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Effects of part replacement (20, 40, 60, 80 and 100%) of whole wheat flour by composite flour (based on foxtail millet, proso millet and buckwheat flours in equal proportions) on physical, nutritional, sensory and antioxidant properties of multi-millet cookies were investigated. Increase in the ratio of composite flour in the blend and formulated cookies resulted in increase in ash, fiber, fat and protein and decrease in moisture and carbohydrate contents. Increase in supplementation levels of composite flour added to the TPC, DPPH, reducing power and FRAP and decrease in metal chelating activity of cookies. Maximum gain in thickness and weight as well as loss in diameter, spread ratio and bake loss were observed with the highest composite flour substitution. Color values such as a* was found to be enhanced whereas L* and b* were found to be weakened, simultaneously NEB values got increased upon substitution. A 60% blend of composite flour with whole wheat flour was selected best used in the cookie’s formulation on the basis of sensory evaluation. Overall, this study demonstrates that millet based composite flour can effectively improve the functional values of formulated cookies, in addition to an option for the development of gluten free products for celiac patients. 

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Mayetiola destructor (Say, 1817) originated in the Fertile Crescent region of the Middle East and is one of the most serious pests of wheat, rye and barley and more than 16 Poaceae wild species. Here, we report the occurrence of this species as an invasive pest for the first time in Iran. It was detected in wheat fields and rye in Qüshchï Pass, Urmia environ, West Azarbaijan province (September 2020) as well as in wheat fields in Bil-e Savar, Ardabil province (July 2024). The diagnostic characters and its life history as well as the photographs of the adult male and female, larvae, puparium, male genitalia and wing venation are provided. This is the second species from the genus Mayetiola that has been reported from Iran. To prevent the spread of this destructive pest in Iran, suitable management practices are urgently needed.

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The life table parameters of Schizaphis graminum (Rondani) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on four commercial cultivars of wheat (Kohdasht, Pastor, Tajan and Zagros) were determined in laboratory conditions. Fertility life table were constructed using age-specific survivorship (lx) and age-specific fecundity (mx) and subsequently analyzed using jackknife method and ANOVA. There were significant differences among pre-imaginal period and adult longevity of the aphid on the four wheat cultivars. The highest mortality occurred at first nymphal instar on all of wheat cultivars tested. The life expectancy (ex) of one-day-old adults was estimated to be 23.5, 24.6, 30.36 and 26.83 days on Kohdasht, Pastor, Tajan and Zagros, respectively. The gross reproductive rate was significantly higher on Tajan (102.39 ± 1.42 females/female/generation) compared with other three cultivars. The net reproductive rate (R­0) significantly differed on different wheat cultivars examined. The R0-value was highest on Tajan (82.21 ± 1.21) and lowest on Zagros (38.23 ± 0.63 females/female/generation). The highest and lowest values of the intrinsic rate of increase (rm) were 0.276 ± 0.002 (on Pastor) and 0.222 ± 0.001 day^-1 (on Zagros), respectively. The finite rate of increase (l) differed significantly among four wheat cultivars, ranging from 1.25 ± 0.00 (on Zagros) to 1.32 ± 0.00 days^-1 (on Pastor). Doubling time ranged from 2.51 ± 0.02 (on Pastor) to 3.12 ± 0.02 days (on Zagros). The longest mean generation time (T) of the aphid was obtained on Tajan cultivar. The results showed that the Zagros cultivar had the highest antibiotic effect on population growth of S. graminum.  

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To identify the fungi associated with foot and root rot of wheat in the Khuzestan province, diseased samples were collected at all growth stages in three growing seasons of 2004-2007. Pieces of infected parts of the root and foot were surface sterilized and cultured on acidic and non acidic PDA media. One hundred and fifteen isolates were obtained and on the basis of macroscopic and microscopic characters and valid keys were identified as Fusarium solani, F. equiseti, F. moniliforme, F. subglutinans, F. sambucinum, F. culmorum, F. proliferatum, F. pseudograminearum, F. longipes, F. avenacium, F. nygamai, F. semitectum, F. lateritium, Rhizoctonia solani, Bipolaris sorokiniana and Pythium sp. F. equiseti, F. solani and F. culmorum with occurrence frequencies of 16.07, 16.07 and 12.5 % respectively were more frequent than all other species. Results of Pathogenicity tests indicated that F. pseudograminearum and F.culmorum were the main fungi associated with wheat root and crown rot disease in khuzestan while other Fusarium spp. such as F. equiseti are probably aggravated by moisture stress at different growth stages of crop due to poor irrigation management. Rhizoctonia solani with occurrence frequency of 8.03 % in some regions such as Ahvaz, Shoush, Shoushtar and Baghmalek was important agent of crown and root rot of wheat second to Fusarium species. Bipolaris sorokiniana and Pythium sp also caused crown and root rot but with less frequency percent.  

