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Fritillaria imperialis is a mono-cotyledon plant from the Liliaceae family that grows wild in some parts of Iran. Fritillaria is a medicinal plant, in addition to being a beautiful flower. Due to the uncontrolled harvesting of flower and bulbs, Fritillaria survival is threatened in some areas in Iran. Fritillaria can be propagated by seed. In favorite condition. Its propagation by seed and production of flower-beating bulbs takes about 6 years. In addition, plants grown from seed would not be like their parents due mainly to occurrence of cross-polination. Mass propagation of Fritillaria through conventional methods such as bulb culture is not efficient. Thus, its in vitro propagation as a criteria for preserving this valuable plant in its natural habitats was studied. We investigated direct embryogenesis of sterilized bulbs scale segments in MS medium at the presence of different plant growth regulators including NAA, IAA, TDZ, Kinetin and BA and the combination of kinetin and NAA in different concentrations. The highest number of direct somatic bulblets (8.33 bulblets), the biggest bulblets (26 mm) and the greatest number of roots (8 roots) were formed in 2 mg/L NAA. The least direct bulblet somatic generation was observed in TDZ treatments, bulblets formed tended to produce callus instead of growing. In the medium containing BA hormone no bulblet was produced. In conclusion, the results of this study revealed that propagation of Fritillaria imperialis is possible through in vitro culture by using 2 mg/L NAA.

In addition to physical and chemical properties of citrus fruit, its quality depends on antioxidant compounds such as ascorbic acid, phenols, flavonoids and antioxidant enzymes. Flavonoids group, especially flavonoid glycosides are dominant in citrus, which prevent chronic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In this experiment, the total flavonoids, naringin, hesperidin, neohesperidin, quercetin and catechin were measured in the mature and ripe fruits of six citrus varieties (Thomson, Siavaraz, Moro, Sanguinello, Tarocco and Page) by HPLC analysis. The results showed that all cultivars had high level of total flavonoid at the ripening stage. The amount of naringin was highest in 'Thomson' and 'Tarocco' (with 452.8 and 824.8 μgg-1 respectively) at maturity phase. Hesperidin accumulation was higher in blood oranges than blond varieties. The Sanguinello and Siavaraz had the highest value of neohesperidin especially in ripe fruits. The pulp of Tarocco had the highest level of catechin with 24.36 μgg-1 followed by Siavaraz with 10.6 μgg-1 at ripening stage. The Quercetin levels were higher in immature fruits selected from Thomson, Siavaraz and Tarocco varieties. Among the studied varieties, 'Tarocco' variety showed higher levels of flavonoid compounds at the ripened or mature stage.

Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) is an annual herb used as organic (green) manure and has medicinal applications. Organic fertilizers are used in sustainable agriculture of vegetables. Sources of organic manure and their effects on growth and yield characteristics of plants need to be determined. Effects of vermicompost and vermiwash were determined on qualitative and quantitative factors of chemical content, development and yield of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-gaecum L.) from May to July 2012 at Agriculture College of University Guilan. A completely randomized block design with 3 replications was used. Treatments included 7 t/ha of cow manure, vermicompost, vermiwash (obtained from 7 t/ha vermicompost); 7 t/ha of leachate vermicompost + vermiwash and a control (no fertilization). Use of organic fertilizers beneficially affected plant height, pod length, pod fresh and dry mass, 1000-seed mass, plant fresh and dry mass, internode length and percents of leaves protein and nitrogen. Use of organic fertilizers may increase yield and yield components of fenugreek and its yield efficiency.

Tomato is an attractive fruiting vegetable crop that can be used as an ornamental plant. Agronomical traits have been subjected to extensive genetic dissection to enhance vegetable breeding programs. By contrast, there are few genetic studies of ornamental traits for the development of ornamental tomato varieties. To investigate genetic loci linked to desired ornamental traits, we performed genetic analyses using an intraspecific mapping population that segregated for fruit color (yellow or red), fruit shape (round or pear), and plant height (high or compact). A genetic map was constructed with 965 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 33 simple sequence repeat markers. Subsequent linkage analysis using quantitative locus analysis and genome-wide association study detected four genetic loci for the three selected traits, all of which were located near the reported genes. We performed KASP-kompetitive allele-specific PCR-to develop SNP markers that were tightly linked to the four loci. Highly accurate genotyping data were obtained from the four SNPs across 187 F2 plants, which enabled us to select two lines with homozygous alleles for compact plant size and yellow pear-shaped fruits. These newly developed SNP markers and genetic strategies could be used to accelerate breeding programs for ornamental tomato plants., (© 2020 The Authors. The Plant Genome published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Crop Science Society of America.)

Background: Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is one of the most expensive medicinal and aromatic plants in the world. Due to the excessive application of chemical fertilisers in saffron farms and alkalinity of most cultivated soils, split foliar fertilisation has been suggested. The primary goal of this study was to propose split foliar fertilisation as a technique in increasing the quality and quantity of active constituents in saffron. HPLC analysis was used to quantify the most important saffron components; crocins (colour), picrocrocin (taste), and safranal (odour). This study was carried out in Kashmar, Iran, to determine the effect of split foliar fertilisations on quality and quantity of saffron in 2011 and 2012. A split-plot design experiment based on randomised complete block with three replications was conducted to examine three fertiliser types in three regimes for split foliar fertilisation., Results: Statistical analysis showed that split foliar fertilisation and the fertiliser type significantly increased saffron yield, number of flowers and crocin; whereas it decreased the picrocrocin and safranal content of the saffron stigmas (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: Overall, split foliar fertilisation increased saffron yield and colour but decreased the taste and the odour of saffron., (© 2013 Society of Chemical Industry.)