Journal of Ornamental Plants
Volume:2 Issue: 4, Autumn 2012

Effect of different fruit position on postharvest quality of F1 hybrid redfleshed watermelon Hi-U 16 was examined. In this study only one main vine was trained and maintained. The plants were allowed to set three fruits naturally at the first (8th - 11th nodes), second (13th - 16th nodes) and third (18th - 21th nodes) position. Fruits were harvested at 35 days after anthesis. Fruit weight, diameter, skin glossiness, skin and flesh colour, soluble solids concentration, firmness, pH, titratable acidity and vitamin C were determined. Fruit from second position was heavier and larger than fruit at first position followed by third position. Fruit position affected watermelon flesh lightness where flesh of first fruit position was darker than second and third position. Soluble solids concentration and firmness of fruits decreased as fruit position increased. Fruit pH decreased with increasing fruit position order while titratable acidity showed contrary trend. In addition, fruit position had no significant (pë0.05) effect on skin color and glossiness and vitamin C of the fruit. In conclusion, the results indicated that different fruit positions affected postharvest quality of watermelon and the greatest effect was on soluble solids concentration and fruit weight which was the important characteristic for high quality of watermelon.

The effect of stationary liquid media to improve shoots elongation in date palm cv. Najda and an in vitro pre-acclimatization stage to increase the survival ercentage of plantlets in the greenhouse was investigated. Two basal liquid media were tested: full strength and half strength Murashige and Skoog medium (MS). Media were devoid of plant growth regulators (PGRs), containing 0.5 mg/L 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) or 0.5 mg/L indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 0.5 mg/L BAP. After three months of culture, all liquid media were efficient and allowed to overcome slow growth problem. The maximum shoot elongation was 11.3 cm, obtained in MS supplemented with 0.5 mg/L BAP and 0.5 mg/L IBA. The shoots were isolated and transferred either to the greenhouse or to one month in vitro pre-acclimatization stage in a PGRs-free solid medium (MS or MS/2) then to the greenhouse. A higher surviving rate (ranging from 70 to 86 %) was obtained after one month pre-acclimatization compared with the direct transfer to the greenhouse (12–28 %).

Trifolium spp. are native plants in Iran exhibiting good ground cover po-tential. Salinity is a major environmental stress and today, 20% of the world cultivated areas and nearly half of all irrigated lands are affected by salinity. The main aim of this research was to study morphological and physiological adaptations of these native species under different salinity levels for urban landscape usage. For this purpose a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design (CRD) with 4 replicates was conducted. Plants of Trifolium repens and two Trifolium pratense species (native and commercial) were submitted to salinity stress in a pot experiment with 4 different salinity levels (0, 75, 150, 225 mM NaCl) during the experiment period. Leaf area, LRWC (leaf relative water content), electrolyte leakage, root and shoot length and root and shoot fresh and dry weight were measured. Results showed significant dif-ferences within salinity treatments in all 3 species studied. Highest values measured for traits in cultivars were observed in T. pratense commercial followed by T. pratense native and T. repens except electrolyte leakage and root fresh weight. But salinity effect on these species increased along with severity, linearly. Leaf area was most affected and decreased to 40.21 mm 2(225 mM)from 184.14 mm 2 in control. Generally Trifolium species showed sensitivity to salinity stress, especially in higher levels. This study should help understand some physiological and morphological responses of Trifolium species to salinity stress for urban landscape projects, parks and xeriscapes in Iran.

Root-lesion disease, which is caused by Pratylenchus loosi , is one of the most important diseases currently impacting Iran tea plantations. This disease causes great economic crop impacts. Northern provinces, which supply much of Iran’s tea production, have been especially hard impact by root-lesion disease.The purpose of this study was to biological control the nematodes as one of the main sections and sustainable agriculture in integrated management systems, allowing application of Bacillus subtilis in the rhizosphere of tea plants infected with the root lesion nematode. In order to study this disease, more than fifty bacterial strains were collected from the rhizosphere area of the tea plants and screened for their antagonistic activities on the reduction of the density population of the adult and juvenile of Pratylenchus loosi under in-vitro condition. Four selected isolates with nematicidal activities were characterized and identified. All belonged to the species Bacillus subtilis. Death percentage of juveniles ranged from 62.88% to 86.01% for Bacillus subtilis (Rh-14) and (Rh-18), respectively. All bacterial strains isolated in this study had the ability to produce protease. The information obtained was needed as the first step toward the search for control strategies of root-lesion disease in tea plantations in Iran.