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The Russian wheat aphid (RWA), Diuraphis noxia has been known as a major pest of small grains, particularly wheat, worldwide. This study evaluated the biological responses of RWA to six wheat cultivars including Yavarus, Pishgam, Aadl, Omid, Darab 2 and Sepahan. The experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions of 25 ± 2 °C, 55 ± 10 % R. H. and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L: D) h. Resistance or susceptibility of cultivares against the aphid nymphal development time, adult fecundity, daily reproduction, total longevity and adult longevity were investigated. The ANOVA of the data indicated that there were significant differences (P < 0.05) among cultivars regarding duration of nymphal development time, fecundity and daily reproduction. The longest mean nymphal development time was obtained on Omid and Sepahan, and the shortest on Yavarus. The highest and the lowest total fecundity were observed on Yavarus and Omid, respectively. Also, the highest and the lowest mean offspring produced per female per day (daily reproduction) was observed on Yavarus and Omid, respectively. On the whole, Yavarus appeared to be susceptible to the Russian wheat aphid while Omid was resistant.

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Race-specific resistance of wheat to yellow rust caused by Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici has been reported as short-lived. Partial resistance, a kind of quantitative resistance, has been reported to be more stable. Partial resistance in terms of slow rusting parameters including final rust severity (FRS), apparent infection rate (r), relative area under disease progress curve (rAUDPC), and coefficient of infection (CI) was evaluated in a set of twenty six wheat genotypes along with susceptible control during 2010-2011 cropping year. This study was conducted in field plots at Ardabil Agricultural Research Station (Iran) under natural infection conditions with twice artificial inoculation. Artificial inoculation was carried out by yellow rust inoculum having virulence against Yr2, Yr6, Yr7, Yr9, Yr22, Yr23, Yr24, Yr25, Yr26, Yr27, YrA, and YrSU. Seedling reaction was also evaluated in greenhouse by using race 66E0A+, Yr27+. Results of mean comparison for resistance parameters showed that, lines C-89-4, C-89-17 and C-89-16 along with susceptible had the highest values of FRS, CI, r and rAUDPC, therefore were selected as moderately susceptible or susceptible lines. The lines C-89-7, C-89-8, C-89-9, C-89-10, C-89-13, C-89-14 and C-89-20 had susceptible reactions at seedling stage and low level infection at adult plant stage. Accordingly these lines with low level of different parameters supposed to be having gene/s for varying degrees of partial resistance or high temperature adult plant resistance (HTAP) that can be used for future manipulation in wheat improvement program after confirmatory studies. The remaining lines (except for C-89-2) were immune or had low level of infection. Thus, these were selected as resistant lines. In this study correlation coefficient between different parameters of slow rusting was highly significant. Based on the results, the reaction of the studied genotypes to stripe rust varied from sensitive to immune.

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The influence of leaf pubescence of three wheat cultivars (Pishtaz, Ghuds and Falat) on preference and biological parameters of Sipha maydis (Passerini) was investigated under greenhouse conditions (25 ± 2 °C, 70 ± 10% RH and 14: 10 h (L: D) photoperiod). The results showed that Pishtaz had a greater density of trichomes compared to the other cultivars. In the preference test with whole plant, the number of aphids on Pishtaz was significantly greater than that on other cultivars at 48 hrs after infestation. Similarly, in the preference test on leaves, the numbers of attracted aphids per leaf was highest on Pishtaz. In the life table study, there was no significant difference of intrinsic rate of natural increase (r_m) among the three studied cultivars but it was highest on Pishtaz (0.187 /day). Aphids’ net reproductive rate, doubling time, mean generation time and finite rate of increases did not show significant differences between the tested cultivars. According to our results, leaf surface pubescence of wheat is not an effective resistance mechanism against S. maydis.

