One of the most important problems in date processing is unsuitable storage conditions and packaging type. In this research date fruits (Kabkab variety) were packed within aerobic atmosphere and vacuumed PA/PE pouches and stored at different temperatures (-20, 4, 25 and 40 oC). The samples were evaluated for different chemical parameters (moisture content, TOTAL SOLUBLE SOLIDS, titratable acidity and pH) monthly during the storage period up to 6 months. The storage temperatures and time greatly (P<0.01) affected all chemical parameters tested in date fruits during storage. Packaging type had a significant effect (P<0.01) on TOTAL SOLUBLE SOLIDS, titratable acidity and pH of dates, but did not affect moisture content. A significant decrease of moisture content was detected for all samples throughout the storage period. However, it was noted that moisture decreasing rate was significantly greater at 40 oC compared to other storage temperatures. The titratable acidity of vacuum packed dates stored at -20 oC and 4 oC was lower than the other samples. A significant increase of TOTAL SOLUBLE SOLIDS was observed for all samples during storage.

Background and Objectives: Date palm cultivation has played a valuable role in sustainability and life improvement of poor communities in rural and remote areas for a long time. Iran is the second largest producer of dates in the world with Minab regions of southern province of Hormozgan being the main producer. Cultivation of this crop is the main source of income for the majority of Minab’ s farmers; to maintain this industry profitable, orchard management practices such as application of right amounts of fertilizers are required. Annually with each harvest, nutritional elements are removed from orchard soil at various amounts. On average, in one hectare orchard of 121 palms, 42 kg nitrogen (N) and 11 kg phosphorus (P) are taken away with annual harvest. If not replaced, this depletion could negatively affect the following crop loads and fruit quality. Therefore, in this experiment, with the aim of replenishing the soil nutrients, effect of application of different levels of N and P on fruit quality and crop load of Mordaseng, a cv. widely under cultivation in Minab, was assessed over successive fruiting cycles. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted as a factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design in three replicates using six-year-old trees of Mordaseng cv. at Minab Agricultural Research Station over six successive years. The aim of the experiment was to investigate the effect of N and P nutrients on yield and some characteristics of Mordaseng date palm cultivar. The independent variables were various levels of N (0. 0, 150, 200 and 250 (g tree-1)) sourced from urea and pure P (P2O5) (0. 0, 66 and 88 (g tree-1)) sourced from triple superphosphate, and the dependent variables were fruit yield and quality characteristics. The following amounts were yearly added to each level of N and P as trees grew older: 0. 0, 60, 120 and 180 g for N, and 0. 0, 20 and 40 for P. Results: The yield for N4P2 treatment gained the highest place in statistical group while for N1P1 treatment (excluding N and P) gained the lowest one. The highest fruit flesh weight (FW) and TOTAL SOLUBLE sugar (TSSu) were obtained for N4P1 treatment whereas the highest TOTAL SOLUBLE solid (TSS) was obtained from N2P3 treatment. Conclusion: Application of N and P resulted in a significant increase in the yield comparing to control. Using the highest level of N (250 (g tree-1)) gave the highest fruit FW and TSSu percentage along the highest yield. Application of the highest level of P (88 (g tree-1)) produced the highest TSS percentage. Overall, these results revealed that the application of N and P significantly improved fruit yield and some quality criteria of Mordaseng cv. under the environmental condition of Minab region.

Background and aim: Using fluoridated toothpaste is one of the effective preventive methods of dental caries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the TOTAL and SOLUBLE fluoride CONCENTRATION in different toothpastes available in the Iranian market. Material and methods: In this study, TOTAL and SOLUBLE fluoride CONCENTRATION of eight brands of Iranian and five brands of non-Iranian toothpastes were measured. The samples were extracted from top and bottom end of each tube. Then they were mixed until homogenous suspension was achieved. TOTAL and SOLUBLE CONCENTRATION of fluoride ion was measured by potentiometer. To compare results of TOTAL and SOLUBLE fluoride CONCENTRATION in the top and bottom of each tube and results between domestic and foreign toothpastes, the Mann-Whitney test was used. Results: A TOTAL of 13 toothpastes were tested, of which five products were for children and eight products were for adults. Eleven toothpastes (84. 6%) had Sodium Monofluorophosphate agent. Among adult toothpastes, only ABC and Signal toothpastes had international standard range of fluoride CONCENTRATION and the TOTAL fluoride CONCENTRATION was near to the amount printed on the tube. Among Iranian Children toothpastes, just in Ferris brand, the TOTAL fluoride CONCENTRATION was in the standard range, while in other brands, the fluoride CONCENTRATIONs were higher than international standard level. None of Iranian children toothpastes had the TOTAL fluoride CONCENTRATION same as what printed on the tube. Conclusions: It seesms, more serious supervision and accurate quality control on the CONCENTRATION of fluoride in toothpastes is required. If SOLUBLE fluoride CONCENTRATION is printed on toothpaste tube, it helps to select the right toothpaste.

