Medicinal Plants
Mehrab Yadegari
Abstract
Introduction
Hyssopus officinalis L. belongs to the family Lamiaceae, and is one of the endangered endemic species in Iran. This plant is rich in essential oil, flavonoids, monoterpene glycosides, trypanocidal terpenoids, rosmarinic acid, and linolenic acid6. The main compounds of the essential oil ...
Read More
Introduction
Hyssopus officinalis L. belongs to the family Lamiaceae, and is one of the endangered endemic species in Iran. This plant is rich in essential oil, flavonoids, monoterpene glycosides, trypanocidal terpenoids, rosmarinic acid, and linolenic acid6. The main compounds of the essential oil from H. officinalis L. collected from natural habitats are α-pinene, Sabinene, 3-Carene, Beta-Pinene, Cis- Pinocamphone, Myrtenol, Pinocamphone and Camphor. The environmental factors cause changes in the growth, quantity, and quality of active substances (such as alkaloids, glycosides, steroids and volatile oils) in the medicinal and aromatic plants. Among environmental stresses, water deficit stress plays an important role in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in medicinal and aromatic plants in arid and semi-arid regions like Iran. Drought stress has detrimental effects on growth and yield and can upset the balance between the antioxidant defense system and free radicals by stimulating a series of biochemical reactions, where free radicals cause cell damage. In sustainable production systems of medicinal and aromatic plants, stable quantitative and qualitative functions can be achieved under conditions of environmental stress and it is possible to improve the production of secondary metabolites in these plants under adverse environmental conditions. Therefore, this study was done to evaluate the organic elicitors on the physiological and phytochemical properties of H.officinalis to determine and introduce the best elicitor under water stress.
Materials and Methods
This investigation was done from spring (May) 2022 to fall (September) 2023 at the Research Farm (latitude. 32°20′ N, longitude. 50°51′ E, altitude. 2061 m). Based on the Köppen climate classification, the climate of the area of study is classified as cold and semiarid. The present study was conducted in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications to investigate the effect of foliar application of different organic elicitors (chitosan, salicylic acid and phenylalanine) with control level (without any spraying) on the physiological and phytochemical characters of H. officinalis L. In each year, treatments were performed in 3 stages (end of vegetative, beginning of flowering and 50% of flowering) and in full flowering, harvesting was done. 3 irrigation regimes (4, 6, 8 day interval) in main plots and foliar application of elicitors in sub plots were done. The essential oils were extracted by hydro-distillation and analyzed using GC/MS.
Results and Discussion
According to obtained results, applied organic elicitors significantly influenced the physiological and phytochemical characters of H. officinalis L. However the assayed traits showed slightly variation during the studied years. In two years, the highest chlorophyll content (17.12-17.31 mg.Kg-1 FW) and total phenol content (1.77-1.81 mg.g-1 DW) were obtained in chitosan (0.5 mg.l-1) and phenyl alanine (1000 mg.l-1) treatments respectively. In most of measured characters, plants treated with chitosan (0.5 mg.l-1) and phenyl alanine (1000 mg.l-1) were in the same group. Amounts of some characters in plants treated with phenyl alanine (2000 mg.l-1) and salicylic acid (3 mM) lesser than control plants. The main constituents of essential oil were Sabinene, 3-Carene, Beta-Pinene, Cis- Pinocamphone, Myrtenol, Pinocamphone and Camphor (cyclic monoterpenes) that made the most components of essential oil plants. Among of elicitors, the chitosan effect on increasing of physiological and phytochemical characters such as the chlorophyll content was higher than other elicitors. Applied elicitors showed significant effects on essential oil content and composition of H. officinalis L. The highest essential oil content (0.89-0.91 %) was obtained from the treated plants by chitosan (0.5 mg.l-1). According to the biennial results of the chemical analysis of the essential oils from plants treated with treatments by GC/MS, the most important chemical compounds that determine the quality of H. officinalis L. essential oil including Beta-Pinene (17.93-18.53 %), Pinocamphone (24.97-25.12 %) and Cis-Pinocamphone (42.87-45.12 %) were identified. Cis-Pinocamphone belonging to bicyclic monoterpene was the predominant constituent of essential oil of H. officinalis L.
