Journal of Plant Physiology and Breeding
Volume:13 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2023

Fresh pistachio fruits of ‘Ahmad Aghaei’ variety were sprayed with 1% calcium oxide (CaO), 10 mM w/v γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), 1% carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and their combination (CMC+GABA+CaO) for 30 s at room temperature. Spraying with distilled water was considered as the control. Following the drying of fruits at room temperature, they were packed in perforated polyethylene terephthalate and kept under cold storage (at 2 ± 1 ˚C with 85 ± 2% RH) for 75 d. The result showed that the fruit coated with CMC+GABA+CaO, CaO, and GABA exhibited the highest lightness index of the pistachio hulls compared to the control. The highest hue index of the hulls and carotenoids was observed in the fruits coated with CMC+GABA+CaO. The flavonoids in the fruits treated with CaO, GABA, and CMC were significantly higher than in other coatings. At the end of the cold storage, the fruits covered with CMC resulted in considerably higher lipid content than other coatings and the control. Pistachios treated with CMC+GABA+CaO showed lower H2O2 in hulls and kernels and the highest kernel carotenoid, and color indices than the control. In conclusion, the fruits coated with edible layers, especially with CMC+GABA+CaO, can be stored at 2±1 oC around 50 days to preserve the important traits of the pistachios.

A two-year experiment was performed to evaluate the efficacy of spermidine on the field performance of marigold under water deficit and weed infestation conditions in the 2020 and 2021 growing seasons. The experiment was arranged as the split split-plot design based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. Irrigation intervals (I1, I2, and I3: irrigation after 40, 80, and 120 mm evaporation from the class A pan, respectively) were assigned to main plots, weed infestation (weed free and weed infestation) was assigned to the subplots, and foliar applications of spermidine (1 mM) (4-6th leaf stages and pre-blooming stage) were allocated to sub-subplots. The percentage of ground cover, leaf water content, leaf area index, and oil and essential oil yield decreased and leaf temperature increased in the I2 and I3 and also in weed infestation conditions. This reaction led to a decline in the grain yield of marigold plants. Foliar application of spermidine increased the percentage of ground cover, leaf water content, leaf area index, and oil and essential oil yield. It also decreased the leaf temperature. In conclusion, spermidine positively affected the grain and oil yield of marigold plants under water stress and weed infestation conditions.

Chicory has a wide range of uses in the pharmaceutical and food industries owing to its valuable bioactive compounds such as phenolic acids, terpenoids, vitamins, and inulin. The presence and content of these compounds are influenced by genetic and environmental factors, as well as the processing method. The present research aimed to evaluate the morphological and biochemical characteristics of wild chicory populations from the Markazi province, Iran. The essential oil was extracted through the distillation technique using Clevenger-type apparatus. GC and GC/MS were used to identify the compounds of the essential oil, and a spectrophotometer was used to determine the amount of inulin. The results showed high and significant diversity between populations for the measured traits. The maximum and minimum variations were observed for the plant height and branch weight, respectively. Significant correlations were observed between different traits. The yield and composition of essential oil in the studied populations showed considerable variation. The main components of the essential oil were chamazulene, 1,8-cineole, carvacrol, cuminic aldehyde, thymol, cinnamic aldehyde, camphor, borneol, linalool, and carvone. Cluster analysis separated the populations into two different groups based on morphological traits and chemical components of essential oils. In conclusion, the existence of considerable diversity in morphological traits and chemical compounds among the chicory populations can be useful in the breeding programs of this plant.

In this experiment, the effect of salt stress on the root proteome pattern of Arg (tolerant to salinity) and Moghan3 (sensitive to salinity) cultivars of wheat was investigated by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Salinity was applied at two levels of 0 and 150 mM in the third-leaf stage for three weeks under greenhouse conditions. The proteome analysis of the roots revealed 120 reproducible protein spots, among which 15 spots showed significant changes in expression. In Moghan3, four protein spots with a significant reduction in expression were identified. In the tolerant cultivar of Arg, 11 protein spots showed significant changes in expression, among which five protein spots had an increased expression and six protein spots had a decreased expression. These proteins were classified based on their function into several groups such as the proteins involved in metabolism and energy, reactive oxygen species scavenging and detoxification, the proteins associated with cell walls, and the proteins involved in folding and degradation. Probably, the tolerance to salt stress in the Arg cultivar was related to the increased expression of pyruvate dehydrogenase, phosphoglycerate mutase, catalase, and malate dehydrogenase proteins. While in the sensitive variety of Moghan3, the decrease in the expression of enolase, peroxidase, and glutathione peroxidase proteins under salinity stress conditions probably caused oxidative stress in the plants due to increased production of reactive oxygen species. These findings can be useful for improving the salt tolerance in the breeding programs of wheat.

The commercial potato is an autotetraploid with a narrow genetic base, while wild diploid potato species are sources of genetic diversity and genes for resistance to most of the biotic and abiotic stresses along with quality traits. However, the utilization of wild species in potato breeding is restricted by pre- and post-zygotic crossing barriers resulting from different ploidy levels, endosperm balance number, or genomic structure. Diploid 1EBN species, due to such barriers, are considered the tertiary germplasm for potato breeding. Here we used Solanum verrucosum, a rare self-compatible wild diploid potato, as a bridge species along with rescue pollination and indolebutyric acid (IBA) application for germplasm transferring from four 1EBN species including S. commersonii, S. bulbocastanum, S. cardiophylum, and S. pinnatisectum. Results showed that rescue pollination for fruit retention seems slightly better than the IBA application. The same results were also obtained for the seed set. IBA mainly led to fully parthenocarpic fruits. Seeds obtained from these crosses had gibberellic acid resistance dormancy and low germination capacity. As it was expected, the crossability of S. commersonii with S. verrucosum was better than the other three species. Interspecific S. verrucosum × S. commersonii hybrids showed both male and female fertility. However, they were crossable with the cultivated diploid potato species S. phureja just as the female parent.

Durum wheat production in the Mediterranean climate is limited when water shortages occur during anthesis. Breeding programs try to increase crop yield under challenging weather conditions such as water shortage. The improvement in phenotyping with the purpose of selecting key plant traits is important for increasing the efficiency of the breeding program. In this study, 125 and 119 durum recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from F7 and F8 generations, respectively, derived from the cross between the Iranian landrace “Iran_249” and the Iranian variety “Zardak” were compared in the field over two successive years (2015 and 2016) in the temperate rainfed conditions with the Mediterranean climate. The results showed that the performance of RILs was influenced by the year. Harvest index, biomass, number of spikes per plant, number of tillers per plant, straw yield, spike weight, spike density, and weight of grains per spike were positively associated with the grain yield in two years. According to path analysis in the first year, the number of spikes per plant and awn length had a positive and significant direct effect on the grain yield whilst, in the second year, the positive and significant direct effects on the grain yield belonged to the number of tillers per plant, grain filling rate, and plant height. In conclusion, based on the two-year data, the RILs with higher spike weight, the weight of grains per spike, number of tillers per plant, biomass, grain filling rate, higher plant height with longer peduncle length, and longer spikes with longer awn length may have higher yield under rainfed conditions. These traits are promising traits for the indirect selection of grain yield. RILs No. 2, 16, 29, 43, 66, 80, 100, and 118 had the highest rank in both years and were superior to their parents.