In order to determine the effect of defoliation intensity at different reproductive stages in sunflower (Helianthus annus L.) on SEED AND oil yields, AND determining the most sensitive reproductive stages to defoliation, a field experiment was conducted at Tarbiat Modares University Research field using a split plot arrangement in a RCBD with four replications in 2007 cropping season. Main plots consisted of defoliation at four reproductive stages including: star shape of inflorescence stage (R1), pollination stage (R5), SEED setting initiation (R6), AND end of grain filling (R7), while five defoliation intensities (0% as an undefoliated control, 25%, 50%, 75% AND level removed 100%) were arranged in sub-plots. The results indicated that defoliation time AND intensities had significant effects on all traits. The interaction of two factors significantly (P<0.01) reduced the grain yield, thousAND SEEDs WEIGHT, UNFILLED SEED AND oil content. The most variation resulted from defoliation effect on number of filled SEED per area AND1000 SEED WEIGHT, at R1 AND R5 stages, consequently reduced grain AND oil yields. On the bases of these results it could be concluded that sunflower crop that lost 100% of its leaves would be economically unprofitable AND it is more logic to be replaced with a suitable crop adapted to the region.

In this study, chemical compositions of black SEED meals samples were determined. 18 male weaning ZANDi lambs with an average body WEIGHT of 23.5 ±1.5 kg were used in a completely rANDomized design in three groups of six in individual pens. Experimental treatments were: 1) control (basal diet with 12% soybean meal AND without black SEED meal), 2) diet containing 6% soybean meal AND 9% black SEED meal AND 3) diet containing 18% black SEED meal AND without soybean meal. The concentration of dry matter, crude protein, crude fat, NDF, ADF, ADIN, AND crude ash of black SEED meal samples were 97.53±0.58, 31.26±0.99, 15.16 ± 0.61, 25.95 ± 1.34, 14.2±0.80, 0.69±0.04 AND 5.07 ± 0.24, respectively. Replacement of soybean meal with black SEED meal in the diet of experimental lambs had no effect on final body WEIGHT, daily WEIGHT gain, feed conversion ratio, dry matter intake, dressing percentage, tail AND total body fat deposition. Albumin AND total protein were higher for lambs fed by diet containing 18 % black SEED meal compared to other treatments (P <0.05). However, the concentration of blood triglyceride, cholesterol AND urea nitrogen were not differed between experimental groups. The digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, crude fat AND protein were not affect by feeding of experimental diets. It seems that black SEED meal can be used in the diet of fattening lambs up to 18% without adverse effect on performance AND nutrients digestibility of growing lambs.

Introduction: Medicinal plants are among the most valuable natural resources in Iran which can play an important role in people health, job creation, AND non-oil exports if they are properly identified, improved, cultivated AND used. The increasing use of medicinal plants at the global level makes the importance of cultivation AND production of these plants clearer. Currently, many researches are being conducted in the fields of identification of effective substances, therapeutic properties, cultivation AND domestication of medicinal plants. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) is one of the medicinal plants that have many uses in foods, pharmaceutical AND health industries, AND is used in traditional Iranian medicine for long time. Therefore, the cultivation AND production of this medicinal plant is of great importance. Materials AND Methods: To investigate the effect of direct SEEDing AND transplanting on the yield AND yield components of 10 fennel ecotypes, factorial experiment completely rANDomized complete block design with three replications. The experiment was carried out in the research field of the faculty of agriculture of the University of Tabriz, located eight kilometers east of Tabriz, Iran. Eight native fennel ecotypes of Iran from the provinces of Isfahan (Tatmaj Kashan), Isfahan (Zeyare), Alborz (Karaj), Lorestan (Khorramabad), East Azerbaijan (Bonab), North Khorasan (Shirvan), Hamadan AND Ardabil (Meshkin Shahr) AND two different foreign ecotypes from Germany (Saxony-Anhalt AND Thuringia) were cultivated by two methods, direct SEEDing AND transplanting. SEEDlings were produced in winter in controlled environment AND were transplaned in the field at the six leaf satge. In direct SEEDing, the SEEDs were sown in the mid April 2019. HAND weeding was done several times during the growing period. After harvesting the plants, sampling was done from the mid August until the late November 2019. Plant height, biological yield, SEED yield, 1000 SEED WEIGHT, essential oil content per hundred grams of dry matter AND harvest index were measured AND calculated. Results: The results of analysis of variance showed that main effect of ecotype AND planting method were significant on SEED yield AND essential oil contents. The interaction effect of planting method × ecotypes was significant for all traits except for SEED yield AND essential oil content. The average SEED yield in direct planting method was higher than that of transplanting, however, the essential oil content in transplanting method was higher than in direct SEEDing. The highest SEED yield was related to the ecotype from Shirvan AND the highest essential oil was related to the ecotypes from Germany (Saxony-Anhalt). The observed genetic variation for SEED yield, important agronomic traits AND the essential oil content among studied fennel ecotypes makes it possible to use these ecotypes in fennel breeding programs to develop cultivars with high SEED yield AND essential oil content. Conclusions: The results of this experiment showed that there was considerable variation for most of the studied traits. Since the heritability for most traits was high, it can be concluded that most of this variation is probably related to genetic factors. Therefore, the selection of these traits can be effective for the development of fennel cultivars with higher SEED AND biological yields AND essential oil content. The significant correlation coefficients between traits facilitates the indirect selection for important agronomic traits. The results of the cluster analysis showed that the morphological AND phenological traits, to some extent, separated the fennel ecotypes based on geographical AND climatic regions. The genetic variation among the studied ecotypes makes it possible to use these ecotypes in fennel breeding programs to develop new cultivars with high SEED yield AND essential oil content.