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Eight wheat varieties some of which were earlier reported to be resistant to Pythium arrhennmanes, were inoculated with P. arrhenomanes. Inoculation was performed by placing 2-day-old seedlings on the edge of a P. arrhenomanes culture on corn meal agar for 3 h at 25°C. Infected seedlings were then transferred to test tubes (9 mm dia.) containing glass beads and 1 ml of sterile water, and incubated for 4 days at 25°O Non-inoculated seedlings were exposed to the toxic metabolite(s) from P. arrhenomanes by placing them in test tubes containing 1 ml of a 25-day-old culture filtrate of P. arrhenomanes. Non-inoculated seedlings grown in test tubes containing sterile water served as controls. Measurements were taken on root and shoot length, as well as fresh and dry root and shoot weights. There was an indication that it may be possible to use the toxic metabolite(s) in screening for resistance to P. arrhenomanes. Although all of the varieties appeared to be susceptible, there were some differences among them in their reaction to fungal infection or exposure to the toxic metabolite(s).

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The percentage of urediniospore germination of two isolates of yellow rust {Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici) namely, WYR 69/10 |Race 104E 137(1)] and isolate WYR 79/4 |Race 41E 139 (4)], was studied at various temperatues between 5-20°C on agar and the adaxial surface of detached leaves on a layer of benzimidazole agar. Four replicates for five temperature treatments were arranged as a preliminary investigation to find the most appropriate temperature for the subsequent comparison of spore germination on the host material under investigation. Mean percentage values were analysed separately and the levels of urediniospore germination at different temperatures were compared using analysis of variance and Student- Newman-Keuls techniques. Spore germination of both isolates was high over the temperature range 5-10°C, but dropped significantly at 15-20°C . At the cooler temperatures 5° , 7.5° and 10°C , isolate WYR 69/10 consistently germinated at a higher level than isolate WYR 79/4 , whereas at 20°C, the latter isolate gave the highest figures. This observation indicates that both isolates germinated most effectively at 10°C on agar and detached leaves.

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To evaluate durum pasta quality traits, using international standards, a study was conducted on seven improved and local durum wheat varieties. The traits examined included grain vitreousity (I.CC. No. 129), grain hardness index (h.i.), yellow berry (y.b.(, black point (h.p.), hectoliter weight (h.l.w.), thousand kerne! weight (t.k-w.j, protein percentage (I.CC. No. 105.1), protein quality through sedimentation test (I.CC. No. 116), and wet gluten percentage. Durum wheat gluten quality can be used to detect varieties with favorable traits for pasta making:, some of these traits being: semolina percentage, pigment content, reaction to cooking and pasta disk pressure tolerance. The varieties Zardak from Kermanshah, Altar 84 from Ahwaz and Yavaros 79 from Karaj exhibited the most favorable pasta quality traits. There existed significant positive correlations (at 1% level) between protein percentage and sedimentation test, wet gluten percentage and protein, wet gluten and sedimentation test, and protein percent and dry gluten. The results indicated that protein percentage of durum wheat varieties can be used to select varieties of favorable quality for pasta making.

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The Bird cherry-oat aphid, Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) is a serious threat to several cereal crops. Host-plant resistance to this aphid could be especially valuable in cereal crops pest management. Therefore, we evaluated the development, survivorship, reproduction and population growth parameters of R. padi as resistance indices among six wheat cultivars, including Gaskojen, Tajan, Falat, Saysonz, Kras and Sardari at 25 °C under laboratory conditions. The development time and fecundity of aphid differed significantly among the tested wheat cultivars. The r_m values were highest for aphids reared on Sardari and lowest on Gaskojen and intermediate on Tajan, Saysonz and Kras cultivars. Aphid showed the longest development time and the lowest fecundity, reflecting in the lowest r_m value on Gaskojen cultivar. Consequently, Gaskojen showed more positive characteristics and was relatively not susceptible cultivar that could be considered for planning a comprehensive IPM program of R. padi.

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ELISA values (O.D.s) of extracts of separately roots and individual leaves of barley and wheat plants infected by a French BYDV-PAV isolate (PAV-4), were assessed for five dif-ferent virus incubation periods in controlled conditions (5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 days after in-oculation). In most cases, virus contents of individual roots or leaves were not statistically different for barley and wheat. For both plant species, ELISA values peaked sooner in roots than in leaves and in most harvesting dates were higher in roots. The old leaf had a significantly lower virus titre than other leaves. Upper leaves exhibited the highest ELISA values. These results indicate that the upper part of infected plants is the most suitable for virus acquisition by aphids. A scheme for BYDV-PAV spread in young plants is proposed, and compared to the distribution of vectors on the plants.

