نشریه نهال و بذر
سال بیست و پنجم شماره 1 (بهار 1388)

The local grape cultivars of Kurdistan province of Iran were studied during years 1993 to 1995 and 1997 to 2001. In different stages of plant growth such as bud break, fruit maturity, fruit harvesting and rest of grapevines, using IBPGR (International Board for Plant Genetic Resources) descriptor, about 100 characters on different parts of plant were recorded. As a result, 59 cultivars were identified, 42 are grown in irrigated and the rest in non-irrigated conditions. All irrigated grapes grown in Kurdistsn were seeded grape except Askari cv. Color of berries were white (23 cvs.), black (16 cvs.) and red (3 cvs.). Sex of flower in all cultivars was hermaphrodite except in Sarchal, Farkhi Siah, Shershereh and Nafti Bijar cvs. Those flowers were female with descending stamens. Minimum leaf area (55 cm 2) and maximum leaf area (195cm 2) were measured in Dallah Ozoom and Shellah cvs., respectively. Total soluble solides (TSS) varied from 15.5% in Dallah Ozoom cv. to 26.0% in Mirzaei cv. Cultivar Askari due to seedlessing, AghOzoom, Khalili, Farkhi, Shershereh, Keshmeshi Ghermez, Rishbaba. Mollaei and Mirzaei, due to cold tolerance, high TSS, and attractive color are recommended as table grapes and Vaisgholi, Kurdkoosh Sefid, Kurdkoosh Ghermez and Gaznaei due to high yielding large and juicy berries, are introduced as juicy grapes. Similarity dendrogram resulted in clustering of grape cultivars into 15 groups. According to the dendrogram, maximum and minimum similarity levels were belonged to Sarchal with Mamki and Agh Ozoom with Charmov Zooras, respectively. Farkhi is major grape cultivar grown in cold regions of Kurdistan and is a cold tolerant grape. For this reason, this cultivar is recommended not only for grown in cold regions of Kurdistan but also in other cold regions of Iran. All of these cultivars (table and juicy grapes) are introduced as superior cultivars for using in grape breeding programs and development of irrigated vineyards.

Resistance of 60 advanced lines of wheat to three pathotypes of powdery mildew fungus collected from Gorgan, Moghan and Varamin was evaluated in greenhouse conditions. Infected samples of wheat were collected from different provinces in 2005 and transferred to the greenhouse. After purification and multiplication of spores on susceptible cultivar Bolani, pathotypes of the pathogen were determined by inoculating pure spores of each isolate separately on the first leaves of 17 near isogenic lines(differentials) in the greenhouse. Pure spores of each pathotype were then inoculated separately on the first leaves of advanced lines. Infection types were assessed based on 0 to 9 scale, 12 and 16 days after inoculation. All lines were susceptible at seedling stage. In field experiment, in Gorgan Agricultural Research Station, line N-83-13 was highly resistant,33 lines were resistant and the remainings were moderately susceptible. Susceptible reactions of those lines at seedling stage and resistance reactions at adult plant stage indicated that they may carry adult plant resistance.

Embryo culture of hybrid seeds that are not able to germinate for any specific reason as well as sweet cherry hybrid seeds with germination problem is one of the methods used in fruit trees breeding programs. Embryo cultures are widely applied in stone fruits breeding programs especially in inter specific hybridization and crosses with early ripening parents. Some sweet cherry hybrid seeds have less than 1% germination, so this research was carried out in order to explore the possibility of embryo culture and rescue of two sweet cherry cultivars. Sweet cherry cultivars used were late ripening `Zard-Daneshkade’ and early ripening `Silej-Delamarka’. Embryos obtained from seeds of `Zard-Daneshkade’ from controlled hybridization (`Zard-Daneshkade’ × `Siah Mashhad’) and from open pollinated `Silej Delamarka’. The embryos were sterilized and then cultured on MS medium. The germination of embryos started from those embryos sampled 3 and 6 weeks after full bloom in `Silej Delamarka’ and `Zard-Daneshkade’ respectively. The growth of embryos was suitable when embryos were treated with 40 days and 60 days cold treatment on the immature and mature embryos respectively. Results showed that while germination of mature seeds in `Silej-Delamarka’ cultivar was 0% by conventional seed culture methods, the embryo culture successfully increased germination up to 30 and 60 percent on the embryos sampled 21 and 28 days after full bloom respectively. In addition, embryo culture of `Zard-Daneshkade’ cultivar, increased germination up to 60% in embryos sampled 42 days after full bloom and the maximum germination of 95% was obtained from embryos sampled 56 days after full bloom. Note that the germination of mature seeds via conventional method was 26.6%.

