The impacts of different concentrations of bulk and nanosized TiO(2) on seed germination and seedling growth of wheat were studied in a randomized completely design with four replications in the College of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, in 2011. The experimental treatments included five concentrations of bulk (1, 2, 10, 100, and 500 ppm), five concentrations of nanosized TiO(2) (1, 2, 10, 100, and 500 ppm), and control (without any TiO(2)). Results indicated that among the wheat germination indices, only mean germination time was affected by treatments. The lowest and the highest mean germination time (0.89 vs. 1.35 days) were obtained in 10 ppm concentration of nanosized TiO(2) and control treatments, respectively. In addition, shoot length, seedling length, and root dry matters were affected by bulk and nanosized TiO(2) concentrations, significantly. Shoot and seedling lengths at 2 and 10 ppm concentrations of nanosized TiO(2) were higher than those of the untreated control and bulk TiO(2) at 2 and 10 ppm concentrations. Employing nanosized TiO(2) in suitable concentration could promote the seed germination of wheat in comparison to bulk TiO(2) but in high concentrations had inhibitory or any effect on wheat.

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In order to evaluate the effect of irrigation intervals and cattle manure levels on morphological traits, essential oil content and yield of oregano, an experiment was conducted at the experimental Farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University, Iran. The experimental design was split-plots, arranged in randomized complete blocks with three replications. Main plots including irrigation intervals (1, 2 and 3 weeks) and four levels of cattle manure at 0, 10, 20 and 30 t ha -1 were allocated to sub plots. Our resultsshowed that increasing irrigation intervals reduced values of all morphological traits except for proportion of stems. Also, values for stems number, plant spread, stem diameter, leaf area, fresh and dry herb yield increased by increasing cattle manure levels. On the other hand, morphological traits not influenced by interaction of treatments except for plant spread and leaf area. The highest essential oil content (2.07%) and yield (66.62 kg ha -1 ) obtained in highest irrigation intervals and cattle manure levels. Whereas, 1 week irrigation interval without use of cattle manure produce lowest essential oil content (1.55%). For essential oil yield, the lowest value (46.37 kg ha -1 ) was found in 2 weeks irrigation interval with application of 20 t ha -1 cattle manure.

In order to evaluate the effects of different organic and biological fertilizers on quantity and quality of fennel essential oil, an experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design with three replications. The experimental treatments included two organic (compost and vermicompost) and two biological (Pseudomonas putida and Azotobacter chroococcum) fertilizers, their all twin combinations (Ps. putida + A. chroococcum, Ps. putida + compost, Ps. putida + vermicompost, A. chroococcum + compost, A. chroococcum + vermicompost and compost + vermicompost) and control (non fertilized). There were significant differences between treatments in terms of seed essential oil percentage, essential oil yield; anethole, fenchone, limonene and estragole content in seed essential oil. Results showed that the highest and the lowest percentages of essential oil were obtained in control (2.9%) and A. chroococcum + vermicompost (2.2%) treatments, respectively. The highest essential oil yield (29.9 L ha -1 ) and anethole content of essential oil (69.7%) and the lowest contents of fenchone (6.14%), limonene (4.84%) and estragole (2.78%) in essential oil were obtained in compost + vermicompost treatment. It seems that compost + vermicompost treatment compared to other treatments supplied the highest equilibrium of nutrients and water in the root zone of sweet fennel which is led to increasing the anethole content, there upon, decreasing other compounds. Essential oil yield and percentage of anethole content in essential oil were significantly higher in all organic and biological treatments compared with control.Additional key words: anethole; Azotobacter chroococcum; compost; Pseudomonas putida; vermicompost. ResumenEfecto del abonado orgánico y biológico sobre el rendimiento de los frutos y los aceites esenciales del hinojo (Foeniculum vulgare var. dulce) Con el fin de evaluar los efectos de diferentes fertilizantes orgánicos y biológicos sobre la cantidad y calidad del aceite esencial de hinojo, se realizó un experimento en un diseño aleatorizado de bloques completos con tres repeticiones. Los tratamientos experimentales incluyeron todas las combinaciones dobles de dos fertilizantes orgánicos y dos biológicos (Pseudomonas putida + Azotobacter chroococcum, Ps. putida + compost, Ps. putida + humus de lombriz, A. chroococcum + compost, A. chroococcum + humus de lombriz, y compost + humus de lombriz) y un control (sin fertilizar). Hubo diferencias significativas entre tratamientos en términos de porcentaje del aceite esencial de las semillas, rendimiento de aceite esencial y contenido en anetol, fenchone, limoneno y estragol en el aceite esencial. Los resultados mostraron que el mayor y el menor porcentaje de aceites esenciales se obtuvieron en los tratamientos control (2,9%) y A. chroococcum + humus de lombriz (2,2%), respectivamente. En el tratamiento compost + humus de lombriz se obtuvo la mayor producción de aceite esencial (29,9 L ha -1 ) y contenido en anetol (69,7%), así como el menor contenido de fenchone...