JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

---

In order to investigate the androgenic response of chickpea cultivars, two Iranian Chickpea cultivars, Pirooz and Karaj 12-60-31, were used in this study. After 7 to 10 days of cold pretreatment of flower buds, anther containing uninucleate stage of microspores were placed aseptically on MS medium supplemented with various combinations of growth regulators of 2,4-D (1,2 and 3 mg/l) and kinetin (0.1, 0.2 and 0.5 mg/l). Callus regeneration achieved using MS and modified Blayd’s media with various hormones and different sucrose concentrations. The results indicated that the callus initiation was significantly affected by 2,4-D and kinetin concentrations, and that increasing these hormones reduced callus induction. The best response obtained on media with the lowest concentration levels of 2,4-D and kinetin (1 and 0.2 mg/l, respectively). A highly significant genotypic effect and a genotype  2,4-D interaction were detected, which proved that Pirooz response was the best. Callus differentiation and organogensis occurred in MS medium supplmented with NAA, BA and 3% sucrose. Mature embryos also obtained in modified Blayd’s plus 0.5 mg/l kinetin and 10% sucrose. Cytological studies revealed the presence of haploid cells with chromosome variation in the anther derived callus. Therefore, optimizing the hormone levels of different basal media with a particular sucrose cocentration may improve haploid regeneration in chickpea. It seems a further study should be carried out to characterize calli from induction to regeneration and to determine the effect of cold pretreatment, the results of which could be used to improve anther culture response of chickpea.

---

The poor information available on variation of Ascochyta blight fungus is the most important factor limiting chickpea breeding programs for resistance to blight disease. In this study, efforts were made to detect genetic variation of the pathogen in Iran. The RAPD marker was employed to evaluate 26 isolates collected from 16 provinces. Twelve random primers were used to analyze genomic DNA of the isolates. Only ten primers showed polymorphism among isolates. Primer OPK-01 defined the highest number of polymorphism and primer OPK-09 confirmed relatively low degree of polymorphism. On the basis of this molecular marker, the estimated genetic diversity index was 98% and the pair-wise genetic distance of the isolates varied from 0.16 to 0.61. The least genetic distance belonged to isolates 20 and 22 from Qazvin and Golestan while the highest distance belonged to isolates 26 and 12 from Mazandaran and Markazi. The phylogenic tree was constructed by cluster analysis and all the isolates grouped to 22 genetic clusters at the 90% similarity level. The genetic groups were named from A to V and their distribution in Iran was determined. The results revealed that genetic variation among Iranian population of the pathogen is very high, and further that RAPD is a vigorous tool for genomic analysis of Ascochyta rabiei.

---

This study was conducted to determine the problems of marketing channels of damask roses and to seek appropriate solutions to enhance marketing efficiency. The results of the study revealed that traditional and industrial rose production lacked the quality demanded by the market. The efficiency index was % 92.9 in traditional and %55 in industrial production. In addition, with regard to the marketing parameters for each type of production, the share of the factors was calculated. So we can conclude that the reducing units have the most important roles in this process. According to the study, traditional units with %47.2 had a greater share compared with the industrial units (%44.5). The results have also shown that production retailer wholesalers and middlemen shares were in the lower ranks respectively. Marketing cost coefficient results showed that %70 of the retailer selling price for 1 kg of the product was related to the marketing costs. The costs for industrial units with high and low capacity were %67.7 and %65.4, respectively.

---

The present experiment was aimed to evaluate the freezing tolerance of two cold tolerant (MCC426 and MCC252) and a cold susceptible (MCC505) chickpea genotypes. The study was carried out in a split-plot factorial design with three replications. Factorial arrangement of genotype and acclimation (acclimation and non acclimation) were imposed as main plot and temperatures (0, -4, -8, -12, 16, -20ºC) as subplot. The effect of freezing temperature (FT) on plant survival was significantly different among genotypes (p<0.05). According to the average effects of acclimation and FT, the plant survival in MCC426 and MCC252 was 40% and 31% respectively more than in MCC505. Lethal temperature for 50% response (LT50) and temperature resulting in 50% lower dry matter (DMT50) in MCC426 were –10.8ºC and –8.4ºC, respectively and were lower than the other genotypes. Acclimation increased the freezing tolerance such that MCC426 tolerated up to –12ºC without any mortality, however, at this temperature, plant mortality rates in MCC252 and MCC505 were 25.7% and 67.7%, respectively. Plant regrowth was affected by the intensity of FT, such that plant dry weight (PDW) and stem height (SH) in –12ºC decreased about 63% and 50%, respectively, compared with non - frozen control plants. The most freezing damage was observed in MCC505, -12ºC treatment caused 90% decreases in PDW and SH, but at this temperature, PDW and SH in MCC425 decreased 55% and 49% and in MCC252, the reduction was about 60%and 54%, respectively. It seems that the use of controlled experiments would contribute to the evaluation of freezing tolerance and screening programs in chickpea germplasm for the estimation of LT50 and DMT50 .