Southern Khorasan Research Articles

Occurrence of Powdery Mildew Caused by Leveillula taurica on Onion (Allium cepa) in Iran.

During September of 2009, leaves of a local cultivar (yellow bulb) of onion (Allium cepa L.) in the late vegetative growth stage were heavily infected with powdery mildew in the Birjand Region (Giuq Sofla), southern Khorasan, Iran. Disease symptoms included circular to oblong, chlorotic to necrotic lesions that were 1 to 2 cm in diameter as well as white and effuse colonies on young and mature leaves. On the basis of microscopic examination, the whitish powdery colonies consisted of conidiophores and conidia. Conidiophores emerged from stomata, singly or branched in groups of two to three, and formed dimorphic conidia. The primary conidia were lanceolate with a narrowed apex (17.5 to 20 × 55.4 to 67.5 μm) and the secondary conidia were cylindrical to ellipsoid (17.5 to 22.5 × 55 to 70 μm). The teleomorph of the fungus was not observed. Leveillula taurica (Lév.) G. Arnaud (anamorph Oidiopsis sicula Scalia) was subsequently identified by the presence of endophytic mycelia emerging through stomata, branched conidiophores, and hyaline, single-celled, dimorphic conidia borne singly (1,3). To confirm pathogenicity, conidia from diseased onion leaves were brushed onto leaves of 35- to 40-day-old onion plants in triplicate. The inoculated plants were subsequently covered with plastic bags for 3 days to maintain high humidity. After 12 to 14 days, symptoms of powdery mildew appeared on the leaves of inoculated plants. No symptoms developed on the noninoculated plants. Powdery mildew caused by L. taurica on onion has previously been reported from the United States, Brazil, Israel, and Sudan (4). Although this pathogen has previously been reported on Allium spp. by Khodaparast et al. (2) in Iran, to our knowledge, this is the first record of powdery mildew of onion (A. cepa L.) from Iran. The disease outbreak has recently been noted on onion in Aryan Shahr, 70 km north of Giuq Sofla where the pathogen was originally identified. Voucher specimens have been deposited at the Fungal Collection of the Ministry of Agriculture, Tehran, Iran.

EFFECT OF PLANTING METHODS AND CORM DENSITY IN SAFFRON (CROCUS SATIVUS L.) YIELD

A factorial experiment with randomized complete block design, was used to investigate the effect of planting methods and different mass density on yield of saffron. The experiment was carried out in a farm located in Homondabesard-Damavand in Tehran province from July 2000 till July 2004. The corms of saffron were brought from Birjand, one of the main saffron producing areas in southern Khorasan. Two planting methods were used: mass (group) planting (A1) and row planting (A2) with three corm densities. The results showed that in the first two years of the experiment, the mass planting had higher yield than row the planting method. However, in last two years the results changed so that the row planting method (A2) had a significantly higher yield than the mass planting. It is worth mentioning that from the second year and after, treatments with 10 and 15 corms in the row, has become more close to group farming and in the 4 th year row planting with 15 and 10 corms had the highest yield. The answer to doubt whether saffron plants are suitable for the area around Damavand or not is that saffron yield in Damavand has been exactly twice as much as the national yield.

FACTORS AFFECTING ENHANCEMENT OF SAFFRON (CROCUS SATIVUS L.) EXPORTS

Saffron is one of the most important exporting products of Iran, especially Khorasan e Razavi and Southern Khorasan. In order to increase its export, post-harvest activities such as packaging standardization, pricing and advertisement with respect to identification of target markets, must be paid attention to. The effect of these factors on saffron exports, recognition of recent problems and presentation of effective recommendations, can be achieved via statistical analyses. Such an approach was applied with data obtained from distributed questionnaires, conversations with experts and all saffron exporters in Masshad. Results show that four factors were considered as the most important among the 1) Quality of packaging for exports, sanitary principles in time of packaging and paying attention to the attractiveness of packages for exports; 2) Harvest celebration for saffron, participation in international exhibitions, presentation of saffron samples, giving information in the field of diverse applications and uses of saffron, and finally advertisement, and identification of the target market; 3) Agreement of standards with importer countries; 4) Recognition of customer behavior in the world market and study of their problems relative to price change, investment in saffron for enhancement of exports. Other suggestions and recommendations are also presented. The establishement of a research institute only for saffron in order to conduct research on different aspects from production to processing, marketing, exports, pricing, training, etc is highly recommended.

