Genetic diversity is the basis of breeding studies in many plant species and is one of the most important indicators for selecting parents. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the genetic diversity of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) using agronomic traits such as plant height, spring growth score, days to flowering, days to pollination, flag leaf length and width, panicle length, weight of 100 seed and seed yield per plant. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Based on the results, the ecotypes were significantly different for all of the evaluated traits with the exception of 100 seed weight. The highest phenotypic variation coefficient (58.66), genetic variation coeficient (58.32) and heritability (0.97) were related to plant height. The correlation between traits showed that ecotypes with higher height, panicle length and flag leaf height and spring growth score have higher seed yield. The results of stepwise regression analysis showed that in the regression model for seed yield per plant, the panicle length, alone, justified 60.95% of the variation. Cluster analysis grouped 25 ecotypes into three groups. Analysis of variance of agronomic traits as well as yield and related traits showed that grouping caused mean squares between groups in all traits (except flag leaf width). In this study, high genetic diversity and high heritability for evaluated traits showed the potentials of genetic improvement.

In this study, variation of beta-glucan content was assessed in 20 barley line and cultivars based on complete block design with three replications. Genetic diversity of these genotypes was also evaluated using ISSR markers. Beta-glucan extracted by an enzymatic method. Significant differences were found at the level of 1% among barley genotypes for beta-glucan content. The beta glucan content was variable from 7.21 to 12.48 and, the Yosef, E94B3 and E94B17 genotypes hold the highest content of the beta-glucan. ISSR primers with average polymorphism of 66.79%, genetic diversity of 0.25 and Shannon index of 0.37 were determined as efficient markers for studying genetic diversity. The barley lines and cultivars were assigned in two distinct groups according to their genetic pedigree. On the basis of non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis, Spearman correlation, and stepwise regression analysis, nine informative primers were detected explaining highest seed’s beta-glucan content variations ranging from 24.3 to 42.4 percent. The ISSR6 (700), the combination of ISSR1+ISSR4 (1400) and IS2+ ISSR2 (1400) primers were the most informative primers for the beta-glucan content. The informative markers provide possible functional and efficient marker based selection method and, screening the barley germplasms for the highest beta-glucan content.

Increasing drought tolerance, especially in rice, which is one of the most important crops in Asia, is necessary. Transcription factors are specific sequence DNA-binding proteins that are capable of activating or suppressing transcription. These proteins regulate gene expression levels by binding to cis regulatory elements in the promoter of target genes to control various biological processes such as growth, cell division and response to environmental stresses. In this study, MAD8 and MYB93 genes that were involved in drought stress in rice were considered in two leaf and anther tissues at 0, 24, 48, 72 h and one week after stopping irrigation. The results of q-PCR analysis showed significant expression changes of these transcription factor genes under drought stress conditions. In this study, a significant increase in the expression of these genes at 24 h after drought stress in transgenic plants (Promoter region with accession: NC_029264.1 and GUS gene have transformed) compared to non-transgenic plants showed a relationship between these transcription factors and higher expression of transported promoter in transgenic plants.

Autumn sowing of sugar beet is a suitable way in sustainable agriculture. Bolting is an undesirable phenomenon which reduces sugar beet yield and it is the most important limiting factor in autumn sowing of sugar beet. Identification and comparison of the sequence of flowering genes in various genotypes can help to understand the molecular mechanisms controlling bolting. In the previous studies, it was revealed that expression level of FT1 and VIN3 genes in sugar beet is associated with bolting resistance. In this study, the sequence of FT1 gene promotor and three versions of VIN3 gene promoters of sugar beet were compared in three bolting resistant and three bolting susceptible genotypes. Primer design for each gene was carried out using the DNA sequences found at the NCBI database. DNA was extracted from leaf samples growing in pots and was used as template in PCR reactions. Similar length of amplified fragments for each promoter gene in bolting susceptible and bolting resistant genotypes were selected and sequenced for more accurate assessment. There was no mutation in the FT1 gene promoter, however 624 substitution and insertion/deletion mutations were observed in the promoter of three versions of VIN3 gene. A 228-bp ins/del region was detected in the VIN3-like1 promoter. This region contains promoter elements and seems to have a control function. Comparison of detected mutations between susceptible and resistant genotypes did not show a distinct pattern for bolting.

