitative performance (biochemical and phytochemical) of golden grass. Therefore, in order to grow the golden grass plant, it should be noted that the water or soil used does not contain salts such as sodium and chlorine, or soil conditioners or growth stimulants should be used for the production and cultivation of this plant.
Agriculture and horticulture
Ahmad Bakhshi; Vahid Abdossi; Marziyeh Ghanbari Jahromi
Abstract
Background and objectives: Water availability is one of the most critical climatic factors influencing plant distribution worldwide. Drought stress, resulting from insufficient water availability, can induce plant morphophysiological, biochemical, and functional changes. Seaweed contains a high percentage ...
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Background and objectives: Water availability is one of the most critical climatic factors influencing plant distribution worldwide. Drought stress, resulting from insufficient water availability, can induce plant morphophysiological, biochemical, and functional changes. Seaweed contains a high percentage of polymer compounds capable of absorbing water molecules and forming a gel-like structure. Additionally, its rich composition of salts and essential minerals fulfills plant nutrient requirements, promotes growth and yield, enhances resistance to environmental stress, improves nutrient uptake from the soil, and boosts antioxidant properties. Tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) is an herb widely used as a flavoring agent in the food industry, with its essential oil playing a key role in canning and perfumery. Because seaweed extract serves as a natural biofertilizer, providing essential nutrients and plant growth hormones while being environmentally friendly, it represents a viable alternative to chemical fertilizers. Moreover, it enhances plant resilience to various environmental stresses and contributes to sustainable food production. This study aims to investigate the effects of seaweed extract on the growth and biochemical characteristics of tarragon under drought stress conditions.Methodology: This study was conducted to investigate the growth, physiological, and biochemical characteristics of the medicinal plant tarragon (Artemisia dracunculus L.) under drought stress at four levels (100%, 80%, 60%, and 40% field capacity) and foliar application of aqueous Sargassum seaweed extract at three concentrations (0 g/L [control], 1 g/L, and 2 g/L). The experiment was carried out in the spring of 2023 in a greenhouse located in Damavand, using a factorial arrangement based on a completely randomized design with three replications. Four-leaf tarragon seedlings were obtained from the training farm of Damavand Technical and Vocational School and transplanted into three-liter pots. After a 10-day establishment period, drought stress was applied for 45 days, with foliar spraying of seaweed extract performed every two weeks, starting simultaneously with the onset of drought stress. Soil moisture levels in the pots were monitored daily by weighing them, and water was added as needed to maintain the target field capacity for each treatment. Plant sampling was conducted one week to 10 days after the completion of treatments, coinciding with the transition from vegetative to reproductive growth. Morphophysiological traits, including fresh and dry biomass, plant height, and the number of secondary branches, were measured. Additionally, biochemical parameters such as proline content, soluble carbohydrates, total phenol and flavonoid content, antioxidant activity, and essential oil yield and percentage were analyzed.Results: The results indicated that under severe drought stress (40% field capacity) and in the absence of seaweed extract application, there was a significant reduction in morphophysiological traits, including plant height, main stem diameter, number of secondary branches, fresh and dry weight of aerial parts, and photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, and total chlorophyll). However, the application of seaweed extract mitigated the adverse effects of drought stress on tarragon. Under mild drought stress (60% field capacity) without seaweed extract application, the highest levels of total phenol (82 mg/g gallic acid), total flavonoid (64.33 mg/g quercetin), antioxidant activity (76%), and essential oil yield and percentage were observed. Drought stress also enhanced the activity of antioxidant enzymes, leading to increased synthesis of soluble carbohydrates and proline compared to the control. Among the tested seaweed extract concentrations, the application of 2 g/L had the most significant positive impact on the evaluated traits, further improving plant resilience and biochemical responses under drought-stress conditions.Conclusion: The overall findings of this study indicate that tarragon exhibits limited resistance to drought stress, with a noticeable decline in yield as stress intensity increases. Under drought conditions, the application of seaweed extract, particularly at a concentration of 2 g/L, effectively mitigated the adverse effects of stress by enhancing morphophysiological and phytochemical traits, including total phenol, flavonoid content, and essential oil yield. In most cases, the difference between 2 g/L and 1 g/L of seaweed extract was statistically significant, with 2 g/L demonstrating superior effectiveness. Therefore, the application of 2 g/L seaweed extract is recommended to improve drought tolerance and maintain yield in tarragon under water-limited conditions.