ANALYSIS OF AGRONOMIC EFFECTIVE FACTORS ON YIELD OF SAFFRON-BASED AGRO-ECOSYSTEMS IN SOUTHERN KHORASSAN

In order to study factors affecting saffron production, a study was conducted in 2007 and 2008 in Southern Khorasan, Iran. The four locations, including Birjand, Khosf, Gazik and Mahmoei were selected as the main saffron producing areas in this region. Data of agronomic managements were collected from 100 saffron farms, aged between 1 and 5 years. Results showed that age of saffron farms, corm size, irrigation interval, and summer irrigation had positive linear relations with yield. With increasing age of farms, saffron yield was increased with a slope of 1.6 kg year -1 , reaching from 2.9 in the first year to 7.3 kg ha -1 at the fifth year. The longest irrigation intervals (24 days) were most frequently observed for Birjand and Khosf, whereas at Mahmoei and Gazik the shortest intervals (12 days) were prevalent which was contributed at their higher yields. The highest actual yield was observed for Mahmoei (5.2 kg ha -1 between all farms with different ages), which is an indicator of better farm management, such as applying more efficient irrigation and manuring practices in comparison with other areas. A mean yield of 4-6 kg ha -1 was most frequent between all farms; however some elite farmers reached yields above 7 kg ha -1 .

THE EVALUATION OF PLANT EFFECTIVE INDICES ON GROWTH AND PRODUCTION OF SAFFRON AGROECOSYSTEM IN SOUTHERN KHORASAN, IRAN

From the ancient times, the red scarlet stigmas of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) have been valued for flowering and coloring foods, and saffron also has a long history in Iranian agriculture. In order to evaluate the relation between production of saffron and planting date, first irrigation, first flowering time and length of flowering period, an on-farm study was conducted in 2007 and 2008. Four selected locations for this study were Birjand, Khosf, Gazik and Mahmoei, which are the main saffron production centers in southern Khorasan, Iran. All the needed information was calculated based on actual data, collected from 80 saffron farms, aged between 1 and 5 years. The most frequent planting date was observed from 25 th of July to 21 st of September. This was from 23 rd of October to 1 st November for the first irrigation applied and for most farms flowering started from 19 to 21 days after first irrigation. The highest frequency of planting dates in Gazik and Mahmoei was from 6 th to 21 st of September, while most of farms were planted in Birjand and Khosf in October, according to gradient of temperature, and more than 60% of saffron farms were planted with hill method. The length of the flowering period in farms with 5 years was more than others, and this factor showed a positive linear relation with yield. Normal distribution function for flowering period indicated that this factor varied between 9.5 to 26 days. The longest flowering period was observed for Gazik. Highest actual yield was for Mahmoei which is an indication of better farm management in comparison with the other areas.

SAFFRON YIELD POTENTIAL ZONING AS THE RESULT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND AGRONOMIC EFFECTIVE FACTORS AND PLANT EFFECTIVE INDICES USING GIS IN SOUTHERN KHORASSAN

ISHS III International Symposium on Saffron: Forthcoming Challenges in Cultivation, Research and Economics SAFFRON YIELD POTENTIAL ZONING AS THE RESULT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND AGRONOMIC EFFECTIVE FACTORS AND PLANT EFFECTIVE INDICES USING GIS IN SOUTHERN KHORASSAN

STUDY OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC EFFECTS OF TEN YEARS RESEARCH ON SAFFRON (CROCUS SATIVUS L.)

Saffron is one of the most important crops produced in central and southern Khorasan. This product plays an important role in the income and occupation of people and is an export crop, on the other hand. So, it affects the socio-economic situation of these areas. The Department of Agriculture and Food Technology in the Khorasan Research Institute for Food Science and Technology has been researching on different aspects of saffron since 1987 that involves more than 25 projects including its agronomy and post-harvest. In this study the rate of findings transfers to the saffron production section and also its effects on quantitative and qualitative aspects and farmer income were evaluated. Necessary data were collected from saffron farmers, experts, technicians and agricultural extension engineers in the form of a questionnaire. The present situation was evaluated by analysis of socio-economic characteristics of local people and application of investment criteria and regression analysis. Results show that investment on research projects of saffron is very economical, because it causes yield increase and more income for farmers. So, in order to improve the situation, investment on saffron research projects is recommended to strengthen qualitative and quantitative extension for transfer of new findings to the saffron farmers.

CCA application for vegetation-environment relationships evaluation in arid environments (southern Khorasan rangelands).

