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Background Pistachio ( Pistacia vera L.) growth, yield and quality are affected by abiotic stress especially drought. Understanding the strategies that improve dehydration tolerance is essential for developing resistant pistachio rootstocks. In the experiment, nine-month-old saplings of seven clonal interspecies hybrids of Pistacia atlantica × P. integerrima (C1, C2, C16-1, C8-3, C4-2, C9-4 and UCB1) were assessed for growth and physiological responses to water withholding and recovery. Result Water deficit negatively impacted growth parameters, including shoot dry weight, root dry weight and leaf area, in all hybrids; however, the C1 demonstrated relatively minor reductions compared to the other hybrids. Glycine betaine content in leaves increased by 49.4% in C9-4 and 47% in C1, while only 7% and 11% increases were found in the most sensitive clones, C8-3 and C4-2. Notably, C9-4, identified as the most tolerant clone, displayed the highest proline levels, with increases of 29.5% in leaves and 41.5% in roots, in contrast to C8-3, which showed minimal increases of 6% and 11% in leaves and roots, respectively. Clones with higher compatible solutes maintained higher relative water content (RWC), lower osmotic potential and smaller reductions in leaf water potential. RWC declined by just 6% in C9-4, whereas it dropped by 88% in C8-3. Osmotic potentials in C9-4 were − 1.61 MPa in leaves and − 0.271 MPa in roots, while in C8-3, they were − 0.93 MPa and − 0.11 MPa in leaves and roots, respectively. Following recovery, evaluations of growth, physiological traits and visual observations indicated that C8-3 had poor recovery ability. Heatmap and PCA analyses categorized the clones into three groups: “tolerant” (C9-4, C1 and C2), “moderately tolerant” (UCB1) and “sensitive” (C8-3, C4-2 and C16-1). Conclusion The results of this study underscore the significance of osmotic adjustment as a more critical trait compared to growth and stomatal parameters in effectively differentiating tolerant clones from sensitive ones.

Background The genus Pistacia , belonging to the family Anacardiaceae, includes various species that hold ecological, nutritional, and medicinal significance. There is limited information on the morphological and pomological diversity of Pistacia atlantica Desf. subsp. cabulica and subsp. mutica . This study aims to examine this diversity and contribute to the improvement of sustainable use and agricultural practices. Results Morphological and pomological variation of 44 female accessions of P. atlantica (20 of subsp. cabulica and 24 of subsp. mutica ) grown naturally in Mount Taftan, Sistan-va-Baluchestan, Iran, was assessed. One-way ANOVA ( p  <  0.05 ) showed significant differences among the examined genotypes. The coefficient of variation (CV) ranged from 7.60% (kernel thickness) to 167.04% (kernel crispness), with 34 out of 48 traits (70.83%) showing CVs greater than 20%, indicating high variability. The range of leaf-related characters was as follows: leaf length: 87.52–157.80 mm, leaf width: 55.28–121.97 mm, leaflets per leaf: 5–7, petiole length: 25.87–66.91 mm, and petiole diameter: 1.15–2.2 mm. The range of fruit-related characters was as follows: bunchlets per bunch: 10–17, fruit pedicel length: 1.37–7.12 mm, fruit pedicel width: 0.9–1.23 mm, nut length: 5.49–8.23 mm, nut width: 6.19–8.42 mm, nut thickness: 4.39–6.42 mm, and 100-nut weight: 12.36–25.91 g. These variations indicate adaptability and agricultural potential. Most accessions showed moderate growth, intermediate vigor, and branching, optimizing photosynthesis. Leaf and petiole traits vary, reflecting adaptations to environmental conditions. Ripening times span from late September to mid-October, with yield potential mostly intermediate. According to correlation matrix analysis, high positive correlations were found between 100-nut weight and kernel thickness ( r  =  0.708** ), nut length ( r  =  0.764** ), and nut thickness ( r  =  0.603** ), and these correlations are also supported by multiple regression analysis ( β  = 0.47, β  = 0.69, β  = 0.31, P  < 0.00, respectively). According to principal components analysis, the first three principal components (PC1 = 13.39%, PC2 = 9.30%, and PC3 = 9.25%) represented 31.94% of the total variation. The datasets were evaluated together, and the first 14 accessions were detected, including four accessions of subsp. mutica (No. 23, 5, 11, and 16) and 11 accessions of subsp. cabulica (No. 5, 15, 18, 10, 20, 12, 1, 7, 17, and 13), respectively. The accessions 1 and 7 of subsp. cabulica , though among the first 14, fall outside the 95% confidence ellipse in the scatter plot, indicating that they differ significantly from the others in terms of their traits. This suggests they may possess unique characteristics. Conclusions This study highlights the significant morphological and pomological diversity between the P. atlantica subsp. cabulica and subsp. mutica , providing valuable insights for breeding and conservation. The key trait relationships identified through statistical analysis may guide trait selection for better yield and adaptability.

