Ornamental plants
Ali Sahari Moghaddam; Behzad Kaviani; Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand; Vahid Abdossi; Ali Reza Eslami
Abstract
IntroductionYew or English yew (Taxus baccata L.) from the family of Taxaceae is an ornamental shrub that is used in various industries. Root induction and formation process at the base of stem cuttings of yew is slow. This species is in danger of extinction. Stimulation of rooting in cuttings causes ...
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IntroductionYew or English yew (Taxus baccata L.) from the family of Taxaceae is an ornamental shrub that is used in various industries. Root induction and formation process at the base of stem cuttings of yew is slow. This species is in danger of extinction. Stimulation of rooting in cuttings causes the plant to grow faster. Polyamines are a group of plant growth regulators that play a variety of roles, including cellular differentiation and development and stimulation of adventitious root production. Some yew habitats have been destroyed because of neglect, destruction, livestock and ineffective exploitation. The yew is propagated by seeds or through cutting and grafting. Propagation of yew through seed is difficult and obtained plants show non-uniformity. Therefore, vegetative propagation is used to produce plants similar to the mother plant. The proliferation of the plant through leafy stem cutting is one of the most famous and the best propagation methods due to the preservation of the genetic structure and uniformity. Increasing the rooting capacity of trees and shrub cuttings is being carried out with a variety of plant growth regulators around the world. Putrescine has shown a better response in compare with other polyamines. The stimulation effect of exogenous application of polyamines, especially putrescine, was shown on the rooting of several plants’ cutting. Literature evaluation showed that there is not any study on the effect of polyamines on the rooting of the yew stem cuttings. Therefore, the aim of this research was to improve the rooting conditions of difficult-to-root cuttings with different concentrations of putrescine (a type of polyamine). Materials and MethodsIn order to investigate the effect of different concentrations of putrescine, an experiment was performed based on a completely randomized block design with 4 replications. Treatments included 0 (as a control), 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 mg.l–1 of putrescine concentrations. In October, 25 cm of the end of the shoot of 5-years-old mother plants were cut and used as hardwood cuttings. The cuttings diameter was 2.5-3 mm. The lower ends of the shoot cuttings were kept at different concentrations of putrescine for 10 seconds and then placed in the cultivation bed. In this study, root percentage, number of roots, root length, stem length, shoot number, leaf number and survival percentage of cuttings were measured. Cuttings cultivation bed was perlite, cocopeat and peat moss. To prevent possible contamination, the bottom of the cuttings were immersed in a 2/1000 fungicide solution of Berdofix a week befor cutting preparation. Results and DiscussionThe results of analysis of variance showed that different concentrations of putrescine on all traits were significant at 1% probability levels. The results of mean comparison showed that the largest number of roots (6.50 per plantlet) and the highest root length (7.70 cm per plantlet) were observed in cuttings treated with 500 mg.l–1 putrescine. The highest number of shoots (5.50 per plantlet) and the highest rooting percentage (97.50) were obtained in cuttings treated with 2000 mg.l–1 of putrecine. The maximum number of leaves (41.25 per plantlet) was counted in cuttings treated with 3000 mg.l–1 of putrescine. Yew can be propagated successfully by stem cuttings. Natural conditions propagation and in vitro propagation beside cryopreservation are effective approaches to conserve plants particularly those putted in the red list. Plant growth regulators have an effective role in increasing the rooting of difficult-to-root cuttings of trees and shrubs. The exogenous use of polyamines as a new group of hormones stimulated root production in some cuttings. Peach × almond hybrid cuttings treated with 2 mM putrescine for 5 min showed the highest rooting percentage, root number and root length with the best quality. Putrescine is capable to influences on other plant growth regulators and has less toxicity than most of them. Polyamines stimulate cellular division in dissection place cells of cuttings such as cambium and phloem. The exogenous application of these compounds, especially putrescine during the root formation phase resulted in an increase in endogenous putrescine, endogenous auxin and peroxidase enzyme activity. In the cutting of the leafy stem of Corylus avellana L., the use of putrescine stimulated rooting. The study, like the present study, confirmed that putrescine can be useful for increasing rooting percentage and root quality. Putrescine had an effective role in the rooting of the stem cuttings. The present study revealed that the lowest root number was counted in cuttings that were not treated by putrescine (control). Polyamines (spermine, spermidine and putrescine) increased rooting percentage and root growth by stimulating root cell division (increased mitotic index of tip root cells) in regenerated pine (Pinus virginiana Mill.) seedlings. Polyamine biosynthesis and antioxidant enzymes activity were increased during root induction and formation. The exogenous application of spermidine in the apple (Malus prunifolia) stem cutting stimulated rooting by changing the concentration of some hormones. Spermidine regulated the expression of genes involved in the production of auxins. The study aimed to investigate the cellular-molecular effect of polyamines on the structure and development of roots in Arabidopsis showed that these organic compounds adjusted the size of the root meristematic zone during the effect on both symptomatic accumulations of hormones and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The same and different results are presented with the present findings by some other researchers. The main cause of these different results is the difference in the amount and balance of endogenous hormones, including polyamines in different species. Plant genotype, type of cuttings, cutting age, environmental factors, nutritional status especially type and amount of carbohydrates in the plant, the transfer rate of these carbohydrates from leaves to roots, the presence and the amount of phenolic compounds, nitrogen compounds, phonological stages and cutting season also play an effective role in these differences.