Development of new cultivars with high grain yield (GY) stability and good adaptability under both terminal drought stress (TDS) and normal irrigation conditions, which plays important role in production of wheat, is one of the major goals of wheat breeding program for cold dry areas of Iran. The objective of this investigation was to study the stability and adaptability of GY and genotype × location interaction of some new winter wheat lines under both normal and limited water conditions. Field experiments (EWYT-D) were conducted with 18 new winter bread wheat lines including two checks (CVs Toos and Shahi Cross) using randomized complete block design with three replications under both normal irrigation and TDS conditions. Experiments were carried out in four experimental stations (Ardebil, Hamedan, Miandoab and Mashhad) under limited water conditions, while trials in two stations (Karaj and Ardebil) were conducted under both normal irrigation and TDS conditions during 2005-06 and 2006-07 cropping seasons. Under TDS conditions, trials were irrigated by just the booting stage. Different GY stability parametric methods such as variance of genotype across environment (S2xi),coefficient of variability(CVi%),Wricke's ecovalance(Wi), Shukla stability variance (σ i2), Eberhart and Russell parameters (S2di, bi), Pinethus coefficient of determination (R2), simultaneous selection for yield and stability (ysi), and non-parametric method of rank were used to calculate and determine the GY stability. Combined analysis of variance was done over locations and years. Analysis of variance for GY showed that differences due to genotypes was significantly different (P<0.01) under both normal irrigation and TDS conditions. The location × year and genotype × location inreractions were highly significant (P<0.01). The genotype × location × year interaction was highly significant (P<0.01). The genotype × location × year interaction was highly significant (P<0.01) just in TDS conditions, while it was not significant under normal irrigation conditions. From these results, it is concluded that four new promising wheat genotypes incuding lines No. 2 (Mv17/Zrn) and No. 9 (Bkt/90-Zhong 87) were the most stable lines with high GY and good adaptability and agronomic characters under TDS conditions.

Reaction of some small grains such as wheat, barley, triticale, oat and rye were evaluated against an Iranian isolate (F-103) of Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici, the causal agent of take-all disease of wheat in the growth chamber and under greenhouse conditions. The experiments were preformed in a randomized complete design with five treatments and four replications. Root and foot infection, total dry weight and kernel weight were measured after 21 days in the growth chamber, and at tillering, flowering and ripening stages in the greenhouse. Results of this study showed that small grains were differed significantly (P=0.01) in root infection and other characteristics measured. All the small grains except oat were susceptible to Iranian isolate of take-all fungus. Wheat was the most susceptible. Barley and triticale were less susceptible than wheat. Reaction of triticale was similar to wheat rather than to rye both in the greenhouse and in the growth chamber, but at the flowering it was less susceptible than barley and was intermediate between wheat and rye in disease reaction. There were significant reduction in grain yield, plant height, total dry weight, and an increase in foot blackening of wheat, barley and triticale by take-all fungus. Rye was relatively resistant and its grain weight was not significantly reduced. Oat was evaluated as resistant to take-all disease of wheat.

To assess the forage yield potential of some red clover cultivars, an experiment (RCBD) was carried out with six treatments and four replications in Karaj for three years (2003–2005). The results showed that the effects of year, cultivars and year cultivars were significant. Redqueen cultivar with 78.32 th-1 fresh yield and 15.25 th-1 dry matter yield producted the highest yield. Forage yield of red clover cultivars showed a decrease pattern from the first to the third year. The higest forage yield was produced in the first year and the lowest in the third year. Plant height and regrowth rate had different reactions in different cuttings. Kuluobara cultivars with 60.02 cm plant height and 98.86 gm-2 regrowth rate was the best cultivars. All red clover cultivars were susceptible or highly susceptible to powderly midew except Kuluobara that was moderately resistant. Finally, based on the results and findings of the present study, as the forage yield of two cultivar Redqueen and Kuluobara was not significantly different, these two cultivars can be recommended for cultivation in Karaj region.

