AGROECOLOGY (بوم شناسی کشاورزی)
Year:2016 | Volume:8 | Issue:1|Papers Count:11

Introduction: Sahandian Savory (Satureja sahandica Bornm.) is an indigenous perennial aromatic plant growing in the West and North West of Iran. Its growing season starts from March till end of September. Oil and its quality are abundantly variable among different Savory species (Ahmadi et al., 2009). Although, Thymol, p-Cymene and γ-Terpinen have been determined as the main components of Sahandian Savory oil by Sefidkon et al. (2004), little data on its Phytochemistry and phenology genealogy? is available. The present study investigated the phytochemical properties of essential oils of (S. sahendica Bornm.) at different harvest times from Pakal habitat and a specimen grown in greenhouse.Materials and methods: The aerial parts of plants were collected on one month intervals from 20th April till 20th September. A specimen cloned from the wild plants and grown in research greenhouse, college of Agriculture, Ilam, was harvested at full blooming stage in September. Essential oils were extracted using Clevenger apparatus by hydrodistillation. Isolation and identification of oil components were carried out by gas chromatography (GC) and coupled gas chromatography with mass spectrometer (GC/MS) at Medicinal Plants and Drug Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti Medical University, Tehran, Iran. Antioxidant activity and total phenol content were measured following Singleton et al. (1999) methods, respectively.Results and discussion The ANOVA showed that harvest time significantly affected oil yield of samples at one percent of probability. Mean comparison analysis revealed that the maximum and minimum oil yield were belonged to May (0.42%) and September (0.19%) harvests, respectively. The essential oil percentage of plants grown in greenhouse were extremely low and negligible samples collected from their natural habitat. Analysis of variances for antioxidant activity and total phenol content showed that the traits were also significantly affected by harvest time. The highest and lowest antioxidant activity recorded for harvests in September (61.06%) and August (49.53%), respectively. On the other hand, maximum and minimum total phenol content recorded from samples harvested in September (432.71 mg Gallic acid/ ml essential oil) and June (191.28 mg Gallic acid/ml essential oil), respectively. Phytochemical analysis by coupling gas chromatography with mass spectrometer (GC/MS) identified 75 different components. ANOVA of oil compositions exhibited a highly significant difference between different harvest times. Borneol was the main component of oil at all harvests. In early stages (April and May), Borneol (29.34 and 34.58 percent), Bornyl acetate (12.96 and 9.42 percent), Linalool (7.64 and 9.35 percent) and α-Terpineol (7.09 and 8.26 percent) were the main components. By the end of spring (Mid June) Borneol and Camphor content was increased slowly so that Borneol reached to its peak (44.71 percent) in end of June, but the other main components were declined by the last harvest. On full flowering stage (mid-August and early-September) an increase was recorded for Bornyl acetate, the highest content of Camphor observed; Carvacrol was identified as the main oil component (4.92 percent) and Borneol content decreased. Phytochemical composition of oils extracted from greenhouse sample at flowering stage was significantly different from those obtained from wild plants at the same growing stage. Plants grown in the greenhouse were rich in Borneol, Bornyl acetate, Carvacrol, Camphor and Camphene (39.02, 9.54, 7.88, 7.56 and 5.93 percent, respectively), while oils extracted from wild plants, mostly formed by Borneol, Camphor, 4-Terpineol, Bornyl acetate and Carvacrol (29.30, 15.26, 11.82, 9.25 and 4.92 percent, respectively). The results showed that growing Sahandian savory in the greenhouse which is free from climatic stresses may be led to beneficial changes in its essential oil composition.Conclusion: The study revealed that the highest essential oil can be achieved in May, the best quality essential oil regarding antioxidant activity and total phenol content should be obtained at the full blooming stage and to get the highest amount of Borneol, harvest must be done in July under Ilam province conditions.Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge the financial support of the project by Dean, College of Agriculture; and Vice President for Research and Technology, Ilam University, Ilam, Iran.

