International Journal of Horticultural Science and Technology
Volume:9 Issue: 3, Summer 2022

Internal conditions and external display of grafted fruit trees are the results of rootstock effects on nutrient uptake, type and amount of rootstock inductive effects on the scion, and scion consumption. Effect of grafting combination on nutrient content, phenyl propanoid pathway enzymes and their effect on secondary metabolites production of apple leaves was investigated in two consecutive years. Two Iranian red flesh apple cultivars and ‘Red delicious’ cultivar grafted on M9, B9 and one red flesh apple colony rootstock of Bekran were tested in a factorial randomized complete block design. To make a noticeable difference in the amount of nutrients in samples, the treatments in the second year were fertilized. Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and calcium were measured in leaves for two years. Also PAL (Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase) and UFGT (UDP-glucose: flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase) enzymes activity, phenolic compounds and flavonoids were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in vegetative tissues. According to results of this study, among studied rootstocks, M9 was able to accumulate and maintain high concentration of minerals in leaves. Red flesh apples are capable of production of secondary metabolites if they grafted on rootstocks with higher absorption rate. In this way, they can meet the goal of secondary metabolites production. Also, our results showed that calcium was effective in production of all phenolic and flavonoid compounds and induction of UFGT enzyme activity.Abbreviations: N, Nitrogen; P, Phosphorus; K, Potassium; Ca, Calcium; Fe, Iron; Zn, Zinc; PAL, Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase; UFGT, UDP-glucose: flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase; HPLC, High-performance liquid chromatography; BA, Bastam; BE, Bekran

Ginger is unfertile species that usually failed to set seed. Cultivation of this plant using its economic part (rhizomes) is an unprofitable method, which negatively affects its supply in the market. Therefore, this study aimed to maintain the local Yemeni ginger variety, and facilitate its propagation by tissue culture technique, using fresh rhizome buds in a semi-rigid culture medium. To do so, two experiments were carried out, the first one was based on completely randomized block design with four replicates to determine the optimum pH levels (including 5.6, 5.8, 6.0) for the shoot and root formation. The result showed that the 5.8 is the optimum pH level of the medium. Second experiment was designed as two factors, type of cytokinin [6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and Kiniten (Kin) (N6- furfuryladenine)] and ii) Cytokinin concentrations (0, 1, 2 and 3 mg L-1). The MS basal medium supplemented with above types and concentration of cytokinin with 1.0 mg L-1 IBA and 3% sucrose (BAP and Kinetin) The explants cultured on Murashige and Skoog’s (MS) medium supplemented with cytokinin with four replicates. The result showed that the explants cultured on MS basal medium supplemented with 2.0 mg L-1 Kin + 1.0 mg L-1 IBA give the highest rate of shoot multiplication, shoot length and root number. In conclusion, the result obtained from this study might help to manage the propagation of ginger.

The current study was aimed to evaluate the physiological properties of pear influenced by two dynamics of loading force and the storage time. In this experiment, the pears were subjected to dynamic loading (300, 350 and 400 g) and different storage periods (5, 10 and 15 d). The amounts of fruit total phenol, antioxidant and Vitamin C contents were evaluated after each storage period. In the present study, multilayer perceptron (MLP) artificial neural network featuring a hidden layer and two activating functions (hyperbolic tangent-sigmoid) and a total number of 5 and 10 neurons in each layer were selected for the loading force and storage period so that the amounts of the total phenol, antioxidants and Vitamin C contents of the fruits could be forecasted. According to the obtained results, the highest R2 for dynamic loading in a network with 5 neurons in the hidden layer and a sigmoid activation function were obtained for total phenol content (R2 = 0.980), antioxidant (R2 = 0.983) and Vitamin C (R2 = 0.930). Additionally, considering the value of Epoch and Run for the network, the ability of the neural network to predict total phenol, antioxidant and Vitamin C contents can be used. According to the obtained results, the neural network with these two activation functions possesses an appropriate ability in overlapping and predicting the simulated data based on real data.

This review provides a comprehensive overview of the basic and applied aspects of gibberellins (GAs) and its application in the regulation of growth and development of different vegetable crops. Plant growth regulators are the substances which are synthesized in particular cells and are transferred to other cells where in extremely small quantities influence the developmental processes. The GAs are an important group of phytohormones which exert various effects on promotion and regulation of plant growth. Gibberellic acid (GA3) is a type of GA plant hormone, with great economical and industrial importance. GAs affect stem elongation, germination, elimination of dormancy, flowering, sex expression, flooding responses, enzyme induction and leaf and fruit senescence. Foliar application of GA3 has been shown to change the physiological and developmental processes, including plant vegetative growth, sex expression, yield, and yield components in different vegetable crops. This study aims to reveal the impacts of GAs on different aspect of crop production with special emphasis on vegetable crops. Furthermore, appropriate concentration for the applications of GA3 in vegetable crops would be discussed so that the use of such regulators is environmentally and toxicologically safe for both plants and the consumers.

