Applied Agricultural Research
Year:2019 | Volume:32 | Issue:2 (123) |Papers Count:7

Introduction Potato is amongst the most important crops in the world. It is the third most consumed crop worldwide after rice and wheat and is followed by corn in this regard (Kazemi et al., 2016). Abiotic stresses like drought may cause adverse effects on growth and tuber yield of potato plants as they are very sensitive to soil moisture reduction (Deblond et al., 1999). Potassium is used as a cofactor of enzymes, osmotic activities and plant electrolyte regulation, and is an essential element for osmotic control, which can reduce osmotic potential and improve plant acclimatization under drought conditions (Taiz & Zeiger, 1991)...

Introduction: Powdery mildew is an important disease in the major crop growing areas of Iran. It is mainly caused by the fungal pathogen Leveillula taurica in the asexual form of Oidiopsis taurica. This fungi is capable of infecting over 700 plant species belonging to 59 families including pepper, tomato, alfalfa and cotton (Correll et al., 1987). The symptoms of this disease consist of the appearance of necrotic spots with white mucous membrane covering leaves, plant growth retardation, falling of infected leaves, the formation of wrinkled tiny seeds, which consequently results in the reduced crop yield (Sharifnabi and Banihashemi, 1990). The disease has been detected in different growing areas of sainfoin in Zanjan province...

Introduction There are many species of weeds that cause damage to wheat farms in Golestan province, however, Sinapis arvensis is one of the most common weed species in the wheat farms, which results in lower yields and increased production costs (Pawar, 2009). Growing cultivars with high competitive potential is one of the strategies for combating weeds in the integrated weed management system. Agronomic competition is one of the least expensive and the most commonly used methods by farmers to control weeds, which is consistent with the goals and new criteria of sustainable agriculture practices (Kristense et al., 2008)...

Introduction: Nowadays, many pharmaceutical industries devote a particular attention to the chemical composition of plants, which has led to the establishment of extensive experimental and production fields for medicinal plants as an important branch of agriculture. In this regard, hundreds of hectares of agricultural land are annually allocated to the cultivation of medicinal plants. Due to the fact that Flixweed (Descurainia sophia) is one of the medicinal plants used in traditional medicine (Omidbeigi, 2009), this study was conducted to select among native populations of Khorasan Razavi province based on quantitative, qualitative and pharmacological traits...

Introduction: Since projections show that the world’ s population will surpass nine billion by 2050, future world food security depends on the adequate food production for the world’ s burgeoning population. Achieving food security under the current circumstances depends on the realization of the crop potential yield in the field (Hochman et al., 2016). Hence, improving the crop yield is necessary in view of the increasing pressure and global demands for food. On the other hand, loss of high quality land, annual decline in crop yield, increased use of chemical fertilizers and the adverse environmental impact of chemical inputs indicate that the development of new strategies to increase yield with minimum environmental impact is necessary (Chapagain & Good, 2015)...

Introduction: Potato (Solanum tuberosum L. ) is the world`s fourth most important food crop after corn, rice and wheat (Trapero-Mozos et al., 2017). Due to the effects of global warming, it is expected that most of the areas under potato cultivation will be exposed to extreme temperatures in the upcoming decades (Hijmans, 2003). Based on current climate-crop models and climate change scenarios for the period from 2040 till 2069, a temperature increase of 1. 3 to 3. 2 ° C is projected to occur in the areas where potato is grown, which will result in 18 to 32 % decrease in potato global production if the current potato cultivars and plantation dates are continued to be used. However, this expected decline can be reduced to 9 to 18 % by using adaptable potato cultivars and choosing proper planting dates.

Introduction: Wheat breeders have been constantly striving to develop new varieties with improved productivity and yield as well as higher resistance to pests and diseases. These varieties are being released frequently and replace the existing ones on the basis of their performance under open-field conditions. Intercropping has been widely applied to reduce soil erosion and water loss, to restore ecological balance, to improve radiation and nutrient use efficiency (Awal et al., 2006; Brooker et al., 2015), to raise land equivalent rate and to increase economic benefits (Gliessman, 1995). Therefore, intercropping is regarded as more productive than monoculture in terms of land use efficiency...