Introduction: Hymenocrater from lamiaceae family is a perennial bush with 24 species in the world and 10 different species in natural habitats of Iran (Satil et al., 2007). Hymenocrater platystegius Rech. is exclusive to Khorasan province in the North east of Iran (Mozaffarian, 1996). According to available information, %5 of plant species of Iran are becoming extinct, which is 550 times higher than the forecast of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Hymenocrater is an important genius of Lamiaceae family.Hymenocraterbelongs to Stachyioideae subfamily and have numerous varieties which are expanded from Iran to Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. This genius has aromatic essential oil and antimicrobial effects. Some researchers has shown different characteristics of its oil components are related to the differences in geographical conditions and habitats of the collecting regions. Moreover, proper management and optimal utilization of natural ecosystems requires sufficient scientific knowledge and understanding. Therefore, domestication and cultivating domestic plant cultivation can reduce harvest pressure on natural areas for rare, slow grower and critically endangered species (Vogel, 2004). In recent years, lower precipitation and land use changes threatened this species seriously. The purpose of this study was to evaluate ecological characteristics of this species, their natural habitat and to evaluate possibilities for domestication in field condition. The aim of this study was to select the best habitats ofHymenocrater platystegius Rech. based on ecological and morphological characteristics of species in the natural habitats.Materials and methods: This experiment was performed during 3 years (2008-2010). For this purpose, 6 habitants (Bezd, Bezgh, Bazangan, Golmakan, Kalat and Zoshk) in Khorasan province of Iran were chosen and all plant criteria, including morphological characteristics (plant height, crown diameter, stem, flower, leaf dry weight to shoot dry weight, number of seeds, plant density, fresh weight and dry weight) and environmental requirements in the natural habitats (annual precipitation average, annual temperature average, relative humidity, climate condition, topographical features (altitude and slope) were investigated. Golmakan area was determined as the base station data for evaluating and recording the phenological stages, because it had a higher plant density and diversity of topographic features. Then, collected data was analyzed using PCA and CA methods.Results and discussion: In this study, the effects of environmental conditions on morphological and ecological characteristics of Hymenocerater platystegius Rech. were observed. Results showed that the natural habitats in the area were highly similar and 4 ecotypes were recognized there. Among 15 plant criteria investigated the leaf dry matter, number of stem per plant, number of nod per stems and the nodes bearing flower contributed to 97% of the variance. Topography and climate analyses showed that climate was the most important factor with+0.55 loading which had the highest impact on the main component. In general, 5 habitats were recognized with 70% similarity in topography and climatic conditions.Conclusion: Finally, both Golmakan and Kalat were in one group (had closed similarity in environmental conditions including topography, precipitation, soil texture, elevation, aspects and other habitats were in 5 separate places. These results showed that the environmental factors had more effect on morphological characteristics of this species. Therefore, considering the destruction of natural habitats and extinction conditions for this species, it should have a period proportional to the regeneration period, such as grazing for conservation. As climate change has huge effects on endemic species then domestication could be the best way for their protection and conservation.

Introduction: Castor plant, Ricinus communis L. is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family; Euphorbiaceae, which contains a vast number of plants mostly native to the tropics. It belongs to a monotypic genusRicinus. The name Ricinusis a latin word for tick. The plant is probably named because its seed has markings and a dump at the end that resemble certain ticks (NCRI, 2014).Castorbean is an industrial oil seed crop containing about 45-58 percent oil, which has tremendous application in petrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, textiles, chemicals, soap, leather, paints, varnishes, ink, nylon and plastic. Castor oil is traditionally associated with medicine and veterinary use in the fields of obstetrics, dermatology. It is also used as laxative. Presently, its utilization as bio-diesel has magnified its importance. Its oil does not freeze even at high altitudes and it is one the best lubricants for jet engines. This 100% castor-based product, has numerous applications in industry such as rotating glass car-wipers, ski boots fixatives, and for use in air-brake systems on trucks. Many new uses, based on the biodegradability of castor oil derived products, are expected in the future (Labalette et al., 1996). The shell of the castor bean is used as an organic termite control agent and its seed cake as manure in the soil.Medicinal plants are valuable resources in a wide range of natural resources that scientific identification, cultivation, development and proper utilization of them can have an important role in community health, employment and non-petrol exports.Quality of medicinal plants is more important than other crops. One of the most important factors determining the yield of castor bean is fertility. Integrated supply of nutrient to plants through combinations of organic and inorganic sources is becoming an increasingly important aspect of environmentally sound agriculture. Reports showed that the application of manure on bean has improved yield and growth index.Materials and methods: In order to study the effects of biofertilizers and vermicompost on the growth indices of castor bean (Ricinus communisL.), a field experiment was conducted during the growing season of 2009 at the Agricultural Research Station, College of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. A randomized complete block design with three replications was used. Treatments included: Nitroxin biofertilizer, Phosphate suloblizing bacteria and Vermicompost and Control (without any fertilizer). The results indicated that uses of organic and biofertilizer significantly increased plant height, leaf area Index (LAI), Total Dry Matter (DM), Crop Growth Rate (CGR) compared with control. The areas of green leaves were measured using a Delta-T leaf area meter (Delta-T Devices, Cambridge, England). Then the samples, including stems and leaves were dried in a forced-air oven at 80oC for 48 h and after the witch total dry matter (TDM) was measured. The leaf area data were divided into ground area and the leaf area index (LAI) was obtained. The LAI data were fitted to the Gaussian equation to predict the LAI of common bean in growth season. The sigmoid equation was fitted to the TDM data and by derivation from this equation, the crop growth rate (CGR) and relative growth rate were obtained. The analysis was performed using SAS 9.1 and the graphs were prepared using Excel.Results and discussion: The study results indicated that uses of organic and biofertilizer significantly increased plant height, leaf Area Index (LAI), Total Dry Matter (DM) and Crop Growth Rate (CGR) compared to control. The highest and lowest leaf area index was observed in vermicompost (2.15) and control (0.88) treatments, respectively. The maximum and the minimum amounts of dry matter were recorded in the vermicompost treatment with 693.32 g.m-2 and control with 495 g.m-2, respectively. Crop growth rate reached to its peak in 85 days after emergence, the height and the lowest was observed in the vermicompost treatment with 16.45 g.m-2.d-1 and control with 7.63 g.m-2.d-1, respectively. Assimilation rate also reached to its maximum and minimum in vermicompost treatment (17.31 g.m-2.d-1) and control (10.91 g.m-2.d-1), respectively.Conclusion: The results showed that integrated biofertilizer and Vermicompost are good choices for decreasing chemical fertilization application.