Microsatellites have become markers of choice for molecular mapping and marker assisted selection of key traits such as disease resistance in many crop species. The aim of this study was to construct a genetic linkage map and analyze quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for leaf size and ascochyta blight resistance in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.), as well as quantify the contribution of each QTL to observed phenotypic variation. Fifty-eight SSR markers and one morphological marker (flower color) were mapped on 83 F2 individuals and F2:3 families derived from the cross ICC 12004 (resistant) ´ Bivanij (susceptible local cultivar) at the International Center for Agricultural Research at Dry Area (ICARDA). The linkage map comprised eight linkage groups, excluding flower color which didnt assign to any linkage group. Area under disease progress curve (AUDPC) was used to evaluate the F2 population and F3 families. A fain's test based on means and variances of the ascochyta blight reaction of F3 families showed that a few genes segregated in the population. Using composite interval mapping, one and three genomic regions were detected, which were in association with leaf size and reaction to ascochyta blight, respectively. One QTL on LG7 accounted for 15% of phenotypic variation for leaf size. Furthermore, three QTLs on LG3, LG4 and LG6 accounted for 46.5% of the total estimated phenotypic variation for reaction to ascochyta blight. Fine mapping of the QTLs identified in this study would lead to the identification of markers that could be used for marker-assisted selection of chickpea genotypes with resistance to acochyta blight. These findings are particular pertinent considering that we used Ascochyta rabiei pathotype III and ICC 12004 (resistant to pathotype III) for the first time.

To study the In-vitro effects of salinity (NaCl) on the plantlet growth and microtuberization in potato, 12 potato cultivars Ranger-russet, AGB-69-1, MEX-32, Marine-28, Loman, Araucana INTA, Surena INTA, American-INTA, Aracy, FLS-5, Agria and Marphona provided by Seed and Plant Improvement Institute were planted in the greenhouse. Apical and axillary meristems were cultivated on MS medium with 2.5 mg l-1 GA3 and samples were subcultured every four weeks on the same medium for plantlet production. Then plantlets were propagated through single nodal culture. To study the effects of salinity (NaCl) on the growth of single nodal explants and on microtuberization, they were cultured on MS media with different concentrations of NaCl including 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100 m mol l-1. Growth of single nodal explants on the saline media indicated that all the characters differed significantly among cultivars, salinity levels and interaction effects. Microtuberization was also affected by salinity level. All the studied characters, except the number of microtubers and the mean of minimum microtuber diameter, were significantly different cultivars, salinity levels and interaction effects. By increasing salinity level, growth of potato plantlets and microtuberization were severely inhibited, and all measured characters were negatively affected, except root dry weight and leaf area which were increased in all cultivars.Under saline conditions, wild-type cultivars (Surena-INTA, American-INTA and Marine-28) performed better than commercial cultivars (Ranger-russet, Agria and Marphona).

The charcoal rot of sunflower caised by Macrophomina pheseolina is one of the most important diseases that decreases quality and qualtity of the seed yield of sunflower. In recent years, the disease has become more widespread in Mazandaran province. Use of resistant cultivars, because of the adaptation with integrated pest management (IPM) and environment safety, has important effect on the disease management. In this study reactions of 20 lines and hybrids of sunflower to the charcoal rot disease were evaluated under field and greenhouse conditions. The results of greenhouse study showed that genotypes CMS19×R43, B line 1052/1 and CMS350.1×R43 with 24.42, 24.42 and 22.20 percent and genotype Allstar with 51.06 percent of infected plants, had the lowest and highest disease incidence, respectively. In field experiment, also genotypes CMS19×R43, B line 1052/1 and CMS350/1×R43 with 25.49, 26.39 and 33.40 percents had the lowest disease incidence and were more tolerant to the charcoal rot disease. Plant height, 1000 seed weight and head diameter of genotypes CMS19×R43 and B line 1052/1 were less effected by the disease compared to other genotypes.

Identification of grapevine cultivars resistant to the powdery mildew disease has a main role in integrated management of the disease. In this study, the response of 45 native grapevine cultivars to powdery mildew, caused by Uncinula necator, was evaluated during 2003-2004, in West Azarbaijan proviance. After artificially inoculation of leaves of grapevine cultivars with conidia of the pathogen, abd completely development of the disease, severity index of disease was assessed on leaves and clusters of each cultivar. Results indicated that almost all of the cultivars were susceptible or highly susceptible to the disease. Among 45 cultivars, based on severity index of leaf, three cultivars Gharashani, Gharashirah and Aghshani, and based on severity index of cluster, cultivars Gharashani, Aghshani and Gharashirah were recognized as resistant cultivars. A negative significant correlation was found between the severity index of the infected clusters and fruits color in various cultivars. There was also a strong positive correlation between leaf and cluster infection and epicuticular wax of fruit. The chemical removal of fruit epicuticular wax, decresed resistance of grapevine cluster.