Pomology
Sadegh Azizifar; Vahid Abdossi; Rahmatollah Gholami; Mehrdad Ghavami; Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand
Abstract
Introduction: The availability of water for irrigating crops is one of the serious challenges at present and the future of the world. Drought stress has harmful effects on plant growth and productivity, though bringing some serious changes in plant physiology and biochemistry. Drought reduces plant growth ...
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Introduction: The availability of water for irrigating crops is one of the serious challenges at present and the future of the world. Drought stress has harmful effects on plant growth and productivity, though bringing some serious changes in plant physiology and biochemistry. Drought reduces plant growth and yield by having negative effects on plants water potential, cell division, photosynthesis activity, chlorophyll content, and protein synthesis. Although olive naturally tolerates drought, studies had shown that drought undermines its growth, yield and photosynthesis. Employing some appropriate transpiration-reducing approaches could induce olive tolerance towards water deficiency. In this regard, kaolin, through raising light reflection and diminishing the rate of transpiration, is able to lessen leaf temperature in the stressed plants. Salicylic acid (SA), as a strong signaling molecule in plants, regulates physiological and biochemical functions effective in defense mechanisms and also boosts biological and non-biological factors involved in augmenting plants.. The major roles of SA in drought- stressed plants are as follows: activation of antioxidant defense system, production of secondary metabolites, synthesis of osmolytes, optimization of mineral status and maintenance of proper balance between plant photosynthesis and growth. Although some information over effects of SA and kaolin individually on stressed plants is available, to the best of our knowledge, their simultaneous effects on plants under stressful conditions has not been investigated yet. Therefore, the present study was aimed to investigate different applications of SA and kaolin (i.e. individually and simultaneously) on field-grown olives under drought condition.Materials and Methods: This research was conducted in Dalahu Olive Research Station located in Kermanshah province. This experiment was designed as a factorial experiment in the form of a randomized complete block design with 3 replications. Factors included different foliar spraying (i.e. control, 1 mM SA, 2.5% kaolin, and a combination of them in the mentioned concentrations) and irrigation at three levels (i.e. 100, 75, and 50% of water requirement). Irrigation was performed based on three-day interval schedule according to the above method by measuring daily evapotranspiration and required volume of water by considering the plant coefficients of olives and by drip irrigation.Results and Discussion: Although olive tree is a drought-tolerant plant, drought diminished its yield. The results of this study demonstrated a decrease in total yield of olive trees due to water deficit in different years. In this regard, water deficit under high temperature and low atmospheric humidity are believed to bring about a reduction in yield of drought-stressed olive. The results of this research showed that the foliar application of SA and kaolin on olive trees led to a reduction in ionic leakage and malondialdehyde (MDA) and an increase in RWC, chlorophyll content, phenol and total yield, as compared to the control. Foliar application of SA caused a significant increase in proline content and total carbohydrates, while kaolin had no significant effect on aforementioned traits. It seems that a reduction in oxidative damage and an increase in yield of olive cultivars under different irrigations manifested several defense mechanisms induced by exogenous application of SA and kaolin. In this context, kaolin was found to protect leaves and fruits from harmful ultraviolet rays and this remarkably improves the performance of drought-stressed plants by a decrease in the ambient temperature of plants in order to mitigate deleterious effects of drought such as oxidative damage, chlorophyll degradation, and lowering RWC. These results have been substantiated for different olive cultivars at different parts of the world under this condition.In the present study, SA increased chlorophyll content, RWC, proline content, carbohydrate and total phenol; as a result, the yield of SA- treated plants was higher than that in control plants. Similarly, Brito et al (5) reported that applying SA on drought-stressed olive improved osmolate accumulation, photosynthesis activities, RWC and chlorophyll content. The accumulation of phenolic compounds in SA-treated plants is believed to protect plants against stressful conditions. Therefore, the role of SA and kaolin in alleviating drought in favor of enhancing plants yield represents their efficiency under such condition. In the present study, we also employed a combination of SA and kaolin and the results showed no synergistic function between them on most traits. Therefore, to reduce the effects of drought on olive tree, it is recommended to utilize SA or kaolin separately.