Introduction: Intercropping, the agricultural practice of cultivating two or more crops in the same space at the same time, is an old and commonly used cropping practice which aims to match efficiently crop demands to the available growth resources (Agegnehu et al., 2006; Dhima et al., 2007). Intercropping of chickpea with linseed reduced the chickpea yield by 60.3%, although linseed occupied only 33% of the total area. The loss of chickpea yield was compensated by the additional yield of linseed, and thus the system productivity of chickpea+linseed intercropping was increased by 43.4% compared with sole chickpea (Ahlawat & Gangaiah, 2010).The objectives of the present study were to study the competition indices of barley and pea intercropping and effects of nitrogen and different intercropping arrangements on forage yield.Materials and methods: In order to evaluate effects of nitrogen and different intercropping arrangements of barley and pea on yield and competitive indices, an experiment was conducted as factorial based on Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications on farm research on Gonbad Kavous University (37o26’N, 55o21’E, and 45m above sea level) in 2011-2012. Different intercropping arrangement levels were a sole crop of barley, intercropping of one line barley and one line pea, intercropping of two lines of barley and two lines of pea, intercropping of three lines of barley and three lines of pea and sole crop of pea and nitrogen consumption was in four levels of none application of nitrogen and application of 25, 50 and 75 kg.ha-1.Seed planting was done during the first week of December 2011. Sowing was performed manually by planting twice more seeds of pea than the expected plant density. Sole barley (cv. Sahra) planted at the rate of 160 kg.ha-1 and sole pea (cv. Sungro) planted at the rate of 500000 plants.ha-1. Row spacing was 20 cm. The experimental plots for a sole crop of barley, a sole crop of pea and one row of barley+one row of pea were 4 rows and for two rows of barley+two rows of pea and three rows of barley+three rows of pea were 6 and 8 rows, respectively.50% of urea was applied during sowing. The other 50% of urea was side banded when the barley plants were at flowering stage. Weed control was performed manually. Forage yield was determined by harvesting each crop from 2, 4 and 6 rows. Barley was harvested at soft drought and the pea was harvested at seed filling stage in 3 May 2012. Data were analyzed using SAS software. Analysis of variance was performed for the forage yield and Equal Yield of barley.Results and discussion: The results showed the effects of different intercropping arrangements, nitrogen application and interaction of different intercropping arrangements × nitrogen application on forage yield and Equivalent Yield of barley was significant (a=1%). The high forage yield and Equivalent Yield of barley belonged to a sole crop of barley with application of 75 and 50 kg Nha-1 with 14.51 and 14.3 tonha-1, respectively. The minimum dry weight and Equivalent Yield of barley was obtained from the sole crop of pea without consumption of nitrogen with 3.76 and 4.7 tha-1, respectively. Increasing the pea and barley rows in intercropping treatments decreased forage yield because of lower yield of pea. Land Equivalent Ratio in intercropping treatments was less than 1. This index in barley was greater than pea (0.643, 0.588 and 0.543 for barley and 0.198, 0.247 and 0.362 for pea in 1, 2 and 3 rows, respectively). Other indices (Relative Crowding Coefficient, Aggressivity, Competitive Ratio, Actual Yield addition, Intercropping Advantage and Equivalent Yield of barley) in barley were also greater than pea in intercropping. Barley was the dominant crop in this study.Conclusion: Forage dry weight and Equivalent Yield of barley in a sole crop of barley with consumption of 75 and 50 kgN.ha-1 was the maximum and in sole crop of pea with non-consumption of N was minimum. All indices in barley in this study were greater than pea. This indicated that barley was the dominant crop.

