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Edaphic Mesostigmata are important, because these feed on arthropods and other invertebrates which may affect on natural equilibrium position of oter living micro-organisms. In order to study the fauna of mesostigmatid mites, samples of soil, litter were collected from different parts of Esfahan region. Mites were extracted by means of Berlese funnel, cleared in Lactic acid and mounted with Hoyer's medium. In this research, the world and Iranian distribution of species with some information about their habitats were provided. Two genera and 3 species were recorded as new records for Iran mite fauna that are marked by an asterisk. The list of identified genera and species is as follows: Ascidae: Arctoseius cetratus (Sellnick, 1940), A. pristinus^* Karg, 1962, A. venustulus (Berlese, 1917), Gamasellodes bicolor (Berlese, 1918); Blattisociidae: Lasioseius sugawarai Ehara, 1964, L. youcefi Athias-Henriot, 1959; Melicharidae: Proctolaelaps pygmaeus (Muller, 1860); Parholaspididae: Proparholaspulus^* angustatus^* Ishikawa, 1987 Trachytidae: Uroseius^* traegardhi^* (Hirschmann & Zirngiebl-Nicol, 1969).  

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The toxicity of imidacloprid and pirimicarb for all stages of the melon aphid, Aphis gossypii Glover, were investigated under laboratory conditions (25 ± 1 ^oC, 65 ± 5% R.H. and a photoperiod of 16:8 (L: D) h.) using a leaf dipping method. These pesticides were very toxic for first instar nymphs of A. gossypii with LC₅₀ values of 17 and 220.2 ppm for imidacloprid and pirimicarb, respectively. For other nymphal instars, values of 23.9 to 70.5 ppm and 308.8 to 781.7 ppm were recorded for imidacloprid and pirimicarb respectively. Their LC₅₀ values for adults were 90.1 and 983.1 ppm, respectively. Toxicity decreased with increasing age. Imidacloprid was more toxic than pirimicarb for all stages of development. The effect of applying sublethal concentrations of imidacloprid and pirimicarb was evaluated, also, using demographic toxicology. Longevity and population growth parameters, including intrinsic rate of increase (r_m), net reproductive rate (R₀), generation time (T_c) and finite rate of population increase (λ), were affected negatively by both insecticides. The r_m values for control, imidacloprid and pirimicarb exposed populations were 0.438, 0.150 and 0.335 female offspring per female per day, respectively. The doubling time (DT) also, was affected by imidacloprid. Overall, these results suggest that imidacloprid and pirimicarb can be effective against A. gossypii.  

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Nasonovia ribisnigri (Mosely) is one of the most important pests of the lettuce plant and it was reported for the first time in Ahvaz in 2008. In order to investigate the dominant species of its natural enemies and their population fluctuations, sample were taken arbitrarily from fifty plants twice a week during the growing season in 2010-2012. In this study, ten species of predators, three species of parasitoids and two species of hyperparasitoids were collected and identified. Hoverflies with a relative frequency of 55% were the dominant predators. Peaks of lacewings and subsequently ladybird beetles were more coincident with peaks of aphid population in mid-March in the first year of studies. But their densities in the second year were very low. Also, hoverflies and parasitoids were mainly observed in the high densities in late March-early April, in both years. Regression analysis indicated that populations of aphids were mainly affected by ladybird beetles and lacewings in the first year of study, as well as by ladybird beetles, hoverflies and parasitoids in the second year. Therefore, additional studies are required for further evaluation on the potential abilities of these natural enemies being a good candidates for the future biological control programs.  

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The toxicity of thiamethoxam and pirimicarb on Diaeretiella rapae (Mc'Intosh) as a parasitoid of Lipaphis erysimi (Kaltenbach), exposed to residues on glass vials, was investigated under laboratory conditions at 23 ± 2 °C, 70 ± 5% RH and 16:8 h (L: D). Moreover, in order to find the negative impacts of both insecticides on the efficiency of D. rapae, the functional response of the exposed parasitoids were assessed. The newly emerged parasitoids were exposed to LC₂₅ of the insecticides and distilled water as control. Host densities of 2, 4, 6, 8, 16, 32 and 64 were placed on canola seedlings in a transparent cylindrical container and were offered to the treated parasitoids. Type of functional response was determined by means of logistic regression method and the parameters, attack rate (a) and handling time (T_h) were calculated by nonlinear regression model using SAS software. The parasitoid exhibited type II functional response in all experiments. Attack rates in control, pirimicarb and thiamethoxam were 0.057 ± 0.01,0.059 ± 0.013 and 0.040 ± 0.01 h^-1, and handling times were 1.097 ± 0.1, 1.86 ± 0.02, 2.81 ± 0.296 h, respectively. Maximum rates of parasitism (T/T_h) were estimated 21.87, 12.9, 8.53 aphids, respectively. These observations suggest that pirimicarb with less harmful effects is the preferred candidate for controlling the mustard aphid.

