Compositional studies comparing transgenic with non-transgenic counterpart plants are almost universally required by governmental regulatory bodies. In the present study, two T(2) transgenic cotton lines containing chitinase (Line 11/57) and Bt lines (Line 61) were compared with non-transgenic counterpart. To do this, biochemical characteristics of leaves and seeds, including amino acids, fatty acids, carbohydrates, anions, and cations contents of the studied lines were analyzed using GC/MS, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), and ion chromatography (IC) analyzers, respectively. polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot analyses confirmed the presence and expression of Chi and Bt genes in the studied transgenic lines. Although, compositional analysis of leaves contents confirmed no significant differences between transgenic and non-transgenic counterpart lines, but it was shown that glucose content of chitinase lines, fructose content of transgenic lines (Bt and chitinase) and asparagine and glutamine of chitinase lines were significantly higher than the non-transgenic counterpart plants. Both the transgenic lines (Bt and chitinase) showed significant decrease in the amounts of sodium in comparison to the non-transgenic counterpart plants. The experiments on the seeds showed that histidine, isoleucine, leucine, and phenylalanine contents of all transgenic and non-transgenic lines were the same, whereas other amino acids were significantly increased in the transgenic lines. Surprisingly, it was observed that the concentrations of stearic acid, myristic acid, oleic acid, and linoleic acid in the chitinase line were significantly different than those of non-transgenic counterpart plants, but these components were the same in both Bt line and its non-transgenic counterpart. It seems that more changes observed in the seed contents than leaves is via this point that seeds are known as metabolites storage organs, so they show greater changes in the metabolites contents comparing to the leaves.

Genetic diversity among and within 10 populations of Iranian alfalfa, from different areas of Azarbaijan, Iran was analyzed by screening DNA from seeds of individual plants and bulk samples. In individual study, 10 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers produced 156 polymorphic bands and a high level of genetic diversity was observed within populations. The averages of total and within population genetic diversity were 0.2349 and 0.1892, respectively. Results of analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed the great genetic variation existed within populations (81.37%). These Results were in agreement with allogamous and polyploid nature of alfalfa. Cluster analysis was performed based on Nei's genetic distances resulting in grouping into 3 clusters which could separate breeding population from other populations. Results of cluster analysis were in consistent with morphological and geographical patterns of populations. The results of bulk method were different from individual analysis. Our results showed that RAPD analysis is a suitable method to study genetic diversity and relationships among alfalfa populations.

This study was conducted to estimate broad-sense heritability and variance components for seed yield and some agronomic traits in 100 safflower genotypes. The experiments were carried out in two years at two locations in Iran. The number of seeds per capitol and harvest index had the highest genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) and phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV), respectively. The estimated broad-sense heritability for plant height, days to physiological maturity, 1000-seed weight, days to flowering, number of seeds per capitol, number of capitols per plant and seed yield were 86, 76, 74, 70, 68, 44 and 16%, respectively. It was found that plant height, days to physiological maturity, 1000-seed weight, days to flowering and number of seeds per capitol were the least influenced by the environment. The number of capitols per plant and seed yield were most affected by the environment.

Salicylic-acid and methyl-jasmonate are phytohormonal eilicitors that play important roles in regulating a number of physiological and phytochemical processes. For this purpose, a research was conducted as factorial based on complete randomized block design (CRBD) with three replications at the research field of agricultural faculty of Zanjan university during farming years of 2017～2018 and 2018～2019. The first factor was salicylic-acid (0 (control), 50, 100 and 150 mM) and the second factor was methyl-jasmonate (0 (control), 50, 100 and 200 µM). In the first year of experiment, treatments were sprayed on plants (four plants per plot) in two stages (20 days apart). In the second year they were also sprayed on remaining plants as the first year. Results of ANOVA as factorial-split in time showed that at the level of one percent (p<0.01), the effect of salicylic-acid on catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase enzymes traits and the effect of methyl-jasmonate on antioxidant activity and catalase enzyme traits and the interaction of salicylic-acid and methyl-jasmonate on antioxidant activity, catalase, peroxidase and superoxide dismutase enzymes traits were significant. Also, at the level of five percent (p<0.05), the effects of methyl-jasmonate on superoxide dismutase enzyme trait was significant. The interaction of salicylic-acid and methyl-jasmonate factor was also significant on total protein trait at the level of 10 percent (p<0.1). The highest amount of chlorogenic acid in the first year was in the treatment of 100 mM of salicylic-acid and 50 μM of methyl-jasmonate and the highest amount in the second year was in the treatment of 100 mM of salicylic-acid and 100 μM of methyl-jasmonate. Also, the highest amount of chicoric acid in the both years was in the treatment of 100 mM of salicylic-acid and 100 μM of methyl-jasmonate.

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The effects of four plant growth regulators on Crocus sativus L. (saffron) yield and performance were studied in two consecutive years under field conditions. Saffron corms were immersed in solutions of gibberellic acid (GA3), salicylic acid (SA), paclobutrazol (PBZ), chlormequat chloride (CCC), distilled water (hydroprime), and dry corms as the control. Results showed that among the different treatments, plants primed with GA3 500 μM had the highest flower fresh weight and stigma dry weight. In contrast, primed corms with 1000 μM CCC and 100 μM PBZ had the lowest flower dry weight. Furthermore, the plants primed with SA 1400 had the highest leaf numbers, leaf dry weight, and leaf area index (LAI). Plants treated with GA3 induced narrow but the longest leaves, while those treated with SA showed the widest ones. It was also demonstrated that the application of CCC and PBZ can produce shorter leaves. Furthermore, the greatest numbers of daughter corms were obtained in 1400 μM SA. Both PBZ and CCC were reported to have no impacts on the corm numbers but produced larger and heavier daughter corms. The results revealed that the priming of saffron corms with GA3 and then SA improved saffron growth and yield.

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