This paper presents a quantitative account of vegetation–environmental factor relationships in arid rangelands. Vegetation cover was recorded using Braun-Blanquet combined abundance-cover scale in each quadrat. Within each quadrat, one profile was dug and soil samples being taken at 0-20cm and 20-100cm depths. Under study physicalchemical characteristics included texture, lime, organic matter, soil moisture content, saturation moisture, EC and pH. Five vegetation groups were identified after the application of Two Way Indicator Species Analysis (TWINSPAN) and Detrended Correspondence Analysis (DCA) methods including: A: Salsola richteri-Aelorupes littoralis; B: Zygophyllum eurypterum-Haloxylon ammodendron; C: Artemisia sieberi-Zygophyllum eurypterum; D: Ammodendron persicum-Stipagrostis pennata; E: Artemisia aucheri-Amygdalus scoparia. Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) was used in a direct gradient analysis of the vegetation with the environmental variables. The results of CCA showed that first axis represented a landscape and edaphic gradient; it was positively correlated to soil texture and soil saturation moisture; it was negatively correlated with elevation and slope. The second axis represented mainly a soil moisture-salinity gradient; it was positively correlated with EC and soil moisture content. The results showed that those environmental factors that affect water availability were the most effective environmental factors in the distribution of vegetation groups in arid rangelands.

Interrelation of Inorganic Phosphorus Fractions and Sorghum‐Available Phosphorus in Calcareous Soils of Southern Khorasan

The objectives of this research were to determine inorganic phosphorus (P) fractions in calcareous soils of southern Khorasan and find their relationship with sorghum‐available P. Eighty soil samples were obtained and analyzed for some physical and chemical characteristics, among them 24 samples that varied in plant‐available P and soil properties were used for soil testing. From 24, 8 samples were selected for P fractionation as well. Five extraction procedures were used for soil testing. Results indicate that the extracted plant‐available P by the Olsen et al. (1954) and Paauw (1971) methods show the greatest correlation coefficients with plant P uptake and sorghum dry matter. The sequential inorganic P extraction analyzing indicated that the abundance of various inorganic fractions was in the order Ca10‐P > Al‐P > Ca8‐P > Ca2‐P > Oc‐P > Fe‐P. The results also indicate Olsen P correlates positively and significantly with Ca2‐P and Fe‐P fractions and positively but not significantly with the Al‐P fraction.

Application Molecular Methods on Escherichia coli and Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale Infectious in Commercial Flocks of Southern Khorasan Province in Iran

Application Molecular Methods on Escherichia coli and Ornithobacterium rhinotracheale Infectious in Commercial Flocks of Southern Khorasan Province in Iran

Gully Erosion Monitoring on Shakhen Drainage Basin, Southern Khorasan Province, Iran

Gully Erosion Monitoring on Shakhen Drainage Basin, Southern Khorasan Province, Iran

Khorasan stroke registry: analysis of 1392 stroke patients.

The hospital-based stroke registry is useful for understanding diverse clinical characteristics of stroke related to geographical, racial, or environmental differences. The Khorasan Stroke Registry was established for evaluation of incidence, clinical manifestations, risk factors, topography, and etiology of ischemic stroke in Southern Khorasan, Iran, during 2001 - 2005. Consecutive stroke patients underwent a standard battery of diagnostic investigations by a stroke neurologist. Topography and etiology of brain infarction was determined based on the Practical Iranian Criteria classification. The incidence of ischemic stroke in Khorasan population is 43.17 cases per 100,000 people per year. During a 5-year period 1,392 ischemic stroke patients (738 females, 654 males) were evaluated in the Khorasan Stroke Registry. Atherosclerosis constituted 53.6% of etiologies followed by uncertain causes (19.9%), cardioembolism (11.8%), and miscellaneous etiologies (2.9%). Eleven point seven percent of our patients had both atherosclerosis and cardioembolic mechanisms. Rheumatic valvular disease was present in 44.8% of cardioembolic strokes and caused 4.31 preventable stroke cases per 100,000 Iranian population per year. Hypertension and history of ischemic cerebrovascular events were the most frequent risk factors, 53.1% and 22.3% respectively. In-hospital mortality of our ischemic stroke patients was 7.3%. High frequency of atherosclerotic etiology in the Khorasan Stroke Registry is because of its classification criteria, which does not separate small vessel territory infarcts as a different etiologic subtype. Rheumatic valvular disease is an important cause of stroke in Khorasan population.