This study was conducted during 2008-2009 to investigate the influence of different organic nutrient combinations on yields and quality of strawberry cv. Kurdistan in Iran. The experiment comprised of five organic nutrient treatment combinations including the recommended dose of N, P and K through chemical fertilizer as control. Treatment N2 (manure̺ⶡ뚜뗪 woodashꘚⲦᨫ solubilizing bacteriaꈩ cake) improvedsignificantly quality of fruit about diameter (3.11cm), length (3.95 cm), volume (20.397 cm3), weight (11.11g), total sugars (7.95%), total soluble solids (TSS) (9.01o Brix), acidity (0.857), TSS: acidity ratio) (11.12) and yields (238.95 g/plant).

Plants are the most common bioindicatorsused in air quality biomonitoring studies because they are immobile and they have more sensitive to the most prevalent air pollutants than humans and animals. To identify the concentrations and sources of heavy metals in ornamental plants of Isfahan landscape, samples of leaves and soil around Pinuseldarica and Nerium oleander were collected at different distances (1, 4 and 10 km) from the most populated and dense vehicle traffic area of Isfahan and control site with and opposite wind directions (SW and NE).For determination of heavy metal contamination source, plant leaves were washed with distilled water. Finally, concentrations of zinc, lead and cadmium in soil and plant samples were determined by atomic absorption. Heavy metals were found at higher concentrations in the all studied sites in comparison with control. Heavy metal concentrations were in-creased with reducing distance from contamination center with wind direction. Negligiblecorrelation between plant available Zn and Pb concentrations in soil and metal contents in plant leaves and reduction of these metals by water washing treatment indicated that soil cannot be the source of metal ontamination in plants. Both ornamental plants were found to be appropriate indicators for airborne Zn and Pb contamination, especially Nerium oleander.

Watercress is a leafy vegetable of the family Brassicaceae that grows in and around water, it has a short shelf life (approximately seven days) and it is consumed raw or steamed. The objective of this work was to study the effect of packaging film and different storage temperature on the postharvest quality of watercress minimally processed. Treatments were: packed with plain film (PD961EZ, 31mm thickness), non perforated and perforated (perforated area percentage 0.3%, hole diameter 1.1mm) and stored in refrigerated chambers at 1 ± 0.5 oC and 8 ± 2 oC (optimal storage temperature vs market temperature) for 10 days. Overall visual quality, gas concentration inside the packages, color Hunter lab parameters and weight loss were evaluated. Overall visual quality, gas concentration and weight loss were significantly affected by treatment, storage time and temperature. Color parameters did not show a clear tendency. In conclusion, non perforated PDZ 961 film was suitable for preserving watercress quality at the tested storage temperatures and in both temperatures, the overall visual quality was maintained above the limit values of commercial acceptability. The perforated film was no suitable for the packaging of watercress at any of the tested temperatures, mainly due to significant weight loss that reduce the overall visual quality of the product less than limit of acceptability by the consumers.

Plant tissue culture refers to growing and multiplication of cells, tissues and organs of plants on defined solid or liquid media under aseptic and controlled environment. Micropropagation allows rapid production of high quality, disease-free and uniform planting material. The micropropagation of high quality planting materials of ornamentals, and forest and fruit trees has created new opportunities in global trading for producers, farmers, and nursery owners, and for rural employment. A substantial number of micropropagated plants do not survive transfer from in vitro conditions to greenhouse or field environments. The greenhouse and field have substantially lower relative
humidity, higher light level and septic environment that are stressful to micro-propagated plants compared to in vitro conditions. It is possible to acclimatize plantlets during in vitro as well as in vivo by various methods and thereby fa-cilitating the successful transfer of in vitro cultured plantlets to soil.