EVALUATION OF THREE WILD SPECIES OF ALMOND ON THE BASIS OF THEIR MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS

Due to the suitable climatic conditions, Iran is one of the most important growing centre for wild and domesticated species/varieties of almond. Because of the adaptability of wild almond species to severe environmental conditions and resistance to drought, salinity and some pest and diseases, these can be used as rootstock for almond cultivars and in breeding programs for rootstock improvement in Iran. In this study, seeds of Amygdalous scoparia, A.webbii and A. orientalis were planted. The analysis of variance showed a significant difference between species. However, A. scoparia had highest stem height and leaf length. At the end of the experiment, the thickest stems were developed by A. scoparia, whereas the thinnest stems by A. orientalis. A. webbii produced more number and longer roots per seedling than the other two species. The correlation between various morphological traits showed that a few shoot characters were significantly correlated with root traits. However, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, root number and root diameter for P. webbii, and leaf number, leaf length, leaf width, petiole length and root number characters for P.scoparia, and stem height, leaf number, leaf length, petiole length, internode length and root number for P. orientalis were found to be important morphological traits to evaluate seedling charactristics of wild almond genotypes before their nursery test

The Effect of Polyamine Applications on Root Enhancement of Pistachio Seedling Rootstocks of ‘Badamy-E- Riz’

Pistacia vera cv Badami-e-Riz is the most important and popular rootstock in Iran, which tolerate salinity soil and phytophthora fungi but its root is less affected. In addition this rootstock is susceptible to excessive B and water deficient. This rootstock has a taproot rooting system without any lateral root. So this study was conducted to evaluate the effects of various concentrations and application methods of polyamines on root regeneration of transplanted bare-rooted ‘Badami-e-Riz’ pistachio rootstocks.The result showed that spermidine at concentration of 2 mM as foliar application method significantly enhanced root length and root diameter in ‘Badami-e-Riz’. Furthermore, the fresh weight of root was increased by 4 mM spermidine by foliar application and 2 mM spermidine by interaction of root tip cut and root dip method, significantly increased dry weight of root and root number in ‘Badami-e-Riz’. Besides, by the use of these chemicals, the survival percentage of seedlings was maintained in higher value. Results suggested that polyamine application was effective to increase lateral root formation and improved root regeneration. Therefore, it would be useful to help the survival of seedlings following transplanting

Wpływ kwasu giberelinowego, stratyfikacji oraz zasolenia na kiełkowanie nasion Echinacea purpurea cv. Magnus

This study was conducted in order to determine the appropriate treatment for breaking dormancy and the effect of salinity on seed germination of purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea cv. Magnus), in two separate experiments. In the first experiment, five levels of gibberellic acid (GA3) (0, 250, 500, 1000, and 1500 mg×L-1) with four levels of cold moist stratification period of seeds at 5°C (0, 5, 10 and 15 days) were launched. A factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications. The statistical analysis showed that concentration of 250 mg×L-1 GA3 with 10 days of cold moist chilling significantly increased the percentage of germination of normal seedlings and reduced the mean time of germination. In the second experiment, the seeds were chilled for 10 days at 5°C and half of them treated with 250 mg×L-1 GA3 for 24 hours. The seeds treated with GA3, and those non-treated were subjected to NaCl for salinity stress. The experiment was conducted using five salinity levels (0, 20, 40, 60 and 80 mM NaCl) in four replications in a completely randomized design. The results showed that purple coneflower is highly sensitive to salinity in the germination stage. The results also showed that by increasing salinity levels, the percentage of germination and normal seedlings significantly decreased and the mean time to germination increased, compared to the control treatment. But the seeds treated with GA3 showed higher viability and better performance under salinity stress condition.Prezentowane badania obejmowały dwa odrębne doświadczenia, mające na celu określenie warunków przełamywania spoczynku nasion jeżówki purpurowej (Echinacea purpurea cv. Magnus) oraz wpływu zasolenia na ich kiełkowanie. W pierwszym z eksperymentów zastosowano pięć poziomów stężeń kwasu giberelinowego GA3 (0, 250, 500, 1000 i 1500 mg×L-1) w połączeniu z chłodną stratyfikacją nasion trwającą odpowiednio: 0, 5, 10 i 15 dni, i przebiegającą w wilgotnym podłożu w temperaturze 5°C. Doświadczenie czynnikowe przeprowadzono w układzie całkowicie losowym, w czterech powtórzeniach. Analizy statystyczne wykazały, że zastosowanie dziesięciodniowej chłodnej stratyfikacji w połączeniu z GA3 o stężeniu 250 mg×L1 istotnie zwiększa odsetek kiełkujących nasion i skraca średni czas kiełkowania. W drugim eksperymencie nasiona jeżówki były przechowywane przez 10 dni w temperaturze 5°C i połowę z nich poddano przez 24 godziny działaniu roztworu GA3 o stężeniu 250 mg×L-1. Dla obu grup nasion badano wpływ stresu solnego (działania NaCl). Powyższe doświadczenie prowadzono w układzie całkowicie losowym, w czterech powtórzeniach, stosując pięć poziomów zasolenia (0, 20, 40, 60 i 80 mM NaCl). Otrzymane wyniki wskazują, że jeżówka purpurowa, na etapie kiełkowania nasion, jest bardzo wrażliwa na zasolenie. Zwiększanie jego poziomu powodowało spadek ilości kiełkujących nasion i dobrze wykształconych siewek oraz wzrost średniego czasu kiełkowania. Większą odporność w warunkach stresu solnego wykazywały nasiona poddane działaniu GA3

Effect of Different Rootstocks on Vegetative Growth and Photosynthetic Parameters of Pear ‘Shahmiveh’ and ‘Natanz’ Cultivars

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the influence of four clonal rootstocks (Quince A, Quince B, Quince C, PQBA29), and two seedling rootstocks (Gownjony and pear) on growth and performance of two pear scion cultivars namely Shahmiveh and Natanz. In the course of the experiment, vegetative growth indices including, current’s season shoot length, height of scion cultivars, trunk diameters (20 cm above the graft ::::::union::::::, at graft ::::::union::::::, and 10 cm below the graft ::::::union::::::), leaf relative chlorophyll content, leaf stomatal conductance (gs), and internal carbon dioxide concentration (Ci) were measured. The results indicated that, in Shahmiveh scion cultivar, the trunk diameter at 20 cm above the graft ::::::union:::::: and at the graft ::::::union:::::: was significantly higher than the Natanz pear cultivar. Among the clonal and seedling rootstocks, the greatest trunk diameter was observed in Gownjony rootstock. The maximum current’s season growth was related to PQBA29 rootstock, which was two times greater than pear seedling rootstock. The greatest and smallest height of trees were obtained in Gownjony and Quince A, respectively. Among the rootstocks, no significant differences was observed in terms of net photosynthesis and leaf stomatal conductance, but the results showed that, the net photosynthetic rate and leaf stomatal conductance in Shahmiveh scion cultivar was significantly higher than the Natanz pear cultivar. The leaf relative chlorophyll content in Gownjony rootstock was significantly greater than the Quince B rootstock. Therefore, based on the above results, Quince C seems to have a slower vegetative growth than the other rootstocks and is potentially more suitable for dense orchards