Conclusion
According to the results of this study, water deficit stress caused significant phytochemical changes in the H. officinalis L. essential oil. The main constituents of the volatile oils of H. officinalis L. were Sabinene, 3-Carene, Beta-Pinene, Cis- Pinocamphone, Myrtenol, Pinocamphone and Camphor were identified in the H. officinalis essential oil. Generally, Foliar application of chitosan and phenyl alanine significantly increased the monoterpenes compounds in essential oils of Hyssopus officinalis L., so that the content of these compounds and essential oil content in treated plants by organic elicitors 63% was more than the control plants. Finally, the application of chitosan at 0.5 mg.l-1 can be a good strategy to improve physiological and essential oil quantity and quality of H. officinalis L. in cold and semi-arid climates.
Growing vegetables
Najme Zeinali Pour; Fatemeh Aghebati; Bahareh Nejhad Shahrokh Abadi
Abstract
Introduction
Recently, the market demand for high quality tomato fruit is increasing. This product is one of the most important vegetables produced all over the world, and in the last few decades, there has always been a growing trend for its production and consumption. Today, seedling production is ...
Read More
Introduction
Recently, the market demand for high quality tomato fruit is increasing. This product is one of the most important vegetables produced all over the world, and in the last few decades, there has always been a growing trend for its production and consumption. Today, seedling production is considered as a specialized and profitable industry all over the world, which also has a good development speed in our country. The production of healthy and strong seedlings is a prerequisite for proper plant growth and economic production, and nutrition plays an important role in this. Today, the use of natural and organic compounds in various sectors of production and agriculture is increasing. One of these organic compounds, is γ-aminobutyric acid. Biofertilizers are used in order to reduce the consumption of chemical fertilizers and thus reduce the negative environmental effects and increase the yield of plants in agricultural systems. Salicylic acid is a natural phenolic compound and one of the endogenous plant regulators that exists in most plants and is an important component in the signaling pathway. Salicylic acid is effective in regulating the process of plant growth and development, germination, flowering, opening and closing of stomata, respiration, absorption and transfer of ions, photosynthesis, maintaining membrane integrity and plant growth rate. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of varying concentrations of γ-aminobutyric acid and salicylic acid compounds on the physiological attributes, photosynthetic components, and quality traits of Lycopersicum esculentum cv. Seyran seedlings. The aim was to identify the most effective concentration of these hormonal and pseudo-hormonal compounds under the specific conditions of this research.
Materials and Methods
This experiment was conducted in 2017 in the research greenhouse of Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman as a factorial in a completely randomized design with three replications. Lycopersicum esculentum cv. Seyran seeds were planted and after the seedlings reached the stage of three to four leaves and were well established, the first foliar spraying was done with complete NPK fertilizer containing other micronutrients. After 75 % of the seedlings reached the five leaf stage, foliar spraying of the treatments with γ-aminobutyric acid with concentrations of 0, 5 and 10 mg/l and half an hour later with salicylic acid with concentrations of 0, 0.5 and 1.5 mM was performed. After 15 days, the second foliar spraying steps of the treatments were repeated. Traits studied include; seedling stem diameter, ion leakage, relative water content, total chlorophyll, yield, stomatal conductance, net photosynthesis rate, catalase, peroxidase, proline and malondialdehyde.