The world is facing a dwindling supply of water, therefore deficit irrigation is becoming more of a necessity than a choice. Partial rootzone drying (PRD) is a new water saving irrigation technique where at each irrigation time only one part of the rootzone is watered. The un-irrigated part is watered during the next irrigation. We explored the potential of PRD for `Petopride´ processing tomato. There were two treatments: control (C, normal irrigation) and PRD. We collected data on water relations of vegetative and reproductive organs. PRD saved water by 50% and increased water use efficiency of the plant compared to C. Leaf water potential was more negative under PRD compared to C. Irrigated and non-irrigated roots of PRD had similar water potential and this could have happened by water movement between the two sides of root system. Water potential of fruit was lower in PRD than in C.But pressure potential (turgor potential) was similar between PRD and C fruit. This was indicative of osmotic adjustment (osmoregulation) in PRD fruit. To our best knowledge, this is the first report of osmotic adjustment of fruit under PRD treatment.

IntroductionDate palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is one of the most important horticultural products in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. One of the factors affecting the quality and nutritional elements of date fruit- as an important and strategic fruit in the country, with high nutritional and health value- is the proper use of different nutritional elements during its growth and fruiting period. There are many reports of the negative effects of salinity on dates, both in the vegetative and reproductive growth stages. The osmotic effects limiting the absorption of water and nutrients, the specific effect of chlorine and sodium ions, nutritional imbalance and preventing the physiological processes and metabolism of nutrients and the use of high energy in osmotic regulation are some of the negative effects of salinity stress. Salinity stress negatively affected date fruit quality. Silicon is one of the essential nutrients that plays an important role in the growth and development of plants. Silicon reduces the adverse effects of abiotic stresses such as drought and salinity by affecting on the leaf and stem growth, and other plant mechanisms. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of foliar application of silicon on some qualitative characteristics and nutrient elements content of date fruit grown under high salinity soil. Materials and Methods This research was conducted in a randomized complete block design with 7 treatments and 3 replicates in two consecutive years. Silicon foliar spray treatments consisted of: control or no application of foliar spraying (T1), foliar spraying with a CONCENTRATION of 0.1% in two stages (T2), foliar spraying with a CONCENTRATION of 0.1% in three stages (T3), foliar spraying with a CONCENTRATION of 0.2% in two stages (T4), foliar spraying with a CONCENTRATION of 0.2% in three stages (T5), foliar spraying with a CONCENTRATION of 0.3% in two stages (T6) and foliar spraying with a CONCENTRATION of 0.3% in three stages (T7). The treatments were repeated in two consecutive years, and in each fruiting season, fruit quality characteristics including TOTAL SOLUBLE SOLIDS (TSS), acidity (TA), pH and TOTAL sugar content were measured. TOTAL sugar was measured according to Iran's national standard method No. 2685 (ISIRI, 2007). The CONCENTRATIONs of potassium, calcium, iron and zinc were also measured at the end of the second year of the experiment. Fruit quality characteristics and CONCENTRATION of fruit nutrients were measured and statistically analyzed. Results and DiscussionFoliar application of silicon fertilizer significantly increased the TSS of ‘Barhee’ date fruits while it decreased the pH of fruit juice. The lowest amount of TOTAL SOLUBLE SOLIDS was observed in T1 treatment at the rate of 63.69% and the highest amounts of fruit SOLUBLE SOLIDS were recorded in T5 and T6 treatments with values of 70.07% and 68.59% respectively. Fruit acidity and TOTAL sugar were not affected significantly by foliar application of silicon. The application of silicon significantly increased the contents of potassium, calcium, iron and zinc in date fruit, but it had no significant effect on the CONCENTRATION of phosphorus in the fruit. The highest CONCENTRATION of fruit potassium was observed in the T6 treatment (spraying with 0.3% silicon solution in two stages) at the amount of 1.54%. The lowest values of potassium CONCENTRATION were observed in T3, T2 and T1 treatments with values of 0.89%, 1.01% and 1.06% respectively. Overall, Foliar application of silicon fertilizer can improve the quality characteristics and nutrient CONCENTRATION of date fruit under salinity stress conditions. Among all the treatments, foliar application of silicon fertilizer with a CONCENTRATION of 0.3% in two stages (three weeks before pollination and at the end of the Hababook stage) improved quality characteristics and the nutrient elements of ‘Barhee’ date fruit under high salinity soil.

