The white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, is the most commonly grown mushroom in Iran; however, there is a significant shortage of research on its antioxidant activity and other medicinal properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate antioxidant capacity of the methanolic extracts from four cultivated strains and four Internal Transcribed Spacer (ITS)-identified, Iranian wild isolates of A. bisporus. Evaluations were made for total phenols, flavonoids and anthocyanins, and 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging activity. Overall, results showed that all the wild isolates exhibited significantly lower DPPH-derived EC50, compared to the cultivated strains (p < 0.05). A relatively high relationship was observed between total phenols and flavonoids or anthocyanins (r2 > 0.60). However, these constituents could not statistically differentiate the group of wild samples from the cultivated ones, and there was low correlation with the DPPH-derived EC50s (r2 < 0.40). In conclusion, comparisons showed that wild isolate 4 and cultivated strains A15 and H1 had higher antioxidant capacity than the others (p < 0.05). This result identifies these mushrooms as good candidates for further investigation.

Pistacia lentiscus L., belonging to Anacardiaceae family, is a typical species of the Mediterranean maquis and it is widely grown in Greece and Italy mainly for its aromatic resin extraction or as ornamental plant and also as Pistacia vera L. rootstock. Its propagation is difficult either by seed or by cuttings. The current study was carried out to optimize the micro propagation of Pistacia lentiscus L. starting from seedlings and woody explants. For the surface sterilization two different protocols were evaluated for woody explant and 6 treatments with combinations of different sterilizing agent types and concentrations were used for mature seeds. For woody explants, no significant differences could be evidenced on contamination percentage and plant survival but the initial growth in vitro of the explant was better in case of the first treatment (1.5% NaOCl for 30 min and 70% Ethanol for 1 min) than opposite combination. The highest seed contamination percentage occurred in case of treatment with 1% NaOCl for 30 min. The treatment with Ethanol (70%) for 30 second followed by three times washing with distilled water then use of NaOCl (1%) for 30 min permitted to obtain 100% of sterility. The highest seed germination (100% after 3 days) was obtained in seeds treated with Ethanol (70%) for 30 second then NaOCl (1%) for 30 min. In order to study the proliferation two different procedures were compared in liquid and agar-based media. Our results proved that proliferation rate increased 6.5 % by forced ventilation system. Longer shoots (10.5 cm) were obtained in temporary immersion system using RITA boxes. This culture system induced also the highest shoot weight which is the increasing of the 29.56% respect common vessels and agar-based medium

As a basic principle, ex-vitro rhizogenesis increases the micropropagation efficiency of Micro propagation in any plant from both biological and economic viewpoints. In the current study, we surveyed the effects of number of air exchanges along with sucrose concentration on in-vitro rooting of two pistachio rootstocks consisting of UCB1 and Qazvini versus ex-vitro rooting. Based on our findings for the UCB1 rootstock, microshoot ex-vitro rooting reached the highest percentage (63.70 %) after six weeks' treatment with indole butyric acid (IBA) (5000 ppm) and free naphthalene acetic acid (NAA), while for Qazvini rootstock treated with NAA (6000 ppm) along with IBA (5000 ppm), rooting achieved 35.06%. Photomixotrophic resulted from decreasing sucrose concentration from 30 to 15 (g L-1) in corporation with ventilation condition increased UCB1 rooting (67.89%) as well as plant survival (58.34%). For Qazvini rootstock, maximum sucrose concentration (30 g L-1) improved rooting parameters. For in-vitro rooting experiment, rooting percentage of UCB1 plantlets as well as the main and lateral produced roots were higher in media supplemented with (1 mg l-1) IBA, free NAA, and BA. Regarding Qazvini rootstock, the highest in-vitro rooting percentage (43.75%) and root length were associated with the media supplemented with BA (0.5 mg l-1), IBA (2 mg l-1), and NAA (2 mg l-1). As a result, for both the studied rootstocks, better rooting parameters were observed in the ex-vitro rooted microshoots than in-vitro rooted.

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