Zeinab Aghakhani; Majid Azizi; Hossein Aroiee
Abstract
Introduction: Evening primrose (OenotherabiennisL.) is a relatively new and valuable oilseed crop for temperate region. Its oilseed is important because of high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, especially gamma-linolenic acid. Seeds contain 20-30% oil which includes 70% linoleic acid (LA) and 10% gamma ...
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Introduction: Evening primrose (OenotherabiennisL.) is a relatively new and valuable oilseed crop for temperate region. Its oilseed is important because of high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, especially gamma-linolenic acid. Seeds contain 20-30% oil which includes 70% linoleic acid (LA) and 10% gamma linolenic acid (GLA). Oil content in O. biennis is a quantitative trait which controlled by many genes and similar to any other quantitative traits varies with environmental conditionssuch factors as age of seed and growth conditions. Evening primrose oil, especially gamma-linolenic acid, has many therapeutic properties, and it uses as cure for many diseases such as Diabetes, Eczema, inflammation, Cardiovascular, Cancer, Autoimmune diseases, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Depression. Studies on Medicinal Plants in nature and farmlands show that the use of sustainable agriculturae andnatural sources are two suitable methods for producing healthy plants.Additionally, the use of bio-fertilizers lead to maximum yield and quality in these plants. Azizi et al.(6) showed that interactions of vermicompost and plant density had significant effect on oil content, oil density and refractive index of evening primrose oil. The best treatments were also including 2 Kg/m2 of vermicompost,20 plants/ m2in terms of oil production,9 plants/ m2in terms of oil quality and ratio of unsaturated fatty acids to saturated, respectively.
Material and Method: The aim of this research was to determine the effect of humic acid and bio-phosphor application on growth parameters in O. biennis. The experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design with 8 treatments and three replicates during 2013-2014 growing season, at the experimental farm of the faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.. Treatments consisted of 4 levels of humic acid (0, 1, 3, 5 ml/L) and 2 levels of bio-phosphor (without bio-phosphor or with bio-phosphor). Liquid form of humic acid was used, which has low percentage of organic matters (16.5%) and applied as foliar spray after stem elongation in three stages with 10 days intervals until flowers stage. The use of bio-phosphor contain three strains of phosphate solubilizing bacteria(Pseudomonas pautida, Bacillus circulans and Bacillus subtilus) withCFU 108 numbers of spores (the number of living cells of each bacteria per milliliter). Analysis of variance was calculated using MSTATC andDuncan's multiple range tests was employed at probability level of 5%.
Results and Discussion: The results showed thatmaximum plant height (85.59 cm),number of seed per capsules on main shoot (251.17), oil percent (21.75 %) was obtainedby interaction effect between 5 ml/Lhumic acid and without bio-phosphor. Also, seed yield (1080 kg/ha) and oil yield (227 kg/ha) increased byinteraction effect between 3 ml/Lhumic acid and without bio-phosphor. Humic acid had a significant effect on increasing number of lateral branches (26/8), number of capsules on main shoot (117/35), as the highest value of all traits were obtained in 5 ml/L humic acid treatment. The highest number of capsules in lateral branches was observed in bio-phosphor treatment without humic acid. Bio-phosphor application had no significant effect on increasing oil percent. Oil yield was reduced by using of this fertilizer with 1ml/L humic acid treatment but application of 3 and 5 ml/L of humic acid showed no significant difference in comparison to control. Ahmed et al.reported that humic acid is a suspension based on potassium humate, which can be used as a plant growth stimulant in order to increase plant natural resistance against diseases and pests and subsequently increase plant yields. Phosphorus is an important element for cell division, root development and seed formation. Phosphate solubilizing bacteria produce organic acids which increase solubility of phosphorus and make it available for plants. Use of bio-fertilizers not only improves plant structure and activity of beneficial soil microorganisms, also it provides good availability of water and nutrients which finally improve plant yield. It can be said that foliar spray by humic acid stimulates plant growth and increaseevening primrose oil content.