Phytochemistry (extraction, identification and measurement of active components)
Fatemeh Mahdi-Navasi; Bohloul Abaszadeh; Vahid Abdossi; Razieh Azimi; Marjan Diyanat
Abstract
Bachground and objective: Satureja mutica Fisch & C.A. Mey is a perennial plant that can be cultivated under irrigation conditions and in rainfed drylands. It has anti-flatulent, appetizing, sexual enhancement, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial effects. Drying increases product ...
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Bachground and objective: Satureja mutica Fisch & C.A. Mey is a perennial plant that can be cultivated under irrigation conditions and in rainfed drylands. It has anti-flatulent, appetizing, sexual enhancement, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial effects. Drying increases product shelf life by stopping enzymes, pathogens, and microorganisms. The factors that affect essential oils and their content are temperature, drying time, and the type of plant. Microwaves for drying are one of the newer methods. Their advantages include shortening drying time, maintaining quality, reducing energy consumption, preserving dried plants' color, and improving effective ingredients.Methodology: The flowering shoots were collected from the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands research farm in 2019. Plants in the insectarium were exposed to UV-B light treatment through UV-B lamps. The plants were turned over every half hour. Irradiation agents were selected based on the preliminary test, including durations of 0, 2.5, 5, and 10 hours. After irradiation, the samples were stored in sealed bags under two conditions: refrigerator at 4°C and room temperature. The storage time was 0, 120, and 240 hours. Therefore, the sources of variation include irradiation duration in four levels (0, 2.5, 5, and 10 hours), storage conditions in two conditions (room temperature 25-27°C and fridge with a temperature of 4°C), and storage duration factor in three levels (0, 120 and 240 hours).202 grams of fresh samples (equivalent to 80 grams of dry matter) and 80 grams of dried samples in other treatments were extracted by water distillation in 3 repetitions for 2 hours. The obtained essential oils were stored in sealed bottles inside the refrigerator at 4 °C until injected into GC and GC/MS devices for quantitative and qualitative analysis. Carbohydrate, phenol, and free radical inhibition (by the DPPH method) were measured. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 18, and the means were compared with the LSD test at P ≥ 0.05.Results: Variance analysis of essential oil percentage showed that UV-B factor, storage condition (SC), storage time (ST) at the 1% level, and SC ST interaction at the 5% level had a significant effect. Due to the increase in irradiation duration, the percentage of essential oil extracted from the plant increased. This percentage increased to 0.42% in the control and 0.71% in the 10-hour treatment. Based on a mean comparison, the amount of essential oil in the shade increased from 0.48% to 0.54%. Mean comparison of the effect of storage conditions (SC) on storage time (ST) revealed that the highest percentage was related to the shade storage treatment for 240 hours with 0.61%. The mean comparison of the interaction effect of the three treatments showed that the percentage of thymol was the highest at 45% in the conditions without irradiation refrigerator×without storage. The results of the simple correlation of the traits demonstrated that thymol had a significant negative relationship with α-thujone, α-terpenine, and carvacrol. Carvacrol showed a significant negative correlation with major compounds, paracymene and thymol. It was observed that the highest antioxidant activity was obtained from 10 hours of UV-B radiation. A mean comparison of the effect of UV-B rays on the amount of phenol indicated that its amount increased in the 2.5-hour treatment compared to the other treatments. The highest antioxidant percentage could be achieved after 10 hours of irradiation in the refrigerator for 240 hours.Conclusion: The conversion of compounds occurs by irradiation of UV-B rays in the drying stages, and the amount of paracymene and thymol is reduced, and the amount of carvacrol is increased. Therefore, in S. mutica, which has thymol and carvacrol compounds, drying treatments aiming to increase the specific composition can be very effective. Also, the amount of thymol and carvacrol in dried plants may decrease compared to fresh plants. The increase in antioxidant activity in the treatment of 10 hours of UV-B radiation confirms the viability of plant cells and their efforts to prevent environmental stress through the increase of antioxidant enzymes.
