In this study, 4 different food diets were examined for feeding white worm (Enchytraeus albidus Henle, 1837) which is used as the most important live food for fingerlings sturgeons were studied. Results showed that suitable moisture for growth and development of white worm was 50 - 70% that their biomass reached to a 675 g/m2 during 90 days. But it decreased significantly at moisture lower than 45% and upper than 65%. White worm had similar growth both in acidic and basic area. White worm biomass reached to 576g/m2 during 90 days in basic area but reached to 568 g/m2 in acidic that was maximum at pH 6.4 - 7.6, while its growth decreases at pH lower than 6 and higher than 8. In this study, Azola used as food for white worm in amount of 60%, wheat meal 25%, and wheat bran 15% that caused to more growth in worms and their biomass reached to 533 g/m2 during 90 days. Although biomass of worm fed with mixture of potato 30%, carrot 3%, wheat meal 25% and wheat bran 15% reached to 584 g/m2, but biomass of worms were fed with mixture of potato 60%, wheat meal 25%, and wheat bran 15% reached to 576 during 90 days. Economically, cost production of Azola was lower in comparison to other diets. Biochemical decomposition of worms fed with mixture of Azola, wheat meal and wheat bran showed more protein (33%) than others. Based on results Azola can be used as a suitable and commercial replacement for white worm food diets.

One of the most important steps of Agaricus bisporus production is casing. In this step a layer of soil is added on top of compost. Peat is the most suitable casing soil for A. bisporus production. The lack of peat in Iran is one of the major problems in A. bisporus production for mushroom producers. It seems that peat can be replaced by Spent Mushroom Compost (SMC). In order to study the possibility of peat replacement, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design layout with two replications. The experimental factors consisted of Spent Mushroom Compost with two levels (one and two years old), leaching with three levels (one (L1), two (L2) and three (L3) times) and EDTA with two levels (without EDTA (E1) and with EDTA, 0.3 M (E2)) and different casing soil with four levels (SMC+loam, SMC+Azolla, SMC+Peat (1:1) and Peat). The experiment was carried out in the Mushroom Production Center of Agricultural College, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The results showed that the highest mushroom yield was obtained in peat treatment (24%). The average of yield in SMC+Peat treatment was 11.78%. The Diameter of mushroom cap in SMC+Peat treatment was 44.1 mm. The lowest yield (8.1%) and diameter of A. bisporus cap (37 mm) was observed in SMC+Azolla treatment. The results also showed that the EDTA had a negative effect on yield (44.3 %) and diameter of the mushroom cap.

In order to examine the impact of biofertilizer on the essential oil and seed yield of Moldavian balm, a factorial experiment with a randomized complete block design and three replications were designed at the Khoy Agricultural Research Center in the West Azerbaijan Province. Five fertilization levels were applied: 100% urea (70 kg N ha−1), 75% urea (52.5 kg N ha−1) + 25% azocompost (3.85 ton ha-1), 50% urea (35 kg N ha−1) + 50% azocompost (7.77 ton ha-1), 25% urea (17.5 kg N ha−1) + 75% azocompost (11.55 ton ha-1), and 100% azocompost (1555 ton ha-1) on two Moldavian balm landrace (Urmia and the modern cultivar SZK-1).  The results of this study indicated that a 100% urea fertilizer regime produced the highest dry herbage yield. The highest seed yield was achieved with a 100% urea fertilizer application of approximately 1,122 kg ha-1. Inoculating seeds with Azotobacter and Azospirillum bacteria resulted in the highest harvest index, with a value of 22.4 percent. The Urmia landrace genotype had the highest yield of essential oil (20.5 kg ha-1). Based on the findings, the 50% urea + 50% azocompost fertilizer treatment had the greatest effect on the majority of the investigated characteristics.

In order to study the integrated effect of nitrogenand organic fertilizer on yield and yield components of Tarom cultivar of rice a field experiment was carried out at the Haraz Technology Development and Extension Center in Mazandaran (Amol) during 2010. The experiment conducted as a randomized complete block design with 8 treatments and 3 replications. Treatments included two kinds of organic fertilizer (Bioll555) and Azola compost that every one of those was incorporated whit amount of nitrogen as: 1- without nitrogen 2- whit 50% N at basal 3- with 50% N (25% at basal and 25% at panicle initiation) and 4- with 100% N (50% at basal, 25% at tillering stage and 25% at panicle initiation). Other cultural practices were down to all plots according SRI method monotonously. In this study, plant height, panicle length, tillers and panicle number per hill, filled grains and total grains number per panicle, 1000 grain weight, economical and biological yield and harvest index were measured. Results showed that were not significant differences for grain yield among treatments, nevertheless the highest grain yield (4.491 t/ha) belonged to T8 (organic fertilizer Bioll555+100% Nitrogen (50% at basal+25% at tillering stage+25% at panicle initiation) and the lowest grain yield (3.673 t/ha) belonged to T1 (Azola compost without N application) which indicate N is very important in rice production. For all measured traits, organic fertilizer (Bioll555) had superiority in comparison with Azola compost. We found that organic fertilizer is advantageous for decrease of N application up to 50%.

