Agriculture and horticulture
Afsoon Rezaie Allolo; Azizollah Kheiry; Mohsen Sanikhani; Maliheh Yaghoobi
Abstract
Background and objectives: Digitalis purpurea L., the most well-known species of the Digitalis genus, is a biennial plant containing cardiac glycosides (0.3 to 0.4%) in its leaves. These glycosides are extracted and used as natural medicines for treating heart diseases, with no chemical ...
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Background and objectives: Digitalis purpurea L., the most well-known species of the Digitalis genus, is a biennial plant containing cardiac glycosides (0.3 to 0.4%) in its leaves. These glycosides are extracted and used as natural medicines for treating heart diseases, with no chemical substitutes available, making them widely utilized annually. In recent years, using amino acids and growth regulators as alternatives to chemical compounds has gained popularity for enhancing secondary metabolites, improving the quality and quantity of agricultural products, and promoting sustainable agriculture. This study investigates the biochemical and growth responses of D. purpurea to foliar applications of glutamic acid and benzyladenine under greenhouse conditions to evaluate their effects on morphophysiological characteristics, yield improvement, and their potential as environmentally friendly alternatives to chemical fertilizers.Methodology: A completely randomized design with three replications was conducted in the research greenhouse of the University of Zanjan to evaluate the effects of foliar applications of benzyladenine (0.5 and 1 mM) and glutamic acid (1 and 2 mM), along with a control treatment (distilled water). Seeds were initially planted in a seedling tray containing cocopeat and peat moss. At the four-leaf stage, three seedlings were transplanted into plastic pots filled with a culture medium of field soil, cocopeat, and perlite (1:1:3 ratio). Greenhouse conditions were maintained at average day and night temperatures of 25°C and 18°C, respectively, with 80% relative humidity. Seedlings were irrigated weekly with 100 mL of complete Hoagland solution. Foliar spraying with the treatments began after seedling establishment in late June and was repeated four times at 10-day intervals. Leaf samples were collected 10 days after the final application for laboratory analysis. Data were analyzed using SAS software (version 9), and means were compared using Duncan’s multiple range test at a 5% probability level.Results: The application of 1 mM benzyladenine resulted in the highest total chlorophyll content (1.95 mg/g fresh weight), antioxidant activity (36.02%), and peroxidase enzyme activity (1.14 U/mg protein per minute). The maximum total carotenoid content (0.14 mg/g fresh weight), total phenol (12.52 mg gallic acid/g fresh weight), total flavonoid (2.86 mg quercetin/g fresh weight), and nitrogen content (1.46%) were achieved with one mM glutamic acid. Additionally, one mM glutamic acid application led to the highest catalase enzyme activity (4.09 U/mg protein per minute), fresh weight (123.51 g), and dry weight (47.38 g).Conclusion: The findings suggest that applying glutamic acid and benzyladenine at varying levels can significantly enhance the biochemical and growth characteristics of Digitalis purpurea L.
Improvement and breeding
S. Madadkhani; A. Kheiry; M. Arghavani; M. Sanikhani; Z. Mohkami
Abstract
The use of elicitors to produce the environmentally friendly biological products and in conjunction with the modern agriculture can increase the qualitative and quantitative growth of plants and reduce the effects of environmental stresses on them. To investigate the effects of biostimulants under the ...
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The use of elicitors to produce the environmentally friendly biological products and in conjunction with the modern agriculture can increase the qualitative and quantitative growth of plants and reduce the effects of environmental stresses on them. To investigate the effects of biostimulants under the low irrigation stress on the morphological and phytochemical characteristics of Dracocephalum moldavica L., a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design in the Zanjan University research farm in three replications in 2019. The main factor was the irrigation (100 and 70% of field capacity) and the sub-factor was the foliar application of elicitors including saffron extract (0.01 and 0.05%), ginseng extract (0.5 and 1%), amino acid L-cysteine (50 and 100 μM), and control treatment (no foliar application) at the four-, eight-, and twelve-leaf stages. The morphological and phytochemical traits were evaluated at the 90% flowering stage of the plants. In the present experiment, the highest amount of total chlorophyll (35.68 mg / g FW), carotenoids (9.18 mg / g FW), and relative leaf water content (83.20%) was obtained under the full irrigation conditions stimulated by the 50 μM L-cysteine treatment. While under the water stress conditions, the highest content of total phenols (33.17 mg GA / g DW), total flavonoids (1.53 mg QE / g DW), and antioxidant capacity (95.37%) was obtained in the no foliar application of elicitors treatment. The highest essential oil percentage (0.38%) was observed in the 100 μM L-cysteine treatment under the full irrigation conditions. Although the morphological parameters of D. moldavica had their highest values under the full irrigation conditions, the low irrigation stress led to the synthesis of higher amounts of phenolics and flavonoids and the stronger antioxidant capacity.