To investigate the effects of dust particles on physiological and yield characteristics of grapevine cv. Bidaneh Safid, a field experiment in randomized complete block design (RCBD) was conducted on 40 plants at the Malayer Grape Research Station, Iran, during 2015-2017. The treatments comprised of: 1) artificial dust (4.3 micron, on average), 2) washing vine by well water, 3) washing vine by soluble-in-water dioctyle solution (dioctyl sulfosuccinate under the brand name dioctyl) one day after spraying artificial dust, 4) washing vine after the occurrence of natural dust storm in the region with no artificial dust applied, and 5) control, dust was not applied and after dust storm vines were not washed. Analysis of variance revealed that dioctyl and dust treatment had the highest and lowest yields of 12 and 4.5 kg/vine, respectively. In addition, dust particles significantly decreased fruit set (by 21.7% as compare to dioctyl treatment), berries per bunch (57 berries per bunch as compared to dioctyl treatment (82 berries/bunch)) and weight of bunch (85 g as compared to dioctyl which was 110 g). Moreover, dust had adverse effects on lengths of shoot (decrease up to 62 cm), leaf dry weight (1.28 to 1.39 g as compared to dioctyl treatment which ranged between 1.45 and 1.55 g) and photosynthetic pigments. (e.g. chlorophyll a reduced by 1.26 mg g-1). In conclusion, washing grapevine with dioctyl and water removed dust from surface of the leaves and dust could not damage the growth and yield of the grapevine.

Raisins are good sources of bioactive compounds with beneficial effects on human health. Mineral nutrition is one of the main viticultural practices affecting grape and raisin phytochemical compositions. In this study, the effect of preharvest foliar application of potassium (K2SO4; 0, 1.5 and 3%) and iron (Fe-EDDHA; 0, 0.5 and 1%) was evaluated on some nutritional and biochemical properties of raisins produced from ripped ‘Red Sultana’ grape (Vitis vinifera L.). The experiment laid on a factorial arrangement of variables using a completely randomized block design. The highest soluble sugars of fructose and glucose were related to raisin produced from the vines treated with 3% potassium in combination with 0.5% iron fertilizers. However, 3% K2SO4-treated vines in combination with 1% Fe- EDDHA showed a considerable increase in raisin sucrose and also putrescine concentration. The raisin organic acids of succinic acid, fumaric acid, citric acid, and malic acid increased significantly in treated vines with both fertilizers at final doses; however, tartaric acid showed the highest amount in 3% potassium in combination with 0.5% iron treatments. The vines treated with a high level of potassium in combination with moderate level of iron produced raisin with the highest phenolic acids of kaempferol, quercetin, chlorogenic acid and resveratrol and also showed the lowest polyphenol oxidase activity. Furthermore, raisin cinnamic acid, rutin and catechin concentration showed a peak in vines sprayed with a high level of potassium and iron and also most anthocyanidins such as petunidin-3-glucoside, peonidin-3-glucoside, cyanidin-3-glucoside and delphinidin-3-glucoside reached their highest concentration by this treatment. Likewise, the highest antioxidant capacities (measured by FRAP, DPPH and ABTS methods) were achieved in 3% potassium–treated vines in combined with iron at a moderate level. In conclusion, results indicated that preharvest application of potassium and iron are highly effective to improve the Red Sultana raisin bioactive compositions.

Consumption of vegetables with high nitrate content threaten human health. Garden cress is a hyperaccumulator of nitrate and quickly accumulates a large amount of nitrate. The objective of the current study was to investigate the effects of foliar application of selenium (Se) on the morphological and physiochemical traits of garden cress plants. Treatments included three levels of sodium selenite (1, 2, and 4 mg L-1) and three levels of green synthesized Se nanoparticles (NPs) (1, 2, and 4 mg L-1). Most nutrient treatments, especially 1 mg L-1 Se NPs, significantly increased plant height, number of leaves, fresh and dry weights, chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll, and nitrate reductase activity of garden cress plants. The foliar application of Se, especially 1 mg L-1 Se NPs, caused a significant decrease in the level of nitrate accumulation. Under different treatments of sodium selenite and green synthesized Se NPs on garden cress plants, the concentration of Se was increased, and concentrations of zinc and phosphorus were decreased. This research highlights the implications of Se for improving the quality and quantity of garden cress plants.