Wheat is mostly cultivated at rainfed condition in Iran, so, water deficit stress has much effect on yield reduction. Hence, breeding activities are necessary for introduction of wheat tolerant genotypes to water deficit stress. In order to estimate the heritability and genetic correlation between traits of 36 wheat genotypes, an experiment was conducted in two separate conditions (water stress and non-stress) based on a randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Studied traits in wheat genotypes under water stress and normal condition showed significant differences for environment, genotype and genotype× environment interaction at 1 and 5% level of probability. The results of the factor analysis showed that the 6 first factor in normal condition explained 81.13% of total variance, and the 5 first factor in stress condition explained 74.96% of total variance. Estimation of genetic correlations based on REML approach revealed that biological yield, harvest index and number of grains per spike had the highest correlation with grain yield and these characteristics are of important for selecting the varieties with high yield under non-stress and stress conditions. Estimation of heritability based on REML approach showed that number of days to heading had the highest amount of heritability in both normal and stress conditions.

In order to determine yield stability of 23 bread wheat genotypes and two commercial cultivars as check, an experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in the experimental field of faculty of Agriculture, Razi University Kermanshah (Iran), during three cropping seasons (2015-2018). The results of combined ANOVA showed that the effect of environment, genotype and genotype × environment interactions on grain yield were significant (P<0.01). Stability was evaluated using environmental variance statistics, coefficient of variation, Wrick´s ecovalence, Shukla’s stability variance, Regression slope, deviation from regression slope, Plaisted and Peterson method and AMMI model. Variance analysis of additive main effects and multiplicative (AMMI) showed that three IPCAs were significant at 1% probability level. The first three principal components justified a round 85.7% of the sum of square of the interaction. Also, AMMI stability value (ASV) was used for simultaneously using information obtained from two significant components of AMMI. According to ASV index, genotypes Pishgam, Wc-4958 and Pishtaaz had the lowest ASV value and were known as the most stable genotypes. Genotypes Wc-4987, Wc-47615, Wc-47399 and Wc-47638 had the highest ASV value and distance from the center of Bi-plot. Therefore, Pishtaaz is one of the most stable genotypes due to having the first rank in terms of studied parameters as well as proper bakery properties and desirable drought resistance. In general, regarding to the climate change in the country, especially in the rainfed conditions and based on the above statistics and the biplots derived from AMMI analysis, the Wc-4958 line, with pishtaaz and Pishgam cultivars as stable and adaptable genotypes, are suggested to rainfed conditions on the studied area.

Astragalus with more than 800 species is one of the largest plant species in Iran and most of its species are medicinal and native. In this study, karyotypic characteristics of 21 populations from 13 species including A. vegetus, A. iranicus, A. vanillae, A. chrysostachys, A. glycyphyllos, A. bombycinos, A. campylorrhynchus, A. macrourus, A. caragana, A. ebenoides, A. pseudocyclophyllus, A. stevenianus and A. jodostachys were examined and compared. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the populations in terms of all measured traits (TL, LA, SA, AR, CI, TF%, DRL, LA% and SA%), except for traits A₁ and A₂. Population 25786 of A. vegetus species from Khorasan with average length of 4.51 μm had the highest total chromosome length and population 13764 of A. vanillae species from Qom with 2.67 μm had the lowest mean total chromosome length. According to the values of AR, CI, TF%, A₁, A₂, DRL, LA% and SA%, population 3421 of A. vegetus species is the most asymmetric and population 29586 of species A. campylorrhynchus had the most symmetrical karyotype.

