Cumin in Khorasan is one of the important plants using in medicine and export to the other countries. Due to this importance, this study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different planting methods in dry and wet planting on cumin for two years in Mashhad. Split block design in randomized complete block design was used for this study. Horizontal factors were: a) wet planting b) dry planting. Vertical factors were a) drill planting with Barzgar Hamedan seeder b) planting with alfalfa seeder (grass seeder) c) conventional planting (seed broadcasting by hand+ land leveler). The measured parameters were: number of umbrella in plant, number of seed in umbrella, number of seed in plant, 1000 seed weight and yield (Kg/ha). It was concluded that interaction effect of planting methods and wet and dry planting had significant difference on number of seed in plant in 5% probability area. In addition planting methods had significant effect on yield in first year. In second year, planting methods had significant difference on number of seeds in plant and yield .All means amounts were compared using Duncan' s multiple range test, it showed that, cumin yield by alfalfa seeder, by drill planting and conventional planting (broadcast seeding) in wet planting was obtained 505.3, 523 and 448.3 Kg/ha in first year and 632, 6349 and 558.67 Kg/ha in second years. Results indicated that drill planting with Barzgar Hamedan seeder had the most promising performance and produced the highest yield.  

Astragalus cyclophyllon is a perennial herb, a member of the family Papilionaceae, with vegetative form that is palatable for light animals. This experiment was done to investigate the best planting method for establishment of Astragalus cyclophyllon in Shahid Hamzavi station in Semirom. The study was carried out at two experiments. In first experiment, seed dormancy was broken using scarification. The results showed that stratification had the highest effect on seeds germination. In second experiment, seeds were planted based on a randomized complete block design in the spring. The methods of seed planting were pitting, furrow and surface planting. Some characteristics including percentage of plant emergence and number of simple and compound leaves were measured in the spring. There were significant differences among three methods in view point of understudy characteristics. Maximum percentage of plant emergence was related to pitting planting with 58.2% and minimum one for surface planting with 38.3%. On the basis of these results, pitting method is better than others for establishment of this plant.

To assess the yield and agronomic traits of snapbean cultivars in different planting times and methods, an experiment was conducted for two years in Zarghan using a split- split plot with three replications. The main plots were two snapbean cultivars, Sunray and Contender, subplots were three planting times, end of April, early in May and mid May, when temperature was 24.7, 26.9 and 25.2oC, respectively and sub-sub plots were three planting methods and seeding distance on row, 10cm single row, 15 and 20 cm double cross-rows. Different agronomic traits and yield in different treatments were recorded in different growth stages. Analysis of variance on data showed that the effects of planting methods and seeding distance on row were not significant on yield, but the effects of cultivar and planting time were significant. Seed germination and seedling emergence in Sunray cultivar occurred earlier than in Cantender cultivar. Sunray cultivar with 43.02 tha-1 in the first year and 57.57 tha-1 in the second year, produced higher yield compared to Contender cultivar with 24.34 tha-1 yield in the first year and 39.08 tha-1 in the second year. Two years mean yield of Sunray (50.29 tha-1) was also higher than that of Cantender (31.71 tha-1). The first planting time (end of April) increased yield of both cultivars and there were significant differences among planting dates for yield and agronomic traits. Generally, Sunray cultivar with higher yield and better bean quality, and planting time of end April were recognized as the best treatments for Zarghan areas.

The effective parameters on wheat yield, are optimum use of tillage and planting methods. Therefore, the effect of planting and tillage methods on raised bed planting systems should be evaluated for irrigated wheat. This study was performed in the form of a split-block experimental design with six treatments and five replications. Three levels of tillage operations including (1) conventional tillage using mouldboard plough and disc harrow (P), (2) cultivating top of the beds and reshaping (C1), (3) cultivating in furrows and the top of beds and reshaping (C2) were considered as main plots. The number of rows on a bed involving (1) two rows (R2), and (2) three rows (R3) were considered as sub-plots. Parameters such as soil cone index, weight of thousand kernels and wheat yield were measured. Results indicated that between tillage treatments were not difference for soil cone index. On the other hand, the average wheat yield in the tillage treatments was about 5.4 t/ha and yield for three planting rows on each bed was 2.5% more than two rows planting on each bed. Using cultivator for tillage operation reduced the number of operations and also reduced the tillage operating cost of 80% compared to using mouldboard ploughing. Therefore, using cultivator and planting three rows on each bed (C1R3) is recommended for planting irrigated wheat.

In order to investigate the possibility of quinoa producing in Garmsar, Iran, a factorial experiment conducted in randomized complete block design with three replications in 2018-2019 growing season at Garmsar Agricultural Research Station. The factors were planting date at three levels (March 6th, April 1st and April 6th) and the three genotypes of quinoa (Q26, Q29 and Titicaca). Results showed that the effect of planting date was significant for all studied traits except the harvest index. Also, all studied traits were significantly different in all genotypes. Titicaca planted on March 6th had the highest yield (2276 kg.ha-1).The grain yield and yield components decreased with the delaying the planting date. Compared to early plantings, Latest date, April 6th, led to reduction of all traits, especially grain yield (about 50%). The results of simple phenotypic correlation between the studied traits showed that grain yield per hectare had the highest correlation with plant yield (0.877) and then with leaf area index (0.832), panicle weight (0.815) and number of branches per plant (0.745) that was significant at the 1% probability level.