Ali Ajili Lahiji; Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand; Abdolmohammad Mehnatkesh; Mir Naser Navidi
Abstract
Introduction In order to land classification for agricultural and natural resources, the most important criterion and factor is the production or yield of the lands. The best way to evaluate a method is to interact between the yield and potential of the product with the land specification involved in ...
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Introduction In order to land classification for agricultural and natural resources, the most important criterion and factor is the production or yield of the lands. The best way to evaluate a method is to interact between the yield and potential of the product with the land specification involved in the production. One of the new methods in the land evaluation for different uses is the modeling or simulation of the intended use. Artificial neural networks are one of the new tools that are used today to simulate yield and determine the effective factors in the production of agricultural crops. New land evaluation methods include different modeling techniques, which these new methods, including simulations, are used in land valuation methods to test the ability of models for determining the relationship mentioned. An artificial neural network is one of the techniques that can do nonlinear analysis. It is important to recognize the most important input parameters to the predictive models of olive yield, which are also considered to be effective variables in production. Through the process of sensitivity analysis, valuable information about the sensitivity of the model to its input variables can be provided to the designer and model architect. In north of Iran, in the southern areas of Gilan Province, the most important olive gardens of the country are located in the southern part of the country. Different soil and water, topographical and climatic factors affect the yield of olive orchards.
Materials and Methods Climatic data, soil and water characteristics, topographic characteristics and leaf nutrition elements as input variables and olive yield were used as output models. Twenty-eight factors were selected as the most important factors or variables affecting the yield of olive orchards. These input variables included soil properties: EC, (TNV), organic carbon percentage, available phosphorus, available potassium, clay percentage and silt percentage; irrigation water characteristics including: EC and content of irrigation water; topographic characteristics including: altitude and the slope; the concentration of nutrients in leaves included: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, iron and zinc; climatic factors including: sunny hours, evaporation rate, average temperature and olive yield were considered as output of artificial neural network model.
Results and Discussion Using the MATLAB software by artificial neural network, the best structure of this network was obtained for the component of the yield of olive. The trained structure had 28 input nodes in 5 groups and one output node. The number of hidden nodes, 38 nodes and the most appropriate number of repetitive learning based on the test and error, 20 were determined for olive product yield. After determining the best structure of the neural network with a R-test of 80%, using Hill's sensitivity analysis, the model's response to each of the input variables was studied and the most important factors influencing the yield of olive oil were obtained. Based on the results of sensitivity analysis, the most important parameters affecting the yield of olive are content of leaf nitrogen, soil phosphorus, winter evaporation, summer evaporation, average autumn temperature, summer sunshine, leaf potassium, salinity, salinity, and slope, respectively. In general, this study showed that the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous is the most important factor for the production of olives, and then variables that are related to the amount of water in the soil, (summer evaporation, average autumn temperature, summer sunshine), were identified as important. The concentration of potassium, iron and zinc in the leaf as a nutrient element and water and soil salinity from stressors for plants and slope are important topographical factors that affected the amount of soil depth and soil water content as the most important factors in olive crop production.
Conclusion In brief, the role of micro and macro nutrients and the factors affecting the maintenance of water in the soil and providing moisture for the plant. In addition to nutrients, gardeners should consider soil and water salinity, which is a stressor for plants, as well as slope, which is important topography factor that effective on soil depth and water available and nutrients for plants as the most important factors in olive production.
Ali Mohammadi Torkashvand; Marziyeh Alidoust; Ali Mahboub Khomami
Abstract
Peanut shelles as a waste of cultivated peanuts are produced in a considerable amount in Guilan province, Iran, that its compost can be used as an available resource in replacement of peat as growth medium of ornamental plants.This experiment was carried out to determine the possibility using of peanut ...
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Peanut shelles as a waste of cultivated peanuts are produced in a considerable amount in Guilan province, Iran, that its compost can be used as an available resource in replacement of peat as growth medium of ornamental plants.This experiment was carried out to determine the possibility using of peanut shells compost as an appropriate medium of Dracaena. The control treatment was a medium of peat: perlit at 2:1 ratio that in a compeletly randomized design, the peat was replaced by composted peanut shelles by 15, 30, 45, 60, and 100% V/V. The experiment had three replications. This study was carried out in Ornamental Plant Research Station of Lahijan, Guilan province, Iran. Chemical properties of media including EC, pH, total nitrogen, carbon, C/N ratio; and available concentrations of phosphorus, potassium, calcium, sodium and magnesium were measured. The growth factors including plant height, leaf number, dry weight of stem and leaf were evaluated.The concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron and manganese in leaf were also measured. Results showed the peanut shell comopst because of decreasing C/N ratio and availability of nutrients in media, caused to increase plant height, leaf number and dry weight of shoot compared to control. The greatest rate of growth was achived in 15% and 45% compost treatments and its lowest obtained in 100% V/V treatment and control. In couclusion Peanut shell comopste can be used as alternative substitution of expensive peat in the growth media of ornamental plants.
