JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Kernel hardness is one of the most important characterizations on end-use quality of bread wheat and also used for their marketing classification. Kernel texture, mainly controlled by one major locus (Ha) located on the short arm of chromosome 5D. Two tightly linked genes as puroindolin a , and b covered by this major locus and designed as Pina and Pinb respectively. When both puroindolines are in their ‘functional’ wild state, grain texture is soft. When either of the puroindoline alleles is absent or alter by mutation, then the result is hard texture. In this study, 61 Iranian commercial cultivars and 92 landraces were investigated for their kernel hardness and puroindoline alleles using SKCS and, PCR and cleaved amplified polymorphic sequences (CAPS) techniques respectively. Specific primers were used to amplify Pina and Pinb. The results indicated that frequency of hard, mixed and soft genotypes were 65.6, 19.6 and 14.8% respectively, in commercial cultivars and 58.7, 13 and 28.3% in landraces varieties. Among hard type of commercial cultivars, 18 and 5, genotypes have identified as Pina-D1b and Pinb-D1b respectively. Kavir was only cultivar with Pinb-D1e allele. Pinb-D1b allele was identified in two hard types of landrace varieties. Surprisingly, Pinb-D1c was not found in any varieties. Influence of the above proindoline alleles on kernel hardness showed that the SKCS hardness index of Pina-D1b was significantly higher than that of Pinb-D1b. Our knowledge about the genetic basis of kernel hardness could provide useful information in breeding programs of bread wheat.

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To optimize the use of sulfur in drying of apricot, four following treatments including: sulfiting and drying, sulfiting- blanching and drying, blanching- sulfiting and drying, and finally sulfiting- drying to % 50 of initial moisture- blanching and finish drying were studied. The levels of sulfur addition were from 0 to 1500 ppm, SO2 and drying was carried out at 50 to 74 °C. The quality of dried apricots was judged by extent of browning development and hardness determination. A response surface statistical design was applied to evaluate the quality of slabs and to determine optimum drying conditions. The results showed that sulfite was the major factor in controlling dried apricot quality. At present of sulfur, the role of temperature can be neglected. The amount of used sulfite has no significant effect on drying time of apricots. Blanching reduced drying time of product significantly. By increasing the drying temperature, loss percentage of SO2 was reduced for all treatments. Blanching and then sulfiting, increased loss in residual sulfur of products significantly. Application of sulfiting– drying method, using 900 ppm of SO2 at 50 to 68 °C was found to be the best treatment because of production of slabs whit average hardness and color texture equal to 1.44 N/m2 and 0.07 Od respectively.

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Shahrekord groundwater is the main source of water for drinking, and the agricultural and industrial activities of its inhabitants. Water quality measures of scaling and corrosion can deteriorate steel-based systems used for storage or supplying water for drinking and to industry and irrigation. The main aim of this study was to assess the spatial variability and mapping of scaling and corrosion using Langelier index (LI) and Ryznar index (RI) and that of the related parameters of pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), total hardness (TH), and total alkalinity (TA) in Shahrekord groundwater. For this purpose, water samples from 97 wells were analyzed for pH, TDS, TH, and TA and LI and RI indices were calculated. The Gaussian model best described the spatial variability of TDS while the Spherical model was best for all other parameters. Based on LI and RI averages of, -0.13 and 7.9 respectively, Shahrekord groundwater has a slight potential for corrosion. The values of all parameters, except RI, were lowest in the northwest and highest in the southeast of the aquifer. In most parts and in the center of the aquifer, the values of LI ranged from -0.5 to zero indicating negligible scaling potential. Spatial distribution of the RI index was almost inversely symmetrical to that of LI index. LI showed strong positive correlations with its components (varying from 0.61 to 0.90) while RI had strong negative correlations with its components (ranging from -0.66 to -0.98). LI and RI had the strongest correlations, respectively, with pH (r=0.90) and total alkalinity (r=-0.90).