Improvement and breeding
H. Asgarian; V. Abdossi; E. Danaee; A. Ladan Moghadam
Abstract
Salinity stress is one of the most important factors in reducing the crop yield in the world. The application of humic acid along with selenium can improve the plant yield under salinity stress conditions by increasing the antioxidant capacity. To evaluate the effects of humic acid and selenium application ...
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Salinity stress is one of the most important factors in reducing the crop yield in the world. The application of humic acid along with selenium can improve the plant yield under salinity stress conditions by increasing the antioxidant capacity. To evaluate the effects of humic acid and selenium application under salinity stress conditions in Calendula officinalis L., a factorial greenhouse experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications in Islamshahr city in 2018. The experimental treatments included sodium chloride (0, 50, and 100 mg l-1), humic acid (0, 100, and 200 mg l-1), and selenium (0, 5, and 10 mg l-1) and their combined effects. The results showed that increasing the salinity significantly reduced the fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots and number of flowers per plant. The foliar application of 200 mg l-1 humic acid and 10 mg l-1 selenium improved carotenoids content of the petals and total chlorophyll of the leaves at all salinity levels. Also, with increasing the sodium chloride level up to 100 mg l-1, the amount of proline increased significantly. Meanwhile, the interaction treatments of humic acid and selenium had significant effects (P≤0.0.1) on improving the activity of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase enzymes at different salinity levels. The highest amount of essential oil (1.37%) was obtained in the interaction treatment of 200 mg l-1 humic acid and 10 mg l-1 selenium under salinity stress of 50 mg l-1 sodium chloride. In general, the results of this study showed that the foliar application of 200 mg l-1 humic acid and 10 mg l-1 selenium could be effective in reducing the negative effects of salinity stress on C. officinalis.
Improvement and breeding
E. Danaee; V. Abdossi
Abstract
Salinity is one of the most important abiotic environmental stresses which restricts the growth and production of plants. On the other hand, silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element in the soil and alleviates the biotic and abiotic stresses in the plants. For this purpose, a greenhouse experiment ...
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Salinity is one of the most important abiotic environmental stresses which restricts the growth and production of plants. On the other hand, silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element in the soil and alleviates the biotic and abiotic stresses in the plants. For this purpose, a greenhouse experiment was conducted as a factorial in a completely randomized statistical design with three replications to investigate the effects of silicon and nano-silicon (50 and 100 mg l-1) on some morphophysiological and phytochemical properties of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) under salinity stress at the different levels of sodium chloride (0, 50, and 100 mg l-1) in 2019. The results showed that the salinity stress significantly reduced the fresh and dry weight of aerial parts and root, and chlorophyll, total phenol, and protein contents. The activity of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase enzymes and essential oil percentage differed at the different salinity levels. The amount of proline also increased significantly due to the sodium chloride treatment of 100 mg l-1. The plants treatment with the different levels of silicon and nano-silicon reduced the negative effects of salinity stress on the evaluated indices. The nano-silicon treatment of 100 mg l-1 showed the highest inhibition of salinity stress effects on the growth indices, antioxidant enzymes activity, and essential oil percentage. Therefore, according to the results of this research, the foliar application of silicon and nano-silicon could be recommended to reduce the negative effects of salinity stress on peppermint.
Phytochemistry (extraction, identification and measurement of active components)
V. Abdossi; B. Tavakoli; A. Mehrafarin; H.A. Naghdibadi
Abstract
To evaluate the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Echinophora platyloba DC. under the influence of different drying methods, an experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 12 treatments and three replications in 2019. The experimental treatments included fresh plant, ...
