Soil science
B. Atarodi; M. Zangiabadi
Abstract
IntroductionToday, it is an inevitable necessity to make use of advanced and efficient technologies in order to increase productivity and gain a better economic status. Among different methods attracted the attention of researchers for enhancement in quantity and quality yield, cold plasma technique ...
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IntroductionToday, it is an inevitable necessity to make use of advanced and efficient technologies in order to increase productivity and gain a better economic status. Among different methods attracted the attention of researchers for enhancement in quantity and quality yield, cold plasma technique as a modern procedure has shown a promising prospects. Despite the importance of using cold plasma in agriculture, studies have focused more on the effect of this technique on reducing microbial load in agricultural products, less on absorption of nutrients in plants. Therefore, the objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the impacts of plasma treatment of corn seeds and plasma activated water (PAW) on growth and concentration of zinc and iron in the shoots of corn. Materials and MethodsThis research was conducted as a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design (CRD) with 3 replications in a research greenhouse in agricultural and natural resources research and education center of Khorasan Razavi. The factors of experiment were three types of seed (control seeds, seeds treated with dry plasma and wet plasma), two kinds of irrigation water (distilled water and PAW) and two levels of foliar spray (without foliar spray and foliar spray with iron and zinc). Required mass of soil, was gathered, air-dried, sieved from 5 mm mesh and weighted in 6 packs. Based on the soil test values the required macro, micronutrients (except for iron and zinc) was calculated and added to the soil, and then the soil samples were moved to the pot. PLASMA BIOTEC Company located in Khorasan Razavi Park of Sciences and Technology, Mashhad, Iran performed plasma treatment of seeds and water. Plasma treated corn seeds were planted on May 18th with a density of 6 seeds in each pot. Plantlets were reduced to 2 plants after germination and establishment and irrigation was continued with desired treatments. Shoots of each pot was cut 8 weeks after sowing, 1 cm above the ground and delivered to the laboratory, where the samples were washed, dried, grounded and the concentration of zinc and iron were measured using the atomic absorption device (Perkin Elmer, 2380) in dry ash digested in 2 N HCl acid. Data were statistically analyzed by SAS statistical software (version 9.4). Comparison of means for the main effects and interactions was performed by Tukey’s test at 5 percent confidence interval. Results and DiscussionComparison of means for the interaction effects of water × seed × foliar spray showed that the minimum concentration of iron (147.67 mg/kg) was observed in plants grown from non-treated seeds, not foliar sprayed and irrigated with non-PAW (treatment 1 in Table 7). On the other hand, plants grown from wet plasma treated seeds and received foliar spray showed the highest concentration of iron regardless of irrigation water type (treatments 10 and 12 in Table 7). Comparison of means also shows that iron concentration in plants grown from dry plasma treated seeds had no significant difference with that of non-treated seeds (treatments 1 and 5 or 2 and 6). The mean comparison results for zinc concentrations showed that the minimum value was related to plants grown from non-treated seeds, not foliar sprayed and irrigated with non-PAW (treatment 1 in Table 8). The comparison of the simple effects of the type of seed on the concentration of zinc in shoots (Table 6) showed that wet plasma seeds caused a significant increase in the concentration of zinc. However, comparison of means for the interaction effects of water × seed × foliar spray showed that the effect of plasma treatment on zinc concentration was effective only in treatments that received foliar spray (comparison of treatment 2 with 10 in table 8). Based on these results the highest zinc concentration was observed in plants grown from wet plasma seeds and received foliar spray at the same time (treatment 12 in Table 8). In addition, the comparison of treatment 1 with treatment 4 and treatment 9 with treatment 2 indicates that in order to increase the concentration of zinc in plant, plasma treatment of seeds cannot replace the foliar spray method. Comparison of means for the interaction effects of water × seed × Foliar spray showed that the minimum yield was observed in plants grown from non- treated seeds, irrigated with non- activated water and not sprayed with iron and zinc solution (treatment 1 in Table 9). However, the similar treatment which grown from wet plasma treated seeds (treatment 9), showed significantly higher yield. Dry plasma, without foliar spray and without PAW (treatment 5) had no significant priority over the control. Plants grown from seeds treated with wet plasma and without foliar spray could not significantly show more iron and zinc content over the control, while their shoot yield was higher. ConclusionBased on the findings of this study, it can be inferred that irrigation with PAW and utilizing seeds treated with dry plasma exhibited no significant impact on augmenting zinc and iron content, as well as shoot yield. Conversely, wet plasma treatment, while not yielding significant enhancements in the concentration of iron and zinc within the plant, did result in increased yield. It is crucial to note that the extent of influence exerted by factors such as frequency and duration of seed exposure to plasma conditions on the observed outcomes may vary significantly. Therefore, optimizing methodology and conducting further research in this domain are imperative for a comprehensive understanding of these processes.