SEED germination is the begining of life cycle for many crops. Snitable methods of SEED selection AND production have great effects on the yield. In this study, a field work was preceded hy a laboratory experiment in order to evaluate the SEED vigour in seven sorghum lines. The field experiment was a RCBD with three replications AND was carried out in 1998, Karaj, Iran. Each experimental plot was 2.6x7m with four rows (65 cm between the rows). After SEEDling emergence, the germination percentage was recorded. When the SEEDlings were at 4-6 leaves thinning was done to reduce the space between them to 6cm in a row AND other necessary practices were carried out on time until the SEEDs were fully matured. Samples were taken from all the seven sorghum lines AND in the laboratory, using RCBD design, stANDard Germination Test (G), Cold Test (CT), Accelerated Ageing Test (AA), Electrical Conductivity Test (EC) with four replications were implemented on the samples. The results indicated that the sorghum lines KFS1, KFS2 AND KFS4 are significantly different in SEED vigours, percentage of field emergence AND also the fresh AND dry matter yields of forage.

In order to identify the correlations AND relationships between different traits in the bread wheat, 30 genotypes were investigated as sub-factors under the split plot experiment in the completely rANDomized design in greenhouse AND the rANDomized complete block design in the field with three replications under the normal irrigation AND post-anthesis water stress conditions. The results of the canonical correlation analysis showed that at both normal AND moisture stress levels, there was a significant correlation between the pair of canonical variables obtained from the phenological traits AND the yield components. Under the normal conditions in the greenhouse, to increase the spike density AND length, the number of days to 50% flowering can be considered as a suitable selection criterion. According to the results of canonical correlation analysis, under the stressed conditions in greenhouse, to increase the spike length, the number of days to the heading, maturity AND 50% of flowering were among the important AND effective factors. Under the optimum irrigation conditions in the field, the number of days to maturity was considered as one of the factors influencing the SEED WEIGHT per spike. The results of canonical correlation analysis under the field stress conditions showed that to increase the 1000-SEED WEIGHT, the number of days to maturity can be considered an appropriate selection criterion.

In order to evaluate the effect of soil salinity on characteristics of rice cultivars (IR54447-3B-10-2, IR58443-6B-10-3 Gil repented AND native Dom Seiah) an experiment was carried out at Gonbad University in 2008. The experiment was factorial of salinity levels (0, 4, 8 AND 12-dSm-1) AND rice cultivars using rANDomized complete block design. The germinated SEEDs cultivated in pots with 5 kg of soils. The treatments of salinity were applied according to the International Rice Research Institute instruction 30 days after planting. Filled SEED AND UNFILLED SEED per plant, filled AND UNFILLED panicle per plant, SEED WEIGHT, Na AND K were measured. The effect of salinity, cultivar AND interaction between them had a significant effect on all measured characteristics. There was a significant effect on filled AND UNFILLED SEED per plant, between Dom Seiah AND other cultivars AND Dom Seiah also had minimum filled SEED AND UNFILLED SEED number per plant. Maximum filled panicle number per plant observed in Dom Seiah (16.75) between cultivars. The effects of salinity had the same trend on filled AND UNFILLED SEED number per plant, filled AND UNFILLED panicle per plant AND SEED WEIGHT. The maximum potassium observed in cultivars of Dom Seiah AND IR58443-6B-10-3.