Results and Discussion
Based on the results of analysis of variance, the simple effect of GABA and the simple effect of salicylic acid on seedling diameter, ion leakage and total chlorophyll were significant at the level of one percent and their interaction was significant at the level of five percent. In the of relative water content and yield, the simple effects of GABA and salicylic acid, as well as the interaction of the two, were significant at the 1% level (Table 1). Results showed that the largest plant diameter and relative water content in GABA 10 mg/l and with the combined use of 1.5 mM salicylic acid and the lowest plant diameter and relative water content in the condition of not using GABA and using salicylic acid in the amount 0.5 mM was obtained. Also, the highest amount of ion leakage occurred in the control plants and the lowest amount of ion leakage is related to the treatment of 10 mg/l GABA combined with 1.5 mM salicylic acid. Investigations showed that a increase in performance compared to the control occurs when using the combination of GABA 10 mg/l along with 0.5 and 1.5 mM salicylic acid (Table 3). According to the analysis of variance results, both the individual effects of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and salicylic acid on leaf stomatal conductance and net photosynthesis rate were found to be significant at the one percent level, with their interaction being significant at the five percent level. Furthermore, the analysis revealed that the individual and combined effects of GABA and salicylic acid on catalase enzyme activity were significant at the five percent level. Additionally, the individual effect of GABA at the one percent level, the individual effect of salicylic acid, and their combined effect on malondialdehyde levels were all significant at the five percent level (refer to Table 2). According to the average comparison results, the highest level of leaf stomatal conductance was observed in the concentration of 1.5 mM salicylic acid in all three application levels of GABA, and the interaction treatment of 10 mg/l GABA with 1.5 mM salicylic acid had the highest net photosynthesis rate and activity of catalase and peroxidase enzymes. The highest amount of proline accumulation occurred in the treatment combination of GABA 10 mg/l along with each of the three concentrations of salicylic acid. The highest accumulation of malondialdehyde was observed in the control sample (without the use of γ-aminobutyric acid and salicylic acid) and the lowest amount of this characteristic was obtained in the combined treatment of GABA 10 mg/l with 0.5 mM salicylic acid (Table 4).
Conclusion
In summary, the utilization of γ-aminobutyric acid as a biological compound and salicylic acid as a growth regulator exhibited a beneficial impact on most of the studied traits in Lycopersicum esculentum cv. Seyran seedlings. This included enhancements in seedling diameter, relative water content, total chlorophyll levels, yield, catalase and peroxidase enzyme activity, proline content, as well as reductions in ion leakage and malondialdehyde levels. It appears that the highest applied concentration of GABA (10 mg/l) and the highest concentration of salicylic acid (1.5 mM) yielded the most favorable results, effectively improving seedling production while preserving its quality.
Growing vegetables
Mahya Sajedimehr; Maryam Haghighi; Monireh Mehnatkesh
Abstract
Introduction
Drought stress is one of the most important factors limiting plant growth and production and leads to a reduction of more than 50% in the average production of most crops worldwide. Drought stress due to increased soil osmotic potential, especially in greenhouses where fertilizer consumption ...
Read More
Introduction
Drought stress is one of the most important factors limiting plant growth and production and leads to a reduction of more than 50% in the average production of most crops worldwide. Drought stress due to increased soil osmotic potential, especially in greenhouses where fertilizer consumption is high, is one of the greenhouse crop problems.
Material and Methods
In the present study, two concentrations of polyethylene glycol at three levels of 0 (D1), -1.48 (D2), 4-91 (D3 ds/m to create different levels of drought stress due to osmotic changes in culture medium and application of KCl two levels (0 (K1) and 6 (K2) mmol / l) was used to reduce the possible effects. The experiment was performed as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications. To apply drought stress, pot water was measured using a tensiometer, and when the drought reached below the field capacity (FC), irrigation with different concentrations of PEG and once a week spraying with KCl at the desired concentrations was done. Cucumber seeds were planted directly in 5 kg plastic pots containing a mixture of potting soil, including soil + sand + animal manure in the ratio of 1 + 2 + 0.5. The number of seedlings in each pot was 2 to 3 kg, which was reduced to one seedling seventeen days after sowing the seeds in the stage of three to four leaves. KCl spraying and spraying began in the three to the four-leaf stage of the seedlings and lasted for about a month. The plants were kept in the greenhouse during the experiment with an average temperature of 25 ° C and relative humidity of 70%. At the end of the experiment, dry weight, fresh weight, chlorophyll, chlorophyll fluorescence, flavonoids, carotenoids, proline, phenol, total protein, abscisic acid, superoxide, and ascorbate peroxidase, antioxidants, and catalase were measured.