Mutagenesis has been one of the important sources of genetic diversity and Plant mutants can be important bio-resources for crop breeding and functional genomics studies. Breeding conventional methods for generating of genetic variability are of low efficiency. We showed that treatment of seeds of rice(Hashemi cultivar) with 0.8% EMS for 8 h caused visible phenotypic variations on M2 rice mutant genotypes including flowering date, plant height, number of fertile tiller, panicle length, number of filled and unfilled grains per panicle, grain width and length, 100 grain weight and grain yield. The phenotypic variation coefficients of most traits found to be more than the genetic variation coefficients. The number of filled grains per panicle and seed length had the highest and lowest general heritability, respectivly. The seed yield had also high heritability. Analysis of correlation between different characteristics in the mutant genotypes showed that the number of fertile tillers and the number of unfilled grains per panicle had positive correlation with yield. Also, grain yield exhibited positive and significant correlation with panicle length, number of tillers and number of filled grains at genotypic level. In multiple regression analysis by stepwise method, number of tillers, number of filled grains per panicle, 100-grain weight, and grain width entered into the model, respectively, that explained 96 percent of grain yield variations. Results of grain yield and its components path coefficient analysis showed that the number of tiller had the highest direct effect (0.77) through than other traits on grain yield and, therefore it can be considered as major trait in grain yield improvement in rice. Also, based on results of this research and by using optimal selection index, mutant genotypes EM 18-17-5 and EM 15-14-1 were selected as superior mutant genotypes. This mutant population is expected to be serves as a genetical resource for understanding rice biology as well as for use in genetic improvement of quantitative traits.

In a breeding program, it is important to find out information about the genes action, because knowledge in this field could help the researchers in their crossing programs and realizing effective selection. In this study, breeding values of different agronomic traits in oriental tobacco were predicted using the best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) procedure. For this purpose, 89 tobacco genotypes were evaluated in a randomized complete block design with three replications under normal (without broomrape) and stress (with broomrape) conditions at Urmia Tobacco Research Centre, during two successive years. Broomrape stress was applied by mixing 0.06 gr broomrape seed with soil in pots. C.H.T.209.12e × F.K.40-1 genotype had high yield under both normal and broomrape stress conditions and was one of the desirable genotypes in terms of yield tolerance and stability index. The Rustica genotype was the best genotype in terms of the breeding value of most of studied traits in both normal and broomrape stress conditions. The result from cluster analysis based on the breeding values of the studied traits showed that, tobacco genotypes were divided into 6 and 5 groups in normal and broomrape stress conditions, respectively; but the distribution of genotypes within the groups was different depending on the conditions. The highest heritability was observed for root fresh weight under normal condition and for leaf fresh weight under broomrape stress conditionss. The results showed that a genotype with good phenotypic performance may have low breeding value. Therefore, considering breeding value information along with phenotypic mean of traits can increase the efficiency of breeding programs.

Estimation of genetic diversity and evaluation of plant germplasm is the most important step in collection and management of plant genetic resources. Also, comparison of different DNA-based genetic markers in diversity evaluation and then advising the most efficient markers is very important. In order to investigate genetic variation among Persian oak (Quercus brantii Lindi.) populations of Lorestan province (Iran), 20 genotypes were collected from different geographical and climatic regions. After DNA extraction, polymerase chain reactions (PCR) were used for study of polymorphism using three markers including ISJ, ISSR and SCoT. Genotyping was performed using the polymorphic bands obtained from all three markers separately, and also by combining the data of three markers. PCR results of the primers showed 91 polymorphic bands with an average of 71% per locus. The ISSR marker with 44 bands had the most polymorphic bands. Genotypes were discriminated by ISJ, ISSR and SCoT markers in 5, 6 and 5 groups, respectively, and using the combined data of three markers, genotypes were classified in 5 groups (each group included more than one genotype) and 3 group (each group included one genotype).  The results showed that the obtained clustering by different markers were nearly consistent with clustering of genotypes based on the climatic origin of genotypes. The most similarity between the groupings was between ISJ and ISSR markers with 89%. Overall, the results indicated the usefulness of markers used to estimate genetic distances between different oak communities.