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Foliar urea application is one of the nitrogen (N) application methods in cereal grain crops. Yield and yield components may be affected by foliar urea application. To investigate the effect of rate and time of such treatment on yield and yield components of two winter wheat cultivars, a field experiment was conducted at Badjgah, Agricultural Research Farm (29° 36
N, 52° 32
E) of Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran during 1998-99 growing season. The experimental treatments were two winter wheat cultivars (‘Phalat’ and ‘Marvdasht’), five levels of foliar urea application (0, 8, 16, 24 and 32 kg N ha-1) at three times of application (pre-anthesis, anthesis and post-anthesis). The experimental design was a randomized complete block one with treatments arranged as split-plot factorial with three replicates. The results showed that cultivars responded differently to the rate of foliar N feeding so that, over the growth stages, Marvdasht cultivar produced significantly greater grain yield (+19%) by application of 8 kg N ha-1, whereas, the Phalat cultivar had greater grain yield (+27%) when it was supplied by 16 kg N ha-1. Increase in grain yield was mainly due to an increase in number of grains ear-1. The fertile ears m-2 and mean grain weight were not significantly affected by foliar urea feeding, however, the harvest index and biological yield were increased. The pre-anthesis foliar feeding with urea resulted in higher yields as compared with later applications. Also the early foliar urea feeding increased the harvest index from 42.4% to 46.9% at 32 kg N ha-1 in Marvdasht cultivar. The results of the present investigation also suggest that late foliar application could decrease nitrogen use efficiency.

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For investigation of potato starch properties , six potato cultivars were grown in Agricultural Research Field of Gorgan in 1381-2. Starches were extracted from these tubers and their physico-chemical properties were investigated in comparison with wheat starch. Dry matter and starch content and starch yield of potatoes were found to vary from 17.2–22, 10.6–14.6 and 9.2-12.6 % (on fresh weight basis) and the maximum and minimum of these values related to Concord and Deraga varieties, respectively. No significant difference was found at reducing sugars among fresh potatoes., Phosphorus content, viscosity and mean particle size were different among cultivars and were higher wheat starch , but amylose and protein content had no significant difference in potato starches whereas protein content of wheat starch was higher than potato starches.

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Tillage systems influence soil physical, chemical and biological characteristics which in turn may alter, root characteristics, growth, and development. A three year study was conducted to investigate the effects of seven tillage systems on some soil (fine-loamy mixed, Typic Haplocambids) physical characteristics and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) root morphology. Tillage treatments included moldboard plowing + disking (MD) as conventional tillage, chisel plowing + disk (CD), chisel plowing + rotary tilling (CR), chisel plowing (twice) + disking (2CD), plowing with a khishchi (a regional rigid cultivator) (KD), as non-inversion methods, and till planting with cultivator combined drill (TP), and no-tillage (NT) as direct drilling methods. Soil texture, bulk density (BD), organic matter (OM) and compactness (CI) were determined. At the depths 0-0.1, 0.1-0.2, 0.2-0.3 and 0.3- 0.4m, root mass density (RMD) was obtained, root length density (RLD) was determined and average root diameter (RD), surface area density (RSD), and root fineness (RF) were calculated. A randomized complete block design consisting of four blocks (replications) was used. For all treatments, the upper layer (0-0.lm) contained a higher quantity of RMD, RLD and RSD, but the reverse was observed for the lower layer (0.3-0.4m). The upper layer (0-0. lm) contained almost 46% of the total RMD (average of all treatments), while the second (0.1-0.2m) the third (0.2-0.3m) and fourth (0.3-0.4m) depths contained 23, 18.5 and 12.5% of the total RMD, respectively. The average RLD of four depths for MD, CD, CR and 2CD were significantly (P ≤ 10)higher than KD, TP and NT systems (24.9, 25.1, 24.2, and 23.8, as compared with 22.3,21.8 and 21.6km m-3 , respectively). Results of this study showed that, for the arid soils of central Iran, with weak structure and low organic matter content, as the number of tillage operations increased, root morphological characteristics improved.

