gharneh

The pine nuts, as the most expensive ones, are a source of healthy oil. Accordingly, the hypothesis was genetic differences of pine species (Pinus spp.) affect their nut oil content and fatty acid phytovariability. A completely randomized design experiment with three replicates was done in Isfahan Flower Garden, Iran, using four pine species of chir pine (Pinus longifolia Roxb.), stone pine (P. pinea L.), eldar pine (P. eldarica Medv.) and mugo pine (P. mugo pumilio XENARI). The mugo pine and eldar pine species contained the highest (44.10%) and the lowest (37.40%) oil percentage, respectively. The eldar pine (12.45%) and the chir pine (12.23%) species contained the highest and the stone pine species (11.18%) contained the least rate of saturated fatty acids (SFA). Palmitic (6.33%) and oleic (36.29%) acids were the highest in the stone pine specie, and stearic acid (3.86%) was the highest in the chir pine specie. For human health, high levels of unsaturated fatty acids and little amount of saturated fatty acids are recommended. In conclusion, the oil content and fatty acid composition in studied pine species were highly variable, and are considered as a potential source of polyunsaturated fatty acids. According to our results, the mugo pine species due to possess of the highest amount of oil percent and linoleic acid and the lowest amount of palmitic and stearic acids can be introduced as an elite pine specie.

Roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) is a valuable medicinal plant widely used in the pharmaceutical, food, and industrial products. In order to investigate the effects of vermicompost and seaweed foliar application on quantitative and qualitative traits of roselle, this research was carried out in Islamic Azad University, Isfahan Branch in spring, summer and autumn of 2016. The experiment was conducted as factorial in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications. Vermicompost treatments were applied on four levels: zero (control), 5, 10 and 15 ton/ha, and seaweed spraying at three levels: 0 (control), 1 and 1.5g/L at intervals of one month. At the end of experiment, plant height, number of flowers, fresh and dry weights of the plant, fresh and dry weights of calyx, chlorophyll a, b and total, anthocyanin content, vitamin C, flavonoids and titratable acidityof calyx were measured. The results indicated that the use of seaweed and vermicompost improved the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of roselle. The highest plant height, number of flowers per plant, fresh and dry weights of plant and calyx, chlorophyll a, b and total, anthocyanin content, titratable acid, and vitamin C in calyx, were measured in vermicompost 15 ton/ha. Also the highest amount of chlorophyll a, anthocyanin, flavonoids, titratable acid, and vitamin C of calyx, number of flowers per plant and fresh weight of plant were measured in 1.5 g/l seaweed. The highest amount of vitamin C (68.74 mg/100g), titratable acid (4.97%), anthocyanin (1.400mg/g) in calyx, number of flowers per plant (73.33) and plant fresh weight (828.33 g) were observed in vermicompost 15 ton /ha with the foliar application of seaweed 1.5 g/l.

The effect of foliar application of zinc sulfate and seaweed on qualitative and quantitative characteristics of local Kermanshah cantaloupe (Cucumis melo L., Cantalupensis Group) cv. Kalak was investigated. After sowing seeds in the field, the plants were sprayed in three stages including the 4-6 leaf stage, flowering and after the fruit set. The experiment had a factorial design based on the randomized complete block design with 9 treatments including various concentrations of zinc sulfate (0.5 and 1 g L-1) and seaweed (0.5 and 1 g L-1) and was repeated three times. The results of analysis of variance showed that zinc sulfate at 0.5 g L-1 and seaweed at 1 g L-1 had significant effects on the weight, length and diameter of the fruit, the weight of the fresh fruit, fresh and dry weight of the plant, and fruit firmness. The highest amount of vitamin C was observed in zinc sulfate at 1 g L-1 and seaweed at 0.5 g L-1. The highest total seed weight was obtained in zinc sulfate at 0.5 g L-1 and seaweed at 1 g L-1. Foliar application of zinc sulfate and seaweed did not have a significant effect on total soluble solids (TSS). However, zinc sulfate at 0.5 g L-1 increased the amount of titratable acid (TA) in the fruit juice. The highest amount of the TSS/TA ratio of the fruits was observed in application of seaweed at 1 g L-1. Overall, the findings of the present study indicated that simultaneous application of zinc sulfate and low concentrations of seaweed extract has a significant effect on many qualitative and quantitative characteristics of “Kalak” Cantaloupe and can be recommended as a biofertilizer.

In order to evaluate yield, yield-related traits and fruit quality in 83 tomato lines, this experiment was conducted using Completely Randomized Block Design with three replications. Results of analysis of variance indicated highly significant genotypic differences for all studied traits. Fruit yield showed a positive and highly significant correlation with average of fruit number and weight, fruit length and diameter, pericarp thickness and titrable acidity (TA), and negative significant correlation with days to 50% maturing and ripening index (TSS/TA) traits. Cluster analysis classified all lines in five groups and there was highly significant difference among the clusters for all traits except TSS. Based on mean comparison between cluster analysis groups, the lines in cluster 5 including, 282, 276, 244, 213, 247 and 412 were early maturing and had a high value of yield related traits. Among the cluster 5 lines, some of them had a high titratable acidity and length to diameter ratio, and a lower TSS/TA than other line. These lines could introduce as suitable lines for fresh consumption and also for processing as a result of their long shelf life and could be used for production of suitable hybrids.

Iranian ox-tongue (Echium amoenum Fisch. & Mey.) is an endemic Iranian medicinal plant belongs to Boraginaceae family. The violet-blue petals of this plant have been used in traditional medicine. Drying is one of the most critical and fundamental operations in the post-harvest processing of medicinal plants. This research was carried out in Islamic Azad University, Isfahan (Khorasgan) branch in 2015. The experiment was arranged based on completely randomized design with three repetitions. Drying methods are including sun and shade drying, oven-drying (45, 65 and 85∘C) and microwave drying (200, 300 and 400 W). Drying time of Iranian Ox-tongue petals and some biochemical properties such as total chlorophyll, the amount of carotenoids, anthocyanin content and total flavonoids were measured. The results showed that different drying methods had significant effects on drying time, chlorophyll, carotenoids, total flavonoid and anthocyanin contents of Iranian ox-tongue petals. The maximum and minimum drying times were measured in shade drying and microwave 400 W, respectively. The anthocyanin content gradually decreased with the increase of oven temperatures and microwave powers. Also shade drying method had the highest amount of total chlorophyll and carotenoids. Generally, regarding the biochemical composition, traditional shade drying is the optimum method for dying of Iranian ox-tongue petals.  According to this study, shade drying could be recommended in terms of qualitative characteristics of mentioned medicinal plant.

State evaluation of universities is important for administrators to serve as a basis for performance monitoring, policy formulations and distribution of funds. In this paper, a formal methodology was proposed to build a rational basis for evaluation and ranking of Iranian state run universities. In the first step, the entropy method from MCDM is applied and tested using real data from 47 state universities. Poor results of entropy led to the development of a new nonlinear programming formulation. This new model was then reduced to an interactive linear programming formulation in order to solve the problem. Real data is used to test and validate our methodology