PISTACHIO SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Year:2019 | Volume:3 | Issue:6 |Papers Count:6

Nowadays the application of organic and biological fertilizers has increased regarding to the destructive environmental impacts of applying chemical fertilizers and the high cost of production of them. One of the essential components to achieve the sustainable agriculture is integrated plant nutrition through using organic and biological fertilizers. An experiment was conducted as completely randomized factorial design in the greenhouse of University of Vali-e-Asr to evaluate the effect fluorescent pseudomonads and vermicompost on growth and nutrition of pistachio (Pistacia vera L. var. Qazvini) seedlings. In this experiment Factors included vermicompost at 3 levels (0, 2 and 4 % w/w) and 3 levels of bacteria (Inoculation with two strains of fluorescent pseudomonads and without bacteria). The results showed that use of bacterial isolates significantly increased shoot dry weight, uptake of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and micro elements compared to control. Application of strain D12 increased phosphorus and calcium uptake in shoot respectively 18 and 23 percent compared to control. Also the application of vermicompost significantly increased phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and zinc upkake in shoot compared to control. using vermicompost (4%) increased uptake of potassium and magnesium respectively 20 and 28 percent in shoot. The combined use of D12 and vermicompost (4%) increased iron uptake equivalent 85%. Altogether the results indicated that use of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria and vermicompost as an organic fertilizer and also their combined application could be effective on growth and nutrition of Pistachio seedlings.

In order to study morphological diversity of 38 pistachio genotypes belonging to five families half-sib including Akbari and Owhadi from Iran and Uzun, Siirt and Kirmizi from Turkey that cultivated in 2010 in vale e-Asr University of Rafsanjan were used. This study was conducted in the years 2014 and 2015. Twenty morphological traits were evaluated based on IPGRI descriptor. Factor analysis of morphological traits studied in two groups of factors that accounted for a total of 78. 6 percent of total variance. Based on factor analysis the most important traits that could divide genotypes was traits associated with the leaves and leaflets. In addition, cluster analysis of morphological traits could separate the genotypes Turkey and Iran, although genotypes belonged to Siirt had more morphological similarity to Iranian genotypes.

Penetration of spores of Aspergillus fungi to pistachio kernel was facilitated by Occurrence of Early splitting in pistachio which it provides suitable condition for fungal growth and considerable amount of aflatoxin in pistachio mass will be produced. It is hull that is exposed to any biotic and abiotic stresses; therefore, the growth of hull cells and its flexibility has an important role in the resistance of hull against these stresses. In order to investigation of enzymatic and biochemical characteristics related to the flexibility of hull, intact and early split samples were transported to the laboratory at harvest time. Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and peroxidase activity, lignin, phenolic compound, total protein content and soluble and bound calcium and magnesium were measured. On the base of results, increased Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase and peroxidase activity and wall--bound phenols were observed in early split hull compared with those of the intact hull. Also soluble calcium and magnesium decreased in early split hull compare to intact hull. As a result, decreasing in peroxidase activity and wall bound phenolic compound and bound calcium was caused increasing in elasticity of intact cell wall hull that it increased hull elasticity against shell pressure.

Degradation of agricultural ecosystems and the nutritional elements imbalance in the soil are the most important reasons for decreasing yield of Pistachio in Iran. Therefore, it is needed to research on effectiveness of biological manures on the growth and yield of Pistachio. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of triple super phosphate (at the rates of 0, 1 and 2 g kg-1) and Barvar-2 bio-fertilizer (at the rates of 0, and 2. 5 g kg-1) on the growth of pistachio seedling and uptake of nitrogen and phosphorus. The experiment was designed in a factorial form as randomized complete blocks with three replications in Damqan city. The results indicated that Barvar-2 bio-fertilizer application increased significantly (p≤ 0. 01) dry weight(up to 21%), the concentration of nitrogen (up to 93%) and phosphorus (up to 41%) in shoots, seedling height (up to 14%) and root length (up to 9%), in different rates of triple super phosphate application. However, seedling height, shoot phosphorus and dry weight decreased significantly in the highest rate of triple super phosphate application (2 g kg-1). In addition, the application of both treatments had not significant effect on pH values. It is concluded that severe application of P chemical fertilizers causes a decrease on effectiveness of Barvar-2 bio-fertilizer. Finally, in order to improve the growth of pistachio seedlings, the application of Barvar-2 bio-fertilizer, alone or with very low amount of P chemical fertilizer is recommended.

Since now all pistachio rootstocks in most Iranian pistachio orchards are seed cultivation and heterogeneity cause differences in the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of each cultivar and it is also impossible to reproduce superior rootstocks with seed cultivation. Therefore, use of tissue culture and research about compatibility of cultivars with tissue culture is one of the research priorities of pistachio research centers in Iran. The aim of this study was the investigation of the compatibility of six commercial pistachio cultivars with tissue culture rootstock of Bademi Zarand. This experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with six pistachio cultivars (Kaleh Qouchi, Rezaei Zodras, Fandoghi, Forootani, Akbari and Ahmad Ahaghi) in three replications at Kerman Pistachio Research Station for four years (2012-2016). The results of average comparison showed that Ahmad Aghaei had the highest growth and highest adaptability to the tissue culture and also highest concentration of leaf nutrients and Akbari cultivar had the least compatibility with tissue culture rootstocks. So that the length of this year's branch and the graft branch, stem diameter below and above the graft in Ahmad Aghaei cultivar were 36, 84, 67 and 39% more than Akbari and also P and Fe concentration in Ahmad Aghaei leaves were 42. 85 and 101% more than Akbari respectively. Results of Pearson correlation analysis showed significant correlation coefficients among some growth properties and nutrient concentration in this study. There were positive correlations among leaf potassium concentration with length of this year's branch and the graft branch, calcium concentration with stem diameter, stem diameter with the number of lateral branches and radius of the tree crown. According to the results, it seems Ahmad Aghaei cultivar is more compatibility than other cultivars with Badami-Zarand tissue culture rootstocks in Kerman climatic conditions.

One of the most important application of solar energy is its utilization in solar dryers in which the agricultural products will maintain for long-term storage. Pistachio is one of the most important non-petroleum exports in Iran. Due to the importance of the drying method in preserving quality properties produced from the pistachio nut by using renewable energy sources, an indirect solar dryer with a vacuum heat pipe solar collector with 62. 53 % efficiency was designed and fabricated with application of the paraffin as a phase change material with 55 ° C melting point. The dried product was compared with the dried hazelnut pistachio in terms of shape and good quality. Parameters such as the dryer chamber temperature, inlet and outlet temperature of the collector, humidity inside the dryer chamber and ambient humidity, solar radiation intensity, the moisture reduction curve for two cases was measured. Performance of the dryer was compared with PCM and without using PCM. The results were shown that utilization of phase change material improved the performance and efficiency of the dryer and increase the capability of drying process, around 2 hours after sunset.