Responses of 189 doubled haploid lines, produced by chromosome elimination method crosses between wheat and maize, were evaluated for yellow rust in Karaj, Gharakhil and Gorgan, and for fusarium head blight in Sari and Gorgan. Yellow rust nursey was inoculated four times and fusarium nursery three times with urediniospores of Pucinia striiformis and macroconidia suspension of Fusarium graminearum in anthesis stage. Data on yellow rust was recorded at flag leaves expended stage for three tims and for fusarium head blight one month after inoculation. For evaluation of resistance to yellow rust at seedling stage the reaction of doubled haploid lines and their parents was also evaluated. The results showed that among 189 doubled haploid lines, 40 lines were resistant in all stations and the others were susceptible, moderately resistant or moderately susceptible to yellow rust. In Sari, 23% of lines and in Gorgan 29% were tolerant to fusarium head blight. Doubeld haploids no. 10, 13, 14, 26, 36 and 37 were resistant to yellow rust and showed acceptable level of tolerance to fusarium head blight diseases both in Gorgan and Gharakhil. Some characters of doubled haploid lines such as days to heading, plant height, cold tolerance and 1000 kernel weight were evaluated. Finally, based on the results, the doubled haploid lines were classified in different groups. Due to high variability in their resistance to diseases and agronomic characteristics, some of them were selected for using in breeding programs.

Canola is one of the most important oilseed crops. Seeds of canola contain 40-50% oil and 22% protein. In the present study seed yields of 15 lines of three brassica species, B. napus, B. rapa and B. juncea were evaluated under warm dryland conditions in Gachsaran Agricultural Research Station during three cropping seasons (2003-2006) using a randomized complete block design. Each line was planted in six rows with four meter length and 25cm distance from each other. Different agronomic traits were recorded during the growth period of canola. The simple and combined analusis of variance on data showed that lines different significantly for different traits such as days to flowering, plant height, seeds per pod, days to maturity, seed yield and 1000 seeds weight indicating genetic variations among the lines. Results of combined analysis of variance indicated that the effects of line and years were significant at 1% level for all traits, but the effects of line×year was not significant for plant height. In 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 cropping seasons, line Lethbridge from B. juncea with 1.018 and 1.466 (tha-1) respectively, produced the highest seed yield, while in 2005-2006 cropping season the seed yield of line J-98 from the same species was 3.194 tha-1.

Several sweet cherry genotypes are growing in different parts of Iran. In this study, a comparison was performed between clusterings based on 26 morphological characteristics of fruits and leaves, and molecular marker data derived from 23 RAPD primers in 23 Iranian sweet cherry cultivars along with a foreign cultivar as a control. In some cases, there was good agreement between both clusterings. However, in many cases, they did not approve each other, as the correlation between distance matrix of morphological characteristics and similarity matrix of RAPD marker data was not significant (r=0.22). The reason for disagreement between these matrixes can be related to lack of sufficient morphological data. The clustering based on RAPD marker data was in good agreement with previously reported results in incompatibility studies on some of used sweet cherry cultivars. In this study, the value of calculated polymorphism was 81.7 percent for 23 primers. Furthermore, the paired similarity coefficient varied from 0.43 to 0.81. Results showed a high variability among studied Iranian sweet cherry cultivars and RAPD was an effective maker for studying sweet cherry genetic diversity.