1-Introduction Considering the importance of rivers as part of freshwater resources and their role in meeting the needs of agriculture, industry, urban populations, etc., monitoring and predicting the quality of these water resources is essential. These water sources are affected by numerous factors due to their different geological and environmental conditions and their qualitative status also undergoes dramatic changes. However, the quality monitoring of these abundant water resources on the planet's surface is not feasible and requires the use of advanced and powerful tools (Bagherian Marzouni et al., 2014). Due to its capabilities, satellite remote sensing can be used as one of these tools in monitoring water quality and will accurately detect the spatial and temporal changes of these water sources (Bonansea et al., 2015). So far, in many studies, the capabilities of remote sensing satellites to estimate surface water quality parameters has been evaluated, and in most of them, acceptable results have been obtained indicating the ability of this technology in the issue as mentioned above. Among these studies, we can mention laili et al. (2015), in which in a small section of Indonesian waters, have figured out a new regression algorithm between Landsat 8 and groundwater quality parameters. Toming et al. (2016) in a study using satellite images of Sentinel-2 on the water quality of the lakes in Estonia, could find a good correlation between the satellite band proportions and ground. The purpose of this research is to establish a relation between satellite images of Sentinel-2 A and two quality water parameters with a suitable model along the Karun and Dez River. For this purpose, firstly suitable spectral indices were extracted from them by applying the necessary processing on satellite images. In the next step, optimal relationships between extracted indices and water quality parameters are established using different models. Finally, using models with higher accuracy in terms of modeling, the dispersion map of each parameter in the length of the Karun River is provided. The purpose of this research is to establish a relation between satellite images of Sentinel-2 A and 2 quality water parameters with a suitable model along the Karun and Dez River. For this purpose, firstly suitable spectral indices were extracted from them by applying the necessary processing on satellite images. In the next step, optimal relationships between extracted indices and water quality parameters are established using different models. Finally, using models with higher accuracy in terms of modeling, the dispersion map of each parameter in the length of the Karun River is provided. 2-Methodology This study presented in eight steps as below: Step 1: Preparation of ground data and satellite imagery: The ground data used in this study is the measured data at the water quality sampling stations. The data included information on these quality parameters that were used from 2015 to early 2017 in ten stations. Step 2: Recording the value of the reflection bands at the ground measurement stations: In order to implement this research, satellite images of sentinel-2 and groundwater quality parameters were collected and measured at the same time from the study area. In this step, the values of measured water quality parameters were also sorted by date and sampling stations were prepared in separate files. Step 3: Analyze the initial sensitivity and determine the bands that have a stronger connection with each water quality parameter Table 1: result of sensitivity analysis for sentinel-2 bands TDS Turbidity EC pH Hco3 So4 Cl Na K Mg Ca Parameter Type Band Number 0. 376 0. 472 0. 296 0. 384 0. 493 0. 219 0. 338 0. 279 0. 312 0. 217 0. 294 B2 0. 379 0. 303 0. 