In Iran, salinity is a pervasive issue limiting production of agriculture, so that a large part of the arid and semi-arid regions of the country have saline sodic soils with different levels. Saline soils and waters are among the agricultural resources that can be used for cultivation by using full recognition of problem and proper management. This study was performed to evaluate a special grain drill performance which plants wheat seeds into furrows for semi-arid regions with saline soils conditions in margin of Uremia Lake. The experimental treatments of planting method by the grain drill included, (i) planting into the furrows with 60 cm width and furrow irrigation; (ii) planting into the furrows with 100 cm width and furrow irrigation; and (iii) planting on a flat soil and flood irrigation. Statistical analysis was conducted based on randomized complete block design with three replications. Seed emergence rate, crop performance indices, water consumption, water productivity, and soil salinity distribution after each irrigation practice were measured. According to the results, there was no significant difference between the methods of planting in any of the measured parameters at the 5% probability level. Results also showed that reducing the width of the furrow from 100 to 60 cm caused salinity reduction (about 37 percent) from inside the furrows. The water productivity of the planting into the furrows with 60 cm width was about 40 percent higher than those of other treatments. Therefore, wheat planting method by the grain drill into the furrows with 60 cm width can be recommended in semi-arid regions with saline soils.

Birds are one of the important key pests to sunflower. To identify harmful birds on sunflower crops, this survey was conducted in different parts of Iran (Mazandaran, Golestan, Tehran, Qom & Khoy regions) during 2002-2003 on ripening sunflower heads. In this survey, 2866 sunflower heads were randomly selected. Six species were damaging on ripening seeds of sunflower heads. The injurious bird species were identified and distributed as follows: Rock Dove (Columba livia Gmelin), Karaj & Qom; European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis L.), Golidagh; House Sparrow (Passer domesticus L.), Karaj, Qom, Khoy, Gonbad& Mazandaran; Magpie (Pica pica L.), Karaj; Rook (Corvus frugilegus L.), Karaj & Khoy; Hooded Crow (Corvus corone L.), Karaj. In this survey, damage rate of 2866 sunflower heads were estimated both in farm fields and agriculture research stations.In farm fields, the damage was low (0.98% to 3.62%), while in research fields was high (43.5% at Karaj and 24.6% at Khoy).Morphometric measurements were consist of head height from ground surface (cm), head diameter (cm), sterile to head diameter ratio (%), head shape, form of stem and head angle. These factors were analysed with bird damage rate. Pearson correlation was used for the first 3 factors and ANOVA for the second 3 factors. Pearson correlation was significant only for the sterile (p<0.01). ANOVA showed significant differences between the groups of head angle (p<0.01) and head shape and stem form (p<0.05). According to the results, low sterile, concave and flat shapes, stem with no angle and head angles 16-25o were preferred items to select sunflower heads for researches of sunflower breeding.

A factorial-experiment with randomized complete block design, was conducted to investigate the effect of planting methods and different mass density on yield of saffron. The experiment was carried out in a farm located in Homondabesard- Damavand in Tehran province from July 2000 till July 2004. The corms of saffron were brought from Birjand, one of the main saffron producing areas in southern Khorasan. Two planting methods were, mass (group) planting (A1) and row planting (A2) with three corm density, 5 (B1), 10 (B2) and 15 (B3) corms in each 30 cm of planting rows were used. We had six treatment with 5 replicates or blocks in 30plots. Each plot was 2.8×8=22.4 sq-meters. The corms were planted about 20 cm deep. The results showed that in the first two years of experiment, the mass planting had higher yield than row planting method. However, in last two years the results were changed so that row planting method (A2) had significantly higher yield than mass planting. it is worth mentioning, that from second year and after, treatment with 10 and 1 corms in the row, has become more close to group farming and in the 4th year row planting with 15 and 10 corms had the highest yield. The last word for people who were doubtful wether saffron plants are suitable for area around Damavand or not is that saffron yield in Damavand has been exactly twice as national yield.

In order to study the possibility of reduced tillage methods in Wheat planting after Potato, a field experiment was conducted on a sandy clay loam soil in the Tajarak Agricultural Research Station located in 70km Northeast of Hamedan. A randomized complete block design experiment with 8 tillage treatments (consisted of 1. Moldboard plowing + Twice disking + Leveler 2. Chisel plowing + Once disking + Leveler 3. Six bottoms plow + Once disking + Leveler 4. Once disking + Leveler 5. Sweeping + Leveler 6. Six bottoms plow + Leveler 7. Chisel plowing + Leveler 8. Leveler) was performed in 3 replication during 2 years (2001-2 and 2002-3). In this study, the machine parameters of forward speed, tractor drive wheel slip, working depth, field efficiency and theoretical and effective field capacity, as well as crop parameters of grain, straw yield and harvesting index, were measured or calculated. It was noted the method of disking + leveler after potato harvesting was for wheat planting. However if sweep used after harvesting potato, only leveler can be suggested as the most suitable method.