b. alizadeh

Aram is a new oilseed rape cultivar, extracted from the R308 (earlness line) and RGS003 (high-yield cultivar) cross population through pedigree method in three years. To reach high-yielding and compatible lines and cultivars, preliminary and advanced investigations were carried out in Gorgan and Sari (2014-2015) and Zabol, Gorgan, Sari and Borazjan (2016-2017). The line SRL-93-12 (Aram cultivar) with a yield of 2955 kgha-1 and 2774 kgha-1 was the first in the above-mentioned tests, respectively, and the SRL-93-12 line was also recognized as the most stable genotype based on the lowest Lins and Binns superiority index and highest seed yield. Extension research project results on farmers' farms in Behbahan, Moghan, and Gorgan regions showed that the new line with 594 kgha-1 higher yield than the check cultivar was in the first rank. According to the results as well as desirable agronomic traits such as good tolerance to dormancy and uniformity in maturity, this line was released with the name Aram.

The new oilseed rape cultivar Nilofar (R15), is the result of screening and purifying single plants in segregating generations derived from the cross "Symbol×Orient". During five years of consecutive cultivation, screening of single plants was continued to access pure lines using pedigree method and pure lines were selected in F4 generation. During cropping season 2008-2009, 84 pure lines were evaluated in preliminary yield trial. Results showed that Nilofar variety with a mean yield of 3352 kgha-1 had higher grain yield by 45% compared to the Okapi control variety with a mean grain yield of 1833 kgha-1. In the Value for Cultivation and Use (VCU) trial in six research stations of cold and mid cold regions of Iran including Karaj, Isfahan, Hamedan, Islam abad-e- gharb, Khoy and Arak during two cropping seasons 2009-2011, Nilofar variety with an average grain yield of 3783 kgha-1, ranked first and had 16.1% grain yield more than the Okapi. Under delayed sowing date and stopping irrigation from silique development stage in Karaj during two cropping seasons 2012-2014, Nilofar with 1986 kgha-1 and 0.62 kgm-3 in term of grain yield and water use efficiency, respectively, was superior to Okapi with 1626 kgha-1 grain yield and 0.62 kgm-3 water use efficiency. The glucosinolate content of Nilofar variety was less than 10 μmolg-1 of dry matter and the erucic acid content of the oil was less than 2%. The results of the extension research project in Kermanshah province showed that the mean grain yield of the Nilofer variety at two sites of Sarab Nilofer and Mahidasht was 4004 kgha-1, which was 14.8% higher than the Okapi control cultivar. Due to its high grain yield potential and appropriate agronomic characteristics, line R15 was released under the name of Nilofar and is recommended for cultivation in the cold and mild cold regions of Iran.

The south warm climate of Iran is one of the regions with the ability to grow spring oilseed rape cultivars. Cultivation of oilseed rape in this climate faces the problem of environmental stress such as terminal drought and heat stress. Therefore, in addition to yield, earliness is one of the important priorities to introducing spring oilseed rape cultivars in these areas. Asa (promising line SRL-93-4) is an early-maturing and relatively high-yielding cultivar that resulted from hybridization between R308 early-maturing spring line and Modena as a high-yielding winter cultivar. The segregated generations were conducted by pedigree method. Preliminary and adaptation trails showed that SRL-93-4 line was superior compared to check cultivars in the regions under study. In the adaptation trail, the SRL-93-4 line (with 2581 kgha-1 seed yield) showed a significant superiority over the control cultivar RGS003 (with 2155 kgha-1 seed yield). Also, it was found that the SRL-93-4 line was matured 11 days earlier than the check variety RGS003 on the average. The results of stability methods revealed that SRL-93-4 line was the high stable genotype. A field trial for Blackleg disease showed that the SRL-93-4 line had a relative tolerance to the Blackleg. Analysis of the fatty acids profile showed that SRL-93-4 seed oil had a level of erucic acid close to zero, and in terms of the composition of fatty acids, it was within the standard range, but with more oleic acid and less linolenic acid compared to the RGS003 variety. Also, the amount of glucosinolate of the meal was less than standard level. The results of the on-farm trails in Zahak and Zabol regions of the Sistan and Baluchestan province showed that SRL-93-4 line (with 2200 kgha-1 seed yield) had a non-significant difference seed yield with Dalgan check cultivar (with 2361 kgha-1 seed yield); But it was eight days earlier than the check variety. Therefore, due to the desirable characteristics such as early maturity, relative tolerance to Blackleg disease and good performance, the new promising line SRL-93-4 which released as Asa variety is recommended for cultivation in the south warm regions of the country.