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Reproductive parameters and ovipositional preference of Plutella xylostella were assessed on some mutant genotypes of canola (RGS 8-1, RGS 10-2, RGS 8-13, Zar 9-9 and Talaye 8-3) and their cultivars (RGS, Zar, Talaye) under greenhouse condition (21 ± 6 °C, 65 ± 10 RH and a photoperiod of 16L: 8D h). Comparison of the reproductive parameters on RGS and its mutant genotypes revealed that mutant genotype RGS 8-1 was the most susceptible genotype to the pest, having maximum values of gross reproductive rate (182.7 female eggs/ female), net fecundity rate (248.2 eggs/ female) and mean number of fertile eggs (8.98 fertile eggs/female/day). The last parameter was the lowest on RGS 8-13 (3.05 fertile eggs/ female/day). In no-choice condition, the experiment of ovipositional preference indicated no significant difference among mean number of deposited eggs on the three cultivars compared with their mutant genotypes after 24 h. While, in choice test, mutant genotype, RGS 10-2 (151.67 eggs) was preferred over RGS and the two other mutant genotypes. This study revealed that effect of physical mutation on resistance of canola to P. xylostella may vary depending on canola cultivar and different mutant genotypes of the same cultivar. This point should be considered by plant breeders when releasing these mutant plants with appropriate cultural traits for utilizing by farmers.

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In this study, the efficiency of essential oils from asafoetida, Ferula assa foetida L.,geranium, Pelargonium hortorum L.H. Bailey and walnut leaves, Juglans regia F. was investigated on nutritional indices of Rhyzopertha dominica (F.) adults. Wheat grains were treated with different concentrations of the oils. The nutritional indices: relative growth rate (RGR), relative consumption rate (RCR), efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI) and feeding deterrence index (FDI) were measured at 28 ± 2 °C, 65 ± 5% R. H. in continuous darkness. RGR, RCR and ECI deceased as the concentration level was increased. While, FDI percent increased significantly as the concentration level increased. Asafoetida oil had the most efficiency on nutritional indices and 28.61 ppm of the oil was enough to decrease RGR, RCR and ECI% to 0.032 mg/mg/day, 0.444 mg/mg/day and 6.994%, respectively. FDI percent of adults exposed to 6.5 ppm of asafoetida oil was 13.31% which increased upto 64.62% at the concentration of 28.61 ppm. In the second experiment, the effect of tested essential oils was evaluated on F1 progeny reduction of R. dominica. Walnut and asafoetida leaves essential oils significantly suppressed progeny production by (59.92%) and (53.2%) respectively.
 

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The sugarcane stem borer, Sesamia cretica Lederer, is one of the most economically important pests of sugarcane in Khuzestan province, southwest Iran. The egg parasitoid Telenomus busseolae Gahan significantly affect S. cretica population in the field. Host age is an important factor of host acceptance and suitability for egg parasitoids. We examined the ability of T. busseolae to parasitize and develop in S. cretica eggs of different ages. In a no choice laboratory experiment, we measured the effect of host age (12, 36, or 60h old) on parasitism rate and offspring fitness characteristics such as survival, development time, sex ratio, size, and progeny longevity and fecundity. Results revealed that the suitability of host eggs decreased as host age increased. Exposure of parasitoids to 12h old eggs resulted in higher percentage parasitism, higher acceptance, higher survival and larger body size of parasitoid progeny. Progeny that emerged from 12h old eggs had also higher longevity and fecundity than those emerged from other host ages tested.
 