Drought, an abiotic stress, considered as one of the factors limiting food resources. The plant responses to adaptive to such a condition are accompanied with changes in the expression pattern of some functional as well as regulatory genes. The MYB proteins include a big family of transcription factors which are highly important in regulating development process and immunizing responses of plants. This research was conducted to evaluate the expression of TaMYB73 transcription factor and catalase and polyphenol peroxidase enzymes activity in bread wheat cultivars (Hamoon, Hirmand, Kavir, Bolani, and Cross Bolani) under drought stress conditions. Factorial experiment was conducted in pot based on a completely randomized block design with three replications. Following 45 days from seed planting (four- leaf stage), drought stress was done at five levels of different irrigation and then the leaves of treated plants were sampled to measure of enzyme activity and gene expression. After RNA extraction and c DNA synthesis, the gene expression pattern was evaluated using Real-time PCR and data analysis was performed via 2^{-ΔΔ ct} method. The results showed that TaMYB73 gene expression level as well as the catalase and polyphenol peroxidase enzymes activities corresponding to the Hirmand cultivar was higher than the other cultivars.

In order to determine the most effective indices for quantifying drought tolerance and identify genotypes that are tolerant to water stress in bread wheat, 50 bread wheat genotypes were compared in a randomized complete block design with three replications under both the non-stress dry farming with two complementary irrigation and the water stress dry farming conditions in Khorramabad, Iran. Analysis of variance showed that there was a significant difference among the genotypes in terms of all of the traits except the number of spike per area. In this study, eight indices including: Stress Tolerance Index (STI), Geometric Mean Productivity (GMP), Mean Productivity (MP), Yield Index (YI), Harmonic Mean (HM), Yield Stability Index (YSI), Stress Susceptibility Index (SSI), and Tolerance index (TOL) were calculated by using of seed yield of the genotypes under both conditions. Indices that selection based on them will improve the yield in both conditions, are considered as suitable index. STI, GMP, MP and HM were introduced as suitable index for drought resistance selection. Genotypes Shiroodi and S-90-5 were determined as the most appropriate based on 3D plot. Based on positive correlation between water stress resistance indices and yield under stress and non-stress environments, STI and GMP were the best indices. By using the Biplot method, Shiroodi, S-90-5 and Oroum genotypes were considered as high yielding potential genotypes under the both conditions. According to the results of cluster analysis, genotypes were classified into three groups based on drought tolerance indices. Graphical analysis of genotypes also showed that genotypes Shiroodi and S-90-5 were more profitable than others under both drought stress and non-drought stress conditions. These genotypes could also be used as parents caring desirable genes in the crossing programs and selection of tolerate genotypes.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) is the most valuable and expensive spice in the world. The stigmas of saffron are the source of valuable apocarotenoids such as crocin, picrocrocin and safranal. transcriptomic and expression studies of genes are important steps in investigating of secondary metabolites in plants. One of the important prerequisites for such studies is the existence of reliable and stable reference genes to normalize the expression of other genes. In the present study, eight reference genes were identified and isolated using transcriptome of saffron and their expression stability was evaluated by nonparametric statistics and methods. The results of amplification and sequencing showed accurate identification of eight reference genes Actin, EF1, GAPDH, H3, MDH, TBP, UBC and UBQ. The expression stability evaluation revealed that MDH and UBQ genes had the highest stability among different saffron tissues and TBP had the lowest stability among them. In this study, for first time, eight reference genes were isolated from saffron and their expression stability was evaluated. The reference genes identified in the present study can be used as stable genes to normalize gene expression in transcriptomic and expression studies of saffron plant.  

