Plant Productions
Year:2017 | Volume:39 | Issue:4|Papers Count:11

Background and Objectives: Opium poppy plant (Papaver somniferum L.) is one of the oldest known medicinal plants. Since the potential of medicinal components production in medicinal plants is very limited in natural conditions, plant tissue culture, as a new technology, has an important role in industrial production of secondary metabolites in medicinal plants. Among different tissue culture systems, hairy root is very stable in hormone-free culture conditions and these roots stably produce secondary metabolites over a long period due to their inherent genetic and biochemical stability. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of some different parameters on optimization of hairy production in P. somniferum.Materials and methods: In the present research, for the optimization of hairy root in papaver, a factorial experiment was conducted based on a completely randomized design with 4 replications. The factors included different Agrobacterium rhizogenes strains (ATCC15834, A4 and GMI9534), medium (MS and ½ MS medium), two temperatures (17 and 25oC) at co-cultivation period, and two different explants (excised shoot and hypocotyl). Different traits were evaluated including percentage of induced hairy roots, number of lateral branches/1cm, number of hairy root per explants and days after inoculation (DAI).Results: Hairy roots were induced at the wound site of explants after weeks of culture. Analysis of the results showed that strain ATCC15834, 1/2 MS medium, temperature 25oC and excised shoot explant were the best treatment combination for hairy roots induction in the poppy plant. Transformed hairy roots were confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using rolB gene specific primers.Discussion: All of the A. rhizogenes strains led to hairy root induction, but there were no hairy roots formed from control explants. Differences in virulence, morphology and growth rate can be partially explained by the variety of plasmids harbored by the A. rhizogenesis strains. In the present study, excised shoot explants were highly and significantly susceptible to infection by each strain of A. rhizogenes and hypocotyl explants showed low rate of hairy root induction.

Background and Objectives: Seed priming is a type of pre-sowing seed treatment known to improve seed performance by increasing seed germination rate and uniformity. Another factor which could be helpful for rapid and uniform germination and emergence is seed size. Seed size is a component of seed quality which has an impact on the performance of crop. The main objective of this work was to study the effect of priming and seed size on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of two onion genotypes. Materials and methods: In order to evaluate the effect of priming and seed size on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of onion genotypes a factorial field experiment based on a randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in 2012 and 2013 cropping season at Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Center of  East Azarbayjan, Iran. The experimental treatments included priming (at four levels: hydro priming, osmopriming (in 2% KNO3), priming with folammin amino acid (in 2%) and control (without priming), seed size (at three levels: small, medium and large) and genotype (at two levels: Red Azarshahr and Zargan). Quantitative characteristics included bulb fresh and dry yield, bulb, leave fresh and dry weight and qualitative characteristics included percentages of soluble solids and dry matter, bulb pH, pyruvic acid content, bulb and Leave ash of onion.Results: Analysis of variance for the measured traits indicated that all characteristics significantly were affected by priming and seed size. Results showed that seed priming and seed size improved quantitative and qualitative characteristics of onions. The highest bulb fresh and dry yield, total soluble solids and dry matter, were obtained from plant that primed with folammin amino acid 58.17, 7.27 (tha-1), 12.54, 13.67 percent, respectively, and the lowest were achieved from control plants. Also, mean comparison indicated that the higher values of bulb fresh and dry yield, total soluble solids and dry matter were obtained from large seed size 58.99, 7.37 (tha-1), 11.14, 12.45 percent, respectively and the lower values were found to belong to small seed size. Genotypes mean comparison showed that the higher values of bulb fresh and dry yield, total soluble solids and dry matter were obtained from Red Azarshahr cultivar 53.46, 6.68 (tha-1), 12.62, 11.81 percent, respectively.Discussion: According to the results mentioned above, seed priming treatments improved quantitative and qualitative characteristics as compared to the unprimed. Among the treatments, seed priming with folammin amino acid 2% was more effective than the potassium nitrite 2% and hydropriming. Large seed size significantly increased the quantitative and qualitative characteristics. Accordingly, the importance of seed priming and seed grading was obvious in this study, so seed priming with folammin amino acid 2% and large seed size should be used for onion planting in order to improve quantitative and qualitative characteristics of onion. Therefore priming with folammin amino acid 2% and large seed are recommended for onion planting for the places with the same environmental conditions.