Conclusions: Application of 3 and 5 ml/L of humic acid had the best results on traits andinteraction effect between humic acid and bio-phosphor showed positive effects on all traits except oil percent and oil yield. Generally, humic acid had positive effect on plant growth, oil yield, content and composition. Although, bio-phosphor had good effect on seed yield as a growth trait,its application with humic acid improved this trait.While bio-phosphor had no significant effect on oil content, it can be relative impact on oil composition.
majid azizi; zainab safaei
Abstract
Introduction: The ever-increasing tendency to the use of medicinal plants in the world has grown concerns about their cultivation and production processes. As medicinal plants are more compatible with the nature, special interest and attention have recently been given to herb therapy, and use of medicinal ...
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Introduction: The ever-increasing tendency to the use of medicinal plants in the world has grown concerns about their cultivation and production processes. As medicinal plants are more compatible with the nature, special interest and attention have recently been given to herb therapy, and use of medicinal plants, being limited by the rise of pharmaceutical drugs, has become again common and widespread due to a number of reasons. In a sustainable agriculture system, application of the fertilizers which are nature friendly and suitable for plants is essential. This becomes more important when dealing with medicinal plants. Doing studies over the effect of nanopharmax and humic acid fertilizer on the plant, no research findings were obtained. So, in order to use less chemical fertilizers to prevent environmental pollution and encourage farmers to use more organic fertilizer, the present study was carried out to evaluate the effect of foliar application of humic acid and nano-pharmax fertilizer on the growth index, yield, yield components, essential oil content of N. sativa.
Materials and Methods: The experiment was conducted at Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, in 2012-2013. Land preparation was done in October. The land area was 80 square meters in which three blocks were designed. Eight plots were prepared within each block and each plot was planted with 4 lines. Furrow sowing operations were carried out on October 29. The plants were thinned in 4-6 leaf stage. First irrigation after planting, and subsequent ones were done every 7 days until the end of the growing season. No herbicides were applied in this plan and weeding was done by hand. The test treatments included humic acid and nanopharmax fertilizer with the levels of 0, 1, 3 and 6 mg per liter and 0 and 1 ml per liter, respectively. Fertilizer treatments was applied at the 8-10 leaf stage and continued once every two weeks, three times until after flowering. Foliar application continued until the plants were well treated with the solution. Plant height, leaf area index, dry weight, the number of branches, and the number of capsules per plant, the number of seeds per capsule, seed weight, seed yield, biological yield, essential oil content and yield were measured. The factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design with three replications. For the variance analysis of test data and drawing graphs, Excel and Minitab-16 software was used. All the averages data were compared at the 5 and 1% level, according to LSD test.
Results and Discussion: Different levels of humic acid imposed a significant effect on plant height, leaf area index, dry weight, the number of branches, and the number of capsules per plant, the number of seeds per capsule, seed weight, seed yield, biological yield, essential oil content and yield. Nano fertilizer application significantly increased the yield and essential oil content of Nigella sativa. Combined treatment at various levels had significant effect on dry weight, seed weight, biological yield and essential oil content and yield. According to the results, it can be concluded that the levels of 6 mg.l-1 of humic acid and Nano fertilizer (Farmks®) application the treatments were more effective in the increase of growth index, yield, yield components, essential oil content on other traits. The increased seed yield affected by humic acid and nano fertilizer can be attributed to the better vegetative growth, canopy development and consequently, more appropriate use of solar radiation and high photosynthesis. Using nano fertilizer, the time and speed of nutrients dispersion is coordinated by food requirements of the plant and thus, the plant will be able to absorb the maximum amount of nutrients and therefore, while reducing the leaching of nutrients and the crop yield increases.
Conclusion: The results showed that the use of nano fertilizer and humic acid can have positive effects on yield components and yield of N. sativa. Application of nano fertilizer and humic acid concentrations of 6 mg/l showed higher yield than other treatments. Intensifying the vegetative growth, these treatments increased the yield in N. sativa species. The combined treatments significantly increased the seed weight, growth index, seed yield, biological yield essential oil content and yield. Therefore, on the basis of the results of current study, it sounds like that nano fertilizer and humic acid can reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and environmental pollution. They also play an important role in achieving the goals of sustainable agriculture.
