Journal of Agricultural Science and Technology
Volume:23 Issue: 1, Jan 2021

The purpose of this study was to identify Professional Competencies (PCs), including General and Specific Competencies (GSCs), of Agricultural Teachers (ATs) working with Students with Special Needs (SSNs), known as exceptional students (1,013 people), in Vocational High School Education System (VHSES) in Iran, within two phases. Accordingly, the main objective of the first phase was to identify General Competencies (GCs) of these teachers. Therefore, in the first phase, the components of teachers’ GCs were taken from theoretical literature and research documents via content analysis and the findings revealed that the GCs encompassed 6 components of Instruction Design (ID), Professional Development (PD), Professional Ethics (PEs), cooperation, Perceived Student Diversity (PSD), and technology. The objective of the second phase of this study was also to find Specific Competencies (SCs) of ATs working with SSNs. This phase of the study was conducted using the classical 3-step Delphi technique. In this respect, the specialized Delphi team consisted of 22 ATs working at Iran’s Exceptional Schools (ESs), selected through purposive sampling method. Finally, the findings reduced to the identification of 24 SCs for ATs working with SSNs, which were then grouped into two categories of Agricultural Competencies (ACs) and Exceptional Competencies (ECs).

The current study was conducted to determine the effect of the feed form (mash, pellet, and extrude) on Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1α (HIF-1α mRNA) and heart index in broiler chickens. The relative weight of hearts and lungs, the ratio of Right Ventricle heart weight to the Total Ventricle weight (RV/TV, heart index), Hematocrit value (HCT) and gene expression (HIF-1α mRNA) in the hearts and lungs tissues of the broiler chickens were determined at 35 days of age. Also, mortality and performance parameters were recorded throughout the experiment. The results showed that Average Daily Weight Gain (ADWG), Average Daily Feed Intake (ADFI) (P< 0.01), Right Ventricle weight (RV), Ventricles Total weight (TV), hematocrit value and expression of HIF-1α mRNA in the lungs tissues were higher in the pellet and extrude diet form compared to the mash diet form (P< 0.05). Also, a higher Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) (P< 0.01) was observed in the mash diet form. The hematocrit value and expression of the HIF-1α mRNA gene in the lung tissues of the broiler chickens were increased by feeding pellet and extruded diets, which was associated with increase in mortality from ascites. Our findings, therefore, revealed that the HIF-1αmRNA gene might be concerned with the increase of pulmonary and ascites syndrome in the broiler chickens.

The objective of this study was to compare the accuracy of genomic breeding values prediction with different marker densities before and after the imputation in the simulated purebred and crossbred populations based on different scenarios of reference population and methods of marker effects estimation. The simulated populations included two purebred populations (lines A and B) and two crossbred populations (Cross and Backcross). Three different scenarios on selection of animals in the reference set including: (1) A high relationship with validation population, (2) Random, and (3) High inbreeding rate, were evaluated for imputation of validation population with the densities of 5 and 50K to 777K single marker polymorphism. Then, the accuracy of breeding values estimation in the validation population before and after the imputation was calculated by ABLUP, GBLUP, and SSGBLUP methods in two heritability levels of 0.25 and 0.5. The results showed that the highest accuracy of breeding values prediction in the purebred populations was obtained by GBLUP method and in the scenario of related reference population with validation set. However, in the crossbred population for the trait with low heritability (h2= 0.25), the highest accuracy of breeding values prediction in the weighting mechanism was equal to (=0.2). Also, results showed that in the scenario of related reference population selection when 50K panel was used for genotype imputation to 777K SNPs, the prediction accuracy of genomic breeding values increased. But, in most scenarios of random and inbred reference set selection, there was no significant difference in the accuracy of genomic breeding values prediction between 5K and 50K SNPs after genotype imputation to 777K.

The side branches in tomato plants have a great impact on tomato yield and fruit quality and the pruning work is now basically done manually, which has high labor intensity and high-risk factor. The elevated cultivation of tomatoes was taken as the objective of this research and 6 degrees of freedom P-R-R-R-R-R tomato side branch pruning robotic arm was proposed. The dynamic simulation of the robotic arm in the obstacle environment was completed by ADAMS. Simulation results showed the angular velocity and angular acceleration curves of each joint. A trajectory planning method combining Cartesian space and joint space was proposed to ensure that the robotic arm can avoid obstacles while effectively reducing the impact during operation.

