فصلنامه زیست شناسی گیاهی ایران
سال دوازدهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 43، بهار 1399)

Foliar spray of nutritional elements is one of the methods for increasing the yield and quality of horticultural products. For this purpose, at the end of winter of 2016, a factorial experiment was conducted under a randomized complete block design at a 15 years old commercial vineyard of ' Bidaneh Sefid' grape cultivar. Plants were sprayed with calcium sulfate (0, 1 and 2%) and Zinc sulfate (0, 0.5 and 1%) during two stages in late March. Cluster weight and yield of vines treated with 1% Ca + 1% Zn was the highest and showed 26.11% increase compared to the control vines. TSS content was highest in 1% Zn treatment in solely. The pH, TA and anthocyanin content reached to peak in response to medium levels of both fertilizers. The phenol content in vines treated with 2% Ca + 0.5% Zn increased up to 31% compared to the control plants. Moreover, the highest flavonoid content was found in vine treated with three levels of both fertilizers. The highest resveratrol was recorded for vines treated with 1% Ca + 1% Zn. In the case of viniferin, the highest amount was found in fruit of vines treated with 1% Zn in solely. The lowest amount of viniferin was related to control vines. The highest content of sucrose was seen in vines treated with 1% Ca in combination with 1% Zn. The content of glucose in vines treated with 2% Ca + 1% Zn was higher than other treatments. On the other hand, the highest content of fructose was related to fruit of vines treated with 1% Zn in solely. The highest levels of activity of catalase and guaiacol peroxidase enzymes were associated with 1% Ca- treated vines in combination with 1% Zn. Also, the most activity of ascorbate peroxidase was observed in the vines treated with the third level of Zn in solely. Antioxidant capacity in 1% Zn- treated vines was higher than other treatments. Totally, combined application of moderate levels of CaSO4 and ZnSO4 at early season through nutritional status improvement resulted in yield increasing and qualitative and antioxidant indices of grape.

Costus pictus D. Don, commonly known as insulin plant, is used for the treatment of diabetes in southern India. In recent years this plant is cultivated in some greenhouses in Iran and is propagated by cutting. Therefore, the present study was carried out to optimization of tissue culture and evaluation of phytochemical compounds in this plant. Among different explants including leaf, node and internode and different hormone treatments, the best results were observed for node explants and treatments with BA (3.5 mg/l) and NAA (0.5 mg/l). To access phytochemical properties of in vivo and in vitro leaves, the contents of photosynthetic pigments, soluble sugar, phenol, flavonoid and protein were measured. The results showed that all of these parameters with the exception of phenol and protein in in vivo leaves were significantly higher than in vitro leaves. Also, phytochemical analyses of in vivo leaves and rhizomes revealed that leaves were rich in flavonoid, soluble sugar, caffeic acid and quercetin whereas rhizomes were rich in phenol and protein. Mineral elements analyses indicated that the concentrations of Ca, K, Mn and Sr of leaves were higher while higher concentrations of Al, Fe, Na, Cr and Zn were observed in rhizomes. In conclusion, presented micropropagation protocol in this study, in addition to accelerate large scale multiplication and conservation of C. pictus, would be important economically. Also, leaves of this plant, are rich in quercetine (an antidiabetic compound), could be considered as a potential candidate for phytochemical and medical studies.

In arid and semiarid regions such as Iran with terminal drought, crops may depend more on stem soluble carbohydrates reserves for grain filling than the current photosynthesis. To investigate the effects of terminal drought on grain yield, carbohydrate accumulation and remobilization in tolerant (Yousef) and sensitive (Moroco) barley genotypes, the experiment was conducted in green house condition in randomized complete block design with three replications. Peduncle, penultimate and lower internode samples were collected from well-watered and drought-stressed plants at 7-days intervals after anthesis (in six stages). Based on the obtained results, the highest level of water soluble carbohydrate accumulation and remobilization was located in the penultimate. Maximum of total carbohydrate concentration and remobilization was less in Moroco compared to Yousef internodes under both drought and well-watered conditions. Water deficit significantly increased the total soluble carbohydrates remobilization from internodes of Yousef plants but these prominent differences were not found in the internodes of Moroco plants. Fructan and sucrose were the main sugars in the penultimate of the two cultivars. Evaluation of carbohydrate components in the penultimates showed that maximum concentration of fructan, sucrose, glucose and fructose in yousef was higher than morocco plants under both drought and well-watered conditions. Accumulation and remobilization of fructan increased in Yousef plants under terminal drought stress but not in Moroco. The results suggest that the higher induction of stem reserve production and remobilization in Yousef genotype during drought stress may play an important role in its yield production during grain filling period.