Introduction The demand for food and agricultural products are increasing in a line of population increasing in the world (Alexandratos, 2003). It is possible to increase the quality and quantity of agricultural products via extending the farms and producing more products (Astaaraei and Koocheki, 1995). Environmental problems caused by synthetic fertilizers and the high levels of producing and introducing such chemicals, have been encouraged the researchers to apply bio-fertilizers for increasing the production in a frame of sustainable agriculture (Rajendran and Devarj, 2004). In this study, the economical yield and agronomy index of Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) in manure and bio fertilizers treatments was studied.Materials and method: This study was conducted in Agricultural Research Institute, University of Zabol during winter season, 2013. Safflower seeds were planted in sandy loam with pH 8.2. The experimental design was factorial in a frame on randomized completely blocks with three replications. The manure as a first factor had three levels, including no treatment (control), 20 and 30 t.ha-1, while second factor was bio-fertilizer treatment with 4 levels, including no treatment (control), Azosprilium (Azo), Azotobacter (Azt) and combined treatment of Azo+Azt. The processed manure and bacteria obtained from local farmers were used in this study.Populations of 108 bacteria were prepared and 24 hours before sowing, seeds were soaked in bacteria. After land preparation, experimental plots were (2.5 × 2 m2) created and treated seeds were planted (40 plants.m-2) manually and plantation was watered immediately.In this study plant height, number of heads in bush, number of seeds per head, seed weight per head, seed weight, grain and biological yield, harvest index, leaf chlorophyll, protein and oil percent were studied. Economical yield and agronomy indices of Safflower were calculated at the end of the season and data were analyzed using SAS software (2000) and the mean values were separated using Duncan test (P=5%).Results and discussion: The results showed the maximum weight of 100- seeds were treated with the manure (30 t.ha-1). In the treated plants with 30 ton/acre of manure and Azo, the high values of some parameters such as plant height, the numbers of spikes in the plants, the number of seeds in the spike, economic, yield, biological yield, harvesting index, the amount of leaf chlorophyll and percentage of seed protein were observed. In a combined treatment of manure, Azo and Azt, the highest amount of seed oil was detected. High levels of seed treatment with Azo and Azt in short period could not provide all needs of safflower because of the slow release of nutrient. Hence, combined treatment of bio-fertilizers and manure could compensate the nutrient deficiency as well as causing soil fertility and sustainable production of crops such as safflower.Results confirmed that seed inoculation with Azo and optimal levels of manure may increase safflower yield by increasing nutrient uptake, which improve plant growth and its developmental stages. It was also observed that the traits such as number of spikes per plant, number of seeds per spike, seed weight per spike, seed weight, economic and biologic yield and harvest index were significant.Conclusion: It was concluded that the manure treatment, increasing the soil organic component, usable phosphorus, nitrate and other nutrients as well as improving soil texture, increase the quality and quantity of agricultural products. According to the results of this study, it seems that the inoculation with bacteria with optimal levels of manure by increasing nutrient uptake, which were associated, increase seed yield. In most characteristics, the use of bio-fertilizers with manure interaction for traits such as number of heads per plant, number of seeds per head, seed weight per head, seed weight, economic performance, biological yield and harvest index was significant.

Introduction: Multiple cropping such as intercropping plays an important role in agriculture because of maximizing beneficial interactions. Intercropping of legumes and cereals is an old practice in tropical agriculture that dates back to ancient civilization. Maize-legume intercrops could substantially increase forage quantity and quality and decrease requirement for protein supplements (Ahmad et al., 2008). Intercropping of cereals and legumes is important for development of sustainable food production systems. This may be due to some of the potential benefits in intercropping systems such as high productivity and profitability, improvement of soil fertility through the additional supply of N by fixation and excretion from the component legume, efficient use of resources, reducing damage caused by pests, diseases and weeds and improvement of forage quality (Ahmad et al., 2008; Fernandez-Aparicio et al., 2007; Lithourgidis et al., 2006). The main advantage of intercropping is more efficient utilization of the available resources and the increased productivity compared with each sole crop of the mixture. Therefore, this experiment was conducted to evaluate agronomic characteristics of corn and Land equivalent ratio (LER) under intercropping with peanut and different rates of nitrogen.Materials and methods: In order to evaluate the forage yield and important agronomic indices of corn (Zea mays L.) affected by intercropping systems with peanut and different nitrogen rates, this experiment was performed in the experimental field of agricultural and natural resource research center of Guilan province, Rasht, Iran, during 2013-14 cropping season as a split plot arrangement in randomized complete block design with three replications. Nitrogen rates, including of zero, 100, 200 and 300 kg per hectare as main plot and sole cropping of corn and peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), intercropping systems including of intercropping corn and peanut at ratio of 1: 1, 2: 1, 1: 2 and 2: 2 on alternative furrows as sub plot, comprised the experimental factors.Results and discussion: The results of this experiment showed that the effects of nitrogen were significant for all measured characteristics except the leaf number, leaf length and wide. Also, the effects of intercropping were significant for all study traits except the ear diameter, leaf number, leaf length and wide. In addition, the interaction effects of the nitrogen × intercropping system were significant for peanut seed yield, corn forage yield, stem weight, stem diameter, ear diameter, leaf length and land equivalent ratio. The results of this experiment showed that the application of 300 kg nitrogen per hectare obtained the highest corn forage yield under (C6) intercropping system. At the same condition, no significant difference was observed for corn forage yield between (C4) and (C6) intercropping systems. The interaction between 100 kg N/ha × C5 intercropping system at the ratio of 1: 2 showed the greatest peanut seed yield. Peanut seed yield decreased by increasing the nitrogen application rate.However, based on this experiment results, application of 300 kg nitrogen per hectare increased total production of both corn and peanut and land equivalent ratio (LER=1.51) under (C3) intercropping system. The land equivalent ratio (LER) under 100 and 300 kg per hectare and intercropping system of corn with peanut (C4) by the ratio of 2: 1 was 1.42 and 1.39, respectively. There was no significant difference between the land equivalent ratio (LER) under above mentioned conditions. The results showed that maize-peanut intercropping increased corn forage yield compared to peanut seed yield. Hence, increment of land equivalent ratio (LER) related to corn forage yield more than seed yield of peanut.Conclusion: In general, results showed that maize-peanut intercropping could be profitable due to use of the available resources. Maize-peanut intercropping system can decrease yield loss caused by pest and disease and enhance soil fertility. Maize-peanut intercropping pattern can increase productivity compared to sole cropping. According to our results, intercropping system of corn with peanut (C4) by the ratio of 2: 1 and utilizing of 100 kg nitrogen per hectare could be recommendable for enhancement of crop production and increment of farmers economical income in Rasht and similar climatic conditions.Acknowledgement: The authors gratefully acknowledge the comments and suggestions received from Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center of Guilan province.