Application of antioxidants is a common way for retarding oxidation. Due to adverse effects of synthetic antioxidants on health, the use of natural and safe antioxidants is considered essential. Pistachio green hull is a waste product and low-cost source of phenolic compounds. The use of phenolic compounds in food formulations has some limitations. In this study, the encapsulation of Pistachio Green Hull (PGH) phenolic compounds was carried out by spray-dryer using Maltodextrin (MD) as a wall material. For this purpose, the effective factors including the inlet temperature, dilution factor, wall:core ratio, and rate of feeding were optimized. MD, PGH extract powder, and encapsulated phenolic compounds produced under optimum conditions (ME) were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), FTIR, X-ray Diffractometry (XRD), and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC).Under optimum conditions, the amount of phenolic compounds and the encapsulation efficiency were 32.1 mg GAE g-1 dp and 81%, respectively. DSC results showed that the microencapsulation had improved thermal stability of phenolic compounds. The DPPH test results indicated that the antioxidant activity of the free PGH extract was 10% higher than encapsulated one (ME). Storage stability results indicated that the amount of phenolic compounds of PGH extracts and ME after 60 days storage decreased by more than 29 and 4%, respectively. The microcapsules obtained can be used in the production of functional foods and pharmaceutical products, due to their antioxidant content and presence of phenolic compounds.

The combined coating-effects of Sodium Alginate (SA) and Thyme Essential Oil (TEO) was investigated at three levels of, respectively, (0.0, 1.0, and 1.5 %) and (0.0, 0.3, and 0.5%) on fresh pistachio during 6 weeks of cold (3±1°C) storage. Physiochemical parameters (hull and hard-shell color, hull hardness, soluble sugar, chlorophyll, and soluble solids content) and microbial load (plate count agar) were measured every 2 weeks of storage. Similarly, the sensory attributes of pistachio were evaluated by trained panelists and Quantitative Descriptive Analysis (QDA) method from minimum (1) to maximum level (15) score. While weight loss of each pistachio sample increased during storage time, those treated with alginate had considerably less weight losses than other treatments. The pistachio treated with combination of SA (1%) and TEO(0.3 or 0.5%) showed significantly higher hull hardness, L* values, soluble sugar, chlorophyll, and lower growth of microorganisms (mainly yeast and mold) than other treated and non-treated (control) samples. The highest sensory scores of 12.3 and 10.6 for hull color of pistachio were related to samples coated again with combinations of SA (1%) and TEO (0.3 or 0.5%), respectively, and were significantly higher than the score of control sample (6.4). Since the pistachio treated with the above-mentioned concentrations of SA and TEO had significantly higher physiochemical, microbiological, and sensory attributes than the other samples, their quality indicators were superior to other treatments (including control samples) and, most probably, they had longer shelf lives and potential to preserve their natural characteristics of fresh pistachio during storage.

This research aimed to analyze the influence of probiotic bacteria on the microbiological, physico-chemical, technological, and sensory characteristics of goat yogurt during 28 days of refrigerated storage. Results revealed that the incorporation of two probiotic bacteria did not significantly influence (P> 0.05) the physico-chemical characteristics such as pH, lactic acidity, total solids, syneresis, water holding capacity and protein, color, viscosity and texture parameters and sensory properties of the inoculated samples, compared to the control. Similarly, the probiotic viability was maintained at all stages of storage at the rate of 108 CFU g-1. Therefore, this research shows that yogurt is an appropriate vehicle for probiotic bacteria and provides new insights regarding their impact on the metabolism of this functional food while preserving its quality.

The use of microencapsulation technique and prebiotic compounds are among the methods used to increase the probiotics survival. This study was done to investigate the effect of combination of inulin as a prebiotic agent and inoculation of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis as a probiotic bacterium microencapsulated with sodium alginate, to produce a synthetic biochemical product with a health characteristic in cocoa cream. The study included inoculated samples that were prepared by microencapsulated B. animalis containing 2 and 3% of inulin and the control sample without it. The samples were kept at 4ºC for 6 weeks and acidity, viscosity, B.animalis survival, and sensory properties were studied on days 1, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42. It was found that in cocoa cream samples, acidity and viscosity were significantly increased and reduced, respectively, during the storage period. In samples with 2 and 3% inulin, reduced B.animalis was not significantly different, but this reduction was significantly lower than samples without inulin. After 42 days of storage at 4°C, there was no significant difference among sensory properties of samples including taste, texture, and total acceptability. The product had an appropriate physicochemical, sensory, and probiotic survival properties for industrial production.