Jamal Javanmardi; Ozra Hasanshahian
Abstract
Introduction Pepino (SolanummuricatumAit.), a Solanaceous vegetable fruit has been recently introduced to Iran markets. Organic farming is currently the fastest growing agricultural sector worldwide. Although several investigations are available on chemical fertilization of pepino, the knowledge of organic ...
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Introduction Pepino (SolanummuricatumAit.), a Solanaceous vegetable fruit has been recently introduced to Iran markets. Organic farming is currently the fastest growing agricultural sector worldwide. Although several investigations are available on chemical fertilization of pepino, the knowledge of organic fertilization ismostly lacking. Therefore, at the beginning of introducing pepino plant to Iranian farmers it worth to evaluate the impact of organic fertilization on the productivity, profitability, acceptability and sustainability of farming systemsto this plant. High chemical fertilization of pepinoincreases the vegetative growth over the generative and fruit production. The aim of this investigation was to introduce the possibility of organic production of pepino.
Materials and Methods.A two-year experiment was carried out to assess the possibility of organic production of pepino using organic fertilizers. Humistar® organic fertilizer (containing 8.6% humic acid) at 50 L/ha and sheep or cow manure teas at 1:10 and 1:5 ratios were used for production of pepino cv. Kanseola to evaluate their effects on the physiology of reproductive stage and some fruit quality characteristics. The experiments were arranged as factorial in a randomized complete block design comprised of 3 replications, each of which 10 plants. Mother plants were obtained from Mashhad Ferdowsi University and incubated in a greenhouse (mean temperature of 25 °C and 60-70% relative humidity) for 1 month to proliferate. Cuttings with 2-3 leaves at the top, 3-5 healthy buds and 20 cm length were rooted for 14 days in a rooting media, ( 1:1:2 of field soil, composted leaf and perlite), respectively. Plants were transplanted into the field in 100 × 75 cm spacing after the danger of frost was over. Treatments consisted of two levels of 1:5 and 1:10 (w:w) cow or sheep manure teas in combination with two levels of Humistar® organic fertilizer as 0 and 50L/ha levels. Control plants received no manure teas and organic fertilizer. Treatments were applied as drenching2 weeks after transplantation in a weekly manner for 10 weeks. Plant characteristics including number of days from transplanting to first flowering, flower number in truss, fruit set percentage, number of days from transplanting to the first harvestable fruit were recorded. Fruit quality indices including fruit fresh weight, fruit dry matter percentage, total soluble solids (TSS), fruit total phenolic contents and ascorbic acid content were measured at harvest time.
Results and Discussions The seasonal effect on all traits was not significant. All studied traits were affected by combination of manure teas andhumic acid except fruit total soluble solid. Cow manure tea at 1:5 v/v caused plants to fail growth in both years. The sole application of manure tea did not significantly affect the number of flowers per truss but humic acid alone or in combination with manure tea showed similar increasing trend in flower number. Application of sheep manure tea at 1:10 v/v caused the greatest total soluble solid content in fruits (up to 6.9 °Brix) as was 45% greater than control and cow manure tea treatment. The effect of humic acid on the number of days from planting to the first flower formationwas not significant. Sheep manure tea at 1:10 (v/v) level when combined with humic acid lead to the least required days preceding the first flower formation (9 days earlier flowering). The same treatment leads to the highest fruit dry matter percent (as about 8.1%) which was 10 times greater than control plants. The sole application of humic acid led to the greatest fruit set percentage as of 60% (2 fold above control). The same treatment caused 17 days earlier crop (53 days for fruit ripening versus 70 days in control plants. The greatest total phenolic content (56.1 mg gallic acid per 100 g fresh fruit over 50% greater than control plants) was obtained with sole humic acid application. This treatment leads to the greatest fruit ascorbic acid content asabout 15.62 mg/100g fw (over 57% greater than control plants).
ConclusionTo obtain the preferred fruit quality for industry or fresh use, different combinations of humic acid, cow and sheep manure teas should be considered. Briefly, sole application of humic acid would affect fruitset percentage, earliness, fruit total phenolic content and vitamin C. Manure tea affect fruit total soluble solid content, while in combination with humic acid would affect flowering and fruit dry matter content.
