Water availability is an important factor for plant growth in arid environments. In recent decades, vermicompost (VC) fertilizer has been used in agriculture as a safe and effective fertilizer with high water-holding capacity. The aim of the present study was to characterize effects of VC fertilizer on photosynthetic activity of chickpea (Cicer arietinum L. cv. karaj) under drought conditions at three growth stages. Tests were done at five volumetric ratios of vermicompost to soil: 0:100, 10:90, 20:80, and 30:70; and three levels of drought stress; non-stress (NS), moderate drought stress (MS), and severe drought stress (SS) (100, 75, and 25% of field capacity, respectively). Evaluations were made for chlorophyll content, gas exchange, and chlorophyll fluorescence at different growth stages: a seedling, flowering, and podding stage. Results demonstrated that VC treatment under NS conditions significantly increased total chlorophyll content [Chl (a+b)], intercellular CO2 concentration (C i ), net photosynthetic rate (P N ), transpiration rate (E), and maximal quantum yield of PSII photochemistry (F v /F m ) at all three stages. The VC addition at 10 and 20% significantly enhanced Chl content and F v /F m under MS and F v /F m , C i , and P N under SS at the flowering stage. In conclusion, the above results showed that VC fertilizer had a positive effect on photosynthesis of chickpea under NS conditions, but no positive effect was found under

The essential oils of three wild-growing Thymus species, collected from west of Iran during the flowering stage, were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Under the optimum extraction and analysis conditions, 44, 38, and 38 constituents (mainly monoterpenes compounds) were identified in T. kotschyanus Boiss. and Hohen, T. eriocalyx (Ronniger) Jalas, and T. daenensis subsp lancifolius (Celak) Jalas which represented 89.9%, 99.7%, and 95.8% of the oils, respectively. The main constituents were thymol (16.4-42.6%), carvacrol (7.6-52.3%), and γ-terpinene (3-11.4%). Antioxidant activity was employed by two complementary test systems, namely, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free-radical scavenging and β-carotene/linoleic acid systems. Antioxidant activity of polar subfraction of T. daenensis subsp lancifolius (Celak) Jalas was found to be higher than those of the others in DPPH assay, while nonpolar subfraction of T. eriocalyx (Ronniger) Jalas has most antioxidant activity in β-carotene/linoleic acid test (19.1 ± 0.1 μg/mL and 96.1 ± 0.8% inhibition rate, resp.).

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This study demonstrates the occurrence of camphor/bornyl acetate chemotype of T. parthenium in western regions of Iran. The finding showed also the studied oils have relatively good antibacterial activity without significant toxicity, thus have great potentiality to be used as natural health product.

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