Result
The results showed that the effect of foliar application of potassium in all traits except chlorophyll fluorescence and superoxide dismutase was significant (P <0.01). According to the obtained results, ccontrol treatment increased the amount of antioxidants and catalase, but the application of K2 on most of the measured parameters, including dry weight, fresh weight, chlorophyll, flavonoids, carotenoids, proline, phenol, total protein, abscisic acid, and superoxide disodium showed a positive effect. In D3 with the addition of K2 the highest amount of phenol and protein was observed. Also, the content of abscisic acid in all treatments increased with the addition of K2 and the highest amount was observed in D3 which can be concluded that the use of potassium at a concentration of 6 mM Acceptable cut. According to the results obtained in this study, it can be stated that the plant tries to maintain its osmotic pressure in the face of drought stress, and this is done by increasing osmolites such as proline and antioxidant enzymes that help maintain plant cell pressure and torsion. Potassium application can reduce the adverse effects of drought stress by improving the activity of antioxidant enzymes and preserving chlorophyll. Thus, the cell continues its vital activities and ultimately produces more acceptable performance under these conditions. In other words, increasing the antioxidant activity in drought conditions along with the application of potassium leads to a higher inhibitory capacity of reactive oxygen species and production stability in these conditions. Therefore, to compensate for at least some harmful effects of stress and help the plant to return to normal growth conditions after re-irrigation, foliar application of such elements can be effective in drought resistance of the plant and play a role. Based on the findings of this study, it seems that the application of potassium with a concentration of 6 mM is the most effective.
Ali Reza Imani; Mousa Arshad
Abstract
Introduction: Onion (Allium cepa L.) is a herbaceous, biennial, monocots and cross pollination and one of the most important vegetables around the world. This plant contains vitamin B, vitamin C, carbohydrates and a small amount of protein. Onions with substances such as fructans, flavonoids and organic ...
Read More
Introduction: Onion (Allium cepa L.) is a herbaceous, biennial, monocots and cross pollination and one of the most important vegetables around the world. This plant contains vitamin B, vitamin C, carbohydrates and a small amount of protein. Onions with substances such as fructans, flavonoids and organic sulfur has many medicinal properties. One of the factors increasing the onion growth is the application of a desirable quantity of foliar for the cultivation of this plant. With respect that nitrogen is one of the main ingredients of amino acid and chlorophyll, accelerating the rate of growth of this plant and increasing protein and activity of the plant, it is more effective for the plant. Nitrogen is a component of pigments, secondary metabolites and the main components of proteins and in other biological important biomolecules such as ATP and nucleic acids can also be found. Lack of nitrogen reduces the activity of nitrate reductase, nitrite reductase, glutamine synthetase, glutamate synthetase and glutamine dehydrogenase. The relevant application of fertilizer has positive effect on the soil quality but also on the preservation of nitrogen and other soil ingredients and decreases a need for the fertilizers. Phosphorus plays an important role in plant metabolism, such as root development, photosynthesis, nutrient transport within the plant, meiosis, growth and development of reproductive organs is responsible. In this regard, the use of micro-organisms will help to reduce the amount of phosphorus fertilizers is expensive. Biological fertilizer has an important role in the dissolution of some elements such as phosphorus can be influenced in combined with phosphorus fertilizer. Since in our country due to drastic changes in pH, the amount of soluble phosphorus in rhizosphere is limited. Therefore use of bio-fertilizers releasing phosphorus for a large extent can be balanced difficult to absorb this nutrient, and the absorption of other nutrients in plants is effective as a quantitative measure.