To investigate the effect of weed interference AND weed-free periods on Balangu (Lallemantia royleana Benth. in Wall) AND to evaluate the critical period of weed control (CPWC) in this oilSEED crop, an experiment was conducted as a rANDomized complete block design with three replications in Naghadeh region in 2018. Experimental consisted of two groups of treatments; weed infestation treatments (infestation for 144.2, 345.9, 574, 848.2, 1147.6 AND 1451.3 growing degree day (GDD) after transplanting AND then plots were remained weed-free the rest of the growing season) AND weed-free treatments (weeding for 144.2, 345.9, 574, 848.2, 1147.6 AND 1451.3 GDD after transplanting AND then plots were remained infested until harvesting time). In each block, one weed free AND weed infested control was for all the growing season. Results indicated that the density AND dry biomass of weeds were increased as weed removal was delayed. In contrast, density AND dry biomass of weeds were decreased as weeds establishment was delayed. Height, tetrachenes fruits, ripened achenes, 1000-SEED WEIGHT AND biological, SEED AND relative yields of Balangu were decreased AND increased as the duration of weed-infested AND weed-free period increased, respectively. Also, logistic AND Gompertz curves fitted to data showed that the beginning AND end of the CPWC based on a 10% yield loss of relative yield, was estimated to be from 11 to 108 days after transplanting (97 days weed-free period) in order to prevent a noticeable yield loss.

To evaluate the effects of different treatments on SEED dormancy breaking of Notobasis, two separate experiments were conducted at Agricultural Sciences AND Natural Resources University of Khuzestan, in 2017 with three replications. The first experiment included nine physical, mechanical AND chemical treatments (control, surface scarification, intense scarification, one AND two weeks of chilling at 4°C, soaking into hot water for two hours without scarification , soaking in 25°C distilled water for two hours with scarification  AND acid treatment for six AND 12 minutes) based on completely rANDomized designs (CRD). The Second experiment was hormone priming arranged as a factorial experiment based on completely rANDomized design with gibberellin concentrations (0, 200, 400, 600, 800 AND 1000 ppm) AND priming duration (12 AND 24 hour) as the treatments. The highest SEED germination (40%) obtained from 12 minutes of acid treatment. Results showed that SEED germination reached to 100% after priming SEEDs with GA3 concentrations for 12 hours. However, increase the priming durations to 24 hours, significantly declined SEED germination to 47% in 200 AND 400 ppm of GA3 concentrations. The Increase of GA3 concentrations in 12 hours led to a linear reduction of T50 from 31 hours in 200 ppm to 19 hours in 1000 ppm). In 24 hours of priming treatment, T50 followed a Gaussian function AND the highest T50 (92 hours) was obtained from 600 ppm. It is recommended to immerse the SEEDs for 12 minutes in sulfuric acid AND prime with 400 ppm GA3 acid for 12 hours to break dormancy AND increase the vigor index.

Persian hogweed is a perennial, aromatical AND herbal plant which has medicinal, economical AND fodder values. One of the major problems of Persian hogweed is the lack of proper SEED germination in vitro. In order to survey the effects of sea level elevation AND temperature regim on SEED germination of Persian hogweed, SEEDs were collected from three different elevations (1700, 2200 AND 2700meter) in Kojoor AND transported to the Laboratory of Khazar Forest SEED Centre. After purification, initial moisture content AND SEED WEIGHT, SEED percentage AND rate of germination were determinate for each elevation with cold AND hot-cold padding. Results showed significant differences in SEED WEIGHT AND SEED moisture at different elevations. With increasing elevation Germination percent AND rate decreased in both temperature treatments. So that the highest Percentage AND Rate was related to the height of 1700 meter from sea level. There was also significant difference between padding treatments AND the highest germination percentage AND rate was observed in cold padding. Therefore, the cold padding can be recommended for increasing the percentage of SEED germination of Persian hogweed species.