The toxic effects of cadmium exposure are mainly due to the production of oxygen free radicals, reduction of cellular antioxidants and oxidative stress, which can lead to cell component destruction, DNA damage, apoptosis and ultimately tissue damage. In this study, the protective effects of N-acetylcysteine, as a substance with antioxidant properties, in cadmium-exposed Wistar mice were investigated by liver histology and measuring the expression of effective genes in apoptosis and cell proliferation.

Mice weighing approximately 150-200 g were classified into three treatments including, G1) control treatment, G2) cadmium recipient treatment, and G3) concomitant cadmium and N-acetylcysteine treatment and for four weeks received the desired. Then liver tissue samples were taken for histopathological examination and expression of eif4e and mad1 genes.

The results of this study showed that cadmium exposure resulted in serious damage to rat liver tissue, including central artery hyperemia, increased number of inflammatory cells and inflammation in the liver parenchyma, while the use of N-acetylcysteine significantly reduced the mentioned injuries. Also, the use of N-acetylcysteine resulted in a significant reduction in the expression of eif4e and mad1 genes by 2.14 and 2.27 times, compared with mice that received only cadmium.

The results of this study suggest that N-acetylcysteine as an antioxidant can play an important role in preventing tissue damage due to oxidative stress and preventing the induction of cellular apoptosis.

Due to the increasing need of the country to imported edible oil and rapeseed importance among oilseeds, efforts to increase its grain yield and oil content are of high importance. Therefore, recognizing the traits that increase grain yield of rapeseed has an important role in the success of breeding programs. Thus, sixteen rapeseed genotypes were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications in three regions with different climatic conditions in Iran, including Karaj, Isfahan, and Hamadan in 2016-2017. Traits such as number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, grain yield, 1000-grain weight, plant height, height of the first branch, stem diameter, oil percent, number of days to flowering, number of days to the end of flowering, duration of flowering, and number of days to maturity were measured. Stepwise regression analysis showed that number of grain/pod, number of days to maturity and number of pods/plant (R2 = 97.7), number of pods/plant and number of days to maturity (R2 =78.4) and number of days to maturity and number of grains/pod (R2 = 45.5) accounted for total variations of grain yield in Karaj, Isfahan and Hamadan, respectively. The results showed that the number of days to maturity, number of pods/plant, number of grain/pods, stem diameter and plant height had the greatest positive effect on grain yield and oil content. Therefore, these traits can be used as suitable selection tools for increasing grain and oil yield in winter rapeseed breeding programs

In order to investigate the effect of Paraquat herbicide on induced drying of plants and therefore, early harvest of crimson clover seeds in Alborz 1 cultivar a factorial experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design with three replications, and 12 treatments for two cropping seasons 2012-2013 and 2013-2014. The first factor was different dosage of Paraquat consisted of four levels (a1= no herbicide, a2= 50% less than recommended dose (2 litreha-1), a3= recommended dose (4 literha-1) and a4= 50% more than recommended dose (6 litreha-1) and the second factor was phonological stage of the plants when Paraquat herbicide was applied consisted of three levels. (b1= Physiological maturation of seed, b2= 50% browning of the inflorescence, b3= complete inflorescence browning). Results showed that different amount of Paraquat in all three phenological stages had significant effects on seed yield, number of seeds per in florescence and 1000-seed weight compared to the control treatment with no use of herbicide. Result of the two-years study showed that a3b2 treatment with seed yield of 585.83 kgha-1 had the highest seed yield. However, there was no significant difference between application of 2 and 4 liters of Paraquat (Gramoxone herbicide) per hectare at the browning stage of 50% of inflorescences. Therefore, a2b2 treatment with seed yield of 585 kgha-1 and near 25% increase compared to the control is recommended for seed production of crimson clover Alborz 1 cultivar in Karaj region.