Introduction: The lentil or masoor (Lens culinaris L.) is a brushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lensshaped seeds. Lentil has been one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. With 26% protein, lentil is the vegetable with the highest level of protein other than soybeans, and it is an important part of people’s diet in many parts of the world. It is reported that the average yield of lentil is considerably low compared to its potential yield of 1500-2000 kg ha-1, obtained in the research field. Such lower yield may be attributed to the poor management of the crop among which poor weed management is an important one. Lentil crop is not very competitive against weeds due to small and weak canopy. Weed reduces yield through competition with crop plants for space, moisture, light and plant nutrients. Generally 20 to 30% losses of grain yield are quite usual and may increase even 50%, if the crop management practices are not properly followed (Deihimfard et al., 2007). The modern lentil varieties give good yield if the land remains weed free for the first one month. However, most of the farmers are reluctant to control weeds in lentil field timely and finally, loses yield. Inadequate weed control was found to reduce the yield 40-66% in lentil (Erman et al., 2008; McDonald et al., 2007). A major component of integrated weed management is the use of more competitive crops, although the selection of better crop competitiveness is a difficult task. The use of competitive plants for weed control could be considered costeffective and less labour-intensive, and thus reduces the amount of herbicides required. Therefore, the aim of this research was to evaluate lentil competitive ability and to compare the effects of cultivar selection.Materials and methods: An experiment was carried out as a factorial based on a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 10 treatments and three replications. Experimental treatments included hand weeding and weedy check and five lentil cultivars (Bilehsavar, Karalinta, Kimia, Seymareh and local). This experiment was studied at the Research Farm of Bu-Ali Sina University during the growing season of 2012-2013. Plots were not irrigated because lentil was grown under dry land conditions. Weeds were counted at their greatest intensity, and their identification was much easier. Three square meter samples were randomly collected from each sub-plot for evaluation the weed biomass. At harvest, two outer rows for each plot and 50 cm from each end of the plots were left as borders and the central rows were harvested. Yield and yield components of lentil were classified as biological yield, grain yield, 1000- seed weight, number of pods plant-1, number of seeds per pod and plant height.Results and discussion: The results showed that the effects of weed control and cultivar was significant on all traits but plant height and chlorophyll meter reading was not affected by cultivar. Also, the effects of treatment interaction were significant on grain and biological yield. The highest grain and biological yield (110 and 338 g.m-2, respectively) was observed at local cultivar on hand weeding treatment. The lowest mean for these traits with a reduction of 82 and 70%, respectively, belonged to Karalinta cultivar on weedy control treatment. Weed interference decreased yield and yield component of all lentil cultivars significantly. Maximum and minimum weed dry matter and weed density belonged to Karalinta and local cultivars, respectively. The highest values for competition and ability of tolerance indices (2.02 and 52.82, respectively) belonged to Local cultivar and the lowest values of these indices (0.49 and 23.53, respectively) were achieved at Karalinta cultivar.Conclusion: It can be concluded that local and Karalinta cultivars were the resistant and sensitive cultivars to weed presence, respectively.