Ferulago angulata (Schlecht) Boiss is one of the valuable and endemic medicinal plants of Iran, which is of great importance due to the source of terpenoid compounds and antimicrobial properties. In current study, the effects of different concentrations of salicylic acid and yeast extract in cell suspension culture of F.angulata on expression pattern of the HMGR and GPPS genes (involved in terpenes biosynthesis) were investigated for the first time. The F. angulata cell suspension cultures were initiated and established using calli derived from leaf explants, and salicylic acid and yeast extract elicitors (with 50, 100 and 150 mg/L concentrations) were added to the cultures during active growth. Then, the cell samples were prepared at 24, 48 and 72 hours after treatment. Analysis of expression pattern of HMGR and GPPS genes using Real-time PCR showed that the expression of both genes were significantly influenced by the type and concentration of the elicitors and also the times after treatment. The relative expression of HMGR and GPPS genes under elicitors were increased compared to the control, and furthermore, the increase in the relative expression of these genes under salicylic acid treatment was significantly higher than that of yeast extract treatment. The highest relative expression of GPPS and HMGR genes was related to 100 mg/L salicylic acid treatment at 24 hours after treatment. However, the highest relative expression of these genes was observed under the 24 and 72 hours after treatment of 150 mg/L yeast extract. The results of this study could be useful in metabolic engineering of F. angulata.

Anise is an annual plant belonging to Apiaceae family and fruit essential oil of this herb is used in various pharmaceutical, cosmetic and beverage industries. Drought stress is one of the most critical limiting factors for anise production in worldwide. In this research, to finding interrelationships among different traits and performance, some anise genotypes were evaluated using the biplot method. In this study, 18 anise genotypes were evaluated in normal irrigation regime and drought stress conditions according to a randomized complete block design with three replications at the field of the Western Australia University (UWA), Australia. Fifteen phonological, morphological and physiological traits were measured. Results indicated the positive and significant correlations between yield and fruit number and fruit thousand weight in both conditions. Due to the negative correlation between phonological features with fruit yield in two different irrigation conditions, it could be concluded that to have genotypes with high fruit yield, selection for early ripening genotypes should be done in anise. In this study, a significant correlation was observed between fruit yield and relative water content in the stress condition. Therefore, this trait can be used as a physiological index to evaluate drought tolerance in anise. According to cluster analysis based on the measured traits, genotypes were divided into 3 groups in both non-stress and stress conditions. According to the results of the comparison of the means of the groups in non-stress and drought stress conditions, genotypes No. 1, 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 15 and 16 were identified as the most drought-tolerant genotypes. These genotypes could be utilized in breeding programs for further improvement of drought tolerance in anise germplasm.

In order to identify QTLs controlling agronomically traits, landrace Tarom and rice Tarom mutant were crossed. SSR, ISSR, iPBS and IRAP markers were amplified in 250 F₂ individuals to prepare the linkage map. Number of tillers, 100 grain weight, number of filled grains, number of unfilled grains, plant height, panicle length, number of branches, stem diameter, grain length, grain width, grain shape, straw weight, days to maturity, flag leaf length and flag leaf width were measured for 250 individuals. The linkage map covered 970.9 cM of rice genome. The distance between two adjacent markers was calculated to be 12.77 cM. Based on the results, a total of 13 QTLs were identified for the evaluated traits. For all studied traits, alleles transferred from the parents to the QTLs detected increased grain yield. Most QTLs were detected for days to flowering. Three QTLs were located on chromosomes 10 and 4 (two QTLs) for days to flowering. qLDF-4a and qLDF-4b had a negative additive effect and the parent alleles of the mutant landrace Tarom reduced the number of days to flowering. These QTLs explained 11.6% of the phenotypic variance. Since the population under study was derived from a cross between landrace and mutant Tarom cultivars and the resulting population varied only in the mutated genes; so, the QTLs detected in this study were more accurate in location and expression levels, and after validation of them, they could be recommended for marker assistant selection breeding programs.

