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It is estimated that 80% of all synthetic drugs are derived from medicinal plants, and nowadays, many synthetic drugs are derived from medicinal plants. Valeriana officinalis can treat many diseases of the nervous system. A crucial aspect of valerian extract is that it inhibits the proliferation of breast cancer cells. To optimize the yield of bioactive compounds in the V. officinalis root extraction, a response surface methodology-based D-optimal design was used. To fulfill this aim, the effects of various factors such as solvent type and concentration, mixing temperature, ultrasound time, and drying method were examined. The optimal conditions for solvent percentages, mixing temperature, ultrasound time, solvent type, and drying methods were determined to be 94.88%, 25 °C, 48.95 min, methanol, and microwave, respectively, with a desirability of 0.921. The predicted valerenic acid, total phenols, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity in V. officinalis extract were 1.19 (mg/g DW), 8.22 (mg/g DW), 5.27 (mg/g DW), and 92.64%, respectively. In optimal conditions, the extracted amounts of valerenic acid, total phenols, total flavonoids, and antioxidant activity were 2.07 mg/g DW, 7.96 mg/g DW, 5.52 mg/g DW, and 78.68%, respectively, which were consistent with the model predicted amounts (based on 95% prediction interval). This study could be useful as a model for demonstrating the efficacy of microwave drying to maximize the biochemical content of V. officinalis, as well as the antioxidant activity of the root extracts of V. officinalis on industrial scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aegilops and Triticum spp. are two ideal gene pools for the breeding purposes of wheat. In this study, a set of Iranian accessions of Aegilops tauschii Coss. and Triticum aestivum L. species were evaluated in terms of some physiological and biochemical features under control and water-deficit stress conditions. Moreover, several simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were employed to identify marker loci associated with the measured traits. The results indicated that water-deficit stress significantly affected all measured traits and the highest reductions due to water-deficit were recorded for shoot fresh and dry biomasses (SFB and SDB), stomatal conductance (Gs), leaf relative water content (RWC), and chlorophyll b content (Chl b). In molecular analysis, 25 SSR markers generated 50 fragments, out of which 49 fragments (98%) were polymorphic. Furthermore, the genetic variation observed within species is more than between species. The results of cluster and Bayesian model analysis classified all evaluated accessions into three main clusters. Under control and water-deficit stress conditions, 28 and 27 significant marker-trait associations (MTAs) were identified, respectively. Furthermore, 10 MTAs showed sufficiently stable expression across both growth conditions. Of these, the markers Xgwm-111, Xgwm-44, Xgwm-455, Xgwm-272, and Xgwm-292 were associated with multiple traits. Hence, these markers could serve as useful molecular tools for population characterization, gene tagging, and other molecular breeding studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Oilseed rape is the third most important oil crop in the world after oil palm and soybean. The world's oilseed rape production was 4.6 million tons in 2018-2019 and has the ability to compensate for the lack of edible oil in Iran (containing 40-45% oil). The production of this crop is mainly done by using two zero cultivars with a low level of glucosinolate in the feed and the absence of Erucic acid in the oil. Two types of oilseed rape are cultivated in Iran, spring and autumn. Spring type is cultivated in warm regions of the Caspian Sea coast and southern regions of the country and its autumn type is mostly cultivated in cold and mild cold regions. Materials and Methods In this study 16 rapeseed mutant lines obtained through Gama radiation of three rapeseed cultivars Talaye, Zarfam and Express with 800, 900 and 1200 gray dose rates, followed by 7 selfing generation, are compared during two years for earliness, seed and oil yield and other important agronomic traits in four regions Karaj, Kermanshah, Esfahan and Zarghan with three check varieties. The oil content of rapeseed varieties and lines were determined by NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) at chemic laboratory of Oilseed Crops Research Department of Seed and Plant Improvement Institute. Finally, the highest yield early maturity lines were defined. Each treatment was sown in plot with four rows, four meters lenght and 30 cm between row distances. The experimental field was prepared in late summer and chemical fertilizer were given to it. The sowing experiment were planned for late week of September until the first week of October.At the end of each cropping year, the yield of each plot was harvested separately and the statistical calculations were carried out after the gathering of two years results by GGE biplot method. Results and Discussion Results of combined ANOVA showed that main effects of year and genotype, interaction of location xgenotype; year x location, and interaction of year, location and genotype had significant effects on grain yield. The genotypes showed the highest and the lowest grain yield in Kermanshah 4016 kg/ha and Zarghan 2886 kg/ha stations, respectively. Line T-900-4 produced the highest grain yield 3840 kg/ha in all locations. To study the interaction of genotypes and environments, GGE biplot method was used. Based on the polygonal graphs related to genotypes, line Z-800-6, Z-900-7, Okapi and Z-800-3 produced the highest yield in Karaj, Zarghan, Kermanshah and