Iranian Journal of Horticultural Science and Technology
Year:2012 | Volume:12 | Issue:4|Papers Count:12

The dominant cultivar of strawberry in Kurdestan Province is ‘Kurdestan’. This cultivar has the attractive fragrance, good taste and color but it has some defects. The firmness of fruit tissue is low, storage life is short and fruits are small. Therefore, it is necessity to obviate these defects and increase the fruit quality and quantity. For this purpose, calcium sulphate (0, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2 g l-1) and zinc sulphate (0, 1.5, 3 and 4.5 g l-1) were sprayed on strawberry plants. The spray of 3 g l-1 zinc sulphate, increased the number of fruits significantly. The interaction of these two elements also increased the number of fruits. Interaction of zinc and calcium sulphate increased the amount of total soluble solids but this increase was not significant. Calcium and zinc decreased the fruit acidity individually. These two elements increased the amount of vitamin C individually but the interaction of them had not considerable effect on this vitamin. Although, using calcium and zinc sulphate seperately could increase the fruit firmness, the interaction of these two elements had the most effect and significantly increased the fruit firmness.

In this study, bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity of pulp taken from three citrus cultivars (‘Sanguinello’, ‘Tarocco’ and ‘Page’) were investigated during ripening to determine suitable harvesting time. Some parameters were measured such as TSS, TA, TSS/TA, total carotenoid, total phenolics, total flavonoid, total anthocyanin, ascorbic acid content and antioxidant capacity based on DPPH.+ and ABTS.+ radicals scavenging. Results showed that no significant differences were observed for TSS and TA in all cultivars and the last three harvesting dates. Total carotenoid level increased during ripening. The total content of phenolic was superior in September sampling date taken from ‘Sanguinello’ and ‘Tarocco’. Total flavonoid and anthocyanin increased but ascorbic acid levels decreased during ripening. Antiradical efficiency (AE) increased in ‘Tarocco’ and ‘Page’ fruits in September. Although AE elevated in ‘Sanguinello’ in November, but no significant differences observed between samples taken from November to December. According to antioxidant assay, antioxidant capacities at all cultivars were in highest level at early of December. In general, due to optimum fruit quality and antioxidant capacity during late November and early December, we suggest that these times are suitable for harvesting of studied cultivars.

To investigate the effects of paclobutrazol on leaf gas exchange parameters, vegetative growth and fruiting of strawberry cv. Camarosa an experiment was conducted as randomized complete block design which consisted of 4 treatments and 4 replications at College of Agriculture, Isfahan University of Technology. Paclobutrazol was applied as foliar spray at 0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 mg active ingredient per plant. The results indicated that the application of paclobutrazol at 0.4 and 0.6 mg per plant increased chlorophyll content and leaf gas exchange parameters including photosynthesis, stomatal conductance and mesophyll efficiency. However, paclobutrazol had no significant effect on internal CO2 concentration. The results also indicated that paclobutrazol at the rate of 0.6 mg active ingredient per plant was most effective on reducing leaf area, number and length of runners when compared with untreated control. Paclobutrazol at rates 0.4 and 0.6 mg active ingredient per plant increased number of crown, number of leaves, shoot dry weight and fruit fresh weight. The paclobutrazol application had no effect on fruit firmness, totals soluble solids and vitamin C.

In this study, ornamental potential and acclimization of three Achillea species were assessed under Isfahan climate conditions. Three accessions of A. millefolium, two accessions from endemic species of A. pachycephala and one accession of A. filipendulina were studied in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with 6 treatments, 3 replications and nine important ornamental characteristics were recorded. The results showed that different accessions have different ornamental potentials. The results of cluster analysis based on mean of each character, classified the genotypes into three groups. Group 1 included Iranian A. millefolium accessions [A. millefolium (40) and A. millefolium (35)]. Group 2 consisted of three genotypes including A. millefolium. f. rosea from Lithuania, A. filipendulina from Ardebil and A. pachycephala from Hamedan. A. pachycephala from Golestan was separated from other genotypes and classified in the third group. Among accessions, A. pachycephala from Golestan had excellent potential for using as ground cover species, while other genotypes were good candidates as border and bedding plants in landscape and xeriscape. A. filipendulina genotype from Ardebil had the most number of floret in inflorescence, plant height and flowering time duration. Three genotypes belonged to A. millefolium, had sufficient variation in order to be selected as ornamental species for landscape design. Finally, different Achillea species were suitable in landscape, because of their tolerance to environmental stress, beautiful flowers, color diversity and different flowering times.