Background and Objectives: Iran is home of one of the most delightful and graceful flower of Fritillaria in the world. Its habitation is commonly expanded on the vast areas: growing in beds, borders, backgrounds and rock gardens. Besides, it is also suitable for naturalizing and excellent for cut flowers. Fritillaria imperialis as a medicinal plant has pharmaceutical purpose in which possesses a health beneficial essence that used in production of mucus and cough medicine. In addition, extractions of plant tissues contain certain of properties which affect to reduce blood pressure and blood sugar. Unfortunately, the habitation of this ornamental plant is under threat and majority of its habitation already being to ruin due to human activities and urbanization. The propagation of Fritillaria through offsets (bulblets) is prolonging approach which takes approximately 3-4 years. Whereas, using tissue culture technique for flower production is required less time probably within a few months and economically has a huge advantage due to low cost and a numerous plant production in a short time.Materials and methods: This research was carried out in four experiments: callus formation, bulblet production, root formation and acclimatization. In the present study, a factorial experiment was assigned as completed randomized design (CRD) with three replications. In the first experiment, leaf primordia and scale explants were cultured on MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of NAA and IBA in order to produce callus formation. In the second experiment, the calli were cultured on organogenesis medium which were contained MS medium supplement, with kin. and TDZ, after 6 and 12 weeks. In the third experiment, the bulblets were transferred into rooting media, which were contained MS medium supplemented with different concentrations of NAA (0, 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/l). In the fourth experiment, after washing the bulblet whit warm distilled water (40oC) that contain 2.0 mg/l benlate fungicide, they then were planted into the pots containing sterilized perlite, cocopeat and perlite along with cocopeat.Results: In the first experiment, the results demonstrated that the highest weight of callus (3.29g) was sustained in scale explants on basal MS medium which was supplemented with 0.5mg/l NAA along with 0.5mg/l IBA. In second experiment, the result indicated that the numerous of bulblets were developed on MS medium supplemented with 0.5mg/l TDZ along with 0.5mg/l kin. Which of these, the callus scale were produced on MS medium supplemented with 0.5mg/l NAA. In the third experiment, in order to retain rooting the bulblets, they were cultured on MS medium supplemented with different concentration of NAA. The result elucidated that the large quantity of roots (7.7) were obtained from leaf primordia on MS medium supplemented with 1.0mg/l NAA. In the fourth experiment, rooted bulblets were washed with warm distilled water for 5-10min, and then they were transferred into pots with perlite, cocopeat and perlite + cocopeat.Discussion: The results revealed information that the rooted bulblets from scale growing on cocopeat substrate had retained the most diameter (21.64mm) as compared to other treatments. The finding results under this investigation strongly suggested that using micropropagation it is definitely a possible trend to abolish the barriers which caused to deteriorate of Fritillaria imperiallis.

Background and objectives: Proper plant nutrition is very important for high productivity and fruit quality. Strawberry has more need for potassium because this element is a major component of the fruit. Size, colour, and acidity of the fruit have a positive relation with potassium amount. Also, the phenyl phthalamic acid is a regulator that increases the working life of stigma and supports the better pollination, which results in a higher yield. This study was performed to increase the quantity and quality of strawberry fruits.Materials and Methods: To study the effect of potassium nitrate and phenyl phthalamic acid on vegetative and reproductive growth of strawberry cv. Gaviota, a research was conducted as factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications. Potassium nitrate (0, 1, 2 and 5 g.l-1) and phenyl phthalamic acid (0, 500, 1000 and 1500 mg.l-1) were sprayed on leaves and flowers, respectively. The parameters such as inflorescense and fruit number, yield per plant, fresh and dry weight of fruit, TSS, TA and N, P, K and Ca content of leaf and fruit were measured.Results: The results showed that the use of 5 g.l-1 of potassium nitrate or 500 mg.l-1 phenyl phthalamic acid had the greatest effect on the fresh and dry weight of fruit. Also, potassium nitrate in concentration of 2 g.l-1 has a significant effect on the number of inflorescences and phosphorus of leaves and fruits. The highest number of fruits (26 fruits per plant) with 2 g.l-1 potassium nitrate and the highest yield per plant (541.2 g) and TSS juice (8.3) with 2 g.l-1 potassium nitrate + 500 mg.l-1 phenyl phthalamic acid were obtained.Discussion: The phenyl phthalamic acid could increase fruit setting, which resulted in a yield increase too, especially when it was applied with potassium nitrate. In general, the use of potassium nitrate and phenyl phthalamic acid in concentration of 2 g.l-1 and 500 mg.l-1, respectively, resulted in increase of yield and qualitative and quantitative traits of strawberry.