A. Shahnazari; M. Rezaiyan
Abstract
Introduction: Deficit irrigation (DI) is a suitable solution to gain acceptable and economic performance by using minimum amount of water. The partial root zone drying (PRD) method introduced in Australia for the first time and its goal was controlling the vine’s excessive growth. This goal gained ...
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Introduction: Deficit irrigation (DI) is a suitable solution to gain acceptable and economic performance by using minimum amount of water. The partial root zone drying (PRD) method introduced in Australia for the first time and its goal was controlling the vine’s excessive growth. This goal gained by alternative drying the rootzone. Basically the theory of PRD method, is expanding the plant’s roots by applying alternative stress on different sides of the roots. So the plants with PRD irrigation method can have different root system in comparison with other irrigation methods. At this method the plant’s condition would be OK by uptaking water from wet side, and the roots at the dry side can release abscisic acid hormone which decrease the stomatal conductance and consequently the water use efficiency would be increase.There had been studies on the effect of water tension on strawberry. The previous studies on strawberry indicated that the water stress can increase the plant’s brix concentration and some of plant acids.The awareness of the impact of water deficit stress on strawberry plant quantity and quality is essential for irrigation and product management, and at the current study, effect of different deficit irrigation methods on quantitative and qualitative traits of strawberry have been evaluated. The focus at the current study was on the qualitative traits.
Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted in one of strawberry farms of Babolsar city in 2012 to evaluate the effects of deficit irrigation and partial root zone drying on quantitative and qualitative traits of strawberry plants. Three Irrigation treatments were studied: Full Irrigation (FI), Regulated Deficit Irrigation (RDI75%) at 75% level of plants water requirementand Partial Root zone Drying (PRD75%) at 75% level of plants water requirement. The study was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Irrigation was continued until the soil moisture reached to field capacity. The field capacity point’s moisture was measured by using pressure plate equipment. By having the soil moisture curve and measuring the soil suction with tensiometer, the soil moisture situation determined. According to the point that the strawberry’s root is about 25 centimeters (cm), the tensiometers were installed at 2 depths next to the plant. The 1st depth was 8 cm and the 2nd one was 23 cm. The distance between tensiometers and the plant were 4 cm. 2 stochastic replication at the field were considered for the tensiometers positions. In order to deliver precise amount of water to irrigation treatments, the volume counters had been used. The water was applying by using drip tapes. The flow from the emitters on the drip tapes was 2.9 liters per hour. The harvest time was from May 5th to June 20th. To measure the performance, each shrub’s strawberries were weighted separately.Depth of irrigation water during the whole irrigation season for full and deficit irrigation treatments were 341 and 256 mm, respectively. Evaluating the effect of treatments was conducted by measuring the quantitative and qualitative traits of fruits at harvesting time.For analyzing the data, the SAS software and to plot the graphs, the Excel software were used. The SNK test (5% level) was used to comprise the treatments’ traits.
Results and Discussion: Quantitative traits consisted of fresh weight, dry weight, leaf area, leaf area index and yield in FI was higher significantly than deficit irrigation treatments. In comparison with the qualitative traits consisted of titratable acid, acidity and flavor of the fruit there was no significant difference between treatments. The leaf area index (LAI) at RDI and PRD were lower than the FI. Its reason could be the growth’ reducing as a result of abscisic acid (ABA) hormone’s release in the roots which can control the growth. The amount of total sugar (brix) and anthocyanin in RDI were significantly higher than the other two treatments.
Conclusion: The comparison between irrigation treatments indicated that the best quantitative results were at FI treatment. By considering the quantitative and qualitative traits, PRD had the nearest results to FI. At the water stress conditions, applying PRD method at 75% level would be a good management technic to have better performance and increasing the fruit quality. In Mazandaran Province condition, using this method would be a good way to minimize the quantitative losses and increasing the quality of fruits at stress condition.
