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The effect of various host plants including chickpea (varieties Arman, Hashem, Azad and Binivich), common bean (variety Khomein), white kidney bean (variety Dehghan), red kidney bean (variety Goli), cowpea (variety Mashhad), and tomato (variety Meshkin) on the reproductive performance and growth indices of the cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) was determined under laboratory conditions (25 ± 1°C, 65 ± 5% RH and a 16:8 h light:dark photoperiod). The highest rate of gross fecundity, gross fertility, net fecundity, net fertility, mean daily eggs and mean daily fertile eggs were observed on chickpea Arman (2947.8 ± 7.8, 2933.0 ± 7.8, 2404.2 ± 7.1, 2392.2 ± 7.1, 170.9 ± 0.4, and 170.1 ± 0.4 eggs female^-1, respectively), whereas the lowest values of these parameters were on tomato Meshkin (847.5 ± 9.2, 673.8 ± 7.3, 225.5 ± 2.6, 179.3 ± 2.1, 67.9 ± 0.7 and 54.3 ± 0.5 eggs female^-1, respectively). The development index of overall immature stages varied from 1.10 to 1.57, with the minimum on tomato Meshkin and the maximum on chickpea Arman. Also, the fitness and standardized insect-growth indices were highest (0.349 ± 0.009 and 0.058 ± 0.001 gr day^-1) and lowest (0.052 ± 0.001 and 0.013 ± 0.000 gr day^-1) on chickpea Arman and tomato Meshkin, respectively. The Weibull model sufficiently described the shape of the survivorship curve of adult H. armigera from life-table data. A significant fit was obtained with the Weibull model for H. armigera in all experimental host plants. The results of reproductive performance, growth indices and the cluster analysis showed that tomato Meshkin was partially resistant to H. armigera.

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A 30-day experiment was carried out to comparison the effect of carrot and beetroot as natural pigments and synthetic astaxanthin on growth performance, hematological parameters, and tissue color in rainbow trout fingerlings. 150 juvenile rainbow trout with initial mean weight of 21.44 ± 1.25g fed diets containing 50 and 100 mg/kg carrot; 100 mg/kg beetroot; 100 mg/kg synthetic astaxanthin and a control diet. Body weight increasing and specific growth rate were higher in fish fed the diet containing 100 mg beetroot than those of the control diet. Hematological study including red blood cell, white blood cell, hematocrit and hemoglobin showed significant differences between treatments (p<0.05). Carrot and beetroot had higher values of red blood cell, white blood cell, hematocrit and hemoglobin than those of the synthetic astaxanthin and control diet. Triglyceride and cholesterol value were significantly higher in diet containing 100 mg beet (p<0.05). Carotenoid content analysis from skin, tissue and blood revealed that inclusion of plant source of carotenoid including carrot and beetroot resulted in a significant increase in carotenoid concentration (p<0.05). The study concluded that plant source of carotenoid such as carrot and beetroot could improve immune systems in rainbow trout by increasing white and red blood cells and also, fish fed diet supplemented with natural carotenoid (carrot and beet) showed better coloration.

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This study was carried out to investigate the effects of salinity levels (0, 2, 4, 7 and 10 ppt) on growth indices, blood biochemical parameters, and body composition in Rutilus frisii kutum fingerlings (initial weight 1.330.02 g) during 60 days. Results indicated that the highest rates of daily growth, specific growth and weight gain per fish were obtained at the levels of 4 and 2 ppt (P<0.05). The lowest rates of these indices were observed at 10 ppt (P<0.05). FCR (food conversion ratio) and CF (condition factor) showed no significant difference among various treatments (P>0.05). Findings of blood biochemical factors at the end of the study (hematocrit, total protein, glucose, cholesterol, calcium, sodium, potassium and magnesium) revealed no significant variation in different salinities (P>0.05). Changes in protein, moisture, fat and ash content were not significant at the end of the experimental period (P>0.05).