In order to evaluate grain yield stability of 19 promising lines of bread wheat along with a check cultivar (Tajan) in warm humid climate, an experiment was carried out in four agricultural research stations (Gorgan, Gonbad, Sari and Moghan) during 2004-2006 cropping seasons. The experimental designs in all locations were randomized complete block design with three replications. Combined ANOVA was performed following the Bartelet test (for uniformity of error variances). Year and location effects were considered random while genotypic effect as a fixed variable. Results of combined analysis of variance showed that the effects of genotype×location and genotype×location×year were significant (P<0.01), but effect of genotype×year was not significant. Stability of genotypes were evaluated using different methods including Variance (Si2) and environmental coefficient of variance (CVi), coefficient of regression of mean yield on environmental index (bi), Wricke’s ecovalance, Eberhart and Russell and within location variance (Myy/l and CV). Results of environmental variance and coefficient of variability (CVi) showed that number 19, 18, 11, 12 and 5 with lower values for environmental variance and coefficient of variability (CVi) had the highest stability. In Wricke’s ecovalance stability method number 1, 2, 8, 11and 9 had the highest stability, respectively. On the base of Eberhart and Russell method lines number 2, 1, 19, 8 and 11 had the highest stability, number 12, 14 and 11 were stable on the basis of Myy/l and C V. Result of these methods were different more or less, however, based of all methods, line no.11 with 5230 kgha-1 grain yield was selected as the most stable lines for northern warm and humid zones of Iran.

Wheat is the first among cultivated crops in terms of hectare in Iran, and is cultivated on 6.2 million hectares under variable agro-climatic conditions. Of 2.2millions hectares of wheat crop grown under irrigation system, about 30% of the areas experience the adverse effects of salinity stress, which is one of the limiting factors of wheat production in warm and temperate regions of Iran. Selection and introduction of saline tolerant cultivars is one of the major goals of the wheat breeding program at the Seed and Plant Improvement Institute (SPII). Using genetic resources, yield trails were conducted under salinity stress conditions to identify and introduce cultivars which have the ability to produce the expected grain yield under saline stressed conditions. The registration of a newly released saline tolerant spring wheat named Bam with a high grain yield and good adaptability to saline soils of warm and temperate regions is reported here. Bam cultivar a doubled haploid wheat with the pedigree of DH4-209-1577F3 Vee "s"/Nac//1-66-22 is a high-yielding, with good salinity tolerance and sufficient level of yellow rust resistance to be registered for production in southern part of Iran. Bam cultivar with high a molecular weight of gilliadin subunit proteins (2*,7+9,5+10 alleles) has a high grain protein percentage and an excellent quality for bread making. Combined grain yield means comparison showed that Bam with a 4.856 tha-1 grain yield was the top high yielding new line in comparison to Kavir check cultivar with a 4.136 tha-1 grain yield under salinity stress conditions. Results of stability analysis on grain yield using parametric method of Eberhart and Russell (1966) and non-parametric method of Rank Analysis (based on R and SDR parameters) showed that Bam cultivar with the lowest deviation of regression (S2di=0.37 and bi=-1.37), a good grain yield (4.856 tha-1) and the lowest standard deviation of rank (SDR=9.165) was determined as the most yield stable cultivar for regions with a high level of salinity stress in comparison to Kavir check cultivar. Results of grain yield obtained from on-farm and extension-research project trials in Yazd, Isfahan, Kerman and Neishabour supported the grain yield superiority of the new cultivar in comparison to commercial cultivars grown in those areas. It was officially release in 2007 for cultivation in moderate and warm regions of Iran.

Line Yesevi-93 (cultivar Abidar) was first introduced to Dryland Agricultural Research Institute (DARI) through the International Winter Preliminary Barley Yield Trials (IWPBYT) in 1994. It was selected as one the most high yielding lines based on observational and statistical trails (Regional Barley Yield Trials) carried out in different locations during 1997-2000. The average yield of Abidar cultivar in advanced trails was 2138 kgha-1 which was 5% and 34% higher than those of Sahand and local check cultivars, respectively. Yield stability analysis of data from grain yield of Abidar and other advanced lines of barley, using different methods, proved its high stability in different locations. It is a cold tolerant, early maturity, facultative type, drought tolerant and resistant to shattering cultivar. Its average height was 57cm with 1000 kernel weight of 40-50 g. In on-farm yield trails, Abidar cultivar performed most better than the check cultivars. It is resistant to scald and powdery mildew diseases but susceptible to barley stripe. As this disease is seed-borne, it can easily be controlled through seed treatment by appropriate fungicides. Based on the advanced regional barley yield trials carried out in different cold and moderately cold regions of Iran, Abidar can be recommended for cultivation in moderate cold areas of Azarbaijan, Hamedan, Kurdistan, Zanjan, Ardebil, Ilam, Isfahan, Kermanshah, Chaharmahal-e-Bakhtiari, Markazi, Kohgilloyeh and Boyerahmad and Khorasan provinces in dryland conditions.