Journal of Plant Process and Function

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In order to investigate two different strains of Pseudomonas putida on forage quantity and quality of three sorghum cultivars, an experiment was carried out at Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center of Tehran Province (Varamin) during 2009-2010. The experiment design consisted of three randomized complete blocks in a factorial arrangement. Seed inoculation with Pseudomonas putida strain 168 had the highest wet and dried forage, percent of dry matter digestibility and percent of crude protein and seed inoculation with Pseudomonas putida strain 41 had the highest percentage of Water Soluble Carbohydrates. Seed inoculation with Pseudomonas putida strain 168 had the highest amount in the most of investigated characteristics seed co-inoculation with two bacterial strains had the lowest amount. The results showed that two strains of phosphate solubilizing bacteria had antagonistic effect on, however seed inoculation with bacterial strains alone (especially strain 168) caused nutrient uptake and plant growth promotion consequently, exuding of second metabolites could lead to plant yield promotion.

 

 

 

 

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Mycorrhizal fungi symbiosis with plants root through effective uptake of water and nutrients can be reduced the negative effects of salinity. To evaluate the effect of mycorrhizal fungi on some morpho-physiological traits and yield of Summer savory a greenhouse factorial experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Laboratory of Medicinal Plants, Payamenoor University of West Azerbaijan- Nagadeh, Iran, in 2013. The first factor included three salinity levels as zero (control), 75 and 150 mM. and second factor included of six mycorrhizal fungi species as Glmus versiforme, G. mosseae, G. interaradices, G. caledonium, G. clarum, Acaulospora langula and control treatment. Increasing salinity caused to significant reduction of chlorophyll a, stem length and stem diameter. The highest concentrations chlorophyll a, stem length and stem diameter were obtained from mycorrhizal plants of G. versiforme, as same as other species. The interaction between mycorrhiza and salinity on number of leaf, total dry matter, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll, prolin and leaf relative water content were significant. The maximum total dry matter was observed in non-saline treatments of G. intraradices. The highest concentrations of chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll were belonged to plants treated by 75 mM NaCl and inoculated with G. intradices. The highest leaf relative water content (87.6 %) and prolin were respectively obtained from plants treated by G. caledonium and G. mosseae in 75 mM of NaCl. In conclusion, Mycorrhizal fungi symbiosis led to enhance morpho-physiological traits and yield of savory affected by salinity.

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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of mycorrhizal species and phosphorus on fenugreek in soils contaminated with heavy metals. The first factor was four levels of mycorrhiza (Glomus mosseae, G. intradices, G. versiform and non-application), the second factor was the three levels of arsenic (0, 15 and 30 mg kg^-1 soil), and the third factor was two levels of phosphorus (0 and 200 mg kg^-1 soil). In this study, arsenic toxicity was studied on vegetative growth, arsenic accumulation in shoots, leaf phosphorus, proline, carbohydrate, chlorophyll index, as well as root colonization percent. Arsenic addition significantly reduced vegetative traits, chlorophyll index and root colonization percent. The highest level of contamination resulted in an increase of 95,99, 33 and 32% of arsenic in shoots, in roots, proline and carbohydrates compared to the control. Also, application of mycorrhiza and phosphorus also had a significant effect on the other traits except the percentage of colonization. The interaction between arsenic and mycorrhiza on fresh weight of shoots, colonization percentage and shoot arsenic accumulation and interaction of arsenic and phosphorus on shoot fresh and dry weight, fresh and dry weight of roots and arsenic accumulation in shoots were significant. In response to the destructive effects of arsenic G. intradices, with 18% reduction in arsenic accumulation, was better than other species. This experiment showed that mycorrhiza and phosphorus had a moderating effect on the negative effects of arsenic toxicity on traits and could be effective in reducing the negative effects of arsenic stress by improving vegetative growth.

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To investigate the influence of humic acid on the amount of absorption and allocation of elements on different parts of Satureja khuzestanica under salinity stress conditions, a greenhouse experiment was done as factorial based on a randomized complete block design in four replications. Factors included humic acid (zero, 10, 20, 30 and 40 mg kg^-1 soil), and salinity stress (zero, 25, 50, 75 and 100 mM NaCl). It was found that the shoot dry weight was decreased with increasing the intensity of salinity stress; at a level of 100 mM sodium chloride, the average of this trait was reduced by 16%. In contrast, the use of humic acid, particularly 60 mg/kg soil, increased the shoot dry weight by 25% compared to the control. The effect of humic acid, salinity, and their interaction were significant (P≤0.01) on measured characteristics except stem and leaf nitrogen. Results showed that among organs (root, stem and leaf), the highest amount of sodium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc and nitrogen (5064, 9000, 13, 19.92 and 3.91 mg kg^-1 dry weight) were observed in leaf in the S₁H₅, S₂H₂, S₁H₄, and S₁H₅ treatments, respectively. Among different organs, maximum iron content (759.9 mg kg^-1 of dry weight) was observed in roots under S₂H₁. In general, with increasing salinity and decreasing humic acid, the concentration of salts such as sodium increased whereas the concentration of useful and essential elements for the plant decreased. According to the results, it can be stated that probably soil application of humic acid at high amounts (40 and 60 mg/kg soil) can moderate the effects of salinity stress by affecting the nutrient changes of plant organs.