Study on Cashmere Quality and Hair Percentage of Black Goat of Southern Khorasan for Stable Development of Agriculture

Economic importance of good quality cashmere including, raw cashmere export or utilization for using in internal alternative industrial and saving foreign currency arising from cashmere import break and importance of agriculture in security of economical of country and to pay attention to pastures in ecosystem stability, performance of animal breeding programs is essential to reach higher animals. The black goat of southern Khorasan maintaining in Ghayen, Birjand, Sarbisheh and Nehbandan is about 2 million head. Dispersion of this population was increasing than south regions to Afghanistan border and color of protector hair of these goats and cashmere color, changing from bright brown to dark brown. The goats were selected in form of random from the goat growing regions. Samples were taken at goat's side for measurement hair percentage and fiber's length and diameter. Results indicated that highest and lowest fibers length were observed in Nehbandan (68.34 ) and Birjand (49.65 ), whereas highest and lowest fiber diameter were mm mm found in Sarbisheh (18.81 μ) and Birjand (16.49 μ) and highest and lowest percentage of hair covering were found in Ghayen (56.66%) and Sarbisheh (43.10%), respectively. In this study mean of fiber's length, fiber's diameter and hair covering percentage were 52.71 , 17.10 μ and 54.73%, respectively. mm

THE EFFECTS OF CHEMICAL AND ORGANIC FERTILIZERS ON SAFFRON FLOWERING

The effects of chemical and organic fertilizers on saffron (Crocus sativus) were studied in a field experiment using a complete randomized block design with three replications at ferdowsi university of Mashhad. Fertilizers applied were N, P, K, NP, NK, PK, NPK, cow, sheep and chicken manure. The amount of chemical fertilizer applied were 50, 30, 30, 48, 48, 36, 66 kg/ha for N, P, K, NP, NK, PK, NPK and 12, 8, 4 t/ha for cow, sheep and chicken manures, respectively. The results indicated that number and weight of flower and stigma dry weight were affected by type of fertilizers (p<0.01). The highest flower number was obtained with cow manure and the lowest with N, NK and PK fertilizers. The highest stigma dry weight was obtained with cow manure (0.093 g/m) and lowest with PK treatments (0.035 g/m). The highest flower dry weight was obtained with NPK and the lowest with N and PK application (0.92 and 0.33 g/m), respectively. Stigma dry weight has a stronger correlation with flower number compared to flower dry weight. INTRODUCTION Saffron is a plant with unique characteristics. Total world production of this delicate spice has been estimated 220 tones, 90 percent of which this produced in Iran and 98 percent belongs to Khorasan province (Koocheki, 2003; Mollafilabi, 2003; Shahandeh, 1990). Total acreage of saffron in Iran has been estimated 50,000 hectare. An increasing trend in acreage from the year 1988-2001 has been observed with 3.9 percent increase in cultivated area with an average of 22.4 percent rate of increase (Kafi et al. 2001; Sadeghi et al. 1987). Average yield of saffron in Iran during a period of 25 years has been reported to be 4.7 kg/ha (Kafi et al., 2001; Sadeghi et al., 1987). Since saffron is a perennial crop, it has been adapted to organic fertilizers and hence animal manure plays an important role in this respect. Shahandeh, (1990) found that 16-80 percent of saffron yield is attributed to soil variables and 1-10 percent was related to water availability. He further pointed out that soil chemical criteria such as organic content, available phosphorus, mineral nitrogen, and exchangeable potassium and C/N ratio were the most important factors affecting yield of saffron. Koocheki, (2003) in a survey on 28 farms from 5 major saffron producing areas of Southern Khorasan found that coefficient in manure utilization was 19 percent. Saffron is a low nutrient demanding crop (Rahmati, 2004; Vatanpur-e-Azghadi and Mojtahedi, 2003), however, if above ground is harvested completely, for each kilogram dry biomass, 10.2 kg N, 3.2 kg P and 22.8 kg K is removed from the soil (Shahandeh, 1990). The amount of manure used for saffron in Iran varies from 20-80 tones/ha cow manure (Mollafilabi, 2002; Mollafilabi, 2003). It has been shown (Vatanpur-e-Azghadi and Mojtahedi, 2003) that application of small amount of N and P enhances yield of saffron. However, in some part of Khorasan up to 100 kg/ha ammonium phosphate prior to the first irrigation and 100 kg/ha urea at the time of first weeding is applied (Mollafilabi, 2003). MATERIALS AND METHODS In growing season of 2005-2006 an experiment with a Complete Randomized Proc. II IS on Saffron Bio. and Techno. Eds.: A. Koocheki et al. Acta Hort. 739, ISHS 2007

Soil seed bank and seedling populations of Hordeum murinum and Cardaria draba in saffron fields