H. Kaboli Farshchi; Majid azizi; Seyyed Hosein Nemati; V. Rowshan
Abstract
Introduction: Medicinal and aromatic plants can play an important role in commercial crops, which also represent a safe alternative for chemical pharmaceutical industries. St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) due to its therapeutic efficacy has been used for decades in folk medicine and is considered ...
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Introduction: Medicinal and aromatic plants can play an important role in commercial crops, which also represent a safe alternative for chemical pharmaceutical industries. St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) due to its therapeutic efficacy has been used for decades in folk medicine and is considered as a promising medicinal plant with valuable potential as a source of hypericin, essential oils and antioxidants. Studies on agronomic factors such as application of potassium and humic acid as well as nitrogen fertilization on yield, essential oil and antioxidant activity of Hypericum perforatum have not been investigated thoroughly until now. This study was designed to study the effect of using humic acid and potassium sulphate on morphological and phytochemical characteristics of Hypericum perforatum.
Materials and Methods: The plant material was prepared from Science and Technology Park in Khorasan-e Razzavi–Mashhad. In spring, the plants were transplanted into the field of Horticulture department, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, for fertilizing treatments. The experimental layout was factorial in a complete randomized design (CRD), with three replications. Potassium Sulphate (K2SO4) was applied at the rates of 0.0 (K0), 60 (K60) and 100 (K100) kg ha-1. The other treatment were humic acid, which was applied at three rates 0 (H0), 20 (H20) and 40 (H40) L ha-1. Plants were treated at two stages, before flowering by potassium fertilizer and fertigated four times in 15-day intervals with humic acid. Besides the fresh and dry weight, number of flowers, stem height and number of flowering stems were determined at the end of the growing stage.
Results and Discussion: The ANOVA indicated that most of measured attributes of Hypericum perforatum plant were significantly affected by both treatments. Data presented revealed that the highest stem (91.6 cm) was recorded at the highest level of potassium sulphate (K100) treatment, while the shortest height (60.4 cm) was recorded at the lowest level of potassium sulphate (K0) treatment. On the other hand, the highest stem (80.33 cm) was achieved with the highest level of humic acid treatment. No significant difference was observed between the highest level of humic acid (H40) and the second level (H20), while both mentioned levels showed a significant difference with control (H0). This means that the control plants possessed the lowest stem height (66.7 cm). The DPPH method for evaluation of antioxidant activity reflects the ability of the present compounds to scavenge hydrophilic free radicals. DPPH inhibition was investigated and the results were evaluated as relative activities against α-tocopherol as positive control. A lower EC50 indicates a higher antioxidant activity. As it is shown, the least EC50 which indicates the highest antioxidant activity belonged to plants treated with potassium sulphate at (100 kg.ha-1). Control plants possessed the least antioxidant activity and showed no significant difference compared with plants treated with 60 kg.ha-1 of this fertilizer. Humic acid had a significant effect on antioxidant activity of H. perforatum. The lowest value of EC50 was related to the highest level of humic acid, while the highest value of EC50 was obtained from control plants. There was also significant difference between control and two other levels (20 and 40 L ha-1) of humic acid. Applied fertilizers at their high levels showed significant effects on EC50 decrease, which means the increment of antioxidant activity of H. perforatum. The high antioxidant activity of this medicinal plant is the reason of flavonoids and phenols existence. It seems that application of these fertilizers have led to increment of the mentioned secondary metabolites and followed by an increase of antioxidant activity in comparison with control plants. Totally, H. perforatum possessed a high antioxidant activity. Based on recorded data of the present study, application of the mentioned fertilizers separately or simultaneously caused the increase of this important medicinal plant fresh and dry weight, and finally the yield. Number of flowers, stem height and flowering stems reached the highest value at the highest level of both fertilizers (K100H40). As potassium plays an important role in the development of reproductive parts of plants, it might be one of the reasons of the above mentioned increase. The highest essential oil content was recorded at high levels of both fertilizers (K100H40). Since the highest essential oil content accumulates in the flowering stems, an increase of these stems height and a higher number of flowers would lead to an increase of essential oil content of H. perforatum. Antioxidant activity of this plant is flavonoids contributed. It seems that application of these fertilizers increased the antioxidant activity by an increase of this pigment content.