Background and Objectives: Traditional propagation method of pomegranate by hard wood and soft wood cuttings does not ensure disease-free and healthy plants and it depends on the season. Hence, developing an efficient in vitro technique for the propagation of pomegranate is of great importance. On the other hand, in vitro propagation of pomegranate is also an essential step in the success of regeneration of transgenic lines and determines the effectiveness of a transformation protocol. Therefore, this study was performed to develop an efficient in vitro propagation method for ‘Malas Yazdi’ and ‘Rabab’, two Iranian leading pomegranate cultivars.Materials and methods: For proliferation stage, WPM media supplemented with different concentrations (2.2, 4.4, 8.8 and 17.6 mM) of benzyladenine (BA) along with 0.54 mM NAA was used. To determine the effect of silver nitrate on in vitro propagation, explants were transferred to WPM medium containing 8.8 mM BA and 0.54 mM NAA supplemented with various levels of AgNO3 (5-35 mM).Results: For both cultivars, the best concentration of benzyladenine (BA) was 8.8 mM resulting in the highest shoot length (3.91 cm), leaf number (10.60) and node number (4.30). Adding 25 mM silver nitrate (AgNO3) to this medium significantly enhanced shoot number (4.90), shoot length (4.24), leaf number (12.30) and node number (6.10). Half-strength WPM medium supplemented with 5.4 mM NAA was most effective for rooting of shoots. Rooted plantlets were successfully acclimatized and transferred into soil. The micropropagated plants were morphologically uniform and exhibited similar growth characteristics and vegetative morphology to the mother plants.Discussion: The result of this research may be used as a step for breeding of pomegranate using genetic engineering approaches.

Background and Objectives: Grapes are generally grown in different regions of Iran. Quality of table grapes is usually considered as a combination of appearance and flavor during shelf-life. Brassinosteroids are considered to be a class of plant polyhydroxysteroids and have been recognized as a new kind of phytohormones that play an essential role in plant development. Researchers studied the brassinosteroids levels in cucumber through a chemical genetics approach and found that BR levels were positively correlated with the tolerance to cold stresses. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effects of BR on chilling d, lipid peroxidation content, and the induction of antioxidant enzymes, such as ascorbate peroxidase and superoxide dismutasein “Rish Baba” grape fruit during storage at 0-1oC.Materials and methods: Grape fruits were harvested and transported to the laboratory on the same day. The harvested fruits were washed, and dried in air. Grape fruits were treated with 0 (control), 0.75 and 1.5 milligram per liter brassinosteroid for 5 min and then stored at 0-1oC, 85-90 % relative humidity for 6 weeks. Characteristics such as chilling injury, ion leakage, lipid peroxidation, and activity of antioxidant enzymes were evaluated.Results: Results showed that brassinosteroid significantly reduced the chilling injury, ion leakage, lipid peroxidation and hydrogen peroxide, in treated fruits, compared to control. According to these results, pH and ascorbic acid of treated and controlled fruits increased during storage while titratable acidity of fruits decreased. As for brassinosteroid treatment, the pattern of mentioned changes reduced lower than control. So, the activity of antioxidant enzymes of fruits treated with brassinosteroid highly increased compared to control during storage. Fruits treated with 1.5 mgL-1 brassinosteroid showed the best effect with lowest chilling injury.Discussion: In the present study, the plant hormone BR was applied and the results indicated that BR significantly reduces CI of grape fruits during storage at 0-1oC. Our finding was consistent with previous reports that exogenous application of BR is effective in protecting seedlings of rice, maize and cucumber against cold stress. CI occurrence is often accompanied by oxidative damage, which can be followed through lipid peroxidation content, since it is a final product of lipid peroxidation. In this study, there was a continuous increase in fresh tissue lipid peroxidation content in all fruits, but the application of BR significantly delayed the increase of lipid peroxidation. Moreover, the change in membrane permeability showed trends similar to lipid peroxidation content; that is, fresh tissue H2O2 content increased with storage duration, but BR markedly delayed the increase. BR has been considered to be involved in a network of interacting signal transduction pathways, which regulate defense responses to abiotic stress. When horticultural crops are exposed to severe abiotic stresses, including cold stress, large amounts of intracellular ROS are generated. The detoxification of ROS is dependent on antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase. The increase in these enzymes’ activity contributes to the adaptation of plants to cold stress and ameliorates oxidative damage such as lipid peroxidation and H2O2 content.

Results: The results showed that both traits were affected significantly by different levels of copper, lead, cultivars and their interaction.

Background and Objectives: Horse Mint (Mentha longifolia synMentha sylvestris) is a valuable medicinal and aromatic plant belonging to Lamiaceae family. This plant has been used traditionally as stimulative, tonic, antispasm, antiflatulence, gall bladderastringent and mild soothing in Iran. The aim of this study was to evaluate the essential oils content and composition of Mentha longifolia L. from five wild habitats of Fars province.Materials and methods: The aerial parts of Mentha longifolia L. at flowering stage were collected from the wild habitats of these plants and dried in shadow. The air-dried aerial parts of samples were subjected to hydrodistillation method, using Clevenger apparatus. The constituents of essential oils were determined by GC and GC/MS.Results: The results showed that the highest and lowest oil content were obtained from Marvdasht (5.5%) and Larestan (1.17%) ecotypes, respectively. In total, 33, 32, 26, 27 and 28 components were identified and quantified in the oil samples of Sepidan, Waterfall Margoon, Jahrum, Larestan and Marodasht ecotypes, respectively. In general, essential oils were characterized by high amounts of oxygenated monoterpene compounds. The major components were pulegone (25.36-53.44%), piperitenone (4.93-43.9%), 1, 8-cineole (1.1-13.33%), piperitenone oxid (1.06-19.33%) and menthone (0.98-10.28%).Discussion: According to the medicinal value of pulegone, in this research the horse mint oil had high percentage of this compound and can be concluded that the plant from Fars provience is a rich source of pulegone. For obtaining the highest oil content and pulegone, the best ecotypes were Marvdasht and Waterfall Margoon, respectively.

