The improvement of vegetation due to full or partial protection was depicted by most of rangeland scientists. This study investigated the effect of livestock grazing on percentage of germination (PG), mean growth time (MG) and germination rate (GR) of the even-aged Atriplex canescens, by comparing two sites across zarand, shahreiar rangelands located in the southwest of Tehran, Iran. For this purpose, the seeds of 30 A. canescens within each of the two study sites were collected and a quantitative analysis of the seeds was carried out by laboratory analysis. The results indicated that, grazing had no significant influence on PG, MGT and GR.

Kochia (Kochia scoparia L. Schard) is an annual, halophyte and drought resistant plant that can be irrigated with saline water and a valuable source for forage under drought and saline ecosystem. In order to evaluate the germination characteristic of kochia under different temperatures and salinity stress levels, an experiment was conducted at Physiology Lab of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran during year of 2009. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replications. Treatments included nine levels of salinity (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 dS.m-1) using NaCl and eight temperature levels (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 400C). Analysis of variance showed that the different levels of temperature and salinity stress had significant effects (p£ 0.05) on percentage of germination, mean germination time, germination index, dry weight and length of seedling and interaction between temperature and salinity stress had the same effect. The highest percentage of germination was in 250C and in control levels that didn’t show any significant effect with 5 and 10 dS.m-1. The shortest mean germination time observed at 250C (20.1, 21.1 and 11.1 days in three primary treatments) and the highest one observed in 35 dS.m-1 at 100C. The highest germination index (20.37) occurred at 250C and in control level. Also, by increasing in salinity level, dry weight and length of seedling decreased. Anyway, based on the results of the present study, kochia is able to germinate in different salinity levels and has a high ability to recover itself.

Introduction: In obstetric triage, women who referred with obstetric complaints and those with acute or emergency situation are first evaluated. Waiting time is one of the important factors that should be considered in the management and organization of the healthcare section. So far, the exact waiting time for emergency care and obstetric triage in Iran has not been estimated. Therefore, this study was performed with aim to determine mean waiting time for obstetrics triage in Tehran. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed in 2018 on 9238 patients referred to obstetric triage of educational and medical hospitals in Tehran. Triage was actively performed using 5-level obstetric triage form (level 1: require immediate intervention, level 2: high risk requiring, levels 3: aassessment at the earliest opportunity, level 4: no acute problem, level 5: requires only one visit or consultation), In this research, a checklist containing personal, obstetrics, and also recording the time of triage and obstetric triage form was used. Data were analyzed by SPSS software (version 20) and descriptive statistical tests and ANOVA. P<0. 05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Mean total waiting time in morning, evening and night shifts were 22. 35 ± 3. 60, 18. 12 ± 3. 67 and 19. 15 ± 3. 67 min, respectively. ANOVA test showed no significant difference between mean waiting time based on working shifts per day (p = 0. 122) and month (p = 0. 473). Mean waiting time in level 2, 3, 4 and 5 of obstetric triage were 2. 73± 0. 40, 5. 3± 1. 13, 5. 76± 1. 69, 5. 96± 1. 20 min, respectively. Conclusion: Mean total waiting time for obstetric triage clients is somehow higher than the recommended rate. It is recommended to modify the process of service delivery to the clients of obstetrics triage in order to reduce the waiting time and achieve to the standard.

In this study seeds of two important rangeland species were treated with 3, 6, 15, 20, 30, 50, 100 and 150 Gy of gamma ray and its effect on germination traits was investigated in range management laboratory of Natural Resources Faculty of Tarbiat Modares University. This investigation was performed in Bahman (January, 2011), and irradiated seeds were sown in Petri in a completely randomized experimental design for each species with 3 replications of 50 seeds dishes, and then germination traits were evaluated. The results showed that gamma ray had no significant effect on germination traits of B.tomentellus. About the seeds of A.elongatum, the dose of 6 Gy had the most positive effect on the parameter of germination speed that had significant difference with non- irradiated seeds (p<0.05), and this parameter increased from 5.77 to 7.89 (seeds/day). Also, the vigority index of this grass was higher in 30Gy treatment and increased from 89.83 in non-irradiated seeds to 118.11 in treated seeds. Likewise, the wet weight of seedling’s root and shoot was higher in these treat too; however, the highest number of seedling’s root dry weight was related to 20 gray treat, and there was no significant difference in seedling’s shoot wet weight. In general, 100 and 150 Gy of gamma ray had negative effect on germination traits This results show that the effect of gamma ray varies on seeds of the two investigated species.