Spatially explicit estimates of aboveground biomass over large area are necessary for natural resources managers. This study examined aboveground biomass and carbon stock of the wild pistachio (Pistacia atlantica) based on individual tree crown detection and allometric development in the arid woodlands using high-resolution satellite images of GeoEye-1 in a reserved forest area of Wild Pistachio trees in the South Khorasan Province, East of Iran. Biomass of sampled trees was determined using field sampling and experimental tests. In addition, the biomass of stems was determined using volume and density. The allometric biomass and carbon stock equations of Wild Pistachio trees were developed based on crown area, diameter at breast height (1.3 m), and height of trees. The trees crowns were detected and delineated on the GeoEye-1 images, using local maxima filters, and region growing segmentation algorithms, respectively. In addition, a morphological watershed transformation method was applied to split the connected and overlapped tree crowns. Performing algorithms was assessed using the measured field crown of sample trees by precision, recall, and overall accuracy indices. The biomass and carbon stock of trees of the study area were estimated using delineated crown area and the developed allometric equations. The results showed that the equation that used crown area could explain more than 80% of the remarked variation in biomass and carbon stock. In addition, the crown detection method results showed that overall detection rate and the quality of crown boundaries were acceptable. In conclusion, the study confirmed that combining the allometric equations with crown information from high-resolution images could contribute to the explicit mapping of biomass and carbon stock of wild pistachio trees in the arid woodlands.

The antifeedant activity of nanoemulsion formulation of arugula Eruca sativa Mill. oil was studied against elm leaf beetle Xanthogaleruca luteola (Müller)(Col.:Chrysomelidae) under laboratory conditions at 25±1ºC, 75±5% RH, and LD 16:8 hours. Ingestive LC50 values of the oil were studied in third instar larvae. Then, physiological parameters were evaluated following 24, 48, and 72 hours post feeding at LC50 level. LC50 values 24, 48 and 72 hours after application were 4.940, 3.791, and 2.938 mg mL-1, respectively. Arugula oil at LC50 level decreased the nutritional indices including efficiency of conversion of ingested food, relative growth rate, efficiency of conversion of digested food, and relative consumption rate, but increased feeding deterrence index significantly 72 hours post feeding. Nutritional reserves such as total carbohydrate, protein, and lipid contents and also digestive enzymes containing lipase, α-amylase, and protease activity were decreased showing post-ingestive toxicity. The activity of the detoxifying enzyme glutathione S-transferase was increased, indicating that this enzyme may be involved in detoxification of arugula oil, but general esterase did not change significantly. In general, it can be concluded that arugula oil possess antifeedant activity against X. luteola under laboratory condition. It seems that arugula oil has a great potential to be used as effective botanical pesticides. However, further studies such as greenhouse and field experiments are necessary before recommendation and commercialization process.

The pistachio green stink bug, Brachynema germari Kolenati (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), is one of the most important pests of pistachio nuts in many pistachio-growing regions in Iran(Mehrnejad 2001; Bigham & Hosseininaveh 2010). This insect harbors a gammaproteobacterial symbiont, related to the genus Pantoea, in the numerous crypts of its posterior midgut, which is vertically transmitted by infection of the egg masses and orally acquired by newborn nymphs. In the present study, the effects of the symbiont on host morphology, emergence rates, and mating frequency of B. germari were explored. For this purpose, two symbiont elimination strategies, high temperature and egg surface sterilization, were used and their effects were compared. We found external morphological changes (e.g. abnormalities in notum and wings) as well as significantly fewer emergence rates (in all stages, except for the first instar) in the surface-sterilized and heat-treated insects compared with the controls. Also, the second, third, and fourth regions of the midgut exhibited remarkable morphological changes in the aposymbiotic insects compared with the controls. Besides, less mating frequency was observed in the aposymbiotic population compared with the control. Together, these results provided a close relationship between the bacterial symbiont and B. germari and suggested the importance of the symbiont for the morphogenesis, development, and reproduction of the insect host.

