Iranian Journal of Horticultural Science and Technology
Year:2005 | Volume:5 | Issue:4|Papers Count:7

To investigate the effects of Capri fig type on quantity and quality of Estahban dried fig, the experiment was conducted in Estahban Fig Research Center during 2002 and 2003. The cultivar ‘Sabz’ of edible fig was caprificated under controlled conditions by ‘Pouzdombali’, ‘Dane-Sefid’, ‘Khormai’ and ‘Shah Anjiri’ caprifigs, during caprification season. The results of this research indicated that, caprifig type had no effect on fruit diameter and dry weight of ‘Sabz’ cultivar of dried fig, while length, total soluble solids, fruit eye length and seed germination percentage were significantly affected by the pollen source. Time of ripening and fruit skin color was significantly influenced by pollen source. Compared to other caprifigs, ‘Shah Anjiri’ caprifig significantly resulted in early ripening of ‘Sabz’ cultivar of dried fig. Generally, the best fruit quality was obtained in the edible figs caprificated with ‘Pouzdombali’ caprifig.

Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers were used to study phylogenetic relationships among 18 genotypes of lime [(Citrus aurantifolia (Chrism.) Swing.] And lemon [(Citrus limon (L.) Burm F.] In south of Fars province After extraction of total DNA from young leaves, PCR amplification was performed using 6 ISSR primers. Amplification products were separated by electrophoresis in 6% denaturing polyacrylamide gels containing 7M urea. DNA bands were detected by silver staining. Based on 333 total ISSR fragments and 215 polymorphic fragments generated, a similarity dendrogram was constructed using UPGMA cluster analysis. The 18 genotypes classified into three major groups. The first group consisted of only D3 which was separated from other two groups with low similarity value of 0.56. Morphological and molecular differences between D3 and other genotypes indicated that it was neither a lime nor a lemon. Members of the second group, D5 and G30 were identified as lemons because they were grouped with G24 (Lisbon lemon). The 3rd and largest group comprises various types of lime including Mexican lime and Tahiti lime. It was divided into two main subgroups. D1, D2 and D9 formed the subgroup1. In the subgroup 2, genotype D7 (Cucumber lime) with 0.79 similarity separated from other ten. Next, D13 (Tahiti lime) with 0.82 similarity value was distinct from others which are regarded as Citrus aurantifolia. Among the latter which includes acid limes of Darab and Jahrom, similarity value ranged between 0.85 to 0.96. Some of these genotypes, e.g. G31 and G14, have valuable genetic characteristics for breeding programs.

According to the vegetative and reproductive characteristics, grape is grown and trained on supporting systems for commercial production. The aim of training systems in grapevine culture is to maximize yield and fruit quality, facilitate garden operations and improve plant protection. The experiment was conducted in Horticultural Department Research Centre, Faculty of Agriculture University of Tehran during years of 1998-2002, to investigate the effects of three training systems on yield, fruit quality and some vegetative characters of five grapevine cultivars. The systems used in this study were vertical shoot positioning (VSP), Y-trellis and sloping-T trellis and the cultivars were 'Flame Seedless', 'Daste Chin', 'Bidane Sefid Bidane' 'Ghermez' and 'Shahroodi'. Length of bunch and sugar content of berries were affected by training systems but yield per vine and other measured characters were not affected. Sugar content of berries on Y-trellis and sloping-T training systems was higher than at VSP system. Although there was no significant difference between them Length of bunch in sloping-T system was higher than other systems. There was an also significant difference among the cultivars that was attributed to their genetic characters.  Wind blowing resulted in some problems in sloping-T system such as breaking of shoots in early spring and rotating of vine canopy and the need of frequently tying cordons to cordon wire in this system. In general, according to present research Y-trellis system is recommended for five studied grapevine cultivars due to providing better light penetration into canopy, better distribution of shoots, decreasing fungal infection, producing high quality crop, easier pruning and harvesting and better access to bunches for different treatments.

To determine the effect of zinc, manganese and magnesium sulfate foliar application on the yield and quality of 'Jahrom Local' orange (Citrus sinensis Swing), an experiment was carried out as factorial in randomized complete block design (RCBD) whit three replications and two trees per plot in two consecutive years (1998-1999). The experimental factors included zinc sulfate at three levels 0, 2 and 4 g liter-1; manganese sulfate at three levels 0, 1 and 2 g liter-1 and magnesium sulfate at three levels 0, 5 and 10 g liter-1. The experiment conducted on 20-year-old trees with the sour orange as rootstocks and drop irrigation system in Jahrom Agricultural Research Station. The results showed that the foliar application of zinc, manganese and magnesium sulfate and their interaction effects on the yield in comparison with control were statistically significant (P=0.01). Economical survey illustrated that the best treatment for increasing the yields was foliar application of 4 g liter-1 of zinc sulfate with 1 g liter-1 manganese sulfate and no magnesium sulfate. This treatment significantly increased the mean yield from 13543 kg ha-1 in control to 28914 kg ha-1. The results of leaf analysis indicated that zinc and manganese concentrations in the leaves were increased but there was no change in magnesium concentration. The interaction effects of zinc and manganese sulfate foliar application caused a significant increase on fruit vitamin C and total soluble solid (TSS) contents. Moreover, foliar applications of manganese sulfate alone considerably increased fruit TSS content.

In recent years, date bunch fading disorder has caused heavy economic damage in date plantations of Jiroft region. It takes place when fruit is changing from khalal to rutab stage. Sudden drop of air humidity along with high temperature and blowing hot and dry winds have an important role on incidence and development of disorder. In this study, the effects of two agromanagement factors, including different thinning methods [thinning one third of inflorescence tip at pollination stage (T1), one third of inflorescence tip at pollination stage + 10% of central strands at kimri stage (T2), one third of central strands at kimri stage (T3) and control (T4)] and bunch covers [aluminum foil (C1), mat-like basket (C2), wax (C3) and control (C4)]  were studied as  a factorial experiment in form of randomized complete block design with 16 treatments and 4 replications in Jiroft region during 2002-2003. The two years data were combined and the means of treatments were compared using Duncan’s multiple range test. Sampling for determining of damage rate and fruit characteristics within the treatments was done at harvesting time. The results showed significant differences among different treatments of bunch covers and thinning methods, although the effect of bunch covers was more significant than thinning methods. The means of damage percentage in bunch covers (C2), (C1), (C3) and (C4) were 6.79, 10.62, 16.92 and 19.16and the means of damage percentage in thinning treatment (T1), (T2), (T3) and (T4) were 8.32, 12.56, 13.2 and 19.4, respectively. Effects of both factors (thinning and covering) on some fruit characters such as fruit weight, length, diameter and volume, as well as, stone diameter were significant. Among the treatments, mat like-basket and thinning one third of the inflorescence tip had the most significant effects on reducing disorder damage and improvement fruit quantity and quality of the 'Mazafati' in Jiroft region.