Applied Agricultural Research
Year:2018 | Volume:31 | Issue:1 (118) |Papers Count:6

Introduction: Rice is the major staple food in Asia and provides 45%– 70% of total caloric intake in many rice-consuming countries (Dato Seri, 2003). The genetic diversity in the rice germplasm is quite large in comparison to other crop species (Roy et al., 2014). Gaining a full understanding of the nature and the extent of diversity in the germplasm is of high importance for different plant breeding programs since despite the increased level of diversity, the range of the selection has expanded and also parents with different genetic materials produce hybrids with greater heterosis, which consequently raises the probability of obtaining superior segregated progenies (Transgressive segregation)...

Introduction: Oil crops contain proteins in addition to fatty acids and comprise a major food requirement in the world after cereals (Roodposhti et al., 2012). Water deficiency is one of the most important challenges to agricultural production in Iran. This stress factor causes early flowering, accelerates maturity growth, shortens growth stages, reduces leaf area index, and thus reduces the absorption of light by plant. In recent years, the lack of use of organic fertilizers have led to a significant decline in the organic matter content of Iranian soils, causing environmental problems and soil nutrient imbalances. One of the important issues in ecological agriculture is the use of organic matter...

Introduction: Wheat (Triticum aestivum L. ) is one of the most important and strategic crops in the world. At global level, wheat occupies the largest total cultivated area (217 million hectares) with a total production of 651. 4 million tons and an average yield of three tons per hectare (Anonymous, 2015). Drought is a major environmental stressor throughout the world, posing severe constraints to crop productivity. Drought stress causes nutritional imbalances in crops and restricts the ability of their roots to take up the required nutrients from soil (Cakmak, 2008). To overcome the limitations imposed by drought stress, foliar nano-micro nutrients such as iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn) can be used as complementary foods to feed plants and improve their nutritional status...

Introduction: Water and nutrient deficiency often restrict growth and production potentials of agricultural ecosystems in arid and semi-arid environments (Cao et al., 2007). It has been reported that the effects of nutrient supply and water regimes may interact significantly on plant growth (Hu and Schmidhalter, 2005). A simple assessment of the effect of each input may not show a complex interaction with the other inputs. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the interactive effects of soil water and nutrients on plant growth in the arid environments. Hence, the objectives of this study were to: (1) determine the interactive effects of ETc, nitrogen and phosphorus on yield and N-P efficiency indicators in maize crop and (2) evaluate the importance of uptake efficiency versus utilization efficiency of nitrogen and phosphorus on NUE and PUE...

Introduction: Forage maize (Zea mays L. ) is one of the important and strategic crops in Iran, which, as a fodder for livestock production systems, makes a major contribution to providing human protein nutrition requirements, especially red and white meat. In recent years, the area under cultivation of forage maize has increased (Ashofteh Bigrami et al., 2010; Mojab Ghasroddashti et al., 2017; Khavari Khorasani et al., 2010). Therefore, the aim of the present study was to identify and introduce promising forage maize hybrids that could be an alternative for commercial hybrids under Markazi Province climatic condition...

Introduction: The primary aims of sustainable agriculture are to decrease the offfarm inputs such as chemical fertilizers and to increase farm nutrient cycle through reduced tillage and utilization of biological and organic fertilizers (Akbari and Gholami, 2016). Vermicompost and humic acid are examples of organic fertilizers that can be used to decrease the application of chemical fertilizers in order to achieve goals of sustainable agriculture. Vermicompost is considered to be a rich source of macro/micro elements, vitamins, enzymes and growth stimulating hormones, which can contribute to growth acceleration in medicinal plants. It also increases the availability of nitrogen and phosphorus by increasing the nitrogen fixation rate and solubilizing phosphorus (Prabha et al., 2007)...