To evaluate the variation in morphological traits of some wild grape genotypes in Sardasht and Piranshahr forests and their relationship with Rasha grape cultivar, this research was conducted. In the first year wild grapevine genotypes were identified and marked by plaques based on the sexuality of flowers. In the same regions some plants of Rasha cultivar in vinegards were also marked. In different phenological stages, based on global gene bank descriptor for grape, different traits related to growth end point, young stem, young leaves, mature leaves and fruit were measured and recorded. Results showed differences between various traits in wild genotypes. The frequency ratio of female accessions to male grapes was 3:13. Based on cluster analysis, all genotypes of wild and cultivated Rasha grape were divided into three groups. The first group consisted of genotype PR1 from Piranshahr, in the second group all wild grape genotypes of Piranshahr and Sardasht and in the third group only cultivated Rasha cultivar were located. In this clustering, the high similarity was observed between GH7 and GH5, GH3 and GH6 and PR8, PR3 and PR4, PR5, and PR8, respectively. Rasha cultivar showed very little similarity with the wild grapes.

The effects of salinity on growth, leaf area and water relations of two grape genotypes (Gharashani and Shirazi) were studied under 2-week salinity (25, 50 and 100 mM NaCl). Growth and fresh weights of all plant parts were significantly (p<0.05) decreased by increasing salinity in both genotypes. Shirazi showed a higher decrease in shoot and root lengths and fresh weights than Gharashani. It also had a higher decrease in water potential and relative water content and a lower increase in leaf area as compared with Gharashani. There was a significant positive correlation (p<0.05) between water potential and leaf area in two genotypes. Under salinity stress the expression of aquaporin PIP2.2 decreased significantly (p<0.05) in roots and leaves of Gharashani, but it was higher in roots than in leaves. In roots and leaves of Shirazi the expression of this gene was partly increased. Considering growth factors and water relations, it seems that Shirazi is a sensitive genotype, but Gharashani can partly tolerate salinity.

Salinity is an important environmental factor that limits plant growth and production. Grape is classified as salt sensitive plants. The object of this study was to evaluate effects of salinity on membrane lipid peroxidation, antioxidant components, and antioxidative enzymes activity in ten grape genotypes native to the regions around Urmia Salt Lake. Malondialdehyde content and protective enzymes activities in roots and leaves of ten genotypes increased significantly (p≤ 0. 05) under salinity. Salinity had an obvious effect on the accumulation of total phenolics content and induced phenylalanine ammonia-lyase enzyme activity in all genotypes. H6 showed low increases in Malondialdehyde content, also this genotype showed good enzymes activities and total phenolics content and PAL activity. There were significant positive correlations (p≤ 0. 01, r2=0. 7) between antioxidative enzyme activities, total phenolics content, and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity in the leaves of all genotypes. It seems that H6 showed a higher capacity to tolerate salinity compared to the other genotypes.

Nine microsatellite loci were employed to analyse the genetic diversity in a collection of 41 Vitis vinifera varieties from Iran and Russia, and three seedless varieties from California (USA). The number of alleles per locus was ranged from 6 to 11, with an average of 8.3, and the polymorphism information content ranged from 0.65 to 0.88. The markers were found to be highly informative in all genotypes and therefore constitute a useful set for the genetic characterization of Iranian grapevines. Two SSR loci including SSrVrZAG47 and VVMD27 were found to be probably synonymous, since the polymorphisms observed for both were identical. Clustering analysis was resulted in five groups of varieties (four Iranian groups and a Russian group). USA cultivars were located in group 3 with some Iranian genotypes. Seperation of Iranian and Russian germplasms was indicated the different genetic background of these genotypes. Principle Coordinate Analysis also confirmed observed pattern of genetic diversity.

Apple (Malus domestica Borkh) is one of the most valuable agricultural products in the Rosaceae family because of its high nutritional and economic value. Powdery mildew of apple which is caused by Podosphaera leucotricha, is one of the primary fungal diseases with an extensively negative impact on the quality and quantity of apple production. In recent years, the use of resistant cultivars for controlling powdery mildew of apple has been considered. For this purpose, the candidate resistance genes Pl1, Pld, Plbj, and RGA (Resistance Gene Analogs) were detected in 47 genotypes of wild apples collected from West Azerbaijan, Golestan, Fars, Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari and Isfahan provinces. The presence of NBS-LRR conserved domains and P-loop NTPase motif in NBS-LRR-like protein, which encode by the RGA in N-terminal, were confirmed in wild apple (Malus orientalis) genotypes of Iran. Pl1 resistance gene was detected in all collected samples in this research except one. Pld gene just was observed in three out of the 47 samples, and the Plbj resistance gene was detected in just 13 samples of all wild genotypes collected from cold areas of Azerbaijan and Isfahan provinces,the sequences of this gene was introduced to the Global database. Detection of resistance genes and RGAs can help in developing resistant apple varieties in future.