325 0. 307 0. 238 0. 239 0. 268 0. 238 0. 179 0. 291 0. 217 B3 0. 352 0. 237 0. 283 0. 278 0. 260 0. 232 0. 225 0. 269 0. 165 0. 196 0. 269 B4 0. 346 0. 332 0. 274 0. 428 0. 315 0. 214 0. 256 0. 294 0. 256 0. 275 0. 313 B5 0. 401 0. 208 0. 248 0. 322 0. 294 0. 278 0. 253 0. 249 0. 210 0. 268 0. 239 B6 0. 403 0. 257 0. 227 0. 299 0. 273 0. 281 0. 258 0. 256 0. 203 0. 283 0. 210 B7 0. 263 0. 285 0. 301 0. 346 0. 198 0. 245 0. 231 0. 227 0. 184 0. 209 0. 224 B8 0. 422 0. 306 0. 316 0. 309 0. 241 0. 275 0. 251 0. 244 0. 195 0. 299 0. 212 B8a 0. 249 0. 205 0. 267 0. 325 0. 238 0. 273 0. 233 0. 287 0. 205 0. 209 0. 158 B11 0. 391 0. 265 0. 214 0. 310 0. 282 0. 293 0. 254 0. 247 0. 270 0. 244 0. 178 B12 Step 4: Calculating spectral indices and selecting spectral indicators with higher correlation Step 5: Secondary Sensitivity Analysis and Selection of Spectral Indicators with Stronger Connections In the next step, by applying the sensitivity analysis method, the relationship between each spectral indicator and water quality parameters was calculated (Table 2). Table 2. Result of sensitivity analysis for spectral indicator TDS Turbidity EC pH So4 Hco3 Cl Na K Mg Ca Parameter Type Spectral Indexes 0. 455 0. 580 0. 470 0. 407 0. 534 0. 260 0. 482 0. 535 0. 364 0. 511 0. 366 Single bans reflectance 0. 465 0. 659 0. 563 0. 516 0. 599 0. 501 0689 0. 688 0. 670 0. 532 0. 666 ( 14BmaxBmin)"> 0. 436 0. 740 0. 452 0. 633 0. 562 0. 681 0. 701 0. 598 0. 600 0. 485 0. 677 ( 14BminBmax)"> 0. 396 0. 702 0. 438 0. 720 0. 527 0. 581 0. 758 0. 669 0. 656 0. 506 0. 740 ( 14Bmax-BminBmax+Bmin)"> Step 6: Normalization of data Step 7: Modeling the relationship between satellite images and groundwater quality parameters: In order to model the relationship between satellite images and groundwater quality parameters, and based on the results of previous steps, the normalized values derived from the calculation of spectral indices were determined as inputs and water quality parameters were determined as outputs of ANN and ANFIS models. Step 8: Providing water dispersion map for water quality parameters: At this step, the modeling process was repeated with the transformation of ANN and ANFIS models until each model was accurately mapped the relationship between water quality parameters. 3-Findings of the research Table 3 shows the evaluation result of used model in this study. Table 3. Evaluation result of ANN and ANFIS model for water quality parameters. Hco3 So4 Cl Na K Mg Ca WQPT ANFIS ANN ANFIS ANN ANFIS ANN ANFIS ANN ANFIS ANN ANFIS ANN ANFIS ANN Error Type 0. 497 0. 315 0. 0871 0. 691 0. 266 0. 263 0. 229 0. 264 0. 136 0. 0709 0. 127 0. 397 0. 120 0. 279 RE 0. 164 0. 131 0. 0587 0. 311 0. 0959 0. 0748 0. 102 0. 079 0. 126 0. 0605 0. 077 0. 157 0. 115 0. 194 RMSE Figures 1– 4 show the CONCENTRATION map of TDS and turbidity parameters studied in this research in Karun River in Dez and Karkheh dam and the Karun River from Malasani section to the Farsiat station. (a) (b) Figure 1: CONCENTRATION map of TDS parameter in a) Karkheh and b) Dez dam. Figure 2. CONCENTRATION map of TDS parameter Karun River. (a) (b) Figure 3. CONCENTRATION map of turbidity parameter in A) Karkheh and b) Dez dam. Figure 4. CONCENTRATION map of turbidity parameter Karun River. 4-Conclusion In this study, two models of ANN and ANFIS computational intelligence models were used to model the relationship between satellite images of Sentinel-2 and two quality parameters of water along the Karun River. The results of this study indicate the high level of remote sensing ability to monitor water quality, similar to other studies; as this is well understood in previous researches, remote sensing technology can be widely used to monitor other surface water resources of Khuzestan province.

