Agriculture and horticulture
A. Koushki; A. Alinejadian-Bidabadi; A. Maleki
Abstract
To investigate the effects of rice husk biochar application on the various physiological and biochemical characteristics (fresh and aerial parts dry weight, plant height, percentage and essential oil yield,and content of chlorophylls, carotenoids, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) of peppermint ...
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To investigate the effects of rice husk biochar application on the various physiological and biochemical characteristics (fresh and aerial parts dry weight, plant height, percentage and essential oil yield,and content of chlorophylls, carotenoids, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) under different irrigation regimes, a factorial pot experiment with different levels of biochar (0, 3, and 6 t.ha-1) and irrigation (100% of full irrigation (control), 60, 80, and 120% of full irrigation) was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications in the research greenhouse of Lorestan University in 2019. The results showed that the highest and lowest of aerial parts fresh weight were obtained in the 3 t.ha-1 biochar + 120% of full irrigation (24.2 g.pot-1) and 3 t.ha-1 biochar + 60% of full irrigation (13.3 g.pot-1) treatments, respectively. At the 60% of full irrigation level, the dry weight, height, essential oil yield, and N and P concentration of the plant aerial parts significantly decreased by 39.8, 33.3, 26.2, 17.2, and 8.7%, respectively compared to the control; while the essential oil percentage and K concentration of aerial parts had an increasing trend. The amount of a, b, and total chlorophyll, and carotenoids decreased under the water stress conditions. The highest amount of total chlorophyll was observed in the 6 t.ha-1 biochar + 100% of full irrigation treatment. The application of 6 t.ha-1 biochar increased the fresh and aerial parts dry weight, plant height, percentage and essential oil yield, photosynthetic pigments, and N, P, and K concentration of aerial parts compared to the no biochar application, significantly. The results showed that the 6 t.ha-1 biochar + 120% of full irrigation treatment increased most of the traits studied. However, due to the importance of peppermint in terms of essential oil production, the highest essential oil percentage was obtained at the highest level of water stress.
Improvement and breeding
M. Beiranvandi; N. Akbari; A. Ahmadi; H. Mumivand; F. Nazarian
Abstract
To study the effect of biochar and superabsorbent on the chemical composition of Satureja rechingeri Jamzad essential oil, under drought stress conditions, a factorial split-plot experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2018-2019 at the Medicinal Plant ...
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To study the effect of biochar and superabsorbent on the chemical composition of Satureja rechingeri Jamzad essential oil, under drought stress conditions, a factorial split-plot experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2018-2019 at the Medicinal Plant Research Farm of Lorestan University. Treatments included drought stress as the main plot at three levels (100, 80, and 60% of water requirement) and cow manure biochar at two levels (0 and 10 ton ha-1), and stockosorb hydrogel at three levels (0, 60, and 120 mg plant-1) as subplots. Twenty-four compounds were identified in aerial parts essential oil of the plant using GC-MS. The main constituents included carvacrol (76.6%), γ-terpinene (5.8%), p < /em>-cymene (3%), terpinen-4-ol (2.5%), 1,8-cineole (2%), and linalool (0.9%). The results showed that the highest amount of carvacrol (90.8%) was observed in severe moisture stress+biochar+60 mg stockosorb and the lowest (73.8%) was observed in stress-free control treatment with biochar+120 mg stockosorb. The results showed that interactions between drought stress and biochar had a significant effect on essential oil yield. Also, no correlation was observed between the presence and absence of stockosorb superabsorbent with different compounds of Satureja rechingeri essential oil.
Z. Taghizadeh Tabari; H.R. Asghri; H. Abbasdokht; E. Babakhanzadeh sajirani
Abstract
Water deficit has been the major contributor to the decline in plant yield. Soil amendment and certain hormonal agents are some strategies applied to mitigate the adverse effects of drought stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of one soil modifier and one growth regulator ...
