Growth,yield and antioxidant capacity of strawberry under various K+:Ca++ ratios in hydroponic culture

Optimisation of the mineral composition of the nutrient solution is one of the most important factors affecting crop productivity and quality under hydroponic cultivation. Considering the role of minerals in nutrition and the lack of studies on the K⁺:Ca⁺⁺ ratio of nutrient solution on fruit quality, a study was carried out to evaluate the effects of K⁺:Ca⁺⁺ ratios on growth, yield, vitamin C content of the fruit and total carbohydrate and phenolic compounds of the ‘Paros’ strawberry under hydroponic conditions. The highest total phenolic compounds, photosynthetic capacity, including leaf area, photosynthetic pigments, stomatal conductance and yield were observed at the 1.4 ratio (K > Ca). Enzymatic (peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase) and non-enzymatic (total phenol, phenolic compounds and anthocyanin) antioxidant capacities were affected significantly by the K⁺:Ca⁺⁺ ratio. The highest antioxidant capacity was observed in ratios with K > Ca in the solution. We recommend growers to maintain an appropriate K⁺:Ca⁺⁺ ratio in the nutrient solution, as this affects growth parameters, productivity and strawberry quality.     

Assessing environmental impacts of major vegetable crop production systems of East Azerbaijan province in Iran

In the present study, environmental effects of carrot, tomato, potato and onion production systems were evaluated using the quantitative indices of energy efficiency, global warming potential (GWP), economic indicators, pesticide risk (field environmental impact quotient – FEIQ), tillage impact (TI), fertilizer, land and water use efficiency, and the eco-efficiency index (ratio of gross production to environmental impact for GWP, FEIQ and TI). Data was collected from 110 farmers by survey to determine crop production in the region. The results showed that the energy index for the potato production system was the most efficient; however, the carrot production system was the best in terms of the economic and environmental indices of GWP, FEIQ and TI. For irrigation water productivity (IWP) and land production efficiency (LPE), the potato production system was superior. The carrot production system had the highest values for economic irrigation water productivity (EIWP), economic land production efficiency (ELPE) and phosphorous and potassium use efficiency. The tomato production system recorded the lowest nitrogen use and highest nitrogen use efficiency. It can be concluded that the onion production system was furthest from sustainability goals based on the aforesaid indices.     

Efficiency of screening criteria for drought tolerance in chickpea

Crop drought tolerance improvement is one of the most challenging objectives of plant breeding programs. Developing an efficient screening technology and access to genetic variation for the traits contributing toward drought tolerance are major steps in this direction. To go in this quest, an experiment was conducted under controlled condition in a greenhouse. Nine Kabuli chickpea genotypes were grown under well-watered condition (85–90% field capacity (FC)) until start of flowering. Then, the following water treatments were imposed: well-watered, intermediate (55–60% FC), and severe (25–30% FC) drought stress. Physiological and agronomical traits were compared under different water treatments. Drought stress and genotypes interaction was significant in all measured traits, indicating that various genotypes responded differently to drought stress. Among measured traits, electrolyte leakage, stomatal conductance, yield components, and harvest index exhibited the highest variations. Yield components and stomatal conductance showed maximum reduction under drought stress and in susceptible known genotype, ILC3279, reduction reached up to 95%. Principal component analysis indicated that relative water content, photochemical efficiency of photosystem II, and stomatal conductance are the physiological traits with greater contribution toward drought tolerance. Therefore, these traits should be evaluated ahead of many other traits in making selections for drought-tolerant chickpea genotypes.     

Inheritance of the branching in hybrid populations among tetraploid wheat species and the new branched spike line 166-Schakheli

The new branched spike form of wheat was synthesized from a cross between a complex wheat line 171ACS {[(T. durum Desf. × Ae. tauschii Coss.) × S. cereale L. ssp. segetale Zhuk.] × T. aestivum L. ‘Chinese Spring’} (2n = 6x = 42, AABBDD) and durum wheat variety T. durum Desf. ‘Bereketli-95’ (2n = 4x = 28, AABB). This branched spike form is distinguished significantly from the other branched spike forms known so far. Later on basis of these plants have been developed the branched spike lines. This study was aimed to generate the segregating populations from reciprocal (F₁–F₃) and backcross (BC₁F₁–BC₁F₃) crosses between one of such lines—166-Schakheli (2n = 4x = 28, AABB) and tetraploid wheat species (T. polonicum L., T. turanicum Jakubz., T. durum Desf.) for revealing the inheritance character of this branching trait and study meiotic behavior in reciprocal (F₁, F₂) and backcross (BC₁F₁) progenies. Results showed that this trait is controlled by a single recessive gene despite certain irregularity against Mendelian law in F2 generations and does not depend on gene dosage, i.e., number of chromosomes.