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Objective. Vaccinium genus plants have medicinal value, of which Vaccinium arctostaphylos (Caucasian whortleberry or Qare-Qat in the local language) is the only available species in Iran. Public tendency to use herbal remedies and natural products such as synthesized nanoparticles is increasing due to the proof of the destructive side effects of chemical drugs. Nanosilver products have been effective against more than 650 microbe types. This study was aimed at assessing the possibility of green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using Vaccinium arctostaphylos aqueous extract and at evaluating its antibacterial properties, as well. Materials and Methods. In order to synthesize silver nanoparticles, different volumes of Vaccinium arctostaphylos aqueous extract (3, 5, 10, 15, and 30 ml) were assessed with different silver nitrate solution concentrations (0.5, 1, 3, 5, and 10 mM) and different reaction time durations (1, 3, 5, 10, and 20 minutes) at room temperature using a rotary shaker with a speed of 150 rpm. Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were carried out. The antibacterial activity of the aqueous extract and the synthesized nanoparticles was evaluated, as well. Results. Silver nanoparticle formation process was confirmed with XRD analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and FTIR spectroscopy. The UV-Vis spectroscopy of silver colloidal nanoparticles showed a surface plasmon resonance peak at 443 nm under optimal conditions (3 ml aqueous extract volume, 1 mM silver nitrate solution concentration, and 3 min reaction time under sunlight exposure). The reduction of silver ions to silver nanoparticles in solution was confirmed, as well. Based on X-ray diffraction analysis, the size of silver nanoparticles was in the range of 7-16 nm. TEM images showed an even distribution of silver nanoparticles, with a spherical shape. FTIR spectroscopy demonstrated the presence of different functional groups of oxygenated compounds such as carboxyl, hydroxyl, and nitrogenous groups. The antibacterial properties of the synthesized nanoparticles were confirmed. Conclusion. The synthesized nanoparticles showed more antibacterial properties against gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) than gram-negative ones (Escherichia coli and Salmonella enteritidis).

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In order to evaluate several agro-morphological traits in 30 bread wheat genotypes, an experiment, based on randomized complete block design with three replications, was carried out under drought-stress and normal irrigation conditions in two locations. The traits, including grain yield, biological yield, harvest index, spike features, and peduncle characters were evaluated. The result of the combined ANOVA revealed that location and genotype effects were significant for all of the traits. Stress had a significant difference for all of the traits, except for spike density and spikelet per spike. The simple correlation results for each condition were significantly different, indicating that the relationships among traits were significantly influenced by drought stress and location. Factor analysis, based on principal component analysis and varimax rotation in the Shahed field under irrigation regimes showed that four significant factors accounted for about 78.2% and 77.7% of the total variation among characters for normal irrigation and drought stress conditions, respectively. The cumulative variation at the NIGEB field was 62.7% for four factors under normal irrigation, and 84.8% for five factors under drought stress conditions. With respect to the achieved results, characters such as plant height, peduncle length, spike density, 1000-grain weight, harvest index, and biological yield had the highest communality and, consequently, provide a high relative contribution to wheat grain yield, and can be used as selective criteria in bread wheat breeding programs.

Lilium is a perennial bulbous plant belonging to the liriotypes genus. Our aim was to study the phylogenetic relationships of the Lilium family. Two varieties of Lilium ledebourii, 44 varieties of the gene bank, and one variety from the Tulipa family served as the out group. In order to study the diversity between lilium masses, ITS regions were used to design the marker. The results showed that the guanine base is the most abundant nucleotide. Relatively high conservation was observed in the ITS regions of the populations (0.653). Phylogenetic analysis showed that sargentiae and hybrid varieties are older than other varieties of the Lilium family. Also, the location of L. ledebourii varieties (Damash and Namin) was identified in a phylogenetic tree by using the ITS marker. Overall, our research showed that ITS molecular markers are very suitable for phylogenetic studies in the Lilium family. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Introduction: Moringa peregrina (Forssk.) Fiori, is a nutritionally and medicinally important desert tree, which is constantly exposed to drought stress. This study was accomplished to alleviate the adverse effects of drought stress on M. peregrina populations through the foliar application of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) by monitoring some physiological and biochemical alterations. Methods: Moringa peregrina seeds were collected from the Southeast of Iran in 2014. Fourteen days after germination, the seedlings were subjected to drought stress by withholding watering until 50% field capacity (FC), followed by spraying 0.1% and 0.05% ZnO-NPs and no spraying (as control). Results: The changes of sodium (Na), potassium (K), chlorophylls, total phenolic content (TPC) as well as antioxidant activity under drought stress condition varied based on M. peregrina populations. Drought stress significantly reduced chlorophylls content, while it enhanced TPC and antioxidant activity. ZnO-NPs treatment significantly inhibited chlorophylls degradation under drought stress conditions. It also enhanced chlorophyll content in well-watered plants. Moreover, it was revealed that TPC and antioxidant activity of M. peregrina populations significantly increased in response to foliar application of ZnO-NPs in both drought-stressed and unstressed plants. Conclusion: Our results suggested that ZnO-NPs spray can augment drought tolerance of different populations of M. peregrina subjected to water deficit condition.

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