Salinity is one of the most important factors limiting plants growth and production in irrigated agriculture. The natural potential of salt tolerant plants like Kochia could be exploited through legume-containing intercropping systems as an effective strategy in mitigating the increasing salinity crisis.This experiment used split plots based on a randomized complete block design with three replications, in 2016 and 2017, at the Iranian National Salinity Research Center, Yazd, Iran. Water salinity was considered as the main factor (EC= 4, 9, and 14 dS m-1) and the cropping system was considered as subfactor with seven levels including sole cropping of Kochia (Kochia scoparia), Sesbania (Sesbania aculeate), and Guar (Cyamopsiste tragonoliba) and their possible dual and triple intercropping systems. The highest absorbed light was observed in triple intercropping and the total forage yield in triple intercropping was increased by 5% and 4.1% at 4 and 9 dS m-1 salinity, respectively, compared to that in Kochia sole cropping, while it decreased by 1.5% at 14 dS m-1.The Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) values ranged from 0.99 to 1.33. The total crude protein yield in triple intercropping was increased by 55.8 to 66.3% as compared to Kochia sole cropping. The NDF (Neutral Detergent Fiber) and ADF (Acid Detergent Fiber) were decreased by 7 to 22% in various intercropping systems. Considering increased forage quantity and quality, mainly through decreasing NDF and increasing Dry Matter Intake (DMI) levels, cultivation of Kochia within triple intercropping systems can be recommended instead of Kochia sole cropping.

The aim of this study was to determine the total phenolic content and antioxidant activity as well as fatty acids and tocopherol compositions of organic and conventionally grown hazelnut (Corylus avellana). Organic hazelnuts were found to be richer in terms of palmitoleic acid (P˂ 0.05). The production method did not influence other parameters, but the variety factor affected many parameters. In all varieties, oleic acid was the predominant fatty acid followed by linoleic, palmitic, and stearic acids. The lowest atherogenic index was determined at Sivri and no difference was detected in terms of thrombogenic index (P˂ 0.05). In all varietiesα, β, γ, δ-tocopherol were detected and α-tocopherol was dominant. The highest amount of tocopherol was detected in Mincane (549.73 mg kg-1 fat). The highest amount of phenolic substance (546.53 mg 100 g-1 GAE) and antioxidant activity (48.84%) were detected in Çakıldak, probably due to the plant exposure to stress in high and cold regions. Results of the extensive analyses showed that organic hazelnuts had no significant differences with the conventional ones in terms of the parameters examined.

Qualitative and quantitative variations in the essential oil of wild growing Origanum vulgare L. ssp. gracile plants were studied in response to different phenological stages (pre, full and post-flowering). The essential oil of air-dried leaves was isolated by water distillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus and was analyzed by Gas Chromatography (GC) and Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS). The highest (1.87%) and the lowest (1.01%) essential oil content were obtained from post-flowering and pre-flowering stages, respectively. In total, 24 components were identified and quantified in three phenological stages representing 96.75, 97.63, and 98.59% of the oil, respectively. Carvacrol (46.62, 46.5 and 27.6%), ρ-cymene (7.76, 13.54 and 37.08%) and γ-terpinene (21.54, 13.91 and 6.82%) were the main constituents of essential oils in pre, full, and post-flowering stages, respectively. Oxygenated monoterpenes (43.35-61.32%) and monoterpene hydrocarbons (30.81-48.02%) were the main classes of identified compounds in three essential oils. According to the findings of this research, the post-flowering stage can be considered as the most appropriate time for obtaining the highest essential oil content, but to achieve the highest rate of phenolic compounds, the pre-flowering and full-flowering stages can be recommended.

There is little information about the genetic resources of Persian walnut (Juglans regia L.), an important edible and one of the most important plants in pomology and economy in Iran. Germplasm identification and conservation are important and fundamental issues in breeding programs. Six regions in BoyerAhmad and Dena Counties were chosen, and 82 walnut genotypes were selected randomly. Annual growth period was short in Setangun and Ganjegun Regions (190-200 days), but in other investigated regions was long and more than 230 days. Maximum fruit and kernel weights were 63.44 and 8.35 g, respectively. The number of observed alleles ranged from seven (ISSR7A) to 14 (ISSR3A) for primers, and the Number of effective alleles (Ne) in the primers used was between 1.19 to 1.45. The highest Ne alleles belonged to the ISSR1A primer (1.445). Walnut genotypes showed the highest genetic diversity based on the information derived from ISSR1A and ISSR2A with PIC index of 0.44 and 0.41, respectively. The Neichr('39')s gene diversity ranged from 0.13 to 0.24, and the Shannonchr('39')s index was from 0.23 to 0.44. In general, increase in the altitude and decrease in the temperature delayed phenological characteristics.Suitable genetic diversity was found among the genotypes, based on the morphological and phenological characteristics and the ISSR markers. Overall, the results are useful in walnut breeding and conservation programs, and by choosing late leafing and flowering genotypes from Setangun and Ganjegun Regions, it would be possible to reduce the risks of late spring frost.