The High-yielding cultivars must show their superiority in terms of seed yield and agronomic traits and should have yield stability across wide range of environmental conditions as well as under farmer’s conditions. Therefore, in the process of releasing a new cultivar usually after evaluation of candidate lines in the research stations, these lines must be also tested in the on-farm trials under conditions similar to those of farmers conditions. In the present study, the promising line HW118 was compared with the local check (Okapi) in an on-farm trials in two regions of the Kermanshah province (Harsin and Allahiar Khani). The results showed that in both regions grain yield of line the HW118 was higher than local check Okapi at delayed planting date. In Harsin, grain yield of line HW118 was 3226 kgha-1 where local check Okapi had only 2850 kgha-1 grain yield. Similarly, in Allahiar Khani line HW118 had grain yield of 4125 kgha-1 that was 25% higher than that of local check Okapi with grain yield of 3300 kgha-1.

Environmental stresses are the most important factors that reduce agricultural yield all over the world. The water stress especially in flowering damages yield and yield quality, however, some studies showed that sometimes it does not have any harmful effect on yield. For instance, some studies approved that deficit irrigation improves sugar content and then fruit quality. Therefore, in order to evaluate the effects of potassium sulfate, vermicompost and water stress on yield and quality of four years old nectarine (CV Red gold), an experimental study was carried out on a garden which covers 5000 m2 in Eslamdeh (Sari) during 2015 to 2016.

A split-split plot experiment based on complete randomized block design (RCBD) with 18 treatments in three replications (totally 54 treatments (trees)) was used in this study. Some complex soil samples were gathered individually from 0-30 and 30-60 cm to determine macro and micro fertilizer demand and were analyzed to determine physicochemical characteristics. Two levels of tree water requirement (50% and 100%) as the main plot, vermicompost in three levels (0, 5 and 10 kg per tree) as subplot, and three levels of potassium sulfate, (0, 200 and 400 g per tree) as sub-sub plothad been applied. The rest fertilizer demand was recommended based on soil analysis. vermicompost, potassium sulfate and other essential fertilizers were applied in late winter and then aeration or digging was carried out. The fruit was picked after ripening and was weighed. Diameter, height and mass weight were measured. Soluble solids, the total sugar content of fruit was measured based on pH-meter, refractometer and Arnon methods. Potassium and chlorophyll were measured by flame photometer and chlorophyll meter.

The results showed that the effects of different levels of applied treatments were not significant on fruit pH. In addition, effects of different levels of potassium sulfate on TSS, leaf chlorophyll, potassium sulfate levels of leaf, fruit weight and yield, fruit height, and flesh weight, single fruit weight were all significant at 1 % level. The results also showed that levels of vermicompost on K level of leaf and fruit yield was significant at 1% level, and on fruit weight at 5% level. Effects of other treatments were not significant on other studied traits. Results of mean comparison showed that fruit crop was increased with an increase in vermicompost application. The minimum yield (41.44 kg/fruit) obtained from control and application of 10 and 20 kg/h vermicompost resulted in 58.33 and 60.61 kg/h, respectively. Application of potassium sulfate also showed to be effective on fruit yield. The minimum yield obtained from control, applying 200, 400 g of potassium sulfate, resulted in 54.89 and 61.33 kg/tree. Furthermore, potassium sulfate levels resulted in TSS enhancement. The minimum obtained from control plot (8.083) and maximum obtained from 8.864 and 9.612 with applying 200, 400 g of potassium sulfate, respectively. Potassium application also resulted in fruit level volume. The minimum level observed at control plot (116.2), applying 200, 400 g of potassium sulfate, resulted in 131.5 and 141.3 kg/tree. The interaction effects of different levels of potassium sulfate, vermicompost and irrigation showed that maximum fruit yield obtained from 400 g/K, 10 kg of vermicompost and applying 100% tree water requirement with yield of 70.66 g which was not statistically different with triple interaction of 400 g/K, 10 kg of vermicompost and applying 50% of tree water requirement.