Strawberry is one of the highly consumed fruits which are cultivated in wide areas of the world. The most important problem of the strawberry is low storability and high postharvest losses; hence, more than 50% of harvested fruit is lost in Iran. The purpose of this research was to investigate biochemical and shelf life reaction of Camarosa cultivar to different CONCENTRATIONs of methyl jasmonate. The investigation was performed in split plot experiments in a completely randomized design with three replications. The main factor included different CONCENTRATIONs of methyl jasmonate (8 and 12 μ M /L), along with control (distilled water) and the sub-factor included different storage times (7, 14 and 21 days). The fruits were transferred to a cold storage with a temperature of 2 ± 0. 5 ° C, relative humidity of 90-95% and carbon dioxide content of 15% over the course of the research. Methyl jasmonate treatment improved antioxidant capacity and catalase enzyme activity of the treated fruits. The highest antioxidant capacity and catalase enzyme activity were observed at 12 μ M/L. Ethylene biosynthesis was significantly affected by the storage time of the treated fruits; so that methyl jasmonate at 12 μ M/L reduced the ethylene production. Also, fruit firmness was improved at 5 μ M/L methyl jasmonate CONCENTRATION. Based on the results, methyl jasmonate is potent to increase the strawberry marketability with minimal side effects and, hence, may be chosen for decreasing the postharvest losses of strawberry fruit.

Introduction: Cherry tomatoes, all over the world, have become a popular product because of the favorable characteristics (a good source of vitamins A and C, SOLUBLE SOLIDS, flavor, low calorie and fruit formation at high temperature). Cultivar selection is one of the most important managerial decisions and, despite thousands of available varieties, it can be daunting task. Cultivars are different in attributes such as color, shape, size, taste, taste, growth, consumption, planting time, and resistance to pests and disease. Material and Methods: This study was carried out from the autumn of 2014 to spring of 2015, at the research greenhouses of the University of Shahid Chamran, Ahvaz, Iran. The study was performed in randomized complete block design with three replications. During the cultivation period and at the end of the experiment, the number of clusters in the plant, the number of fruits in the cluster, the number of fruits in the plant, the TOTAL function in the bush, the number of marketable and unmarketable fruits in plant, the harvest index, vitamin C and SOLUBLE SOLIDS were evaluated. In addition, nitrate content, nitrite, fruit lycopene and photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, chlorophyll a to b ratio, TOTAL chlorophyll, carotenoid and chlorophyll to carotenoid ratio) and the SPAD index were measured. Results and Discussion: According to the comparison of the means, there were the highest number of clusters in Baby Tom (16/44) and then in Belize (15/88), which were not statistically significant and the lowest number of clusters were observed in cultivar Sogno (12. 77). The highest and lowest number of fruits in the cluster were found in the cultivars of Sogno and Belize (29. 82 and 17. 73), respectively. The highest number of fruits in the plant (295) were observed in Sogno and the Belize cultivar had the lowest number of fruits (193. 56). The highest average of single fruit weight related to the Cherry Belle (11. 13 g) and the lowest in Sogno (8 g) were observed. The lowest and the maximum percentage of the unmarketable fruits were obtained in Baby Tom (09/09 %) and Sogno (32 %), respectively. The maximum yield was observed in the Cherry Belle (2929 g) and then in Sogno (2482. 4 g) and Baby Tom (2077. 6 g) and the minimum yield (1637. 7 g) in the Belize cultivar. The highest and lowest marketable yield were obtained in Belle (2928. 6 g per plant) and Belize (1636. 6 g per plant) cultivars, respectively. The maximum amount of SOLUBLE SOLIDS was observed in Baby Tom (4. 86 °Brix), which had no statistically significant differences with the Belle and Sogno and the lowest SOLUBLE SOLIDS was found in Belize (3. 15 °Brix). There were the highest and lowest vitamin C content in Cherry Belle (28. 24 mg per 100 g FW) and Belize, respectively (23. 1 mg in 100 g FW). According to the results, the maximum and lowest content of lycopene were observed in the Cherry Belle and Baby Tom, with an average of 32. 411 and 19. 402 mg/kg, respectively. The maximum content of nitrate in fruits was observed with 0. 67 mg/gr DW in the fourth cluster and the lowest content of nitrate with 0. 198 mg/gr DW in the tenth cluster. The highest indices of leaf SPAD were found in Belize (28. 9) and lowest in Cherry Belle (16. 32). Conclusion: The selection of high-yield or high-quality cultivars in a greenhouse culture is critical to the economic efficiency of this product. The difference in yield is mainly related to the genetic variation among varieties. Study of yield and yield components of four samples of tomato in the environment and similar culture showed that the Belle Cherry was the best result for yield, harvest index, and vitamin C, so this cultivar is recommended to grow in Ahvaz greenhouses.