Cultivar identification in micro-propagated date palm seedlings is laborious so that application of molecular markers to facilitate and acceleration of the procedure seems inevitable. Given the need for control the originality of micro- propagated date palm seedlings, the aim of this study was evaluation of SSR markers usability to cultivar identification in micro-propagated date palm seedlings. Original samples of Green Ghanami, Red Ghanami, Gantar, Deiry, Ostaemran, Barhi, Medjool, Zahedi and Piarum cultivars were used control. Taking into account the rigidity of leaves and subsequently high consumption of liquid nitrogen to powder leaves, an efficient method for powdering of leaves using Tissue Lyser II instrument was optimized. Eight SSR primer pairs were used for polymerase chain reaction. The Results showed that by using these molecular markers and reliable controls, determination of micro- propagated date palm cultivars is feasible. Clustering of cultivars showed that all of them were differentiated using five SSR primer pairs including mPdCIR025, mPdCIR057, mPdCIR070, PDAG1003 and DP175. Also, barcoding of scored band illustrated that c1 allele (230 to 240 bp) for Piarum cultivar and d3 allele (220 to 230 bp) for Medjool cultivar were exclusive. Totally to make the results referable, cultivar identification diagram was drawn up.

In order to determine the heritability and genetic parameters of some agronomic traits in barely (Hordeum vulgare L.) cultivars, a seven-parent half diallel (F₁ crosses + parents) was conducted in the non-stress and salt stress (8 and 12 ds m^-1) conditions in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Genetic analysis was performed by Hayman’s method and Griffing’s fixed model, method 2. The slope of linear regression of W_r on V_r were significantly higher than 0 and had not significant difference with 1 indicating the additive-dominant model was satisfied in all cases. The narrow-sense heritability of traits was medium to high (0.4-0.8) but their broad-sense heritability was estimated relatively high (0.7-0.9). Results of regression graphs showed that Afzal parent had the most dominant allele. The significance of “a” component in most of the studied traits indicated the presence of the additive effects in controlling of traits. The significance of “b” component in most of the studied traits indicated the presence of the dominance effects in controlling of traits. The proportion of positive and negative genes was lower than 0.25 in all of the traits (except for grain weight per spike in 12 ds m^-1 salinity), indicating the presence of asymmetry in the distribution of the positive and negative alleles in the parents. Based on general combining ability effects, it was concluded that under salinity, cultivar “Kavir” had favorable alleles in plant height, grain weight per spike and 100 grain weight traits and can be used as a general parent in breeding programs. Estimates of high broad-sense heritability and narrow-sense heritability in most traits indicated that these genetic materials were promising for breeding under normal and salinity stress conditions.

In breeding programs, it is necessary having knowledge of the relatedness and genetic diversity in germplasm pools. The spread of cultivated regions and the high levels of production indicates citrus importance in the global economy. Therefore, 110 citrus genotypes were evaluated using 12 ISSR markers. Overall, 154 polymorphic bands were scored with an average of 12.8 alleles per primer. The polymorphism percentage ranged from 57 for the ISSR1 to 82 for the ISSR9. Averages of polymorphic information content (PIC), marker index (MI), gene diversity index (Nei), Shannon index (I) and number of effective alleles (Ne) were 0.48 ± 0.002, 6.14 ± 1.17, 0.42 ± 0.11, 0.61 ± 0.12 and 1.78 ± 0.27, respectively. Based on genetic diversity statistics, the studied population had high genetic diversity, and four markers (ISSR11, ISSR9, ISSR4, and ISSR5) had more potential for differentiation of genotypes. Cluster analysis and model-based structure analysis, divided the genotypes into five groups and four subpopulations based on the Neighbor-Joining method (NJ) and Bayesian approach, respectively. Based on both analyses, grouping of unknown genotypes and control cultivars in the same group probably confirms the assumption of a common genetic background between these genotypes. Results from the two analyses showed that Pummelo (C. maxima), Mandarin (C. reticulate), and Citron (C. medica), as three true citrus species, separated in different groups. In addition to the three true species, at least one species or another genus of citrus relatives is involved in the genetic makeup of the studied population. In this study, although both used analyses were effective in completing each other's information, by considering the degree of genetic mixing and the information of the origin of the genotypes, the effectiveness of model-based structure analysis in evaluating genetic relationships could be achieved.