Esfahan, respectively. Regarding the imaginary ideal genotype graph and biplot of genotypes and environments and seed yield ranking, line Z-900-7 were identified as the best genotypes due to its higher yield and stability. Conclusion In Iran, 70% of rapeseed production is done in warm regions and only 30% in cold regions. Therefore, breeding cold-tolerant cultivars by using mutations will increase rapeseed cultivation in the cold region of Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluation of genetic diversity is the key principal for plant breeding, providing an opportunity to discover novel characters and alleles for breeders. In the present study, 69 durum wheat genotypes were investigated for genetic diversity using several CAAT box-derived polymorphism (CBDP) and inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers. Twelve CBDP and sixteen ISSR primers amplified a total of 115 and 160 polymorphic fragments with a mean of 9.58 and 10 fragments per primer, respectively. CBDP primers showed the higher mean values for informativeness parameters such as polymorphic information content (PIC), resolving power (Rp) and marker index (MI) in comparison with ISSR primers. The results of analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that the highest proportion of genetic variance referred within populations. Furthermore, CBDP primers indicated high values for all genetic parameters. Besides, the highest values of genetic parameters including number of observed (Na) and effective alleles (Ne), Shannon's information index (I) and Nei's gene diversity (He) were estimated for Iranian durum wheat landraces. Cluster analysis based on each molecular technique classified all durum wheat genotypes into three main groups, so that the results of principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) supported the grouping patterns. As a result, the grouping pattern observed by ISSR primers was clearer than CBDP primers and grouped all samples based on their origins. However, Mantel's coefficient correlation test illustrated the higher positive correlation (0.54) between both marker techniques. Hence, the use of these markers in combination with each other to evaluate the genetic diversity is recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expression of biosynthesis controlling genes of crocin and safranal in saffron (Crocus sativus) can be influenced by ultrasonic waves. Sterilized saffron corms were cultured in a ½-MS medium supplemented by 2-4-D and BAP. Saffron callus cells were treated with ultrasonic waves in a cellular suspension culture under optimal growth conditions. The samples were collected at 24 and 72 hours after treatment in three replications. The secondary metabolites were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography and the gene expression was analysed by the real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results indicate that this elicitor can influence the expressions of genes CsBCH, CsLYC and CsGT-2; the ultrasonic waves acted as an effective mechanical stimulus to the suspension cultures. The analysis of variance of the ultrasonically produced amounts of safranal and crocin indicates that there is a significant difference between once- and twice-treated samples in that the amount of safranal was the highest within the samples taken from the twice-treated suspension culture at 72 h after the ultrasound treatment, and the crocin was maximised after 24 h passed the twice-applied ultrasound treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades, extensive research on the effects of nano-TiO on plant systems and different microorganisms has confirmed its photocatalytic and antimicrobial activity. However, there is no report on its application in plant cell and tissue culture as well as its role in eliminating contaminating microorganisms in tissue culture. In this work, barley mature embryos were cultured in Murashige and Skoog medium with four concentrations (0, 10, 30, 60 μg/ml) of TiO suspension in four repetitions. Quantitative and qualitative characteristics of calli were analyzed after each subculture. Data analysis for calli number in the first culture and callus size in all three cultures showed that the effect of treatment was significant at p > 0.95. As a result, quantitative features such as callus color, shape, embryogenesis, etc. were completely similar in both control and TiO nanoparticle treatments; there is no doubt that TiO nanoparticles could dramatically increase callugenesis and the size of calli. As well, TiO nanoparticles are effective bactericides with an aseptic effect, causing no negative change in the quality of the callus. It is necessary to do more complementary works to identify mechanisms involved for the increased calli size and embryogenesis of explants in darkness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Potatoes are one of the major vegetable crops that are grown world -wide. Therefore, evaluation of varieties in production of virus free mini-tubers is critical. In this study the effects of different growth regulators were evaluated on meristem culture and sub culture of four potato cultivars. The best medium for primary establishment of meristem for Burren was MS medium containing 2 mgl-1 GA3, for Agria was MS containing 2.5 mgl-1, for Marfona and Sante was MS containing 0.5 mgl-1 KIN + 3 mgl-1 GA3. The best media for subculture of virus free plantlets of Burren, Agria and Marfona was semi-solid MS medium containing 1.5 mgl-1 IBA + 0.5 mgl-1 BA + 2 mgl-1 GA3 and for Sante 0.5 mgl-1 IBA + 1.5 mgl-1 GA3. The DAS-ELISA test was conducted on the grown plantlet. The effects of substrate combination including four planting bed in mini-tuber production were evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]