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The use of appropriate biological and organic fertilizers has been a prominent technique in the yield promotion and quality improvement of horticultural crops. In present study, the effects of three commercial fertilizers; Stimplex (biofertilizer), Essential plus (organic fertilizer), Fertigofol (Complete fertilizer) as well as Nano-chelate potassium on the quality and yield of two commercial strawberry cultivars (Albione and Gavietta) were evaluated. Traits including number of leaves and flower buds, petiole length, fruit firmness and yield of each plant, chlorophyll and anthocyanin content, antioxidant activity and total soluble carbohydrate were measured. The longest petioles (15.2 cm) and the highest number of leaves (11.6) per plant were related to Gavita cultivar under stimplex biofertilizer treatment, while the shortest petiole (11.1 cm) was also affected by the same fertilizer (stimplex) in Albion cultivar. The highest and lowest total soluble carbohydrate content was obtained under potassium nano-chelate and stimplex treatments in both cultivars, respectively. Fruit firmness in Albion cultivar under all tested treatments was significantly higher than Gavita, whereas the highest fruit firmness was obtained with stimplex biofertilizer. The results revealed that although there were considerable variations among the measured parameters as well as cultivars in response to the tested treatments, the suitable treatments were Stimplex and fertifogol and then nano-chelate potassium. In short, "Gavietta" attained more score in most of measured attributes higher than "Albione. Considering the traits responses to the fertilizers, Stimplex and Fertifogol fertilizers showed more positive effects on the quality and quantity of strawberry fruits and hence,"Gavietta" was the cultivar of choice.

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Snapdragon flower is one of the beautiful ornamental plants that are also cultivated for medicinal purposes. The use of chemical fertilizers and their negative effects on human health have led to the advancement of the use of biological and organic fertilizers in agricultural products. This research was conducted with the aim of investigating the application of fertilizers and mycorrhizal traits of two varieties of snapdragon flower in 2021–2022 in the greenhouse of Agriculture Research at the Research Institute of Zabol. The experiment was conducted in a factorial based on a completely randomized design with three replications. The investigated factors included the varieties (yellow and red flowers) and fertilizer treatment (Glomus intraradices, Glomus mossaea, supermycoplus and control). The results of this study showed the effect of variety was significant on all phonological traits, except in the time of four-leaf formation. Fertilizer treatment also had a significant effect on all phenology traits, while the interaction of variety and fertilizer treatment was significant only on two phenology traits: time of first leaf formation and four-leaf formation time. The red variety led to the occurrence of phonological traits earlier than the yellow one, in most of the phonological traits. The results showed that the yellow variety was superior to the red variety in all the physiological traits except for the phenol of the leaf and the flavonoid of the flower. Supermycoplus was better than the control and the mycorrhizal fungi, in the traits of: The phenolic, flavonoid and DPPH of the leaves and the flavonoid of the root, among the fertilizer treatments. In general, the use of biofertilizers and mycorrhizal fungi is recommended due to their positive effects on the physiological traits of snapdragon flowers.

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In order to evaluate the effect of phosphate and silicate solubilizing bacteria on grain yield and biochemical compounds of Milk thistle and Fenugreek in intercropping conditions, a three replicated RCBD factorial experiment was conducted in 2019 in Kohgiluyeh and Boyar Ahmad provinces, Yasouj, Iran. Five different levels of fertilizers includes phosphate solubilizing bacteria, silicate  solubilizing bacteria, phosphate solubilizing bacteria + silicate solubilizing bacteria, and phosphate and silicate chemical fertilizers versus control (no fertilizer) as the first factor, were evaluated in different intercropping patterns (monocropping of Milk thistle, monocropping of Fenugreek, intercropping of Milk thistle and Fenugreek with arrangements (1:1) and (2:2)) as second factor. The results showed that the simultaneous application of phosphate and silicate solubilizing bacteria increased the chlorophyll a of Fenugreek (45%) and Milk thistle (21%), the total chlorophyll of Fenugreek (20%) and Milk thistle (22%), and the carotenoid of Fenugreek (60%) and intercropping pattern (2:2) caused a significant increase in chlorophyll b of Fenugreek (16%) at the probability level of one percent. The highest phenol rate of Milk thistle was obtained from the intercropping pattern (2:2) and the simultaneous application of bacteria, and the highest antioxidant property of Fenugreek was obtained from the intercropping pattern (1:1) and the simultaneous application of bacteria. The application of solubilizing bacteria increased the phenol of Milk thistle and the antioxidant property of Fenugreek extract in all cropping patterns. The highest percentage of seed oil in both plants was obtained from the intercropping pattern (2:2), and the simultaneous application of bacteria and the highest yield of Milk thistle seeds were obtained from the intercropping pattern (2:2) and chemical fertilizer. In general, it could be concluded that the application of microbial species will probably improve the yield and percentage of seed oil. In addition, better conditions for both plants in the intercropping system and more available nutrients resulting from microbial activity will increase the production of secondary metabolites and improve antioxidant property, phenol and flavonoid contents of the oil.