Introduction; Rising global demand for food, along with the limitation of arable land, has posed a major challenge for agricultural researchers. Given that the development of agricultural lands is not practically possible, most attention should be focused on increasing the production yield per unit area. One of the basic approaches to increase crop yield is the consumption of more types of inputs, especially chemical fertilizers, despite their application poses problems for humans, soil and the environment. In addition to decreasing the use of chemical fertilizers, organic fertilizers can be considered as a suitable solution to solve this problem. Organic compounds and biomass are the main factors of soil fertility, maintain soil fertility as well as its productivity. One way to increase soil organic substance is the applying organic fertilizers such as living compounds (bacteria, yeast, Azolla) and non-living compounds (compost tea, amino acids, humic acid and fulvic acid). Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi are cosidered as beneficial microorganisms. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi promote plant growth by establishing a symbiotic relationship with plants. The colonization of plant roots by these fungi increases plant resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses, enhances growth through increasing elements uptake, improves the water flow of plants, and protects plants against diseases. Due to the importance of some food products such as Zea mays, investigation of various aspects of the mycorrhizal fungi application and their effect on these products is important.Materials and Methods; In this study, in order to investigate the efficacy of some organic compounds and microorganisms on the colonization of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi and uptake of some elements trough the plant roots, a factorial experiment in greenhouse conditions was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications for 3 months. This study involved the fungal factor at three levels, Funneliformis mosseae (FM), Rhizophagus intraradices (RI), and Rhizophagus irregalaris (RIr), and the organic enhancer factor at seven levels (Azolla, P. fluorescens VUPf5 bacterial strain, Amino acid complex, Humic acid, Yeast, Bacterial siderophore and Compost tea).Results and Discussion; The results of this study showed that the highest root mycorrhizal colonization percentage by Funneliformis mosseae (FM) was observed in bacterial (93%), humic acid (90%) and Azola (76%) treatments, respectively. Treatments of Azola and humic acid with 96% and compost tea with 82% showed the highest effect on R. intraradices (Ir) colonization. Also, Azola (96%) and compost tea (90%) had the greatest effect on the root colonization percentage by R. irregalaris (Rir). According to the results, the main increase in root colonization percentage by three mycorrhizal species was observed in Azola, humic acid, compost tea and bacterial treatments. The results showed that some compounds increased the concentration of nutrients in the roots and shoots of the treated plant. The function of these compounds is as a stimulant in mycorrhizal fungi and it seems mainly via root stimulation and rooting and creating signals related to the roots of the plant and mycorrhizal fungi. According to the results, all mycorrhizal species significantly increased the amount of phosphorus (69.5%) in the shoot under the compost tea application. Treatment of amino acid along with R. irregaluris caused to increase in the concentration of iron, compared to the control. Application of R. intraradices along with amino acid increased manganese concentration by 2.87 times compared to the control. Simultaneous application of siderophore and RI, FM and Rir increased the concentration of zinc 2.16, 2.55 and 1.81 times compared to the control, respectively. Results of the present study indicated an increase in the uptake of elements by all three species of mycorrhizal fungi and the performance of these fungi accompanied with compost tea, amino acid complex and siderophore had a better outcomes compared to the control. The highest uptake of phosphorus, zinc and manganese was observed using R. intraradices and iron in inoculated plant with R. irregaluris. The mean comparison of different treatments effect revealed no significant differences between non- mycorrhiza and mycorrhiza-treated samples, while in comparison with the control, their differences were significant. Overall, concomitant use of mycorrhizal fungi with azolla, bacterial and humic acid has the greatest increase in the mycorrhizal root colonization and treatments of compost tea, amino acid complex and siderophore has the highest impact on nutrient content increase in plant.Keywords: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, Elements content, Root colonization, Synergistic effect

This field experiment was done to study the effects of chemical and organic fertilizers on growth, yield and yield components of Tarom rice variety under system of rice intensification (SRI), using completely randomized block design with 9 treatments and 3 replications, during 2011 growing season at Haraz Development and Promotion Research Center. Treatments SRI 1 to SRI 8 consisted of different combinations of organic fertilizers; Bioll555 and Azola compost with urea fertilizer, under system of rice intensification and SRI 9 as traditional rice cultivation system were used. The results showed that the maximum (149.8 cm) and minimum (129.2 cm) plant height were measured in treatments SRI 7 and SRI 2, respectively. In terms of maximum number of tillers, no significant differences were observed between treatments (p>0.05) The maximum (249.0) number of panicles per m 2 was observed in treatment SRI 6. Also the results indicated that the maximum (120.7) and minimum (94.1) number of spikelets per panicle were measured in treatments SRI 8 and SRI 3, respectively. The results also revealed that the highest grain yield (4772.4 kg/ha) was measured in treatment SRI 6 and the lowest rate (3360.0 kg/ha) was gained in treatment SRI 2. Finally, It found that treatment (SRI 6) and (SRI 7) under system of rice intensification could lead to the best yield and yield components of Tarom rice variety.