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To evaluate the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Echinophora platyloba DC. under the influence of different drying methods, an experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 12 treatments and three replications in 2019. The experimental treatments included fresh plant, drying the plant in the shade and sun, drying the plant with an oven at three temperatures of 45, 55, and 65 °C, drying the plant with a vacuum oven at three temperatures of 45, 55, and 65 °C, and drying the plant with a microwave at three powers of 200, 400, and 600 W. The aerial parts of the plant was collected from the heights of Tuyserkan city in Hamedan province in June and was affected by the different drying methods. The essential oil was extracted by Clevenger apparatus and then its components were identified by GC-MS. The findings of this study showed that the different methods of plant drying had a significant effect on the percentage and all the components of essential oil. The microwave drying method at 400 W, despite not being suitable for preserving the secondary metabolites of the plant, caused the highest essential oil content. The shade-drying method, despite the long drying time, was the most suitable method for preserving the essential oil composition in E. platyloba. The essential oil percentage in this study ranged from 0.06% to 0.39% and the main essential oil constituents included trans-β-ocimene (34.16-57.52%), α-phellandrene (8.87-16.52%), cis-ocimene (1.69-4.57%), b-phellandrene (2.08-9.24%), p < /em>-cymene (1.53-5.05%), β-pinene (0.73-1.94%), a-pinene (1.83-5.15%), veloutone (0.39-3.78%), trans-carveol (0.38-1.92%), linalool (0.72-3.57%), and germacrene-D (1.67-4.91%).
A. Moghadam; M. Saidi; V. Abdossi; M. Mirab-balou; Z. Tahmasebi
Abstract
Plant-derived extracts and essential oils may function as environmentally friendly non-persistent bio-pesticides that are safe for humans as well as other animals. In this study, we investigated the effects of six endemic plant extracts as well as commercial insecticides against Bemisia tabaci and some ...
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Plant-derived extracts and essential oils may function as environmentally friendly non-persistent bio-pesticides that are safe for humans as well as other animals. In this study, we investigated the effects of six endemic plant extracts as well as commercial insecticides against Bemisia tabaci and some physiological responses in cucumber as the host plant at field conditions. The plant extracts and Stamipride as chemical pesticide were sprayed on the plants at 250, 500 and 1000 ppm concentrations. All extracts led to the reduced number of adults as compared with control, among which the greatest impact on the control of this pest was recorded for the extract of Oliveria decombens. Application of all extracts especially at concentrations of 500 and 1000 ppm significantly increased the number of first and second grade fruits. The content of potassium significantly increased and the content of calcium decreased by increasing the concentration of extracts from 250 to 1000 ppm. Results showed that application of extracts and pesticide, especially at high concentrations, imposed negative effects on plant and significantly increased the antioxidant activity in cucumber leaves. In general, all extracts used, especially the extract of Oliveria decombens at a low concentration(250 ppm)was extremely efficient in controlling the adult population of Bemisia tabaci without adverse effects on host plants compared with the commercial insecticide.
F. Bahadori; E. Sharifi Ashorabadi; M. Mirza; M. Matinizade; V. Abdosi
Abstract
In order to study the effects of interactions between the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on some elements content, dry matter yield and root colonisation in organic cultivation of Thymus daenensis Celak, an experiment was conducted at semnan natural resource ...
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In order to study the effects of interactions between the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on some elements content, dry matter yield and root colonisation in organic cultivation of Thymus daenensis Celak, an experiment was conducted at semnan natural resource research field at shahmirzad, in 2011-2012. Treatments included: A: the fungus of Glomus moseae (1-inoculated (AM) and 2- no inoculated) and B: PGPR inoculums (1- Bacillus subtilis 2- Pseudomonas fluorescens 3- control). A factorial experiment design was applied in a randomized complete blocks design with six treatments and three replications. Results showed that foliar K contents and root colonisation increased significantly with the G. moseae inoculation and the foliar P contents increased significantly with the B. subtilis inoculation alone. There was negative interactions between G. moseae and P. fluorescens on dry matter yield and nutrient uptake. The most effective treatment was observed in the co- inoculation with G. moseae and B. subtilis, which synergistically increased dry matter yield and nutrient uptake campared with singly inoculated or non- inoculated plants.
