Applied Agricultural Research
Year:2019 | Volume:32 | Issue:1 (122) |Papers Count:7

Introduction: Currently, the most important selection criterion for drought tolerance in wheat breeding programs is to compare grain yields between wheat cultivars grown under normal and deficit irrigation conditions. Several reports indicate that wheat traits, such as grain yield, biomass and yield components are decreased when the crop encounters water stress (Mohseni and Akbari, 2012). Heritability for yield is low under drought conditions due to high interaction between genotype and environment or low genetic variation. For this reason, secondary characteristics such as physiological traits have been given particular attention for selection process by researchers. Leaf relative water content (LRWC), chlorophyll content, water use efficiency (WUE), proline and abscisic acid accumulation are of some physiological indices as a measure for selection of drought tolerant cultivars...

Introduction Modern agriculture has had positive effects on human welfare and prosperity by increasing food output, However, it has had negative impacts on non-renewable energy resources, leading to an increase in energy consumption in agriculture (Mohammadi et al., 2008). This system is based on the increased use of external inputs, chemical fertilizers, water and energy (Ghorbani et al., 2011; Mohammadi et al., 2010). Due to the use of traditional tillage and residue removal practices in the farms all over Iran, soil is lost through erosion and has been physically, chemically and biologically degraded. As a result, improved or new varieties of crops (such as wheat) as well as other on-farm inputs are not able to deliver their potential contribution...

Introduction: Cannabis has long been used for hemp fibre, hemp oils, medicinal purposes, and also as a recreational drug. Given the importance of maximum utilization of environmental parameters during growth period, it is crucially important to choose an appropriate sowing date and plant density for crops cultivation. Hence, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of sowing date and plant density on morphological and yield traits of cannabis...

Introduction: Microorganisms are common inhabitants of the rhizosphere in the soil. The function of microorganisms such as phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) in agriculture has been well known, including enhancements in growth and crops yield (Young et al., 2013). The ability of PSB to convert insoluble forms of phosphorus to an accessible form is an important trait in plant growth-promoting bacteria for increasing crops yield. The use of PSB as inoculants increases the P uptake by plants (Chen et al., 2006). Mycorrhizal fungal (MF) symbiosis is widely believed to protect host plants from detrimental effects of drought. Possible mechanisms for improving drought resistance of the mycorrhizal plants could be due to an increase in root hydraulic, enhanced water uptake at different soil moisture levels as a result of extraradical hyphae, osmotic adjustment which promotes turgor maintenance even at low tissue water potential, proline and carbohydrate accumulation, and increased nutritional status in mycorrhizal plants...

Introduction: Rice is the main staple food for more than half of the global population. According to reports, Iran has achieved 20th place in the global ranking for rice production (FAO, 2011). Rice plant require large amounts of mineral nutrients including nitrogen for their growth, development and grain production (Ma, 2004). Managing rice crop’ s nitrogen nutrition is difficult because lowland rice crop culture leads to nitrogen losses through ammonia volatilization, nitrification, denitrification, leaching, and runoff, which decreases the availability of nitrogen for rice plants. The density that results a maximum yield depends on temperature, solar radiation, moisture, soil fertility and other factors. Use of optimum planting density per unit area ensures plants to grow properly both in the upper ground and underground parts of the plant through better utilization of solar radiation and nutrients (Bozorgi et al., 2011)...

Introduction Organic cultivation of rice (Oryza sativa L. ) has been carried out in some parts of the world. Despite a lot of research, policy and public attention, only a small portion of the total agricultural land is devoted to organic farming (Surekha et al., 2013). Due to the adverse effect of conventional agriculture on environment through the excessive use of chemical inputs, the importance of considering to alternative agriculture is increasing day by day (De Ponti et al., 2012). One of the pillars of sustainable agriculture is the use of organic fertilizers in agro-ecosystems with the aim of eliminating the use of chemical fertilizers. Due to the emerging trend for organic cultivation of rice in Mazandaran province and the existence of numerous potential for transition from conventional to organic agriculture, the present study was designed to evaluate the paddy yield and qualitative characteristics of paddy soil in three cropping systems of conventional, low-input and organic farming...

Introduction Drylands occupy about 6. 2 million ha of the area of Iran. They are mainly used for wheat and food legume production. However, the rainfed cultivation of forage crops is carried out on only 120 thousand ha of dryland farms, which comprise less than 2 % of the total arable drylands in Iran. Considerable variation has been reported in herbage and grain yields of the improved cultivars of vetches (Vicia spp. ) under rainfed conditions. Mixed cropping of cereals with forage legumes can improve the quantity and quality of fodder compared to sole cropping of cereal plants (Alizadeh & da Silva, 2013). There is no published research to evaluate the agronomic performance of different vetch cultivars in the mixed cropping under cold dryland conditions. This research was conducted to compare different mixing ratios of two vetch species (Vicia pannonica Crantz and Vicia villosa subsp. varia (Host) Corb. ) under cold dryland condition of Maragheh...