The influence of five open-pollinated seedling rootstocks and two marketed seed lots (as the controls) were assessed on pomological, biochemical, and organoleptic traits of four apple cultivars (Malus×domestica Borkh.), grown in Meshkin Abad Horticultural Research Station (Karaj, Iran). The maternal parents, as the three crabs 'Zinati', 'Morabbaei', and 'Azayesh' along with the standard trees 'Northern Spy' and 'Golden Karaj' were selected as the seed sources through a breeding program in 2003. The present study was achieved on the 4- and 5-year-old trees, spindle formed, planted in 3.5×4 m, and drop irrigated in 28 combinations (four cultivars onto 5+2 rootstocks, distributed in four distinct parcels). The investigation was carried out on pomological traits based on UPOV scales, as well as biochemical and organoleptic traits. Higher fruit length, diameter, and weight were recorded for the cultivars grafted onto 'Northern Spy', followed by 'Zinati' and 'Morabbaei' seed sources. 'Zinati' F1 crab seedling induced higher flesh firmness combined with the four scions. The crab seedling rootstocks 'Zinati' followed by 'Azayesh' caused a higher organoleptic scent, flavor, and sweetness attributed by the panel members. Moreover, pH, TA, and TSS were influenced by scion, while rootstock effect was negligible. These results indicated that F1 half-sib seedling rootstocks positively influenced the pomological and organoleptic traits and improved the fruit's quality.

The present study was done to determine the effect of different soil fertilities on cowpea mosaic virus disease incidence. The fertilities  were; 50 kg/ha Diammonium phosphate (18.46.0), 50 kg/ha Mavuno (10.26.10) that is a mineral fertilizer that has been extensively utilized in western Kenya, 3 tons/ha farmyard manure (FYM), FYM/Mavuno combination with half rate of the latter at 25 kg/ha, FYM/DAP combination with half rate of the latter at 25 kg/ha and unfertilized control, all applied at planting time. Certified cowpea seed of Kenkunde variety was planted using the different fertilizers in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Percent cowpea mosaic disease incidence (DI) data was collected and analyzed through one-way ANOVA. The results of cowpea mosaic DI shown as a descriptive statistics collected from the six fertilizer treatments indicated that FYM/DAP combination had the smallest mean for DI (M = 12.55), while DAP alone had the highest DI mean (M = 33.97). Associations among groups in the ANOVA table showed that the fertilizer effects were  significant (p < .005). Fisher’s LSD post-hoc tests at 5% level of confidence was used to evaluate the nature of the differences in mean DI. It was observed that 92% of the variance in DI was accounted for the type of fertilizer treatment applied. In conclusion, application of DAP combined with FYM at 25 kg/ha and 1.5 tons/ha can be helpful in lowering the cowpea mosaic virus infection in the region where this study was carried out, though these could be used with knowledge of soil reaction.Abbreviations: ANOVA, Analysis of variance; DAP, Diammonium phosphate; DI, Disease incidence; FYM, Farmyard manure; LSD, Least significant difference; KALRO, Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization; NRF, National Research Fund; RCBD, Randomized complete block design; SPSS, Statistical package for social sciences

Mushrooms are characterized as the fruiting bodies of fungi and are fruitful source of high-quality protein and vitamins with low calories. Among the three most cultivated species, the oyster mushroom stands with limited shelf life (2-3 days at refrigerated conditions). Elevated quotients of browning reaction and restricted shelf life obliges the preservation of species as a matter of concern. A suitable pre-treatment along with the drying method is very important to retain the bioactive compounds of oyster mushroom. Pre-treatment optimization prior to oyster mushroom drying was carried out in two steps which involved individual and combined effects of blanching (70 to 90 oC) and chemical treatments. Thereafter, it was dried in a recently developed multi-mode novel drying unit under hot air and vacuum drying (50-70oC) conditions. Pre-treatment with citric acid and blanching at 80 oC for 2 min resulted in the lowest residual activity of polyphenol oxidase. Retention of phenolics, flavonoids, ascorbic acid and antioxidant compounds were higher in the samples dried using vacuum drying. Increase in temperature from 50 to 70 oC significantly decreased the bioactive compounds and colour of vacuum dried samples. In samples dried using hot air-drying, the higher retention of bioactive compounds and colour was obtained at 60 oC as compared to 70 oC and 50 oC. Page model was found to be the best fitted model among the different models studied. Analysis inferred the usefulness of optimised pre-treatment and vacuum drying technique at low temperature for drying of oyster mushrooms.Abbreviations: AA, Ascorbic acid; BI, Browning index CA, Citric acid; FRAP, Ferric reducing antioxidant power; KMS, Potassium metabisulphite; MR, Moisture ratio; PPO, Polyphenol oxidase; RR, Rehydration ratio; RSA, Radical scavenging activity; TFC, Total flavonoid content; TPC, Total phenol content