Introduction: Drought stress reduces plant growth by affecting various physiological and biochemical processes, such as photosynthesis, respiration, translocation, ion uptake, carbohydrates, nutrient metabolism and growth promoters. Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is an annual bulb crop that has been cultivated since ancient times and was used as a spice and condiment for many centuries. Garlic is an important plant because of its pharmaceutical properties.The optimum yield of this bulb crop depends on well-managed irrigation, fertilization and cultivation practices. In the final and middle stages of growth, garlic is sensitive to water stress and low irrigation is unsuitable in these stages.This experiment was established to study the influence of drought stress and planting density on yield and its components and the non-enzymatic anti-oxidant content of two different garlic ecotypes.Materials and methods: This study was conducted in 2011-2012 in a farmland at the south east of Semnan city. The experimental layout was a split-plot factorial with a randomized complete block design with three replications.The treatments were comprised of three factors: irrigation rates (60%, 80% and 100% of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETC)) as the main plot and the factorial combination of three levels of planting density (30, 40 and 50 plants.m-2) and two ecotypes (Tabas and Toroud) as the sub-plots.To estimate the crop water requirement, different meteorological parameters were collected from Semnan weather station and were used based on FAO-56 water irrigation calculation instructions.After harvesting, ten garlic plants were sampled randomly in each plot and bulb yield components were measured. To calculate the leaves anti-oxidant content, DPPH method was used. The statistical significances of mean values were assessed by analysis of variance and LSD tests at p£0.05. All calculations were performed using SAS and Mstat-C softwares.Results and discussion: Drought stress decreased bulb yield and dry matter percentage significantly.Planting density had significant effects on bulb yield and the yield of planting density of 50 plants m-2 were significantly higher than two other densities.The interaction of drought stress and ecotype factors affected the dry matter percentage.Drought stress decreased fresh and dry weight, length of bulbs and the bulb diameter significantly.Drought stress decreased fresh and dry weight, diameter, length and number of cloves significantly as well.Drought stress is an important limiting factor at the initial phase of plant growth and establishment. It affects both elongation and expansion growth (Shao et al., 2008).Fresh and dry weight and length of cloves were significantly higher in Toroud ecotype. In contrast, the number of cloves in the bulb was significantly higher in Tabas.Studying the correlation coefficients showed that the bulb yield per unit area was significantly and positively correlated with diameter, weight and length of cloves and bulbs and also the dry matter percentage at P£0.001. The maximum correlation belonged to yield at the unit area and weight of the bulb (r=0.72). In other words, any bulb-weight-increasing factor did have the highest effect on increasing the yield per unit area as well.Drought stress, increased leaf non-enzymatic anti-oxidant significantly.Anti-oxidants plays significant roles in ROS scavenging and influences cellular ROS balance. Activation of antioxidant system helps the plants to tolerate stress form induced damage.The effect of ecotype was significant on anti-oxidant content and the value were significantly higher in Toroudecotype. Toroud ecotype showed resisting reactions against higher levels of drought stress by increasing the non-enzymatic anti-oxidant content and created tolerating mechanisms versus stress.Conclusion: Drought stress reduced yield and yield parameters and increased non-enzymatic anti-oxidant content of garlic. The increment of anti-oxidant content showed the tolerance of garlic to drought stress. The maximum bulb yield was obtained at the highest planting density.

Introduction: To achieve the higher economic yield of crop plants, supplying enough nutrients to plants is very important. Moreover, nutrient uptakes by plants is influenced by the soil water contents. However, nowadays chemical fertilizer application is important agronomic factor that has significant effects on growth and quantity and quality of final yield, but traditional nutrient management and excessive use of chemical fertilizers may cause the environmental problems such as contamination of soil and water resources, low quality of agricultural products and reduction of soil fertility. These factors have drawn attention to health and ecological sustainable farming systems (Sharma, 2002). In this context, usage of organic and biological products for plant nutrition is considered as one of the solutions to achieve the goals of sustainable agriculture.Materials and methods: To evaluate the effect of various feeding systems on yield and yield components of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) under the influence of water deficit stress, a split-plot experiment based on randomized complete block design with three replications, was carried out in the Agricultural Faculty of Bu-Ali Sina University during the growing season of 2013-2014. Main plots consisted of two irrigation levels: optimum irrigation and deficit irrigation stress (irrigation after 60 and 120 mm evaporation from evaporation pan, class A, respectively) and sub-plots included of nine nutrition systems: 1- no bio or chemical fertilizer application, 2- 100% of the recommended chemical fertilizer, 3- vermicompost, 4- phospho nitro kara, 5- vermicompost+phospho nitro kara, 6- vermicompost+1/2 chemical fertilizer, 7- phospho nitro kara+1/2 chemical fertilizer, 8- vermicompost+ phospho nitro kara+1/2 chemical fertilizer, 9- 1/2 proposed chemical fertilizer. Phospho-nitro-kara which contains phosphate solubilizing and nitrogen fixing bacteria (Bacillus coagulans, azotobactr chroocuccum and Azospirilium lipoferum) was impregnated with seeds. Vermicompost was mixed with the soil before planting based on the recommendation of the producer company (15 t.ha-1). After determining evapotranspiration of the reference plant (ET0) by FAO- Penman-Monteith method and crop coefficients (Kc) in different stages of crop growth, plant water requirement was determined (Allen et al., 1998). Finally, the irrigation water volume was estimated according to the effective rainfall, irrigation efficiency (60%) and 45% depletion of soil moisture in the root zone (Doorenbos & Kassam, 1979).Results and discussion: Water deficit stress and nutrient