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of lyophilized Alyssum homolocarpum seed gum–whey protein concentrate (with the ratio of 1:1, 1:3 and 3:1) on physicochemical properties of corn oil–in–water emulsions. Interfacial tension and emulsion characteristics such as particle size distribution, zeta potential, flow behavior, viscosity and creaming were investigated. The results showed that with the increasing gum ratio in the mixture, the interfacial tension increased, but the difference was not statistically significant. In emulsions stabilized with gum–protein mixture, increasing gum content, increased the particles size, negative charge on droplets surface, consistency coefficient, yield stress and hysteresis between the forward and the backward diagrams. The particle size distribution curve was monomodal and emulsions stabilized with this mixture showed non–newtonian and psedoplastic behavior. No creaming was observed in all emulsions.  

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Dietary fiber is one of the important components in diet which possesses positive effects on health, in addition tohaving appropriate functional properties. Among plant sources, date seed is an abundant and inexpensive as well as rich source of dietary fiber. In this research, date seed was first fractionated into two parts including outer part (crust) and inner part (core) and then both parts were defatted. The two kinds of powders obtained from defatting crust and core were named crust fiber and core fiber. Chemical analysis showed that the amount of protein, insoluble dietary fiber and total dietary fiber in core were significantly higher than crust. Fat of crust was significantly higher than core. Also it was understood that the amount of total dietary fiber in both crust and core parts was high (70.68% and 74.17%, respectively). Water retention capacity and oil binding capacity of core fiber (2.80 and 1.29 gram/gram, respectively) were respectively higher and lower than crust fiber (2.66 and 1.40 gram/gram, respectively). Core fiber was lighter than crust fiber. The value of all the three parameters including water retention capacity, oil binding capacity and L* were acceptable in comparison with most of the agricultural by-products and commercial fibers.   

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  Progressive collapse is a rare event during which all or a part of the structure is destroyed due to damage or failure of a small section of the structure. Progressive collapse due to abnormal loading or the design and construction errors can lead to great financial and human losses. Therefore, during the past decades many engineers have been interested in this type of failure. Although a great research effort has been done to investigate the effect of masonry infill panels on the seismic response of frame buildings, there is not so much work on evaluating progressive collapse potential of masonry infill frames. Reinforced concrete structures are considered as bare frames in analysis and design process, including the main structural members such as beams, columns and shear walls. However, in the urban areas, structural frames are filled with masonry walls as acoustic and thermal insulation in the middle or peripheral areas of the buildings therefore they have not the same behavior as the bare frames. This research aims at investigating the effect of unreinforced masonry infill panels on the response of RC frames against the progressive collapse. For this purpose a micro based modeling approach is adopted for numerical simulation of the masonry infill panels and through a parametric study, the effect of influencing parameters is numerically investigated. Also an equivalent compressive strut model is proposed for macro modeling of masonry infill panels. The comparison between numerical and available experimental results confirms the reliability of the developed model. Finally, the developed macro model is used to investigate the influence of masonry infill panels on the progressive collapse resistance of two reinforced concrete frames with different ductility capacity. It is shown that, under the progressive collapse phenomenon, the ductility of RC frame is the main effective parameter and masonry infill panel plays an important and non-ignorable role in structural response. In this paper also progressive collapse resistance is studied for two six-story reinforced concrete frame structures. The first structure has been designed according to Iranian concretecode (ABA) with high ductility and in the second building, seismic design load has not been considered and the structure was designed only against gravity load. The critical column has been removed from the models to numerically investigate the progressive collapse potential of the structures. Because of the lack of national regulations for evaluating the effect of progressive collapse, in this article nonlinear static analysis method of the U.S department of defense regulations (UFC) is used to evaluate the progressive collapse potential. The result of the analysis shows that the structure with high ductility is resistant under remove of column, but the structure designed without considering seismic effects needs to retrofit against progressive collapse.

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The effect of xanthan gum (0-0.3%) on corn oil-in-water (pH=7) emulsions prepaired by 0.5% grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) protein isolate was studied. Particle size, PDI, zeta-potential, emulsion capacity, emulsion stability and creaming index of emulsions were measured inorder to find the effect of xanthan gum on the stability of emulsion. Results showed that increasing concentrations of gum caused depletion flocculation and thus increased the particle size but had no significant effect on the zeta potential. Study on creaming index, emulsion capacity and stability also showed that with increasing xanthan gum, emulsion capacity and stability increased, while, creaming index decreased. Therefore, after 28 days of storage at 4˚C, no changes were observed in the emulsions containing xanthan gum.

