rasoul maleki

In order to investigate the role of nutrients on yield and quality of two commercial cucumber cultivars, Royal and Hike, the effect of poultry manure at levels of 0, 6, and 12 tons per hectare and chemical fertilizers in four different combinations including the one-time application of 50 kg of urea without micronutrient fertilizer; one-time application of 109 kg ammonium sulfate without micronutrient fertilizer; application of urea, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers as well as complete micronutrient fertilizer according to soil test; and ammonium sulfate, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers as well as complete micronutrient fertilizer according to soil test, were studied at three harvesting time. Total yield increased in both cultivars by using fertilizers consisting of poultry manure in the amount of 6 tons per hectare in combination with urea, phosphorus, potassium, and complete micronutrient fertilizers based on soil tests. With increasing poultry manure, the quantity of nitrate accumulation increased, but it was below the allowed threshold in all treatments. In most treatments, tissue firmness in the first and second harvests was higher than in the third harvest and its amount decreased with more nitrogen application. In the Hike cultivar, at all levels of chemical fertilizers, the amount of chlorophyll accumulation in the first and third harvests was higher than in the second harvest. The green color index in the Royal cultivar increased with the application of ammonium sulfate and poultry manure fertilizers. In total, the consumption of six tons of poultry manure with chemical fertilizers based on soil tests and also foliar application of the micronutrient fertilizers improved the yield and quality of cucumber fruit..

Agricultural extension and education includes services which assist farm people, through educational procedures, in improving farming methods and techniques, increasing production efficiency and income, enhancing their levels of living and lifting the social and educational standards of rural life and it can also play an effective role in agricultural development and improvement of rural areas. This study analyzed the performance of agricultural extension and education in provinces of Iran, based on 26 indices in six groups using Morris model. The study results showed that Development Index (DI) of agricultural extension and education services varied from 2.58 to 39.69 in different provinces; those provinces of Markazi, Yazd and Kermanshah had the highest and Sistan and Baluchestan, Tehran and Hormozgan had the lowest rate of service-benefiting; most of the provinces had not a favorable situation in terms of agricultural extension and education services so that none of them was placed in ‘very good’ level; seven provinces were in ‘good’, fifteen in ‘middle’ and eight in ‘weak’ levels.

The aim of this study was to evaluate Rural Development Management Department of Yasouj University based on Internal Evaluation (IE) approach. Evaluation elements and criteria were selected and categorized in six groups: head of department, faculty members, non- faculty members, students, curriculum, and equipment. These criteria were evaluated by faculty members and students using SWOT model in some focusing group interviews. The results showed that the supposed department is relatively good at "head of department" and "faculty members", moderate at "curriculum", and weak in terms of "students" and "equipment". Based on these results, some recommendations are presented in the paper to the responsible bodies, i.e. Rural Development Management Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Yasouj University and Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.