treatments significantly affected all measured traits except the harvest index. Water deficit stress significantly reduced head diameter by 24% in comparison with optimum irrigation. The maximum diameter (17.03 cm) was obtained in vermicompost treatment. One thousand seed weight of sunflower under optimum irrigation was 1.3 times as much as water deficit treatment. Combined treatment of vermicompost and half of recommended chemical fertilizer yielded maximum 1000- seed weight (56.67 g). Under optimum irrigation, the highest weight of the head was achieved from 100% chemical fertilizer application, while under water stress, maximum head weight (830.67 g) was obtained in vermicompost treatment and the minimum value (485.33 g) was obtained from chemical fertilizer+vermicompost+phospho nitro kara. In both irrigation levels, the highest biological yield was obtained from full application of chemical fertilizer, but this treatment in stress condition did not have significant difference with combined application of vermicompost and half of chemical fertilizer, vermicompost and 50% of chemical fertilizer.100% recommended chemical fertilizer in optimum irrigation, had a maximum grain yield (693.67 g.m-2).Organic fertilizers by increasing soil organic matter, improving soil chemical properties such as pH and CEC, increasing the activity of microorganisms and nutrient accessibility led to increase soil fertility. In this study, especially under stress condition, it was observed that vermicompost by increasing water holding capacity and nutrients availability, improvement of plant growth, increasing assimilation and transmission of assimilates to seeds, led to increase the economic yield of sunflower.Conclusion: In conclusion, although chemical fertilizers play an important role in enhancement of crop yield, though may cause some environmental problems too. In addition, biological fertilizers alone can not provide nutrient requirements of crops. Generally, in order to achieve sustainable agriculture, especially under the influence of water stress condition, it seems that reduction of chemical fertilizers and replacing them with vermicompost can be an effective method.

Introduction: Saffron is one of the most economically important plants across Iran and all over the world. The most important cultivated areas of saffron are in Khorasan-e Razavi and Southern Khorasan provinces (Jihad Keshavarzi Khorasan Razavi, 2013). The corm is the reservoir of photosynthetic materials and plays an important role in the saffron life cycle. Corm size and physicochemical characteristics of soil determine the growth and yield of saffron (Aytekin et al., 2008). It has been advised to use corms with diameter more than 2.5 cm (Kafi et al., 2002). Despite the importance of this plant, few studies have been conducted on the effects of soil characteristics on the growth of the plant in natural field conditions. Therefore, the objective which we will try to achieve is: to evaluate the effect of soil physical and chemical characteristics of the growth of saffron corm and determine the most important effect characteristics.Materials and methods: In September 2012, 30 samples of 3 to 5 years old saffron corms were taken from the fields with similar management in Torbat Heydariyeh. The surrounding soil corms (depth of 0 to 30 cm) were sampled, too. Dry weight of corms was measured in the laboratory. Air dried soil samples were passed through a 2 mm sieve and used for physical-chemical analyses. Soil texture was determined by using pipet method. Total nitrogen, available phosphorous, available potassium, soil organic carbon and calcium carbonate equivalent were measured in bulk soil samples. Calcium, magnesium, sodium, EC and pH were measured in the saturated soil paste. Fe, Cu and Zn were extracted by DTPA and measured by atomic adsorption spectroscopy. Correlation, regression and neural network technique were used to analyze the data and to identify the most important soil characteristics on the corms characteristics.Results and discussion: Diameter and dry weight of corms with mean values of 34.04 mm and 3.72 g, ranged from 22.8 to 51.7 mm and 1.5 to 6.98 g, respectively. Wet weight of the corms with an average of 11.4 g varied between 5.4 to 19.86 g that categorized in medium to very coarse classes. Soil characteristics showed wide range variability; therefore, the studied soils indicated suitable range of characteristic variables in this study. Calcium carbonate equivalent of soils was less than 17% with mean values of 12.75%. Mean values of EC and pH were 2.6 dS m-1 7.75, respectively. The average of soil organic carbon was 0.59% which reached up to 1.91% due to the application of manure. Silt with mean value of 43.55% was the dominant fraction of the soils, while the highest content of clay and sand were 27.65 and 47.6%. The Average concentration of Fe, Cu and Zn were 4.3, 1.56 and 0.42 mg.kg-1 respectively.Weak correlation of soil characteristics with corms diameter and weight and the result of ANOVA regression models indicated that there is a non-linear relationship between growth characteristics of corm and soil characteristics. In such cases, regression analyses cannot explain the relationship between growth parameters and soil characteristics. Artificial Neural Network (ANN) has the ability to model the non-linear relationships. Therefore, the relationship between soil parameters and saffron corm were determined by ANN to find the relationship between soil characteristics and corm growth. Perceptron Multi-Layers Neural Network with arrangement of 1-21-18, explained the relationship of between corm diameter (R2=0.94, ME=0.01 and RMSE=0.028) and dry weight of saffron corm (R2=0.92, ME=0.008 and RMSE=0.047) with soil properties. The proposed neural network explained 94% relationship of the saffron corm diameter and 92% relationship of the dry weight of saffron corm with soil characteristics. Sensitivity analysis indicated that electrical conductivity, Zn, N, pH, P, K and gravel percentage are the most effective characteristics on dry weight and sand, Cu, silt, clay, electrical conductivity, SAR, Zn and P, are the most important effective characteristics on the diameter of saffron corm.Conclusion: The results of this study revealed that there is no significant correlation between diameter and weight of saffron corm and soil characteristics. Therefore, the ANN technique was used to determine the effective soil characteristics of corm growth parameters. Electrical conductivity, Cu, Zn, N, pH, P, K, SAR, gravel, sand, silt and clay are the most effective characteristics on corm growth. More researches should be conducted to understand, comprehensive relationship between soil characteristics and corm growth.