Background Pistachio ( Pistacia vera L.) is one of the most important commercial nut crops worldwide. It is a salt-tolerant and long-lived tree, with the largest cultivation area in Iran. Climate change and subsequent increased soil salt content have adversely affected the pistachio yield in recent years. However, the lack of genomic/global transcriptomic sequences on P. vera impedes comprehensive researches at the molecular level. Hence, whole transcriptome sequencing is required to gain insight into functional genes and pathways in response to salt stress. Results RNA sequencing of a pooled sample representing 24 different tissues of two pistachio cultivars with contrasting salinity tolerance under control and salt treatment by Illumina Hiseq 2000 platform resulted in 368,953,262 clean 100 bp paired-ends reads (90 Gb). Following creating several assemblies and assessing their quality from multiple perspectives, we found that using the annotation-based metrics together with the length-based parameters allows an improved assessment of the transcriptome assembly quality, compared to the solely use of the length-based parameters. The generated assembly by Trinity was adopted for functional annotation and subsequent analyses. In total, 29,119 contigs annotated against all of five public databases, including NR, UniProt, TAIR10, KOG and InterProScan. Among 279 KEGG pathways supported by our assembly, we further examined the pathways involved in the plant hormone biosynthesis and signaling as well as those to be contributed to secondary metabolite biosynthesis due to their importance under salinity stress. In total, 11,337 SSRs were also identified, which the most abundant being dinucleotide repeats. Besides, 13,097 transcripts as candidate stress-responsive genes were identified. Expression of some of these genes experimentally validated through quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) that further confirmed the accuracy of the assembly. From this analysis, the contrasting expression pattern of NCED3 and SOS1 genes were observed between salt-sensitive and salt-tolerant cultivars. Conclusion This study, as the first report on the whole transcriptome survey of P. vera , provides important resources and paves the way for functional and comparative genomic studies on this major tree to discover the salinity tolerance-related markers and stress response mechanisms for breeding of new pistachio cultivars with more salinity tolerance.

Water scarcity, intensified by climate change, poses a major challenge to pistachio production in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Water stress in these areas drastically reduces yield and endangers the long-term sustainability of orchards. Deficit irrigation (DI) is widely recognized as a water-saving strategy to optimize crop production under limited water resources. This study investigated and compared the key components of drought adaptation strategies in four pistachio varieties—‘Badami’, ‘Akbari’, 'Ahmad-Aghaei’ and 'Kale-Ghochi’—under DI in controlled conditions. A factorial experiment was conducted using a completely randomized design (CRD) to assess the effects of three DI levels: full irrigation (control), mild (DI30%) and severe (DI60%), on two-month-old pistachio seedlings over 10 weeks. We comprehensively assessed morphological and physiological characteristics, including root and shoot growth and stomatal traits. Photosynthetic pigment concentrations and relative water content were also measured. Based on the results, distinct varietal adaptation mechanisms emerged: ‘Badami’ exhibited a well-developed root system and enhanced osmotic adjustment, facilitating drought avoidance; ‘Akbari’ demonstrated robust aerial resistance through efficient stomatal regulation and sustained pigment retention, indicative of dehydration tolerance; 'Ahmad-Aghaei’ showed a balanced root–shoot coordination, especially under mild DI, suggesting moderate adaptability; whereas 'Kale-Ghochi’ displayed the least drought resistance, characterized by restricted root growth and impaired water status. Multivariate analyses integrating these traits effectively discriminated the varieties based on their drought response profiles. These results indicate the potential of drought-tolerant varieties, particularly ‘Badami’ to achieve up to 30% water savings under DI, a practical approach to sustaining pistachio production in regions facing water scarcity.

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) play crucial roles in regulating gene expression in response to plant stresses. Given the importance regulatory roles of lncRNAs, providing methods for predicting the function of these molecules, especially in non-model plants, is strongly demanded by researchers. Here, we constructed a reference sequence for lncRNAs in P. vera ( Pistacia vera L.) with 53220 transcripts. In total, we identified 1909 and 2802 salt responsive lncRNAs in Ghazvini, a salt tolerant cultivar, after 6 and 24 h salt treatment, respectively and 1820 lncRNAs in Sarakhs, a salt sensitive cultivar, after 6 h salt treatment. Functional analysis of these lncRNAs by several hybrid methods, revealed that salt responsive NAT-related lncRNAs associated with transcription factors, CERK1, LEA, Laccase genes and several genes involved in the hormone signaling pathways. Moreover, gene ontology (GO) enrichment analysis of salt responsive target genes related to top five selected lncRNAs showed their involvement in the regulation of ATPase, cation transporter, kinase and UDP-glycosyltransferases genes. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) experiment results of lncRNAs, pre-miRNAs and mature miRNAs were in accordance with our RNA-seq analysis. In the present study, a comparative analysis of differentially expressed lncRNAs and microRNA precursors between salt tolerant and sensitive pistachio cultivars provides valuable knowledge on gene expression regulation under salt stress condition.