In the current research, the effects of the use of potassium sulfate and vermicompost on maintaining plant balance and fruit quality and also decreasing water use in stress conditions were studied. Results showed that the use of potassium sulfate along with vermicomposts had a significant effect of improving morphological and physiological characteristics of nectarine. Furthermore, they increased nutrition availability for the crop and then increased yield and fruit quality. The following conclusion to be drawn is that fruit was increased with an increase in vermicompost application. Application of potassium sulfate also showed to be effective on fruit yield and TSS enhancement. The interaction effects of different levels of potassium sulfate, vermicompost and irrigation showed that maximum fruit yield obtained from 400 g/K, 10 kg of organic matter and applying 100% tree water requirement with yield of 70.66 g which was not statistically different with triple interaction of 400 g/K, 10 kg of vermicompost and applying 50 % tree water requirement.

This study aims to introduce a new structure based on a nonlinear controller for controlling and analyzing the stability of the microgrids. In the proposed model, AC and DC resources and loads are located on two different sides. In addition, an AC/DC bidirectional interface converter is applied to supply loads by AC/DC sources. There are AC/DC products on both sides of the converter and each side can supply the load of the other side via a bidirectional interface converter and its load. Alternatively, an energy storage system is used for the system stability on the DC side. The nonlinear microgrid controller is designed to adjust the AC bus side frequency and the DC bus side voltage properly. In this structure, the coordinated optimal power exchange and precise regulation of control signals lead to constant improvement. Thus, system performance is improved. The results show that the proposed model is efficient for both reduction of the fluctuations and improvement of the system stability

Evaluation of the different genotypes under different environmental conditions helps plant breeders in detecting stable and high-yielding genotypes. In this regard, 13 winter rapeseed cultivars and lines were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications in six experimental field stations of cold and temperate regions of Iran (Isfahan, Hamedan, Karaj, Kermanshah, Khoy and Zarghan) during two cropping seasons. For analyzing genotype × environment interactions the multivariate method of additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) was used. The Results of combined analysis of variance indicated that 50.26, 4.68 and 23.49 percent of total variation were related to the environment, genotype and genotype × environment interaction effects, respectively. The results showed that the first five principal components of AMMI were significant and described 85.4% of the variance of genotype × environment interaction. Biplot graph of mean seed yield and first interaction principle revealed that genotype G13 had a higher average seed yield than the overall mean yield and lowest value for first principle component. Therefore, this genotype was selected as a high-yielding and stable genotype. Also, Zarghan and Khoy indicated the strongest interactions and, hence, were recognized as the most ideal environments for distinguishing and discriminating winter rapeseed genotypes. The cluster analysis classified the studied environments in three groups. The presence of Isfahan, Hamedan and Zarghan locations each in a group indicates that these locations had the higher predictability and repeatability power compared to other locations. Genotype G13 with mean seed yield of 4086.02 kg ha-1 and a broad adaptability could be used for cultivation in cold and temperate regions of Iran.

