Sorghum is an important forage crop, and both quantity and quality of this crop are affected by drought stress. Accordingly, in order to investigate the effect of drought stress on quantity and quality of morpho-physiological traits, a split-plot experiment was conducted based on randomized complete block design with four replicates in Isfahan, Iran, during 2017 and 2018 crop seasons. Treatments were irrigation regimes with four levels (control, preventing irrigation at pollination, seed milky, and seed doughy stages) and three varieties of sorghum (Sepideh, Kimia, and Payam). The results showed that drought stress negatively influenced morphological and yield-related traits of sorghum, while its effect was positive on some quality-related traits such as total soluble carbohydrate, crude protein, and proline contents. According to the results, drought stress based on prevention of irrigation at doughy stage (representing moderate drought stress) caused inconsiderable reduction in sorghum yield. In addition, drought stress has effect on relationships between morpho-physiological traits in sorghum. Considering morphological and yield-related traits together with susceptibility (stress susceptibility index) and tolerance (geometric mean product) indices indicated that Payam variety is more proper to be used in both drought stress and non-stress conditions. Furthermore, both Kimia and Payam varieties were shown to be suitable varieties based on quality-related traits, but because of having low NDF Payam variety might be more suitable.

Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is one of the most important consumed crops in many parts of the world because of its economic importance and content of health-promoting phytochemicals. With the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) as our model, we investigated the exogenous effects of three plant-growth regulators methyl jasmonate (MeJA), salicylic acid (SA), and abscisic acid (ABA) on major phytochemicals in relation to phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) activity. Specifically, we investigated the total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), total anthocyanin content (TAC), and total β-carotene content (TCC). Individual phenolic and flavonoid compounds were identified using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC). Antioxidant activities of treated plants were evaluated using a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay and a β-carotene bleaching assay. Anticancer activity of extracts was evaluated against breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231) using MTT assay. TPC, TFC, TAC, and TCC and antioxidant activities were substantially increased in MeJA-, SA-, and ABA-treated plants. Among the secondary metabolites identified in this study, MeJA application significantly induced production of quercetin, kaempferol, myricetin, gallic acid, chlorogenic acid, 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, and 4,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid. Luteolin synthesis was significantly induced by SA application. Compared with control plants, MeJA-treated sweet potato exhibited the highest PAL activity, followed by SA and ABA treatment. The high DPPH activity was observed in MeJA followed by SA and ABA, with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 2.40, 3.0, and 3.40 mg/mL compared with α-tocopherol (1.1 mg/mL). Additionally, MeJA-treated sweet potato showed the highest β-carotene bleaching activity, with an IC50 value of 2.90 mg/mL, followed by SA (3.30 mg/mL), ABA (3.70 mg/mL), and control plants (4.5 mg/mL). Extracts of sweet potato root treated with MeJA exhibited potent anticancer activity with IC50 of 0.66 and 0.62 mg/mL against MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cell lines respectively, compared to that of extracts of sweet potato treated with SA (MDA-MB-231 = 0.78 mg/mL; MCF-7 = 0.90 mg/mL) and ABA (MDA-MB-231 = 0.94 mg/mL; MCF-7 = 1.40 mg/mL). The results of correlation analysis showed that anthocyanins and flavooids are corresponding compounds in sweet potato root extracts for anticancer activity against breast cancer cell lines. MeJA has great potential to enhance the production of important health-promoting phytochemicals in sweet potato.

Background: Asthma is one of the important chronic diseases. The asthma prevalence is increasing in last decades. Despite the presence of good controller drugs like corticosteroids, about 60% of asthmatic patients use alternative medicine. This study was done to determine the effectiveness of Tregonella foenum graceum (fenugreek) seeds in mild asthma. Methods: It is a double blind trial with placebo effect. One of the ancient prescriptions from Persian Medicine was selected. The participants were divided to three groups randomly. On group received fenugreek syrup one received honey syrup and the third received placebo. Duration of treatment was 4 weeks. Quality of life, Lung function tests and IL-4 levels were evaluated before and after treatment. Results: From 90 participants to study 79 completed the process. After study there was significant increase in quality of the life and lung function tests and IL-4 levels in fenugreek and honey groups. Conclusion: FEV1 level was improved more than 10% in fenugreek group. Treatment was well tolerated. No serious side effects were reported during the study. The aqueous extract of fenugreek seeds appears to be effective and safe in treatment of mild asthma. Trial registration The study was recorded with the Iranian Registry of Clinical trials [http://www.irci.ir], registration code: IRCT2016011325991N1

Germination is a key process in plants′ phenological cycles. Accelerating this process could lead to improvment of the seedling growth as well as the cultivation efficiency. To achieve this, the effect of microwave frequency on the germination of rice seeds was examined. The physiological feedbacks of the MR 219 rice variety in terms of seed germination rate (GR), germination percentage (GP), and mean germination time (MGT) were analyzed by exposing its seeds to 2450 MHz of microwave frequency for one, four, seven, and ten hours. It was revealed that exposing the seeds to the microwave frequency for 10 hours resulted in the highest GP. This treatment led to 100% of germination after three days with a mean germination time of 2.1 days. Although the other exposure times of microwave frequency caused the moderate effects on germination with a GP_a3 ranged from 93% to 98%, they failed to reduce the MGT_a3. The results showed that ten‐hour exposure times of microwave frequency for six days significantly facilitated and improved the germination indices (primary shoot and root length). Therefore, the technique is expected to benefit the improvement of rice seed germination considering its simplicity and efficacy in increasing the germination percentage and rate as well as the primary shoot and root length without causing any environmental toxicity.