DOI: 10.15835/nbha49112049 

Salinity is the main environmental factor accountable for decreasing crop productivity worldwide. The effects of NaCl salinity on plant growth (leaf relative water content (RWC), leaf dry weight (LDW), shoot length (SL), number of leaves (NL), number of branches (NB) and total leaf area (TLA) and physiological characteristics (stomatal conductance (g_s), transpiration rate (TR), net photosynthetic (P_n), yield of photosystem II (ΦPsII) and the inter-cellular CO₂ concentration (CO_2int) in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) varieties (‘Vanda’, ‘P244601’ and ‘Pl184948’, widely used in Cameroon, Tanzania and Ghana, respectively, were investigated under hydroponic condition. Plants were subjected to four levels of NaCl (0, 40, 80 and 120 mM) at early seedling growth stage of plant development. Application of NaCl treatment led to a significant decrease in LDW, SL, NL, TLA, P_n, g_s, TR and CO_2int concentration of ‘Vanda’ and ‘P244601’ compared to untreated plants while the plant growth inhibition was notably noted at 120 mM NaCl in ‘P1184948’ for LDW, SL and NB. The highest depressive effect was detected in g_s of salt-sensitive ‘Vanda’ while the lowest were recorded in g_s of salt-tolerant ‘P1184948’ at high salinity level. Enhanced NaCl concentrations led to a significant increase in ΦPSII of ‘P1184948’ compared to ‘Vanda’, ‘P244601’ and untreated plants. Leaf CHL content was significantly increased in moderately-tolerant ‘‘P244601’ and salt-tolerant ‘P1184948’ at 80 mM NaCl compared to salt sensitive ‘Vanda’ and untreated plants. The depressive effect of salt on RWC was recorded at 120 mM NaCl in peanut leaves of all varieties. Under salt stress ‘P1184948’ was observed to have relatively higher tolerance on average of all growth and physiological traits than ‘Vanda’ and P244601’ suggesting that it could be grown in salt-affected soils.

DOI: 10.15835/nbha49112064

Perilla is herbaceous plant, functional food, and nutraceutical product with antioxidant properties. The objective of this study was to investigate the growth, reflectance indices, and antioxidant properties of P. frutescens species in response to fertilizer and salicylic acid (SA) applications. Two independent experiments were carried out in an environmentally controlled greenhouse: (1) pots of red-leaf and green-leaf cultivars divided into four groups treated with 10-30-20 (10N-13.1P-16.6K), 15-10-30 (15N-4.4P-24.9K), 20-20-20 (20N-8.7P-16.6K), and 30-10-10 (30N-4.4P-8.3K) fertilizers for periods of 10 weeks, and (2) pots of red and green Perilla cultivars divided into five groups treated with 0 (control), 125, 250, 500, and 1,000 µM of SA for periods of 7 weeks. Wide variations occurred in the agronomic performance, soil-plant analysis development (SPAD) value, adjusted normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), maximal quantum yield of PSII photochemistry (Fv/Fm), and antioxidant activity of the two Perilla varieties. All the measured traits were higher in green than in red Perilla under identical fertilizing, and all agronomic traits in green and red Perilla plants subjected to 125 and 500 μM SA were better than in controls. The SPAD and NDVI values of all plants increased as N% increased, the lowest Fv/Fm values of all plants were observed under 15-10-30 fertilizer treatment, the lowest NDVI values were detected in controls, and the Fv/Fm values of all plants decreased under 1,000 μM SA treatment. These indices can be used as indicators to characterize the physiology of these plants and are suitable for evaluating their growth and development under specific fertilizer and SA treatments. Green Perilla leaf extract (PLE) contained higher rosmarinic acid (RA) concentration in each fertilizer treatment, and higher total phenolic (TP) and RA concentration in each SA treatment. However, red PLE contained higher caffeic acid (CA) concentration than green PLE in each fertilizer and SA treatment, implying that their two genotypes exhibited different abilities and specificities of photosynthetic metabolites, and that different varieties may prepare for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity by up-regulating TP, RA, and CA concentration differently. Thus, Perilla plants can be used as health foods due to high TP, RA, and CA concentration. To produce Perilla efficiently in industrial applications, we undertook to determine the optimum N-P-K fertilizer ratio and SA application for maximizing the growth and accumulation of TP, RA, and CA in Perilla plants.

DOI: 10.15835/nbha49112125

Olive mill wastewaters and olive cake are effluents generated during olive oil production process. They represent a major disposal and potentially severe pollution problem for the industry, also promising source of substances of high value. The aim of this study is the valorization of olive mill wastes (OMWW, olive cake, olive twigs and leaves) to produce enzymes with high industrial and biotechnological potential, by the solid-state fermentation technique (SSF), from isolated fungi present in olive mill wastewater and olive cake. A total of 47 strains were isolated and purified from these two residues. The metabolic potential of isolated strains was study by testing the hydrolytic enzymes activities of lipase, protease, amylase, cellulase, invertase, phytase and tannase on agar plate media containing different substrate. The monitoring of SSF has shown that the metabolic activity of these strains is extremely rapid using this technique. Our fungi collection contains a diversity of strains capable to producing a variety of enzymes of biotechnological interest.

DOI: 10.15835/nbha49112153

Salvia species is a member of the Lamiaceae family, and it also possesses medicinal and horticulture values. The genetic diversity was assessed through sequence-related amplified polymorphism. To uncover genetic diversity and species characteristics in Salvia species were studied through a combination of morphological and molecular data. One hundred forty-five individuals related to 30 Salvia were collected in 18 provinces. A total of 157 (Number of total loci) (NTL) DNA bands were produced through polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from 30 Salvia species. These bands were produced with the combinations of 10 selective primers. The total number of amplified fragments ranged from 10 to 20. The predicted unbiased heterozygosity (H) varied between 0.11 (Salvia urmiensis) and 0.31 (Salvia limbata). High Shannon’s information index was detected in Salvia limbata. The genetic similarities between 30 species are estimated from 0.46 to 0.91. Clustering results showed two major clusters. According to the SRAP (Sequence-related amplified polymorphism) markers analysis, Salvia hydrangea and Salvia sharifii had the lowest similarity. Salvia bracteata and Salvia suffruticosa were genetically dissimilar to each other. This study also detected a significant signature of isolation by distance. Present results showed that sequence-related amplified polymorphism has the potential to decipher genetic affinity between Salvia species. Current results have implications in biodiversity and conservation programs. Besides this, present results could pave the way for selecting suitable ecotypes for forage and pasture purposes in Iran.