This study was conducted in order to amend a saline-sodic soil with Azolla compost and polyacrilamide (PAM) in a laboratory experiment. A factorial design of completely randomized test with three replications was used to compare the effects of the amendments. The soil sample was collected from saline-sodic marls of hilly lands around Manjil dam. Both azolla compost and PAM were used in four rates of 0, 5, 10 and 15 ton per hectare, and 0, 25, 50 and 75 kg per hectare, respectively. Soil samples were packed in a 30×35 cm drainable detachment tray, and subjected to a rainfall intensity of 95 mm h-1for 40 minutes. The runoff rate, sediment concentration and splash erosion rate were measured during the experiments, and sodium adsorption ratio and exchangeable sodium percentage of the soil were determined after the experiment. Results showed that the best treatment for reducing sodium adsorption ratio and exchangeable sodium percentage of the the minimum application of one of the amendments (25 kg ha-1 PAM, or 5 ton ha-1 Azolla compost). For decreasing sediment concentration and rainfall erosion rate, application of 5 ton ha-1 Azolla compost was the most appropriate treatment than the other combined treatments. Runoff rate was affected only by Azolla compost, and the application of 5 ton ha-1 Azolla compost resulted in the minimum runoff. In addition to these positive effects, Azola compost as an organic material may have effective functions in improvement of vegetation cover if it used in the field.

Ponds, which are called Ab-bandans in mazindaran province, are valuable samples of native knowledge and technology of the people of this region for the optimum use of water. These aquatic systems are used for agricultural water storage and recharge of springs and underground waters, also from ecological points of view, provide habitats for birds and wild life, protection of bio-diversity, gene banks, creation of beautiful landscapes and several other benefits. The ponds of north of Iran are in danger of degradation due to uncontrolled development, pollution of agricultural liquid waste and simplification. The present research is for recognition of the vegetation cover of these ecosystems and also studying the factors causing their degradation in the southern border of the Caspian Sea (Mazindaran Province). The results of this research show there are 423 ponds with total areas of about 14000 hectares. Their distribution is drawn on a map with the 1.300000 scale. Due to change in plant structure of these ecosystems and dominance of increasing species such as Nympha alba, Phragmites australis, Typha latifolia and Lemna minor and invasion of foreign oppurtunist plants such as Azola and also pollution because of incoming agricultural liquid waste, it seems that the ponds are losing their ecological power and are heading towads waterlogging (destrophication). Now that the world is encountered with water crisis it is recommended a scientific overall study of the ponds for their protection and sustainable use, before complete destruction of these cultural-natural heritage of genebanks, diversity and special beauty, takes place.

In order to investigate the effect of different sources of organic and chemical fertilizers on some physiological parameters of different rice cultivars in drought tension conditions, an experiment was conducted as split factorial in a randomized complete blocks design with three replications at research farm, located in Sari in 2016. Three levels of tension included drought tension at early tillering stage, drought tension at full heading stage and control (no tension) were considered as the main factor and four fertilizer sources of vermicompost, Azolla compost, humic acid and chemical fertilizer of N. P. K and two cultivars of Shiroudi and Tarom Mahali as factorial as the sub factor. The results showed that there was a statistically significant difference between Tarom Mahali and Shiroodi cultivars in terms of yield at drought tension levels and different fertilizer sources. The highest paddy yield for Shiroudi and Tarom Mahali cultivars (equals to 6577 and 3776 kilogram per hectare, respectively) was obtained under common irrigation conditions and with the application of tension, the rate of yields decreased, especially with the application of drought tension in the clustering stage, when the yield of Shiroodi and Tarom Mahali cultivars decreased by about 17. 6 and 2. 9 ercent, respectively. The application of humic acid, Azola compost and vermicompost resulted in 17. 3, 13. 7 and 8. 8 percent increase in grain yield for Shiroudi cultivar and 9. 7, 3. 8 and 2. 6 percent increase in yield for Tarom Mahali under drought tension at tillering stage, respectively, compared to N. P. K chemical fertilizer. The highest amount of total and reducing sugar (147. 3 and 4. 289 milligram per gram, respectively) was obtained under drought tension conditions at early tillering stage with using the humic acid for Shiroudi cultivar. Therefore, according to the results of the present research, the application of humic acid is suitable for achieving the maximum grain yield of studied rice cultivars under drought tension conditions.