Environmental implications of cotinious application of chemical fertilizers, while ongoing demands for healthy products has made the attentions to the sustainable agriculture. Integrated soil nutrient management inclouding part replacement of chemical fertilizers by biofertilizers is among the sustainable agriculture nesseserities in recent years. Varius biofertilizers aleady are producing or importing into Iran's market. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of some biofertilizers with brand names Multifunctional, Bioumik, Fulzyme plus, Nitrokara, Golden Nitrokara and Inoculum on morphological characteristics and concentration of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) of peppermint plant. A greenhouse experiment was conducted with five replications. Four plants was grown in pots containing 5 kg soil treated with 2% w/w solution of biofertilizers, two times during growing period. Results showed that biofertilizers had significant effect on the number of leaves and stems, root fresh weight, as well as shoot P and root and shoot N. The highest effect on root and shoot N (1.49 and 2.26%) and shoot P (1.18%) were related to Bioumik and Nitrokara, respectively. Nitrokara efficiently resulted in increased shoot P, which was significantly higher than the other treatments. According to the results among biofertilizers best N nutrition and number of leaves was with Bioumik while lowest shoot P was observed in this treatment.

Pest attack is able to damage plant cell structures and also affects the growth and plant differentiation. The Psyllopsis is one of the plant-attacking pests which feeds on plant sap and causes the leaf morphological deformation and induces the formation of galls. The aim of this study is investigation of the anatomical and morphological changes produced in leaflets of pest-infected plants (Fraxinus rotundifolia) in different stages of pest infection. The light and fluorescent microscopic analysis was carried out from infected and non-infected leaflets and staining was performed by using eosin-hematoxylin, safranin fast green, black sudan and comasi berliante blue. The results showed that upon the attack of the pest, its saliva entered in the infected site and induced chlorosis. In addition, the galls were formed in both lower and upper sides of the leaves, and hypertrophy and hyperplasia were observed in palisade and spongy cells as well as hypertrophy in vascular bundles of the leaves. Moreover, reduction in intercellular space in the peripheral Psyllopsis feeding area of parenchymal cells and increase in cell wall thickness of parenchymal and epidermal cells were observed. All of these changes can be considered as a suitable ecological niche for Psyllopsis establishment.

Drought is one of the most important growth limiting factors in plants. The great extent of drought-prone land and the scarcity of water resources have drawn much attention to drought related issues. In this study, in order to investigate the effect of silicone on some morphological, physiological and molecular characteristics of Iranian Borago under drought stress conditions, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 3 replications. For this purpose, 14-day-old Borago seedlings were treated with silicone (0, 0.5 and 1.5 mM) and drought (with polyethylene glycol at three concentrations of 0, 9 and 12%) under hydroponic conditions. Morphological and physiological parameters were evaluated 5 weeks after treatment. The results showed that drought significantly reduced the growth parameters, chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll and carotenoids contents compared to the control. Silicon treatment reduced the negative effects of drought stress and increased growth parameters and photosynthetic pigments. Also, drought stress caused significant increase in anthocyanin, carbohydrates (soluble and reducing sugar), glycine betaine, proline contents, and increased expression of BADH and P5CS genes. Combined drought and silicon treatments significantly reduced the expression of BADH and P5CS genes and the products of these two genes, proline and glycine betaine, in comparison to drought stress samples, which confirms the role of silicon in reducing osmotic stress in the present study.