Salt stress is a serious environmental problem throughout the world which may be partially relieved by breeding cultivars that can tolerate salt stress. Plant breeding may provide a relatively cost effective short-term solution to the salinity problem by producing cultivars able to remain productive at low to moderate levels of salinity. Five alfalfa cultivars, 'Seyah-Roud' , ' Ahar-Hourand' , 'Oskou' , 'Malekan' and 'Sefida-Khan' were assessed for salt tolerance at mature plant stage. A greenhouse screening system was used to evaluate individual alfalfa plants grown in perlit medium, and irrigated with water containing different amounts of NaCl. Three salt levels were achieved by adding 0, 100 and 200 mM NaCl to Hoagland nutrient solution, respectively. Forage yield, sodium and potassium contents and K/Na ratio was determined. Also, leaf samples were analyzed for proline and chlorophyll contents. The ecotypes Seyha-Roud and 'Sefida-Khan' had comparatively less sodium contents than 'Oskou' , ' Ahar-Hourand' and 'Malekan' ecotypes, also potassium content increased under saline condition. Forage yield of different alfalfa ecotypes was significantly influenced by the salinity. The ecotypes 'Malekan' , Ahar-Hourand and 'Oskou' were successful in maintaining forage yield under salinity stress. Sodium contents increased due to salinity in all alfalfa ecotypes however ecotypes ' Ahar-Hourand' and 'Malekan' maintained the highest leaf Na concentration. They showed higher content of K than other ecotypes but had lower K/Na ratio. It was concluded that, two ecotypes 'Malekan' and ' Ahar-Hourand' were better.

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

No abstract

Genetic diversity among and within 10 populations of Iranian alfalfa, from different areas of Azarbaijan, Iran was analyzed by screening DNA from seeds of individual plants and bulk samples. In individual study, 10 randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers produced 156 polymorphic bands and a high level of genetic diversity was observed within populations. The averages of total and within population genetic diversity were 0.2349 and 0.1892, respectively. Results of analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed the great genetic variation existed within populations (81.37%). These Results were in agreement with allogamous and polyploid nature of alfalfa. Cluster analysis was performed based on Nei's genetic distances resulting in grouping into 3 clusters which could separate breeding population from other populations. Results of cluster analysis were in consistent with morphological and geographical patterns of populations. The results of bulk method were different from individual analysis. Our results showed that RAPD analysis is a suitable method to study genetic diversity and relationships among alfalfa populations.

Objective To evaluate blood lipid profiles in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and to explore the association with disease severity. Methods This case–control study included patients with COVID-19, referred to two medical centers in Kermanshah, Iran (between July 2020 and December 2020), and healthy controls. Lipid profiles were evaluated in patients who were grouped according to severe (intensive care unit [ICU]), or less severe (outpatient), forms of COVID-19, and in healthy controls, and were compared among the three groups. Results A total of 132 participants were included, comprising ICU ( n = 49), outpatient ( n = 48) and control ( n = 35) groups. Mean cholesterol levels were lower in the patient groups than in controls; high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were higher in the ICU group versus outpatients, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels were lower in the ICU group versus outpatients. The frequency of diabetes and hypertension was higher in the ICU group than in the outpatient group. Furthermore, LDL-C level was associated with disease severity (odds ratio 0.966, 95% confidence interval 0.944, 0.989). Conclusion Lipid profiles differ between severe and less severe forms of COVID-19. LDL-C level may be a useful indicator of COVID-19 severity.