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ZnO is extensively used in a wide range of industrial applications. Hence, considerable accumulation of this substance occurs in the environment. The objective of the present study was to compare and characterize the growth of model tobacco plant at different ZnO levels in various rooting media (i.e., water-based, perlite-based, and sand-based). In soilless medium (especially water-based), ZnO levels lower and/or higher than 1µM showed negative impacts on fresh weights, some of leaves indices, and number of flowers and fruits. In soil-based media, 250 and 500 mg ZnO kg^-1 often scored the highest values for the mentioned indices. However, all evaluated indices were much higher in water-based than the other two media. Flavonoids, antocyanins and FRAP capacity increased at highest levels in soil-grown and perlite-grown media, but Zn content was the same for all concentrations in soil-grown plants. Photosynthetic pigments decreased at 1,000 mg kg^-1 in soil-based media. Overall, the sensitivity to small changes in ZnO levels was much higher in water-based compared to the other two media, while ZnO supply resulted in improvement of some parameters in soil-based media. Soil and perlite possess certain experimental limitations (e.g., surface absorption, unfavorable pH, low gas exchange, limited spread of roots and insoluble Zn-complexes), while water-grown plants were comparatively better than the other media in terms of experimental control and handling. These results show different effects of ZnO levels in different media and also suggest the water-based medium as a possible alternate for future accurate investigations of Zn trials.

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Development of saffron corm resources with higher ability to acquire nutrients and produce more dry matter may offer one solution to mitigate the yield loss problem in growing areas. In the present study, variability in growth, nutrition, and biomass production among saffron ecotypes grown for a two-year field experiment was investigated at Kerman, a semi-arid region of Iran, during the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 growing seasons. The results indicated that the studied ecotypes significantly differed in the mentioned parameters and responded differently to growing seasons. High-agronomic performance (yield) and nutrient-efficient ecotypes, e.g. Ferdows, Sarayan, and Bajestan, accumulated more nutrients as a result of increased Relative Growth Rate (RGR) and Net Assimilation Rate (NAR) before the critical stage, resulting in higher dry matter production. In contrast, ecotypes with lower potential to acquire nutrients, e.g. Zarand and Torbat, had lower growth and dry matter. Further, the results showed that variation in nitrogen (N) concentration in corms and leaves was not significant, although significant variation existed in N uptake, N uptake efficiency, and N use efficiency. This can be due to variation observed in the ability of corms to utilize nutrients for dry matter production. Cluster analysis revealed the presence of highly efficient, moderately efficient, and inefficient ecotypes. Generally, the results indicated that ecotypes with higher growth rate before critical stage showed more potential to uptake and utilize nutrients to produce more dry matter, and exhibited more nutrients use efficiencies. Overall, this study suggested that the nutrient acquisition capacity of ecotypes, a desired feature associated with higher biomass production, can be an important factor in selection programs.

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Leaves are the most important photosynthetic sources in rice plant. In order to analyze growth indices and determine the contribution of leaves to grain filling, a study was carried out with nine genotypes and six levels of source limitations at grain filling stage in 2017-2018, at the Rice Research Institute of Iran, Mazandaran. The experiment was carried out as a split plot in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications and placing the genotypes in the main plot and leaf cutting treatments in the sub- plots. The results showed that genotype 959 had the highest Leaf Area Index (LAI) at the flowering stage. The highest Crop Growth Rate (CGR) with 23.3 g m^-2 and Net Assimilating Rate (NAR) with 7.5 g m^-2 belonged to the genotype 952. Genotypes 957 and 959 had the highest number of tillers and genotype 952 had the highest yield. The results of combined analysis of variance revealed that leaf removal treatments had significant effects on 1000-grain weight, percent of filled grains and paddy yield per hill (P< 1% ). The comparison of means between two years showed that leaf removal treatment caused significant decrease in panicle length, grain length and number of filled and total number of grains per hill. The highest yield reduction of 47.7 and 46.5% occurred in treatment of complete leaf removal for genotypes 953 and 954, respectively. The most destructive level of leaf removal treatments was the removal of all leaves, two top leaves, all leaves except flag leaf, flag leaf and all leaves except upper two leaves which caused paddy yield losses of, respectively, 37.4, 20.2, 16.5, 14.1, and 9.4%, compared to the control (no removal of leaves) with 6133 kg ha^-1. According to the results, about 90% of the carbohydrates needed by rice in the grain filling stage are provided by the upper two leaves in each rice plant.