Journal of Nuts
Volume:5 Issue: 2, Summer-Autumn 2014

Self-incompatibility has been studied by using controlled pollination, pollen tube growth and PCR methods in the Iranian almond ‘Mamaei.’. Pollen tube growth and fruit set following self and cross-pollination treatments were evaluated. The percentage of initial and final fruit set was determined for each treatment at 30 and 60 days after controlled pollination. Pollen germination and pollen tube growth were assessed by fluorescence microscopy at different times after self and cross pollination.Results showed that the percentage of the final fruit set was 0% after self-pollination, while values of 16.34%, 17.22%, 19.12%, and 21.15% were determined after cross-pollination with ‘Azar’, ‘Rabie’, ‘Shahrood-21’, and ‘Sefied’ cultivars as pollen sources, respectively. After 192 hours, observation of pollen tube growth showed that the percentage of reached pollen tubes at the style base from cross-pollination was significant but there were not any reached pollen tubes from self-pollination. According to the results of controlled pollination and pollen tube growth ‘Mamaei’ is self-incompatible. S-RNase assay was used to confirm these results. PCR amplification of genomic DNA from ‘Mamaei’ with EM-PC2consFD and EM-PC3consRD primers revealed the presence of two DNA fragments of sizes around 850 bp and 1250 bp on agarose gels. The size of the smaller fragment is similar to that of S25 almond RNase, while the size of the other fragment is different from all S1-S30 RNase alleles. S-genotype can be regarded as S25Sx, with Sx being a new S-RNase allele.

Removing the green husk and drying walnut are one of the most important steps in post-harvest processing of walnut. Therefore, it is need to precisely identify a walnut’s shell. Physical and mechanical properties of shell in the four Persian walnut cultivars/genotypes were studied. This study investigated the mechanical properties of a walnut’s husk and calculated the required energy in the process of shearing, penetrating and bruising for fourwalnut cultivars/genotypes (K72, Z67, Pedro, Serr). This was done by a texture analyzer instrument. Required energy to perform each of these tests were given in terms of the maximum and minimum values. The averaged results were so that the maximum amount of Krammer shear test belonged to K72 variety and the minimum of that belonged to Pedro variety. Penetration’s test data also indicated that the maximum amount in four available varieties was Pedro and the minimum value was suitable for Z76. Also, in the bruising test, Serr variety had the maximum value of required energy and Z76 variety had the minimum energy requirement.

In this study, morphological characteristics as well as ten of Simple Sequence Repeat (SSRs) loci were used to analyze the genetic diversity and relationships among 12 natural populations of Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.) in northern and western regions of Iran. The results showed that there was a high level of genetic diversity among the walnuts, both in terms of their SSRs loci as well as morphological traits. The nut weight ranged from 11.5 to 17.2 g, kernel weight from 3.2 to 6.3 g, and kernel percentage from 28 to 46.7%. In SSRs analysis, the number of alleles per locus ranged from 6 to 11, with a total of 83 alleles and average of 8.3 alleles and 4.9 effective alleles per locus. The expected heterozygosity (He) varied between 0.70 and 0.87, with an average of 0.79 per locus. The proportion of genetic differences among the walnut populations accounted for 19% of the total variation. The overall gene flow among populations equaled 1.10. The 12 walnut populations were separated into four main groups via the unweighted pair group method (UWPGM) with arithmetic mean cluster analyses based on Nei’s unbiased genetic distances.

Genomic DNA extraction with a high quantity and quality is a basic requirement in molecular biology. The DNA obtained was free of any contamination proteins, polysaccharide, polyphenols and colored pigments. These compounds would interfere with the genomic isolation procedures and downstream reactions such as restriction enzyme analysis and gene amplification. The isolated genomic DNA was found suitable since this method reduce these compounds. Hence, it can be employed for preparations inter sample sequence repeats (ISSR) and cloning. The protocol also excludes the need for liquid nitrogen and toxic phenols. In this method. A260/A280 absorbance ratio of extracted DNA was 1.7 to 1.8. The protocol covers many and divers.

The effects of zinc oxidenanorod on the barrier, sorption isothermandantibacterial properties of tapioca starch/bovine gelatin Bionanocomposite films were investigated. The nanorod-rich ZnO (ZnO-N) was homogenized by sonication and incorporated into tapioca starch/bovine gelatin solutions at different concentrations (e.g. 0.5, 2, and 3.5% w/w dried solid). Incorporation of 3.5% of nanoparticles into tapioca starch/bovin gelatin films decreased the permeability to water vapor by 18%. The addition of low concentration ZnO-N to starch/gelatin solutions significantly decreasedmonolayer water content of the films.ZnO-N tapioca starch/bovin gelatin films exhibited excellent anti-microbial activity against Staphylococcus aureusand Escherichia coli. The results showed that the Bionanocomposite of ZnO-N has the potential to be an active packaging material in the pharmaceutical and food industries.

Almond (Prunus dulcis L.) is one of the most important nut crops in Iran. Most almond cultivars and genotypes are self-incompatible. However, research on S-alleles indicates that it is very efficient in cultivar selection. Self-incompatibility in almond is gametophytic and controlled by a single S-locus with multiple codominant alleles. In this study, compatibility relationships among cultivars, “Tuono”, “Shokofeh”, “Sahand” and five improved genotypes “A1.16”, “A9.7”, “A8.39”,“A10.11” and “A230,” was investigated by the PCR of S-alleles. Degenerate primers (PaConsI-F, EM-PC1consRD, EM-PC2consFD, and EM-PC3consRD) were used for amplification of S-alleles. Results showed that only “A10.11” and “A8.39” were completely cross-incompatible, but all of the other studied cultivars and genotypes were cross-compatible. Furthermore, cultivar “Tuono” and genotype “A1.16” had a self-fertility allele.

Pistachio paste is produced from ground roasted kernel. This study focused on the influence of the milling process on colloidal stability, rheological behavior and color of pistachio paste. The colloidal stability of pistachio paste samples increased with a reduction of particle size from 31.4 to 15.10µm. The Herschel-Bulkley model was found to be the best model to describe the flow behavior of pistachio paste. The storage modulus (G'') values were higher than the loss modulus (G'') values for all frequencies studied. The results showed that utilizing a gap size of 60µm was the best milling condition for the production of pistachio paste.

There is minimal information about the effect of heavy metals such as lead and copper on pollen grains and pollen tubes of fruit trees. Fruit set of these plants are affected by different environmental, biological, physical and chemical factors. If one of these factors be abnormal, pollination, fertilization and fruit set and orchard yield will decrease. In polluted cities, this phenomenon is affected by the stresses of heavy metals. Almond is one of the most important nut fruits of Iran. Pollen germination and tube growth are the main basic factors of fruit set in almond. In this study, the effects of heavy metals, copper and lead, on pollen germination and tube growth of five almond cultivars included Azar, Mamaei, Shahroud 21, Shahroud 18 and Shokofeh, were studied in vitro. The results showed that both traits were affected significantly by different levels of metals and cultivars. Increasing the concentrations of heavy metals resulted in a decrease in pollen germination and tube growth of all cultivars. In the concentrations, 250 ppm pollen germination and tube growth neared to zero in the most cultivars. Lead showed the highest toxicity on pollen germination and tube growth. However, Shahrodi 21 and Shahrodi 18 cultivars showed the highest sensitivity to copper and lead among the cultivars.