Materials and Methods: Due to the importance of nutrition with bio-fertilizer and nitrogen fertilizer, its effects on yield and yield components of onion in city Malekan climatic conditions were evaluated. Therefore, in order to investigate the effect of nitrogen and bio-phosphate fertilizer on quantitative and qualitative characteristics Azarshahr red onion, factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications in two separate experiments were conducted in the crop year 2015-2016. First experiment included nitrogen fertilizer in three levels (0, 60 and 120 kg per hectare) and spraying bio-phosphate fertilizer (Barvar 2) on three levels (control, 1 and 2 per thousand) and the second experiment, nitrogen fertilizer at mentioned and inoculation seed with -bio-phosphate fertilizer (Barvar 2) in three levels (non-inoculated, 1 and 2 per thousand), respectively. Data from tests using SPSS software were analyzed and mean comparisons of data were performed using Duncan's multiple range test, finally required tables and charts using Excel software were drawn.
Results and Discussion: The analysis of data variance at first experiment indicated that the effect of nitrogen on all of studied traits without sugar content and bio-phosphate fertilizer (Barvar 2) on the plant height, average weight onion, yield, sugar compounds and protein rate without amount of nitrate and chlorophyll index were significant. On the other hand, effect of nitrogen was not significant for the average weight of onion and chlorophyll index. The effect of 2-bio-phosphate on the average weight of onion and sugar ingredient was significant. In the first experiment, the highest performance bulbs (18/98 T/h), average bulb weight (127/51 g), plant height (50/96 cm) and chlorophyll index with 120 kg per hectare nitrogen and yield bulbs, average bulb weight, height and amount of protein in the foliar concentration of 2 per thousand phosphate fertilizer 2 was observed. In the second experiment, most of these traits obtained from 120 kg of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizer 2 inoculated seeds with a concentration of 2 per thousand, respectively.
Conclusion: In this survey, the utilization of the fertilizing bio-phosphate (Barvar 2) through two ways as diffusing and inoculating of solution causes the height of bushes, average eight , function, glucose composition and level of protein of onion to be increased. But the use of the biological phosphate through diffusing significantly decreases the amount of the stored nitrate in onion. This is one of the main and effective factors in the consumer's health. Despite that the application of nitrogen increases the effectiveness of onion, the amount of nitrate increases accordingly. The concurrent application of nitrogen and the fertilizing bio-phosphate (Barvar 2) will have more effect on onion. In the meantime, the leaf-application of the fertilizing bio-phosphate (Barvar 2) inclines the increasing effectiveness of Nitrogen on the amount of Nitrate.
Ara Alinejad Elahshah; Hossein Moradi; Hossein Sadeghi
Abstract
Introduction: Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassaDuch.,Rosaceae). fruitis rich of fiber, vitamin C, potassium and antioxidants. Since the balance of nutrients at the appropriate time for commercial fruit production, yield improvement and fruit quality is essential, so foliar application at key stages could ...
Read More
Introduction: Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassaDuch.,Rosaceae). fruitis rich of fiber, vitamin C, potassium and antioxidants. Since the balance of nutrients at the appropriate time for commercial fruit production, yield improvement and fruit quality is essential, so foliar application at key stages could have a positive effect on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of perennial crop fruits. Among essential mineral nutrients that are involved on plant physiology, micronutrients of zinc (Zn) and boron (B) because of their association with synthetic hormones are particularly important. In a study by Lolaei et al. (2012) conducted showed that the foliar application at flowering stage increased fruit quality and yield of strawberrycultivar ʻCamarosa’. The results of Rafeii and Pakkish(2014) indicated that spraying of strawberry cultivar ʻCamarosa’ with boric acid had a significant effect on yield, fruit weight, chlorophyll and leaf area. So according to the importance of micronutrients on horticultural yield improving and environmental protection, this investigation was conducted to evaluate the effect of foliar application of zinc and boron and combination of them on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of strawberry cultivar ʻAromas’ in hydroponic system.