Abstract Geostatistical techniques were used to characterize the spatial relationship between Hordeum murinum and Cardaria draba seedling and soil seed bank over the entire growing season of 2004–2005 in three saffron (Crocus sativus) fields, located in Southern Khorasan (33°N latitude, 57°E longitude), Iran. The maps of H. murinum seed bank density corresponded moderately to those seedling density in a and strongly to those in b and c fields. The emergence percentage of C. draba was higher than for H. murinum in all fields. Semivariograms showed spatial autocorrelation in seed bank and seedling populations of H. murinum and C. draba in all fields. Grey-scale field maps of C. draba seed banks corresponded visually to maps of seedling populations and could have been used to target control efforts, but visual correspondence between H. murinum seed bank and seedling maps was poor.

The Khorasan Stroke Registry: Results of a Five-Year Hospital-Based Study

The hospital-based stroke registry is useful for understanding the diverse clinical characteristics of stroke related to geographical, racial or environmental differences. The Khorasan Stroke Registry (KSR) was established for the evaluation of incidence, clinical manifestations, risk factors, topography and etiology of ischemic stroke in Southern Khorasan, Iran, during 2001–2005. Consecutive stroke patients underwent a standard battery of diagnostic investigations by a stroke neurologist. The topography and etiology of brain infarction were determined by the Practical Iranian Criteria classification. The incidence of ischemic stroke in the Persian population is 43.17 cases per 100,000 people per year. A total of 1,392 ischemic stroke patients (738 females, 654 males) were evaluated in the KSR. The etiologies included atherosclerosis (53.6%), followed by uncertain causes (19.9%), cardioembolism (11.8%) and miscellaneous etiologies (2.9%). Of our patients, 11.7% had both atherosclerosis and cardioembolic mechanisms. Rheumatic valvular disease was present in 44.8% of cardioembolic stroke patients and caused 4.31 preventable stroke cases per 100,000 Persian people per year. Hypertension and history of ischemic cerebrovascular events were the most frequent risk factors, 53.1 and 22.3%, respectively. The in-hospital mortality of our ischemic stroke patients was 7.3%. A total of 336 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage (189 females, 147 males) were evaluated in the KSR. The incidence of intracerebral hemorrhage in the Persian population is 10.43 cases per 100,000 people per year. The high frequency of atherosclerotic etiology in the KSR is due to its classification criteria, which do not separate small vessel territory infarcts as a different etiologic subtype. Rheumatic valvular disease is an important cause of stroke in the Persian population.

Incidence and etiology of ischemic stroke in Persian young adults

Stroke in young adults causes morbidity in this socioeconomically active age group. The etiologic frequency of ischemic stroke in young adults differs around the world. The study population consisted of 314,000 'young adult' residents in Southern Khorasan province in Iran. All patients with stroke are routinely admitted to the Valie Asr tertiary care hospital. Data on patients demographics, clinical presentation and investigations of consecutive patients aged 15-45 years with ischemic stroke are registered in Southern Khorasan stroke data bank for the period March 2000 to March 2005. All patients underwent a standard battery of diagnostic investigations by a stroke neurologist. The etiologic classification of stroke in the patients was made based on the trial of ORG 10172 in acute stroke treatment (TOAST) criteria. One hundred and twenty-four patients (60 female, 64 male) were prospectively investigated during a 5-year period. The incidence of ischemic stroke in young adults was eight cases per 100,000 people per year. Cardioembolic mechanism comprised 54% of stroke etiology in young adults. Rheumatic valvular disease was present in 32% of the patients and caused 2.5 preventable stroke cases per 100,000 'young adults' per year. Rheumatic valvular disease is the most common cause and a preventable etiology of stroke in Persian young adults.

A new Parthian Inscription

The scantiness of Parthian inscribed material enhances the importance of any new find. The existence of inscriptions and drawings on the rock-walls of a gorge near Birjand (Southern Khorasan) had been known for some time; but their antiquity was not recognized until Mr. Jamal Rezai, a Persian student from Birjand, visited the gorge and took photographs, which he submitted to Dr. Sadiq Kiya, of the University of Tehran. Dr. Kiya at once correctly identified the writing as Parthian and, in company with Mr. Rezai, published the whole material, together with a preliminary reading of the inscriptions. Dr. Richard N. Frye also paid a visit to the site and reported on it briefly in the Persian literary monthly Mihr. Later some uninformed criticism, claiming modern origin of the remains, appeared in the same periodical; it was justly refuted by Dr. Kiya.