Background and Objectives: Environmental pollution is the result of industrial societies and industrialization of human society. Copper is an essential micronutrient for plants growth and development when the copper concentration in the water is high, as one of the most toxic heavy metals for living organisms. Some plants are known as copper accumulator. Watercress (Nasturtium officinale) is an aquatic plant species from Brassicaceae family. Greenhouse experiments have showed that watercress has high accumulation ability of some heavy metals.Material and methods: This study aimed to examine the effects of copper on growth and physiological characteristics of Nasturtium officinale. Accordingly, effects of different levels of copper sulfate (0, 4, 8, 12, 16 mM) in N. officinale in a complete randomized design with three replications were studied. Rooted cuttings of N. officinale were transferred to hydroponic culture, in 1-L polyethylene pots containing a modified half-strength Hoagland’s solution. Nutrient solutions were renewed weekly and plants were grown in a growth chamber (20.15oC day/night; light intensity 200 mE m-2 s-1, 16 h day-1; relative humidity 75%). After 14 days of pre-culture, plants were exposed to different levels of copper sulfate. The plants were harvested for analysis after having grown in the test solution for 2 weeks.Results: The results showed that in the 4 mM copper treatment, fresh and dry weight of shoots, shoot length, leaf area and RWC increased, but at higher concentrations (8, 12, 16 mM) these characteristics significantly decreased. The root and shoot copper concentrations consistently increased with increasing copper exposure. At the 16 mM of copper in the nutrient solution, the average of copper concentrations in root and shoot was 4210 and 558 mg/g d.w., respectively. According to the results, shoot copper concentration was lower than the root and very little of that was transferred into the shoot.Discussion: In total, according to the results, copper sulfate significantly decreases the shoots and roots of fresh and dry weight as well as root length, shoot length and leaf area, and increases the total chlorophyll, but no significant effect on the amount of Protein, Carbohydrate, Anthocyanin and Carotenoid. Generally, the threshold of this plant is to 4 mM copper.

Background and Objectives: Accurate measurements of leaf area are important for agronomic and physiological studies. Leaf area can be calculated in two ways: direct and indirect. Direct methods for determining leaf area are a destructive method and need a planimeter to measure the total leaf area attached to shoots which are all time-consuming and tedious approaches. All direct methods are similar in that they are difficult, extremely labor-intensive, require many replicates to account for spatial variability in the canopy, and are therefore costly in terms of time and money and also destructive. In the indirect methods, leaf area was estimated through some crop vegetative characteristics which are less costly and time-consuming. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to examine different relationships between leaf area and some vegetative characteristics in safflower and to select the best characteristic for estimating leaf area.Materials and Methods: The field experiment was conducted with four safflower cultivars (411, Sina, Esfahan and Sofeh) in three planting dates (4April, 25 April and 16 May 2012) as arrangement factorial in randomized complete blocks design. During the growing season, every 5 or 10 days, the leaf area was measured by the planimeter (T Devices, Cambridge, UK). At the same time, leaf dry weight (LDW), stem dry weight (SDW), vegetative dry weight (VDW), node number on main stem (MSNN) and leaf number on main stem (MSLN) were measured. The relationships between leaf area and these vegetative characteristics were examined by the regression. Consequently, the best characteristic for estimating leaf area was selected by the high R2, r and low RMSD.Results: In this study, regression models were developed for estimating leaf area (LA) from measurements of main stem leaf number (MSLN), and main stem node number (MSNN), leaf dry weight (LDW), stem dry weight (LDW) and vegetative dry weight (VDW). On the basis of RMSD and coefficient correlation (r) between predicted and observed leaf area, LDW was found to be the best independent characteristic for determining the leaf area by the linear model. The values of RMSD varied from 39.9 to 61.4 and the values of r were higher than 0.96. Once there was no significant difference between model coefficients across cultivars we pooled all data and obtained a generalized linear model for estimating LA in all cultivars (LA=10.6+102.2LDW) with RMSD=52 and r=0.96.Discussions: Overall, this study suggests that in the absence of planimeter device, it may be appropriate to estimate leaf area using the relationship between LA and LDW. Also, because of the close relationship between LDW and LA than other relationships, this relationship can be used to estimate leaf area in simulation models.