Material and Methods: The experiment was arranged in factorial based on a complete randomized block design with 9 treatments and 9 replications in 2015 and 2016 in greenhouse and laboratory of Genetics and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute of Tabarestan (GABIT), Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran. Experimental treatments were included: zinc at three levels (0, 100 and 200 mg l-1) of fertilizer source zinc sulfate and boron at three levels (0, 500 and 1000 mg l-1) of fertilizer source boric acid as alone or combined. Spraying of strawberry cultivar ʻAromas’ at 3 stages in hydroponic system were applied after the chilling requirement treatment. When Fruits were stained 75-80% and have appropriate size, were harvested. Traits that were evaluated include: vitamin C, antioxidant activity, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), taste index (TSS/TA), pH of fruit juice, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoid, fruit weight, fruit length and diameter, leaf number, petiole length and plant height. The data collected were statistically analyzed using the computer software using SAS 9.1 and MSTATC, Analysis of variance techniques were employed to test the overall significance of the data, while the least significant difference (LSD) test (P ≤ 0.05) was used to compare the treatment means.
Results and Discussion: Results indicated that foliar application of Zn and B significantly affected on the vitamin C, antioxidant activity, TSS, TA, TSS/TA, pH of fruit juice, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, carotenoid, fruit weight, fruit length and diameter, leaf number and plant height (1% or 5% of probably level), while the Petiole length was not significantly affected. Between the different nutrient levels of zinc sulfate application at the concentrations of 100 and 200 mg l-1, boric acid application at the concentration of 500 mg l-1, the combination of zinc sulfate at 100 and 200 mg l-1 with boric acid at 500 mg l-1 play a significant role at increasing studying characteristicsexcept the content of TA. Zinc is effective at the formation of growth hormones and chloroplasts, it is also necessary for chlorophyll biosynthesis and also plays a very important role at cell division and the protein synthesis and carbohydrates metabolism. It seems this subject caused increased plant height, leaf number, petiole length, diameter, length and weight of the fruit and chlorophyll by foliar application. Boron is an element which increases weight by effect of reproductive growth and help to material production, production and transfer of carbohydrate, and nutrient by boron is necessary for fruit set and fruit retention. The results showed that zinc sulfate is effective on TSS, TA, taste index and pH, the increase may be attributed to their effects on different enzymes which are involved in the formation of proteins, acids and sugars, also enough amounts of boron in the plant, increased carbohydrate transport to fruit and areas of active growth and its effect is evident in increasing the amount of fruit sugar. Because of increased vitamin C and antioxidant capacity of plants had been sprayed with boron and zinc can be attributed to zinc that plays an active role in auxin production in plants, and vitamin C increases the production of auxin. Similarly, Kazemi (2014) reported the highest pH of fruit juice, TSS and TA at 150 mg l-1 of Zn for strawberry cultivar ʻPajaro’ and the lowest of these parameters was recorded in control. The results of our study is in accordance with Mashayekhi and Atashi(2012) who reported a significant positive correlation between chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoid content of strawberry cultivar ʻCamarosa’ leaves that had been sprayed by B and sucrose. As Khan et al. (2015) simultaneously combined application of Zn and B in the ʻKinnow’ mandarin fruit increased vitamin C, tree height and fruit weight, diameter and length significantly that was consistent with our results.
Conclusions: Since the foliar application of zinc sulfate at 100 and 200 mg l-1 with boric acid at 500 mg l-1 showed significant effect on quantitative and qualitative properties of strawberry, so to reduce the environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of chemical fertilizers, foliar application of micronutrients is recommended as an effective management solution in the production of strawberry cultivar ʻAromas’ under hydroponic culture.
Nasrin Farhadi; Saeideh Alizadeh Salteh
Abstract
Introduction: Allium hirtifolium commonly known as Persian shallot is an important wild medicinal plant from Alliaceae family. Persian shallot commonly known as mooseer in Iran is a perennial diploid plant that is native to Iran and grows as a wild plant throughout in the Zagross Mountains range, western ...