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In this research, time dependency of low fat- low cholesterol mayonnaise with 35 and 50% oil at the different concentration of Lepidium perfoliatum seed gum (0.5, 0.75 and 1%) and whey protein concentrate were studied. Data were fitted with famous rheological models. Results showed that all samples had thixotropic behavior and their viscosity decreased with time. The rate and extent of viscosity decay were dependent on the applied shear rate, percent of fat and gum concentration. The viscosity of the samples tended to decay more rapidly at higher shear rates toward an equilibrium viscosity. Samples containing less fat, showed lower viscosity and approached rapidly to the equilibrium. Addition of gum to mayonnaise caused higher viscosity and samples become like the full-fat sample. In this study, the breakdown rate constant did not show a clear trend with increasing gum concentration and shear rate.  

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The antifungal potential of essential oils of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.), rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), and laurel (Laurus nobilis L.) was determined. To establish this antifungal potential, two molds related to feed spoilage, namely, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus, were selected. The agar dilution method was employed for the determination of antifungal activities. The investigated essential oils exhibited inhibitory effects on both molds tested. Thyme oil showed the highest inhibition of mold growth, followed by rosemary and laurel. Thyme essential oil was a stronger inhibitor against A. parasiticus than against A. flavus.The finding of the present study suggests that thyme essential oil inhibits the growth of fungi attacking stored feed and strengthens the possibility of using it as the alternative to potassium sorbate as effective inhibitor of biodegrading and storage contaminating fungi.

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Kefir is a traditional beverage that is produced by fermented milk with kefir grains, Kefir grains are complex mixture of bacteria, yeasts, and polysaccharides produced by this micro flora. The initial amount of kefir grains used to produce kefir drinks affects the quality of the beverage in terms of pH, viscosity and microbial characteristics of the final beverage. In this study, the effects of different levels of starter (4, 6 and 8%, containing Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. Bulgaricus, Bifidobacterium), yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (2, 3 and 4%) and storage time (24, 48 and 72 hours after inoculation) on the physicochemical and microbiological properties of kefir beverage was studied using a central composite design and response surface methodology, in order to produce a product with higher probiotic bacteria than yeast. Physicochemical properties including acidity, pH, ethanol, apparent viscosity and flow behavior parameters, as well as microbial counting was performed. According to the results of the tests, the amount of yeast had the most effect on apparent viscosity and by increasing the amount of yeast and during of storage time, the apparent viscosity and consistency coefficient decreased. In addition, the viscosity increased with increasing starter rates. Regarding the amount of ethanol, the amount of produced ethanol increased by increasing the amount of yeast and during the storage time due to the increase in the amount of yeast and finally the microbial count decreased during storage. Optimization results showed that the sample containing 2% yeast and 4% starter in time 38 hours after inoculation had the lowest amount of ethanol and was suitable for rheological properties.

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In this study, the effect of glycerol concentrations (60, 70 and 80 %) and drying temperatures (45, 60 and 75 °C) on physical and mechanical properties of Lepidium perfoliatum seed gum-grass pea (Lathyrus sativus) protein isolate composite film was investigated. Results showed that with increasing the temperature from 45°C to 75°C, the drying time needed for the composite film containing 60 and 70% reduced. Whilst, drying times of the samples with 70 and 80% glycerol were nearly the same. Water solubility, moisture absorption and elongation at break (E%) reduced when the drying temperature increased and the elastic modulus (EM) decreased. With increasing glycerol concentration from 60 to 80 %, water solubility and moisture absorption increased and E% and EM reduced.

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The present study was carried out in order to test the effect of grapevine rootstocks root growth on biomass and leaf nutrition status in extreme soil conditions. Own rooted cuttings of rootstocks Fercal, Teleki Kober 5BB, Georgikon 28 and four new rootstock hybrids from the breeding program of Georgikon Faculty, Hungary (FB01, JB01, Zamor 17 and SZF10) were grown 3 months in pots. The 5 L pots were filled with a layer of gravel, high lime content Rendzina soil (pH 8.54) topped with a layer of peat-soil mixture (pH 4.94). The biomass production, shoot, leaf and root development largely depended on the rootstocks genotype. The differences among studied rootstocks were significant under low pH. Correlation was found between the root dry weight and the aboveground parts. The ratio between them was strongly influenced by rootstocks genotype. Rootstocks had strong influence on leaf nutrient status.