Allopathic potential of wheat and genotypic variation among cultivars has been observed in several studies. An experiment was conducted using 70 wheat genotypes, in order to recognize and screening wheat cultivars with high allopathic potential against Avena fatua and Hordeum spontaneous. Wheat genotypes sown in pot and after seedling development, they divided to different parts including leaf, stem and root. After drying four concentrations including 0, 25, 50 and 100% of water extract were studied on germination of wild barley and wild oat. For each weed germination percentage, radicle and hypocotyl length were measured. The results showed considerable variation in inhibitory potential of wheat genotypes. Among different plant parts, leaf and stem have higher allopathic effects than root. The highest inhibitory effects on observed in Rasool, Mahdavi, Navid, Karaj1, Adl1, Gaspard, Gascoigne, Arvand, Baiat and Azadi respectively against the both weeds. The results indicated that some wheat genotypes had more allopathic potential that can be used in weed management programs. There is also, a selective inhibitory in wheat allopathic properties.

In this experient, RAPD markers were used to evaluate the genetic relationships among 36 Iranian, European, American and Russian almond cultivars and three wild Amygdalus species. Sixty 10-mer primers were used which totally created polymorphism 47 primers, which produced reproducable banding patterns, were used for further analysis. A total of 918 polymorphic RAPD bands were selected omong of 968 bands. Regarding the dendrogram and similarity matrix, it was concluded that the genetic similarity value among studied cultivrs and genotypes was low and the genetic variation among them was relatively high. Similarity index among the studied cultivars varied between 0.29 and 0.89 with mean of 0.53. The maximum and minimum similarity observed between Monagha and Sefid (0.89), and A. scoparia with Sangi28 geneotype (0.29), respectively. Cluster analysis was computed based on Jaccard similarity coefficient using UPGMA method and the resulting clusters were represented as dendrogram extracted from the showed dendrogram, 47 polymorphic primers discriminated among all the cultivars and species. The resulting dendrogram divided the cultivars and species into two clusters (at 0.50 similarity values) with American Thompson cultivar, two Sangi genotype and two Amygdalus species as the most distant from the group. Cluster analysis of similarity data grouped the cultivars according to their geographic origin and or their pedigree information. Iranian, European and American cultivars were clustered into three separate groups.

Peel and pulp of grape (Vitis vinifera L.) berries contain a wide range of bioactive compounds that may be responsible for their biological activities. Phenolic compounds, antioxidant capacity and antioxidant enzymes of wild grape accessions from the West Azerbaijan province were investigated in different fractions of berries, i.e., peel and pulp fractions. The total phenol (TP) content ranged from 139.29-843.10 and 151.67-416.91 mg Gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per 100 g in the peel and pulp, respectively. The highest level of antioxidant capacity and antioxidant enzymes activities (Catalase (CAT) and Superoxide dismutase (SOD)) in all the native accessions was observed in peel fraction. Also, principal component analysis (PCA) demonstrated that genotypic effect is more pronounced toward peel antioxidant activity based on 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhy (DPPH) assay and pulp total anthocyanin (TA) of grape berries. The present study displays the potential of native grapeaccessions studied for improvement of nutritional value through germplasm enhancement programs.

Peel and pulp of grape (Vitis vinifera L.) berries contain a wide range of bioactive compounds that may be responsible for their biological activities. Phenolic compounds, antioxidant capacity and antioxidant enzymes of wild grape accessions from the West Azerbaijan province were investigated in different fractions of berries, i.e., peel and pulp fractions. The total phenol (TP) content ranged from 139.29-843.10 and 151.67-416.91 mg Gallic acid equivalent (GAE) per 100 g in the peel and pulp, respectively. The highest level of antioxidant capacity and antioxidant enzymes activities (Catalase (CAT)and Superoxide dismutase (SOD)) in all the native accessions was observed in peel fraction. Also, principal component analysis (PCA) demonstrated that genotypic effect is more pronounced toward peel antioxidant activity based on 2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhy (DPPH) assay and pulp total anthocyanin (TA) of grape berries. The present study displays the potential of native grape accessions studied for improvement of nutritional value through germplasm enhancement programs.

The evaluation of wild grapes for breeding programs and introducing cultivars for special climatic conditions is very important. The aim of this study was to better understand the characteristics of wild grape genotypes in order to use in breeding programs. Twenty genotypes were collected in Sardasht and Piranshhar regions of the West Azerbaijan province and various attributes such as bunch, bunchlet, berry, seed and total antioxidant were measured. There is high variation in some traits, including length and width of bunch, bunch weight, length of peduncle and number of bunchlet. The flesh, peel and seed antioxidant capacity of the studied genotypes ranged from 15. 53 to 71. 53, 7. 36 to 84. 96 and 8. 71 to 64 %, respectively. The bunch traits, including length and width of bunch significantly correlated with fruit traits such as length and width of berry, weight and size of the fruit. The eleven main factors were explained approximately 79. 97% of the total variance. According to cluster analysis, genotypes were divided into three main groups. Genotypes in the first group had the highest flesh weight, skin thickness, TA, pH of juice, Hue and chroma values. The berry length and width, length of peduncle, number of seed, L* and a* had a significant role in separation of the second group. Genotypes in third group had a higher average number of bunchlet and length of bunchlet. The results obtained might be useful for breeding programs and introducing of new grape varieties.