Rosa damascene Mill. (Rosaceae) is one of the important rose species for production of aromatic compounds. The oil and distilled water of rose are used vastly in medicinal, hygienic-cosmetic and food industries. In Iran, there are vast gardens of Rosa damascena in Kashan, Kerman, Tabriz, Sahand and Fars province. In this research, the effect of drying on yield and chemical compositions of concrete and absolutes of three Rosa damascena genotypes (from national botanical garden of Iran) were examined. Four samples from each genotype (1- fresh petals, 2- shade dried petals, 3- fresh flower bud and 4- shade dried flower bud) were prepared. The concretes were extracted by petroleum ether and the waxes were removed by shaking the concrete with absolute ethanol and remaining at -15oC for 10 minute. Yields of concrete and absolutes were calculated. The absolutes were analyzed by capillary GC and GC/MS. The results showed that drying had negative effect on yields of concrete and absolute of Rosa damascena. Analysis and identification of the chemical components in the absolutes showed that extraction of absolutes from fresh flowers and flower buds was better than dried samples, but if for any reason, it is needed to extract absolute from dried plant material, drying and storage of flower buds are preferred to flowers.

Medicinal pumpkin is a valuable plant in pharmaceutical industry. This research was carried out for determination of the effects of different levels of potassium (0, 100, 150 and 200 Kg/ha) and foliar application of zinc (0, 50, 100 and 150 ppm) on the morphological traits and the concentrations of K and Zn elements absorption in factorial experiment with randomizes complete block design. Results showed that potassium had significant effects on number of leaves, plant fresh weight and plant longevity, zinc and potassium concentration in leaf, fruit and seed. Foliar applications of zinc had no significant effect on morphological factors, but significantly increased zinc and potassium concentrations in leaves, fruits and seeds.

Onion is one of the important world crop plants with high valuable food sources, which is used almost around the world. The objective of the present study was the cytological studies of some of the onion Phoma terrestris (syn. Pyrenochaeta terrestris), genotypes resistant and susceptible to pink root rot disease. The results after the Arc Sin and subjection to DMRT analysis, indicating that, the base chromosome number was x=8 in all the studied onion genotypes. Also, the number of chromosomes, length of the longest chromosome, length of the shortest chromosome (TF%), longest/shortest length ratio, average of long arm/short arm ratio, average of chromosomes ratio, intra asymmetry chromosomal index (A1), inter asymmetry chromosomal index (A2) were recorded. The types of chromosomes were Met Centric, Sub Meta Centric and Sub Telo Centric. Comparison of relative length of the shortest chromosome (S%) showed that the susceptible and resistant genotypes had the more and less symmetric karyotypes, respectively. Whereas, the tolerance ones were located in an intermediate group as far as these studies are concerned.

Garlic is an important member of Liliaceae and is widely used in cooking due to its medicinal properties (allicin) and special taste. The average bulb yield in Iran is relatively low especially in arid regions. In a field trial, the impact of foliar spray of methyl jasmonate (0, 5 and 10mM) was studied on growth and biochemical parameters, bulb yield and allicin contents in a local cultivar in Jiroft under drought stress (40% reduction of available water). Drought reduced most measured parameters, but methyl jasmonate improved those. Interaction of methyl jasmonate and drought was significant for most parameters measured. Under non-drought conditions, 5mM methyl jasmonate was more effective than 10 mM, whereas under drought conditions no difference was observed. However, relative to corresponding controls, 5μM methyl jasmonate increased whole plant fresh weight, bulb yield and allicin contents by 29, 27 and 40% under non-drought condition and by 56, 45 and 61% under drought conditions and therefore, it can be recommended under stress and non-stress conditions in field.