Exploring low-dose gamma radiation effects on monoterpene biosynthesis in Thymus vulgaris: insights into plant defense mechanisms.

Thymus vulgaris, commonly known as thyme, is a plant renowned for producing monoterpenes. This study aimed to understand the effects of low-dose gamma radiation, specifically in the range of 1-5 Gy, on various traits of Thymus vulgaris, providing context on its importance in agricultural and medicinal applications. The research explored morpho-physiological, biochemical, and gene-expression responses in thyme plants under no gamma- and gamma-ray exposure conditions. The study revealed complex relationships between gamma-ray doses and plant characteristics. In particular, shoot and root lengths initially increased with low doses (1-3 Gy) but decreased at higher doses (5 Gy), suggesting a dose-dependent threshold effect. Similarly, shoot and root fresh weights displayed an initial increase followed by a decline with increasing doses. Biochemical parameters showed dose-dependent responses, with low to moderate doses (1-3 Gy) stimulating enzyme activities and high doses (5 Gy) inhibiting them. Gene expression analysis was focused on the following specific genes: thymol synthase, γ-terpinene synthase, and carvacrol synthase. Low to moderate doses increased the expression of these genes, resulting in increased production of bioactive compounds. However, higher doses had diminished effects or suppressed gene expression. Metabolite analysis demonstrated dose-dependent responses, with moderate doses enhancing secondary metabolite production, while higher doses provided limited benefits. These findings underscore the implications of using gamma radiation to enhance secondary metabolite production in plants and its potential applications in agriculture, medicine, and environmental science. The study emphasizes the potential of gamma radiation as an external stressor to influence plant responses and highlights the importance of understanding such effects in various fields.

Enhancing nutritional status, growth, and fruit quality of dried figs using organic fertilizers in rain-fed orchards: A case study in Estahban, Iran.

The majority of Iranian fig production is exported, making it one of the world's most well-known healthy crops. Therefore, the main objective of the current experiment was to investigate the effects of various types of organic fertilizers, such as animal manure (cow and sheep), bird manure (partridge, turkey, quail, and chicken), and vermicompost, on the nutritional status of trees, vegetative and reproductive tree characteristics, fruit yield, and fruit quality traits in dried fig cultivar ("Sabz"). According to the findings, applying organic fertilizers, particularly turkey and quail, significantly improves vegetative and reproductive characteristics. However, other manures such as sheep, chicken, and vermicompost had a similar effect on the growth parameters of fig trees. Additionally, the findings indicated that except for potassium, use of all organic fertilizers had an impact on macro and microelements such as phosphorus, nitrogen, and sodium amount in fig tree leaves. Also, based on fruit color analysis in dried figs, the use of all organic fertilizers improved fruit color. Moreover, the analyses fruit biochemical showed that the use of some organic fertilizers improved that TSS and polyphenol compounds such as coumarin, vanillin, hesperidin gallic acid and trans frolic acid. In general, the results indicated that the addition of organic fertilizers, especially turkey manure, led to increased vegetative productivity and improvement in the fruit quality of the rain-fed fig orchard.

Environmental and geographical conditions influence color, physical properties, and physiochemical composition of pomegranate fruits.

The highest quality pomegranate necessitates a tropical or subtropical environment for proper growth and development. This study evaluated two pomegranate cultivars including Rabab Poost Ghermez Neyriz (RPGN) and Makhmal Malas Shahreza (MMS) for physical traits, biochemical properties, and juice quality in their native locations as well as other warm and arid regions during two growing seasons (2019-2020 and 2020-2021) in Iran. The results showed that cultivars with the maximum redness (a*) were more likely to originate in cooler climates, and the cultivar's responses to changing climates were also different. According to pomegranate characteristics, cultivars in different regions had different fruit, aril, and skin weights. According to these findings, pomegranate fruits cultivated in other climates than the origin climate have a smaller edible fraction. The findings also demonstrate that pomegranate fruits cultivated in mountain climates have more significant biochemical parameters such as total phenol, anthocyanin content, antioxidant capacity, and vitamin C than those produced in desert environment settings. The increased titratable acidity (TA), total soluble solids (TSS), and pH values of pomegranates produced in origin climate than the warm environment; thus, suggest that changes in pomegranate cultivar origin had a clear impact on fruit juice quality. Environmental factors, such as wind speed, altitude, and annual precipitation, had a significant correlation with a* skin, TSS, fruit weight, aril weight, edible portion, pH, TA, phenol, antioxidants, and anthocyanin content.

Determination of optimum dose based of biological responses of lethal dose (LD25, 50, 75) and growth reduction (GR25, 50, 75) in 'Yaghouti' grape due to gamma radiation.

Ionizing radiations are a helpful technique and have improved financial potential in developing new and unique commercially important fruit tree varieties. The 'Yaghouti' grape cuttings were treated with 0 (control), 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 Gy gamma ray (γ) doses. The objectives of this study were to (1) investigate the effects of γ radiation on the survival rate, leaves, shoots, and root morphometric traits after γ irradiation; (2) Measurement of the 25, 50, and 75% lethal dose and 25, 50, and 75% growth reduction dose based on leaves, shoots, and root morphometric characteristics to estimate grape radiosensitivity; (3) Ultimately, determining the optimum dose of γ irradiation based biological responses (LD25, 50, 75 and GR25, 50, 75) in Yaghouti grape. The findings demonstrate that the lethal dose of the 'Yaghouti' was 18 Gy for LD25, 30 Gy for LD50, and 48 Gy for LD75, respectively. Furthermore, our findings showed that increasing the γ dose had a harmed ngative effect on vine growth, as evidenced by a decrease in plant height, root number, root volume, leaf area, aerial biomass, root biomass, and internode number of the 'Yaghouti' grape plants. Our results showed that between the aerial parts of vines, the leaf area and aerial biomass had higher radiosensitivity than plant height and other aerial parts of the plants based on data from GR25, GR50, and GR75. Moreover, GR studies of root characteristics revealed that root number and biomass root had higher radiation sensitivity than root volume. According to biological responses (LD25, 50, 75 and GR25, 50, 75) in the 'Yaghouti' grape, 30 Gy of γ radiation is the optimum dose for preliminary mutagenesis investigations.

Shelf life and biochemical changes of ready-to-eat arils among nineteen Iranian pomegranate cultivars (Punica granatum L.) during storage.

The objective of this study was to investigate the shelf life of arils and the changes in their biochemical compounds in nineteen Iranian pomegranate cultivars during storage. Fruits were harvested when commercially mature and the arils were removed, packaged and stored at 5 ± 1 °C, at 85-90% relative humidity in a cold room. Samples of the stored arils were examined for biochemical features in temporal checkpoints throughout a storage period that lasted for 35 days. By using the onset of decay as an index, the shelf life of arils varied among cultivars, ranging from 7 days to approximately 21 days. Considering the quality attributes of ready-to-eat arils at the beginning of the experiment, substantial variations were observed among the cultivars with regard to their titratable acidity (0.50-8.47%), total soluble solids (13-18.66 °Brix), DPPH radical scavenging activity (63-87.44%), Gallic-acid-equivalent (2.64-6.95 mg/ml) and ascorbic acid (12.21-75.09 mg/l). In general, the decay of arils gradually increased during storage, but several cultivars-which exhibited a very slow process of decay-contained the highest content of titratable acidity, Gallic-acid-equivalent and total soluble solids (since the signs of decay appeared on around the twenty-first day of storage). In addition, titratable acidity increased slightly by the end of storage, whereas the ascorbic acid content, total soluble solids and Gallic-acid-equivalent were cultivar-dependent and did not show consistent patterns of change during storage.