Active vehicle suspension system is designed to increase the ride comfort and road holding of vehicles. Due to limitations in the external force produced by actuator, the design problem encounters the constraint on the control input. In this paper, a novel nonlinear controller with the input constraint is designed for the active suspension system. In the proposed method, at first, a constrained multi-objective optimization problem is defined. In this problem, a performance index is defined as a weighted combination of the predicted responses of the nonlinear suspension system and control input. Then, this problem is solved by the modified firefly optimization algorithm to find the constrained optimal control input. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, the results of the unconstrained and constrained controllers are provided and discussed for various road excitations. The results show a remarkable increase in the ride comfort with the limited force, while other suspension outputs including the suspension travel and tire deflection being in the acceptable ranges. In addition, these controllers are compared with Sliding Mode Control (SMC) and Nonlinear Model Predictive Control (NMPC) in the presence of model uncertainty.

Nafis variety (line L72), suitable for cultivation in the cold and moderately cold regions of Iran, is the result of the selection and purification in segregating generations derived from the cross Orient×Modena. Selection of single plants was carried out during five consecutive years using pedigree method until accessing pure lines and then pure lines were screened in F6 generation. Pure lines along with Okapi as check cultivar were evaluated in the preliminary yield trial in experimental farm of Seed and Plant Improvement Institute in 2009. The result showed that mean seed yield of L72 with 3650 kgha-1 was 30.7% higher than Okapi. The study of adaptability of selected lines in Karaj, Hamedan, Zarghan and Kermanshah during 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 showed that line L72 with seed yield of 4137 kgha-1 had the highest grain yield among studies genotypes where its seed yield was 6.7% higher than Okapi and had a good yield stability based on environmental variance statistic. Results of complementary trials for line L72 in Karaj, Hamedan, Zarghan, Isfahan, Khoy and Kermanshah during 2014-2015 and 2015-2016 indicated that this line with grain yield of 4336 kgha-1 had higher yield compared to other genotypes. Field disease assessments indicated high tolerance of L72 to sclerotinia compared to check cultivar Okapi. Results of on-farm trials in farmers' field of Kermanshah province showed that line L72 had 13.7% higher grain yield compared to Ahmadi as check cultivar. Results of on-farm trials in farmers' field of Isfahan province under normal irrigation and irrigation cutting from pod setting stage showed that line L72 had 1.2 and 9.1% higher seed yield than Okapi as check cultivar, respectively. Therefore, due to desirable characteristics of line L72 such as higher seed yield and yield stability and relative tolerance to sclerotinia stem rot compared to Okapi as check cultivar, this line was released as Nafis and is recommended for cultivation in the cold and moderately cold regions of the country.

By increasing consumer demands for food products with no chemical preservatives, use of natural preservatives such as herbs with antioxidant and antimicrobial characteristics as well as effects on physicochemical and sensory characteristics of the products is increasing in food industries. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate effects of Echinophora platyloba on microbial, physicochemical and sensory characteristics of pickled cucumbers.

In this study, effects of Echinophora platyloba powder at 1, 2 and 3% on physicochemical (pH, titrable acidity, salt, color and texture), sensory (odor, smell, texture, taste and appearance) and microbial characteristics of pickled cucumbers were assessed during 14 days of storage at ambient temperature.

Results showed that with increasing the proportion of plant powder, pH and firmness of the cucumber samples increased and salt and acidity decreased (p ≤ 0.05). Based on the results of sensory assessment, samples containing 2% of Echinophora platyloba powder were more acceptable than other samples. As the proportion of powder increased, color values ​​of L* and b* decreased but the color value of a* increased. Microbial assessment results showed a significant antimicrobial activity of Echinophora platyloba powder; hence, no fungal and bacterial growths were seen in samples containing 3% of the powder.

In conclusion, Echinophora platyloba can be used as a natural preservative and a substitute for potassium sorbate in preservation of pickled cucumbers.