Kochia (Kochia scoparia) is an annual halophyte and drought resistant plant that can be irrigated with saline water and has the capability of being used as a valuable source of forage in ecosystems under drought and salinity stress. In order to evaluate germination characteristic of Kochia scopariaunder different temperatures and water potentials, an experiment was conducted in 2009 at Physiology Lab of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 4 replications. Treatments included 9 levels of water potential (-0.25, -0.5, -0.75.-1, -1.25, -1.5, -1.75 and -2 MP) and also the treatment not exposed to drought (control) and 8 temperature levels (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40oC). The results of variance analysis showed that different levels of temperature and water potential had a significant effect (P<0.01) on germination percentage, germination rate, mean germination time and germination index. Interaction effect between temperature and water potential on the mentioned parameters was also significant. The highest percentage of germination occurred at 20-25oC and 4 primary levels of water potential with no significant differences between each other. Also, the highest germination rate occurred at 25oC and in control treatment. With decrease of water potential, germination rate also decreased in all temperature treatments. In addition, decrease in water potential caused an increase in mean germination time. The lowest mean germination time was observed at 25oC equivalent to 1.07 day. The highest germination index occurred at 25oC and in control treatment. However, seeds of Kochia are able to germinate in a wide range of temperature and water potential.

In order to study the effects of water stress on germination characteristics and seedling growth of two medicinal plants, two experiments were conducted at physiology laboratory of Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad as a completely randomized design with four replications. There were two types of medicinal plants; hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) and marguerite (Chrysanthemum_superbum). Experimental treatments included five levels of water stress (0, -2, -4, -6 and -8 bar). Results showed that the effects of different levels of water stress were significant on all of the studied indices of the two plants. Germination percentages decreased and mean germination time increased by increasing water stress levels. Germination percentage was minimum (0%) in drought level of -6 bar, in the two studied plants. Root length of Hyssop increased and Marguerite decreased by increasing water stress levels, respectively. Plumule length had a decreasing trend in the two studied plants, but the amount of this decrease was less in hyssop. Moreover, the root to plumule length ratio increased in hyssop and marguerite by increasing drought stress levels. Also, root dry weight increased, plumule dry weight decreased and root to plumule dry weight ratio increased by increasing drought stress severity in the two studied medicinal plants. Totally, the results of this experiment showed that germination and seedling growth indices were superior in hyssop in water stress conditions.

Extended seed longevity in the dry state is the basis for the ex-situ conservation of orthodox seeds (desiccation-tolerant seeds). However, even under identical storage conditions, there is wide variation in seed longevity between species. The results of the artificial aging test provide seed bank managers a tool to assess the potential longevity of seed sets of these species under seed bank conditions, to enable the selection of appropriate viability retest intervals and, as a result, better management of conservation accessions. In the present work, seeds of nine wild species of Nepata spp. were aged at elevated temperature and relative humidity (45°C and 60% RH) for 120 days. Seeds were removed at various times (1, 2, 5, 9, 20, 30, 50, 75, 100 and 125 days) and their viability was determined through standard germination tests. The time taken in storage for viability to fall to 50% (p50) was determined using Probit analysis and used as a measure of relative seed longevity between species. Among Nepeta species, p50 at 45°C and 60% RH varied from 4.38 d to 16 d. Results indicated that based on the artificial aging longevity, in the gene banks the germination test intervals of species N. pogonosperma, N. haussknechtii, N. glomerulosa, N. cataria, N. depauperata can be ten years. But the germination test intervals of N. menthoides, N. nuda, N. schirazana and N. oxydonata should be five years, and even re-collecting their seeds can be a more appropriate strategy to protect them in ex-situ conditions.

This research was carried out to estimate the cardinal temperatures of Ambrosia psilostachya seed germination and evaluation of some nonlinear regression models. The experiment was performed at Tehran University Weed laboratory in 2022. In this experiment, the seeds were exposed to 8 temperature treatments (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40ºC) with 3 replications in a completely randomized design. The germination rate, seed germination percentage and mean germination time of seeds were measured. Cardinal temperatures of seed germination were estimated using four regression models including segmented, dent-like and beta (four and five parameters) models. The performance of models and statistical indices was compared by RMSE (root mean squared of error), R2 (coefficient of determination) and AICc (corrected Akaike Information Criterion). Highest germination percentage was obtained at 15, 20 and 25°C (60.3%, 63.7% and 63%, respectively). The Highest germination rate (0.13d-1) and the lowest mean germination time (7.48d) were obtained at 25°C. Due to lower AICc and RMSE, the beta model (five parameters) was the best model for predicting the response of germination percentage to temperature in A psilostachya. Generally, base, optimal and ceiling temperatures were estimated 5, 25.5 and 42.13°C respectively by beta five-parameter model.