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Life history of insect herbivores is unclear after feeding on mutant lines of many crops. To shed light, demographic parameters of Plutella xylostella on three canola cultivars (“Zar”, “RGS”, “Talaye”) and their physical mutation-derived lines (“Zar 9-9”, “RGS 8-1”, “RGS 10-2”, “RGS 8-13” and “Talaye 8-3”) were determined under greenhouse condition. Methods of life table including the female age specific life table and the age-stage, two-sex life table were applied. According to two-sex life table, there was no significant difference between demographic parameters of P. xylostella on “Talaye” and “Zar” in comparison with their mutant lines, but significant differences were observed between these parameters on mutant lines of “RGS”. Having suitable cultural traits, “RGS 8-1” was more susceptible than the other two mutant lines and its control cultivar “RGS” in terms of population growth of the pest. According to the two-sex life table, the net reproductive rate (R₀), intrinsic rate of increase (r), and finite rate of increase (λ) were the highest on RGS 8-1 (98.63 offspring per individual, 0.208 and 1.231 day^-1, respectively). Also, population projection showed the rapid growth of the pest on the latter line. There was a little difference between the same population parameters estimated by two methods of life table. Investigating some consequences of plant breeding using radiation techniques on insect fitness not only leads plant breeders to do more unfailing selections but also provides some enlightenment in pest management programs effectively when plantation of such crops is prioritized.

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The aim of the present work was to purify cysteine protease inhibitors from rapeseed (Brassica napus L.), with potential activity on digestive protease of Colorado Potato Beetle (CPB), Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say). Ammonium sulfate precipitated proteinaceous fractions; 30, 50, 70, and 100% showed 39.07, 57.03, 51.47, and 22.44% inhibition on the fourth instar larval gut general protease activity, respectively. Fraction 50% showed the highest inhibitory effect on digestive general protease activity of all developmental stages. Gel assays approved the inhibition of the enzyme activity. Fraction 50% was purified by using various chromatography techniques; ion-exchange using DEAE, gel filtration and affinity using SiO₂-CPB larval gut homogenate. Three peaks of protein were eluted from ion exchange chromatography using NaCl step gradient, also from gel filtration chromatography. When Z-Ala-Arg-Arg-4mßNA was used as cysteine protease substrate, the purification fold of second fraction of ion exchange chromatography was obtained 24.80, also the yield was 59.09%, the third fraction of gel permeation resulted in a 25.60 fold purification with 28.53% of recovery, and the fraction of affinity chromatography obtained a 22.72 fold purification and yielded 36.35%. In the SDS-PAGE, apparent molecular mass of purified proteins were 34 and 32 kDa by ion-exchange and 24 and 22 kDa by affinity. However, gel filtration was not an appropriate method in this study, because the purified protein band(s) were not observed on the gel. Consequently, these chromatography methods were appropriate methods to purification of inhibitor cystatins, specially affinity which was prepared by using CPB gut enzyme as ligand and obtained specific inhibitor proteins of CPB gut protease activity.

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 The effect of fire on vegetation of semi-arid steppe has not been studied extensively. Wildfires are rare in some steppe rangelands because of high levels of large herbivore grazing. However, grazing is sometimes restricted or excluded in areas such as national parks or the areas where afforestation projects are conducted. Therefore, sometimes, wildfires occur during the dormant season when litter (the uppermost layer of organic debris on the soil surface; essentially the freshly fallen or slightly decomposed vegetal material) mass has resulted in peak levels. Our study assessed the effects of a single fire on litter mass, forage production, and forage crude protein, Neutral Detergent Fiber (NDF), and Acid Detergent Fiber (ADF) in high altitude rangelands of Eastern Anatolia. We found significant effects of treatment (fire and no fire), years, and sampling date on all variables. Following the prescribed fire in 2011, litter mass and forage production was less in treated plots compared to untreated control plots during both years. The effect of the fire on litter and forage production was more pronounced in 2012 compared to 2013. The effects of the fire on forage quality variables were also greater in 2012 than in 2013. Forage crude protein levels were consistently higher in treated plots during all 2012 sampling periods. Similarly, NDF and ADF tended to be lower in treated plots relative to the control plots during 2012. All effects we found were more pronounced in the first growing season following the fire compared to the second growing season, suggesting a relatively transient nature of fire effects in the steppe vegetation we studied.