The integer word-length optimization known as range analysis (RA) of the fixed-point designs is a challenging problem in high level synthesis and optimization of linear-time-invariant (LTI) systems. The analysis has significant effects on the resource usage, accuracy and efficiency of the final implementation, as well as the optimization time. Conventional methods in recursive LTI systems suffer from inaccurate range estimations due to dependency to symmetry or non-symmetry of the input range over zero, and involvement with parameter adjustments. The under estimations endanger the range safety, and generate a great error due to overflows. On the other hand, the over estimations increase the hardware costs, as well as weaken the signal, if the over estimated ranges are utilized in down-scaling. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an efficient, safe and more precise RA method to measure the range of both recursive and non-recursive fixed-point LTI systems through analytical formulation. Our main idea is to obtain the input sequences for which variables in the LTI system would be maximum and minimum. By applying these sequences to the system, the upper and lower bounds of the intended variables are obtained as the range. The proposed method enhances the bit-widths accuracy more than 34% in average in comparison with the state-of-the-arts. The results also show about 37% and 6% savings in the area and delay, respectively.

In order to evaluate terminal drought tolerance in different Canola cultivars based on drought tolerance indices, an experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications at experimental field of Seed and Plant Improvement Institute (SPII), Karaj in 2008-09. Results using stress tolerance index (STI), geometric mean productivity (GMP) and mean productivity (MP) indices revealed Zarfam, Talaye and GKH305, were as cultivars with highest yield in both optimum irrigation and terminal drought conditions. High and positive correlation between STI, GMP and MP indices with yield in optimum and drought conditions indicated that they were as the best indices for introduction and characterization of drought tolerant canola cultivars. Biplot graph showed that MP, GMP and STI indices had high correlation coefficient with each other, and tolerant genotypes were located near tolerance indices. Also results of three dimensional scatter plot indicated that cultivars Zarfam, GKH 305 and Tassilo were recognized as tolerant genotypes to drought stress, and cultivars ES Astrid, GK Helena, Modena and Okapi were identified as sensitive genotypes.

Environmental pollution has made urban citizens to focus on landscapes. In this respect Lown is very important plant. From the other hand water resources in many arid and semi-arid region is saline. For this purpose a research was conducted to study the effect of sprinkling irrigation with saline water on growth parameters of three Lown varieties. These varieties were Poa partensis, Festuca arundianca and Lolium prenne. A complete randomized block with 3 irrigation treatments and 9 replications were used. The salinity of irrigation waters were EC=2.4 and EC= 5.3 dS/m. growth parameters were followed for 7 months. After this period of time, germination rate, height of plant, dry weight of ground canopy and length of roots were measured. The results showed that Festuca is resistance to salinity while Poa could not tolerate and dried immediately after increasing air temperature.

Canola (Brassica napus L.) as one of the oilseed crops has recently received lots of attention due to its suitable oil quality and high oil percentage. To evaluate the effect of water deficit stress on canola genotypes with regard to yield, drought tolerance quantitative indices and identify drought tolerant genotypes, an experiment was conducted in research farm of seed and plant improvement Institute (Karaj) using completely randomized block design with four replications, and 25 genotypes under two stress and non stress conditions. Genotypes were evaluated regarding drought tolerance. Drought tolerance quantitative indices include MP, GMP, STI, SSI and TOL. Result of variance analysis showed significant differences among genotypes as regards all indices and seed yield of genotypes in both conditions at 1% probability level. MP, GMP and STI indices were selected as the best indices for selection of tolerant genotypes in regard to analysis of correlation between seed yield in two stress and non stress conditions and drought tolerance indices. Results indicated that Genotype Vectra was the best genotype, because of its proper mean yield in both stress and non stress conditions. Multivariate biplot figure display showed that MP, GMP and STI indices had high correlation coefficient with each other, and tolerant genotypes were located near tolerance indices. Also results of three dimensional scatter plot and cluster analysis indicated that genotypes Modena, Jura, Eshydromel, Vectra, Dante, Zarfam, Esbetty and Olano were tolerant to drought stress, and genotypes Olpop, GKHelena, RG4504 and Olphi were sensitive genotypes.