Among the various biotic constraints, stripe rust is known to cause significant losses in grain yield and quality of wheat. In this study, out of 20 varieties evaluated, WH-1105, WH-1121, WH-1124, WH-1142, VL-804, VL-907, HS-240 were found to be resistant; RSP-561, Raj-3765, PBW-664, PBW-590 were moderately resistant; Raj-3077, PBW-373, PBW-175, PBW-527, PBW-621, HS-490 were moderately susceptible, and PBW-343, PBW-550,HD-2967 were susceptible. Rust progressive curve had the highest value of 2,377.42 during 2014/2015 due to conducive environmental conditions, while in 2015/2016, it was 2459.4.The disease severity ranged from 1.0 to 15.30% at 10thof February in 2014/2015, while this range in 2015/2016 was 1.0 to 13.39%. The highest yield (44.95 q ha-1) was found in the plot treated with two sprays of Tilt @ 0.1% followed by two sprays of Folicur (43.47 q ha-1) and Bayleton @0.01% (43.2 q ha-1), respectively. Two sprays of Tilt (0.01 %) at 15 days interval gave minimum disease severity i.e. 4.03% followed by Folicur (5.29%) and Bayleton @ 0.01% (8.90%). The yield increased up to 34.60% when treated with two sprays of Tilt (0.01%) at 15 days interval.

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a traditional crop species in Turkey that is cultivated in almost every province providing prominent economic income. Turkey has an important resource for both Cicer spp diversity and their phytopathogens like ascohyta blight caused by Didymella rabiei (Kovachevski) von Arx wherein resistance/tolerance is broken every 4-5 years in cultivated chickpea cultivars. In order to breed resistant/tolerant varieties in chickpea against D. rabiei, detailed and up to date analyses on population characterization is needed. This study was undertaken to define current aggressiveness patterns, pathotype and mating type distribution of D. rabiei population in chickpea growing areas of Turkey. The D. rabiei isolates were assigned to 5 virulence groups in which existence of pathotype IV, a new and aggressive group, was defined for the first time from farmers’ fields and research institutes exhibiting continuous arm race between plant and pathogen. The isolates in each pathotype group depicted statistically important difference (P≤ 0.05) in virulence levels on chickpea genotypes. The mating type distribution of 971 D. rabiei isolates was 1:1 for Mat 1.1 and Mat 1.2 isolates (X2= 0.87, P= 0.35) exhibiting random sexual reproduction. Overall, the data obtained revealed the unstable aggressiveness nature of D. rabiei population in Turkey, which, in turn, explains frequent resistance overcome in registered chickpea genotypes leading to epidemics.

Saffron is one of the most valuable agricultural and medicinal plants of the world and has a special place in Iranchr('39')s export of products. Presently, Iran is the worldchr('39')s largest producer and exporter of saffron and more than 93/7% of the world production belongs to Iran. However, despite the long history of saffron cultivation and its value-added in comparison to many of the other crops in the country, a lower share of new technologies is assigned to it, and its production is mainly based on local knowledge. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the performance of Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System model (ANFIS) in calculating the yield of saffron using meteorological data from 20 synoptic stations in the province, including evapotranspiration, temperature (maximum, minimum), the mean relative humidity, and rainfall. To this end, by using software Wingamma, data and parameters were analyzed and the best combinations of inputs to the model were determined. In order to assess the models, statistical parameters of correlation coefficient, the mean absolute error, and mean square error were used to predict the performance of the plant. ANFIS model was most effective when the data of total minimum temperature, precipitation, evapotranspiration, and relative humidity of autumn were used as independent variables for forecasting yield (R2= 0.5627, RMSE= 2.051 kg ha-1, and MAE = 1.7274 kg ha-1) .