Gh. Eghlima; A. Kheiry; M. Sanikhani; Javad Hadian; M. Aelaei
Abstract
Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) is one of the oldest and most important medicinal plants in Fabaceae, used for curing many diseases since 4000 years ago. This study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity of 22 different licorice populations based on morphological and yield traits at the research ...
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Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) is one of the oldest and most important medicinal plants in Fabaceae, used for curing many diseases since 4000 years ago. This study was conducted to evaluate the genetic diversity of 22 different licorice populations based on morphological and yield traits at the research field of the Faculty of Agriculture, Zanjan University, during 2016 to 2018. Morphological and yield traits including plant height and width, leaf length and width, number, length and width of leaflets, number of lateral branches, main stem diameter, aerial parts fresh and dry weight, root fresh and dry weight, root to aerial parts ratio and aerial parts and root yields (per m2) were measured. Canonical discriminant (CDA) and cluster (CA) analyses were used to group the populations. In CDA, the first two canonical variables were significant. The first canonical variable included plant height and width, main stem diameter, leaf length and the number of leaflets, and the second one included aerial parts fresh and dry weight, root fresh and dry weight, root and aerial parts yields. The second canonical variable had the greatest role in population separation and grouping. Canonical variables divided populations into four main groups and confirmed CA clustering results. In general, the results indicated the good potential of canonical discriminant analysis in evaluating the genetic diversity and identifying the index traits in licorice.
A. Kheiry; H. Tori; N. Mortazavi
Abstract
Peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) from Lamiaceae family is one of the most widely used medicinal plants. In addition to therapeutic effects, it is used as flavoring in the production of various foods and medicinal products. In addition to genotype, the quality and quantity of active ingredients in medicinal ...
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Peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) from Lamiaceae family is one of the most widely used medicinal plants. In addition to therapeutic effects, it is used as flavoring in the production of various foods and medicinal products. In addition to genotype, the quality and quantity of active ingredients in medicinal plants are influenced by environmental factors. This research was aimed to study the effects of drought stress and jasmonic acid on the quality and quantity of peppermint as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design at University of Zanjan in 2015. The treatments consisted of three irrigation levels [50%, 75%, and 100% (control) of field capacity] as main factor and three concentrations of jasmonic acid (0, 50, and 100 mg l-1) as sub-factor. Rhizomes of plants were used for plant production. The plant samples were collected at flowering stage and after drying in the shade, the essential oil was extracted with water distillation method by Clevenger apparatus. The essential oil components were identified by GC and GC-MS. The results showed that the highest fresh and dry weight, height, total chlorophyll and relative leaf water content were obtained in control with 100 mg l-1 jasmonic acid. The highest peroxidase enzyme content was obtained at 50% field capacity drought stress with 100 mg l-1 jasmonic acid. The highest essential oil content was obtained at 75% field capacity drought stress with application of 50 mg l-1 jasmonic acid. The main essential oil components were menthol, menthon, 1,8-cineole, cyclohexanol, and methyl acetate. The highest amounts of menthol, menton, and 1,8-cineole were obtained from 100 mg l-1 jasmonic acid and the highest amount of cyclohexanol was obtained from 50 mg l-1 jasmonic acid. However, application of jasmonic acid decreased the amount of methyl acetate from 7.24% in control to 0.56% in 100 mg l-1 of JA treatment.