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Inheritance of several yield-based drought resistance indices was studied by a halfdiallel method using seven winter wheat varieties. The parental lines were such chosen as to represent a broad range of drought stress resistance. The experiment was conducted in a split-plot design at the research farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Zanjan University, Iran, in 1998. Irrigated vs. rainfed regimes were considered as the main plots. The F1 hybrids and parental varieties constituted the subplots. From the grain yield data, some drought resistance indices such as geometric mean productivity (GMP), mean productivity (MP), standard superiority measure (SP), stress susceptibility index (SSI), stress tolerance index (STI), superiority measure (P), and tolerance (TOL) were calculated. Genetic components of variance and heritabilities were estimated using Gardner and Eberhart’s Method 3, Model II. Significant differences among parents and F1s were observed for all indices except for SSI and TOL. Significant general combining abilities (GCA) were obtained for GMP, MP, P, SP, STI, and TOL but not for SSI. Therefore, except for SSI, other indices could be regarded as heritable. The specific combining ability (SCA) effects were also highly significant for GMP, MP, P, SP, and STI. However, additive variances were more important than dominance ones. Narrow-sense heritability estimates were very low for SSI, low for TOL, but moderate for GMP, MP, P. SP, and STI. Thus selection based on the latter indices could be more promising than on SSI and TOL. It seems that SP and STI might be better yield-based drought resistance indices to be employed in plant breeding programs, because of their moderate narrow-sense heritabilities and the inherent ability of selecting high yielding genotypes in either stressed or non-stressed conditions.

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Effects of supplemental phytase and xylanase in a corn-soybean meal based diet containing 250 g/Kg wheat bran, were investigated. on broiler performance and phosphorus degradability and nitrogen digestibility. Phytase (500 and 1000 FTU) and xylanase (2700 and 5400 EXU) individually and in combination were added to the basal diet and given to 6 replicate groups (4 birds per replicate). At 21 days of age, birds were weighed and killed , ileal contents were collected and analyzed for P, N, chromic oxide and gross energy. Added phytase significantly (P<0.01) improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) (1.59 vs 1.62 g /g) and tibia ash (464.4 vs 444.3 g/Kg). Protein digestibility was increased (81.7 vs 79.4%) significantly (P<0.01) by 500 FTU/Kg added phytase. Supplemental xylanase significantly (P<0.01) improved FCR (1.58 vs 1.63 g/g) and protein digestibility (82.0 vs 80.4%). Phytate P degradability was significantly (P<0.02) improved by added phytase (41.4 vs 27.8%). Combination of supplemental phytase and xylanase had some beneficial effects on improving the nutritive value of diets containing wheat bran for broilers.

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Intra-specific variations in apex development of two salt-tolerant cultivars (Cross Rowshan 11 (CR) and Kharchia-65) and one salt-sensitive cultivar (Ghods) of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) grown in sand culture at selected levels of salinity (0, 100, 200, and 300 mol m-3 NaCl and CaCl2 in 5:1 molar ratio) were studied. To determine the apex lengths and the number of spikelet primordia in the apex, the main shoot apex was dissected. Results indicated that final spikelet number of wheat cultivars decreased with increasing salinity. Cultivars showed different responses to a particular level of salinity. Duration of spikelet development from double ridge to terminal spikelet, spikelet number and apex length declined in the presence of salinity. Both shorter duration and reduced rate of spikelet initiation were responsible for reduction in spikelet number in salt-treated plants. Cultivar CR showed a better performance during spikelet initiation period and produced relatively more spikelets under saline conditions than the others.

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In order to develop the scope of application of polymer materials in the preparation of drilling fluids, in this study, various blends of wheat starch and copolymer of sulfonated polyacrylamide were prepared and the rheology and compatibility behavior of samples under different salinity and aging conditions were evaluated. The rheological behavior of starch-polyacrylamide blends in tap water and saturated brine water showed that the viscosity of the samples increased with increasing concentration of polyacrylamide copolymer in the both media. However, starch-polyacrylamide blends in saturated brine had less viscosity than tap water. It was observed that in both tap water and salt water saturated conditions after 4 hours of aging at 90 ° C, the viscosity of most samples increased. Comparison of the curves for empirical viscosity data and prediction of the mixing rule showed that in both of tap water and salt saturated water, positive deviation from the mixing rule is observed, which indicates the compatibility between the blend components. By performing the aging process, although positive deviation was still observed, this positive deviation slightly decreased, which means the negative effect of aging on the compatibility of the starch- copolymer of sulfonated polyacrylamide blend.
In conclusion, the results of this study showed that the blend of starch- sulfonated polyacrylamide copolymer is compatible at high temperature (90 °C) and saturated NaCl salt wate. Moreover, in some samples, this compatibility exists even after aging.