Read More
Introduction: Allium hirtifolium commonly known as Persian shallot is an important wild medicinal plant from Alliaceae family. Persian shallot commonly known as mooseer in Iran is a perennial diploid plant that is native to Iran and grows as a wild plant throughout in the Zagross Mountains range, western and southwestern Iran. It is a bulbous herb and usually consists of a single main bulb or rarely two bulbs. Each bulb has a weight of about 8-15 times of a garlic clove. The bulbs of mooseer has been widely used as a traditional herb and spice plant, added to a variety of foods such as salads, pickles, yogurt and different sauces. Conventionally, Persian shallot propagates through bulbs and seeds but these two methods are not commercially efficient due to low growth rate of bulbs and deep dormancy, low viability and germination rate of seeds. In addition, the natural habitat of this plant is under increasing pressure as a result of excessive incorrect harvest that caused to damage the plant density in Iran rangelands. So, improving the efficiency of A. hirtifolium propagation is necessary. A number of positive effects on the growth and productivity of some plants through cytokinin application have been registered by earlier research. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of pretreatment and foliar application of forchlorfenuron as a safe cytokinin on improving the bulb production, phytochemical compounds and antioxidant attributes of Persian shallot.
Materials and Methods: This experiment was done at research green house of Tabriz University in 2015-2016. For pretreated of Persian shallot bulbs, they were soaked in 0, 50 and 10 mg l-1 forchlorfenuron solutions for 24 h. Then they were cultured in pots contained perlite and vermicompost with 3:1 ratio. Foliar application was applied 2, 4 and 6 weeks after culture with 0, 50, 100 and 150 mg l-1 concentrations of forchlorfenuron. At the end of growth season the number of leaves, number of bublets, fresh and dry weight of bulblet were recorded. The phytochemical compound (protein, phenol and allicin), antioxidant enzymes (catalase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidases and superoxide dismutase) and antioxidant activity of bulbs were assayed with spectrophotometry methods.
Results and Discussion: Foliar applications of plant growth regulators such as cytokinins in agriculture crops are reported to be useful in controlling multiple physiological processes, including flower initiation, shoot elongation, bulb production, fruit set and as well as affected the quality characters of products. In this study despite the bulblets number that did not influence by treatments, pretreatment and foliar application of forchlorfenuron significantly increased the leaves number, fresh and dry weight of bulbs in comparison with control plants. The highest leaves number (4.49 per plant) was obtained from pretreatments. The highest fresh weight (91.77 g) was recorded at 5 and 10 mg l-1 pretreatment and 100 mg l-1 (91.63 g) foliar application. The interaction effect of treatments on dry weight was significant and the highest dry weight (19.75 g) was recorded at 10 mg l-1 pretreatment with 100 and 150 mg l-1 foliar application. Allicin content did not show significant variation between treatments and in average was 0.859 mg g-1 FW. Total phenol content significantly influenced by treatments and the highest phenol content (1.585 mg GAE g-1 FW) was recorded at 5 mg l-1 pretreatment with 100 mg l-1 foliar application. The antioxidant enzymes included catalase, peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase that showed significant increasing under forchlorfenuron treatments. Due to significant effects of forchlorfenuron on antioxidant compounds and enzymes of Persian shallot bulbs, the assay of antioxidant activity also showed a significant increasing in treated bulbs. The maximum percent of antioxidant activity (74.522) was obtained from 100 mg l-1 foliar application. Exogenous application of cytokinins plays an effective role by protecting the fluidity and integrity of plant cell membranes. They properly mediate enzymatic (SOD, APX, and CAT) and non-enzymatic machinery with the result of preventing cell membrane damage by oxidative stress.
Conclusions: Considerable improvement in biochemical and antioxidant attributes of Persian shallot was recorded with pretreatment and foliar application of forchlorfenuron. The present data support the potential uses of the forchlorfenuron for improving the production of weighty bulbs with the high antioxidants attributes in Allium hirtifolium. Pretreated and foliar application at 5 mg l-1 and 100 mg l-1 concentrations of forchlorfenuron, respectively showed the best results and is recommendable for A. hirtifolim production.
