February 2010
Investigating link between job characteristics and job satisfaction of extension workers
Job nature in extension services is associated with works in rural areas, which needs extension workers to show high levels of interest and job satisfaction. A survey of 52 extension workers was conducted in Markazi Province of Iran to explore the relationship between job characteristics and job satisfaction among extension workers using Bray Field and Rothe Job Satisfaction Index. The study found that the majority of...
February 2010
Gender analysis of land use for urban agriculture and sustainability of livelihoods in Freetown, Sierra Leone
This paper examined the gender analysis of land use for urban agriculture and sustainability of Livelihoods in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This is predicated on the fact that despite the stated contribution of urban agriculture (UA) to household food security, employment generation and poverty reduction, it has not received due recognition and policy support. The study was carried out in Freetown, Sierra Leone using a...
February 2010
Farmer participation in land consolidation projects in Iran: The case of Shirvan and Chardavol City
The objective of this paper was to study the factors affecting farmers' participation in the implementation of the land consolidation project in Iran. Required data were collected by a questionnaire and an interview with 137 farmers selected through stratified sampling method from 4 out of 8 rural districts in Shirvan and Chardavol City. The collected data through questionnaires were analyzed through the SPSS...
February 2010
Digital orange tree: An intelligent agent based simulation model
In this work, an agent-based functional-structural model of growth simulation for Orange tree is presented. This simulation model is named ORASIM (ORAnge tree SIMulation). In ORASIM, functions such as carbon/water acquisitions, expenses and their dynamics are embedded into individual metamer/root agents with detailed geometries and 3D shapes. The organization of metamer/root agent’s nested-list forms a growing,...
February 2010
Effects of ATP and Zn2+ on degradation of the large subunit of ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase in wheat leaves
Ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) degradation is a complex process involving a multitude of proteolytic pathways, and its mechanism is still unclear now. We previously confirmed that a new senescence-associated protease in the stroma of chloroplasts from senescing leaves was suggested to be involved in the appearance of a 51 kDa fragment of Rubisco. In this study, the 51-kDa fragment was...
February 2012
Studying the variables that separate entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial agricultural producer cooperatives (APCs) for predicting group membership
The main purpose of this study is to predict the group membership of entrepreneurial or non-entrepreneurial agricultural producer cooperative based on a linear combination of the interval variables. Discriminant function analysis was used in this research for access purpose. The study’s sample consisted of 250 agricultural cooperatives in Iran. The variables that indicate the entrepreneurial situation of a...
February 2010
Applying fuzzy-MSGP approach for supplier evaluation and selection in food industry
Supplier selection is an important issue in food supply chain management (SCM). In previous research, the food industry generally lacks a formal reference approach for supplier’s selection in agricultural products. The key purpose of this study is to develop an integrated fuzzy multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) model to select supplier. The advantage of this method is its consideration of both qualitative...
February 2010
Length-weights relationships and relative weights of some demersal fish species from the Persian Gulf, Iran
This study reports the Length-weights relationships, and relative weights of 5 demersal fish species of Persian Gulf. Specimens were caught during fishing surveys using different types of fishing gears between April 2008 to December 2010. A total of 653 individuals were sampled. The parameter b ranged between 2.626 (Acanthopagrus latus (Houttuyn, 1782)) to 2.995 (Carangoides talamparoides (Bleeker, 1852))....
February 2010
Comparative responses of cowpea breeding lines to Striga and Alectra in the dry savanna of northeast Nigeria
The parasitic flowering plants Striga gesnerioides (Willd.) Vatke and Alectra vogelii (Benth.) are formidable cowpea production constraints in the West and Central African savanna. The two parasites cause substantial yield reduction in cowpea in the dry savannas. A field study was conducted to screen some of the cowpea breeding lines that have been developed for resistance to Striga and Alectra under natural...
February 2012
The response and protein pattern of spring rapeseed genotypes to sodium chloride stress
The research was conducted to investigate the effect of salinity on rapeseed. Furthermore, the protein pattern of genotypes was investigated to support the greenhouse evaluation. Twelve genotypes of rapeseed were treated with zero, 175 and 350 mM of NaCl in hydroponic culture system. Protein pattern of the genotypes were visualized by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) method. Most of...
February 2012
Multivariate analysis of quantitative traits in Iranian pumpkin lines (Cucurbita spp.)