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Water deficit has been the major contributor to the decline in plant yield. Soil amendment and certain hormonal agents are some strategies applied to mitigate the adverse effects of drought stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of one soil modifier and one growth regulator on some physiological and morphological characteristics of Borago officinalis L. under water deficit conditions. The experiment was implemented as a split-factorial in a randomized complete block design with four replications at the research farm of Agriculture Faculty of Shahroud University of Technology, Iran during 2017- 2018. The main plots consisted of three levels of irrigation (usual irrigation every five days, irrigation every 10 and 15 days) and sub-plots consisted of biochar at three levels (0, 5 and 10 t ha-1) and salicylic acid at two levels (0 and 0.5 mM). Based on the results, biochar, salicylic acid, and water deficit factors affected the number of flowering stems, number of stems, stem height, the amount of chlorophylls a and b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoids significantly. Interactions between salicylic acid and water deficit levels had the most effects on carotenoids and chlorophyll b. Triple interaction of factors also affected the total dry weight, number of flowering stems, the number of stems, stem height, and chlorophyll b. Generally, water deficit stress decreased the amount of photosynthetic pigments and leaf growth indices of European borage compared to control, and salicylic acid and biochar reduced the negative effects on the amount of photosynthetic pigments. Therefore, the use of biochar as a soil modifier and salicylic acid as a growth regulator seems to be useful in ameliorating some of the negative effects of water stress on Borago officinalis.
M. Khajeh Haghverdi; M.R. Ardakani; B. Abbaszadeh; P. Nejatkhah Manavi
Abstract
In order to investigate the effect of vermicompost, biochar and mycorrhizal symbiosis on some qualitative and quantitative traits of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) as a medicinal plant, a split factorial experiment was implemented in the form of randomized complete blocks design with three replications. ...
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In order to investigate the effect of vermicompost, biochar and mycorrhizal symbiosis on some qualitative and quantitative traits of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) as a medicinal plant, a split factorial experiment was implemented in the form of randomized complete blocks design with three replications. The study was conducted at the experimental field of Agriculture and Natural Resources Faculty of Islamic Azad University, Karaj Branch, Mahdasht, Iran, in 2016. The factors were characterized as vermicompost in three levels (0, 6 and 12 ton/ha) as the main factor, biochar in three levels (0, 6 and 12 ton/ha) and mycorrhiza in two levels (non inoculation and inoculation) as the sub factors. Results showed that the main effect of factors on the mycorrhizal symbiosis percentage and grain phosphorus content was significant (P˂0.01). Analysis of variance between the interaction effects of vermicompost × biochar were significant on the LAI, dry fruit yield, grain yield and dry weight ratio of grain to fruit (P˂0.01) as well as on the number of lateral stem (P˂0.05). Mean comparison of the interaction effect of vermicompost × biochar showed that the application of 12 (ton/ha) vermicompost along with 12 (ton/ha) biochar resulted in the highest amount of LAI (12.28), number of lateral stem (13.33 number/ plant), dry fruit yield (619.51 kg/ha), grain yield (410.02 kg/ha) and dry weight ratio of grain to fruit (66.17%). Therefore, the use of vermicompost along with biochar is recommended in production of pumpkin.
Z. Bitarafan; H.R. Asghari; T. Hasanloo; A. Gholami; F. Moradi
Abstract
High demand for herbal medicines and the limited plant sources necessitates more research on these plants to increase their yield and effective compounds. The present study assessed the effect of biochar on yield and seed trigonelline content of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graceum L.) ecotypes under ...
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High demand for herbal medicines and the limited plant sources necessitates more research on these plants to increase their yield and effective compounds. The present study assessed the effect of biochar on yield and seed trigonelline content of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graceum L.) ecotypes under different irrigation regimes. Six branched fenugreek ecotypes including Dezful, Shushtar, Ardestan, Rehnan, Yazd and Khomeyni Shahr were treated by biochar application (at a rate of 7-8% of soil v/v) and non-application under two irrigation intervals of 4 (normal irrigation) and 8 (deficit irrigation) days using a split plot factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The study was conducted in the research field of Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran in 2015. According to the results, biochar application increased the seed yield and biological yield under both irrigation intervals. The decreasing effect of increasing water intervals on seed yield, biological yield and trigonelline yield was observed in all ecotypes. Changes in seed trigonelline content did not follow a similar trend in different ecotypes. In summary, although biochar prevented the growth and yield reduction by decreasing water deficiency effects, itdid not have any significant effect on seed trigonelline content.