Introduction: Oilseed rape (Brassica napus L.) is one of the valuable oilseed crops which has been attracting attention in recent years (Arvin et al., 2011). Several factors such as water shortage, low relative humidity, heat and salinity can make drought stress. Radiation use efficiency and yield components are the effective factors of yield formation in oilseed rape. Drought tolerance in oilseed rape depends on other factors except radiation use efficiency. Studies have indicated that plant growth promoting rhizobacterias (PGPRs) has a direct effect on growth and they can cause resistance to the abiotic stress as well. Hence, considering the drought climate in Iran and the effects of PGPRs on increasing resistance to abiotic stress and relief of drought effects and the importance of the cultivation of oilseed rape in Iran, the present research was done with the goal of study of drought and some plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on radiation use efficiency and dry matter partitioning into pod in different cultivars of oilseed rape.Materials and methods: The current study was done on the basis of two simultaneous experiments (under stress and non-stress experiments) during 2010- 2011 growing season at Agriculture and Natural Resources Research Station of Torogh, Mashhad is in East-North of Iran (36oN, 59oE, 1003 as).Two research sites (under stress and nonstress fields) were beside each other. This region has a semi-arid climate (annual rainfall 286 mm). The experimental design was factorial based on randomized compeletly block design with three replications in each experiment. The first treatment was plant growth promoting rizobactria, including B0: no inoculation (control), B1: co-inoculation (Pseudomonas flourescens 169+P. putida 108), B2: inoculation with P. flourescens 169 and B3: inoculation with P. putida 108. Second treatment was cultivar, including Hayola401 and Hayola330 cultivars belong toBrassica napus, Parkland and Goldrush cultivars belong to B. rapa and BP18 and landrace cultivars belong toB.juncea. Radiation use efficiency and the allocation coefficient of materials to pods were measured in the present study as well. In addition, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed using SAS ver.9.1 software.Results and discussion Radiation use efficiency: There were significant differences between stress and non-stress conditions in levels of bacteria, cultivar and bacteria × cultivar regarding radiation use efficiency. The outcomes showed that the coefficients of radiation use efficiency in each level (bacteria, cultivar and bacteria × cultivar) under non-stress condition was comparatively higher under stress condition. The interaction effects of bacteria × cultivar showed thatP. flourescens × Goldrush under non-stress condition with 0.62±0.08 dm.mg-1 had the most and two strains of bacteria× Landrace with 0.1±0.017 dm.mg-1 had the least radiation use efficiency. Regarding bacteria level, Pseudomonas flourescens under non-stress condition with the average of 0.39±0.071 dm.mg-1 had the highest radiation use efficiency. Hayola330 cultivar with 0.45±0.047 and Hayola401 cultivar with 0.39±0.038 dm.mg-1 obtained the greatest RUE under non-stress condition and BP18 cultivar with 0.11±0.06 dm.mg-1 revealed the lowest RUE under stress condition. Both drought stress and simultaneous application with two strains of bacteria had negative effects on RUE.Dry matter partitioning into pod: In this trial, considerable difference regarding pod partitioning coefficient revealed in the level of cultivar and bacteria × cultivar. The value of the pod partitioning coefficient under this investigation ranged from 0.9393±0.084 under non-stress condition to 0.1634 ± 0.0210 under stress condition. Although inoculation treatment of bacteria had the synergy effect, co-inoculation treatment had the antagonistic effect of pod partitioning coefficient. Moreover, the rate of the pod partitioning coefficient lessened under drought condition. Berry & Spink (2006) and Arvin et al. (2014) stated that there were positive correlation between HI and partitioning photoasimilate in to economic organs. The results of the present study showed that dry matter partitioning into the pod with a final yield had a 91% positive correlation under non-stress and 74% under stress condition.Conclusion: In conclusion, negative effects of drought and positive effects of application of bacteria on RUE and pod dry matter partitioning were obtained in this trail. The results illustrated that separate application of bacteria had synergy effect and conflation of two strains of bacteria had an antagonistic effect on both studied traits.