Pumpkin is an important plant, which is one of the oldest domesticated crops of the Neolithic revolution. In this study, seed yield production and its different components fruit length, fruit diameter, fruit length/fruit diameter ratio (FL/FD), diameter of flesh, diameter of seed core, fruit weight, weight of 1000 seed from 24 lines of pumpkin grown in Iran were examined. Twenty five characters in all plant lines were...
February 2012
Effects of drought and salt stresses on growth, stomatal conductance, leaf water and osmotic potentials of melon genotypes (Cucumis melo L.)
Drought and salt stress is the major constrains to crop productivity. However, resistant genotypes improve their physiological mechanisms to cope with these stresses. In this study, we have investigated the influences of drought and salt stress on dry weight, leaf osmotic potential, leaf water potential, leaf temperature and stomatal conductance in sensitive and resistant melon genotypes. Four melon genotypes...
February 2012
Growth and yield parameters as potential indicators of selection for moisture deficit tolerance in some Pakistani wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars
The present study evaluated growth, yield and yield components of three wheat cultivars (Bhakher-2002, Inqalab-91 and Punjnad-2001) under varying degree of soil moisture deficit. The cultivars were grown under 60 and 20% soil moisture along with their control. Intensive moisture deficit induced more drastic (P< 0.001) effect on the performance of the cultivar as compared with moderate moisture deficit regime. Among...
February 2012
Vegetable growers in southern Tehran, Iran: Pesticides types, poisoning symptoms, attitudes towards pesticide-specific issues and environmental safety
The main purpose of this study was to investigate vegetable growers’ manner of use of pesticides, their attitudes towards pesticide-specific issues and opinions about environmental safety measures. For the study, 70 vegetable growers in southern Tehran, Iran were randomly selected and interviewed. Data were also collected through a well structured questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was checked by a...
February 2012
The effects of tillage system and plant density on yield and yield components of corn (Zea mays L.) varieties in North of Iran
In order to investigate the effect of tillage system and plant density on grain yield component in three varieties of corn, an experimental design, random complete block in a split factorial was used. Treatments arrangement was in quadruplicate in north of Iran in 2010. Main plot was subjected to tillage system in three levels: 1. Conventional system (CT). 2. Conservation system (RT) - chisel plough and multitiller. 3....
February 2012
Growth response and ameliorative effect of a forage plant (Festuca arundinacea) in calcareous saline-sodic soils
Saline-sodic soils are characterized by the occurrence of salt and sodium (Na+) to levels that can adversely affect several soil properties and growth of most crops. In this study, we reported a pot experiment for studying the biomass production, ion accumulation and potential soil ameliorative effects of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) grown under calcareous saline-sodic soil conditions. Seed-derived plants of F....
February 2012
Papaya (Carica papaya) seed as a low-cost sorbent for zinc removal
The potential of using papaya seed as a sorbent for the removal of Zn from aqueous solution was investigated. The sorption characteristics of the sorbent was studied under various experimental conditions, such as pH, contact time, concentration of Zn(II), agitation rate and sorbent’s particle size. The equilibrium data have been studied using Langmuir, Freundlich and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller equations. The best...
February 2012
An investigation on plant species diversity in Colchic Province (Turkey)
The present study was carried out during 2005 to 2010 to determine the important plants of Colchic Province in Turkey, which includes Ordu, Giresun, Trabzon, Rize, Gumushane and Artvin cities. The research area is located in the Colchic part of the Euxin province of the Euro-Siberian floral region, within the Holarctic phytogeographical region. In this study, 327 genera, 540 species and subspecies belongs to 89...
February 2012
Potato surface defect detection in machine vision system
Potato is cultivated as a major food resource in some countries that have moderate climate. Potato is sensitive to many diseases. Sorting is necessary for decreasing the transfer rate of diseases and preparing favourite conditions. Grading with workers has disadvantages such as: instability, time needed and its expensive, to solve these problems, use of machine vision system is necessary. 90 Agria potatoes were...
February 2012
The research of an advanced wireless sensor networks for agriculture
The advanced wireless sensor networks constitute one of the promising application areas of the recently developed wireless sensor networking techniques. It contains two parts: the terrestrial wireless sensor networks (WSN) and the underground wireless sensor networks (WUSN). The main difference between the hybrid WSN and the conventional wireless sensor networks is the aspect of WUSN, which communicates in the soil. The...
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