Background The goal of this research is to enhance the quality of cucumber seedlings grown in greenhouses by experimenting with various soilless culture mediums (CMs) and the application of pistachio wood vinegar (WV). The experimental setup was designed as a factorial experiment within a randomized complete block design (RCBD), in greenhouse conditions featuring three replications to assess the effects of different culture media (CMs) and concentrations of pistachio wood vinegar (WV) on cucumber seedling growth. Cucumber seeds were planted in three CMs: coco peat-peat moss, coco peat-vermicompost, and date palm compost-vermicompost mixed in a 75:25 volume-to-volume ratio. These were then treated with pistachio WV at concentrations of 0, 0.5, and 1%, applied four times during irrigation following the emergence of the third leaf. Results The study revealed that treating seedlings with 0.5% WV in the date palm compost-vermicompost CM significantly enhanced various growth parameters. Specifically, it resulted in a 90% increase in shoot fresh mass, a 59% increase in shoot dry mass, an 11% increase in root fresh mass, a 36% increase in root dry mass, a 65% increase in shoot length, a 62% increase in leaf area, a 25% increase in stem diameter, a 41% increase in relative water content (RWC), and a 6% improvement in membrane stability index (MSI), all in comparison to untreated seedlings grown in coco peat-peat moss CM. Furthermore, chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoid levels were 2.3, 2.7, 2.6, and 2.7 times higher, respectively, in seedlings treated with 0.5% WV and grown in the date palm compost-vermicompost CM, compared to those treated with the same concentration of WV but grown in coco peat-peat moss CM. Additionally, the Fv/Fm ratio saw a 52% increase. When plant nutrition was enhanced with the date palm compost-vermicompost CM and 1% WV, auxin content rose by 130% compared to seedlings grown in coco peat-peat moss CM and treated with 0.5% WV. Conclusions The study demonstrates that using 0.5% WV in conjunction with date palm compost-vermicompost CM significantly betters the quality of cucumber seedlings, outperforming other treatment combinations.

Sex-related differences in the response of dioecious plants to abiotic stress have been poorly studied to date. This work explored to what extent sex may affect plant stress responses in Pistacia lentiscus L. (Anacardiaceae), a tree well adapted to Mediterranean climatic conditions. It was hypothesized that a greater reproductive effort in females may increase oxidative stress in leaves, particularly when plants are exposed to abiotic stress. Measurements of oxidative stress markers throughout the year revealed increased lipid peroxidation in females, but only during the winter. Enhanced lipid peroxidation in females was associated with reduced photoprotection, as indicated by reduced tocopherol levels and nonphotochemical quenching (NPQ) of chlorophyll fluorescence. Enhanced lipid peroxidation in females was also observed at predawn, which was associated with increased lipoxygenase activity and reduced cytokinin levels. An analysis of the differences between reproductive (R) and nonreproductive (NR) shoots showed an enhanced photoprotective capacity in R shoots compared to NR shoots in females. This capacity was characterized by an increased NPQ and a better antioxidant protection (increased carotenoid and tocopherol levels per unit of chlorophyll) in R compared to NR shoots. It is concluded that (i) females exhibit higher lipid peroxidation in leaves than males, but only during the winter (when sex-related differences in reproductive effort are the highest), (ii) this is associated with a lower photoprotective capacity at midday, as well as enhanced lipoxygenase activity and reduced cytokinin levels at predawn, and (iii) photoprotection capacity is higher in R relative to NR shoots in females.

Theoretical models predict that the relative importance of facilitation and competition may vary inversely across gradients of abiotic stress. However, these predictions have not been thoroughly tested in the field, especially in semi-arid environments. In this study, we evaluated how the net effect of the tussock grass Stipa tenacissima on the shrub Pistacia lentiscus varied across a gradient of abiotic stress in semi-arid Mediterranean steppes. We fitted the relationship between accumulated rainfall and the relative neighbour index (our measures of abiotic stress and of the net effect of S. tenacissima on P. lentiscus, respectively), which varied across this gradient, to a quadratic model. Competitive interactions dominated at both extremes of the gradient. Our results do not support established theory. Instead, they suggest that a shift from facilitation to competition under high abiotic stress conditions is likely to occur when the levels of the most limiting resource are so low that the benefits provided by the facilitator cannot overcome its own resource uptake.

Temperate deciduous trees can only be productive where winters are cold enough to meet their chilling needs. In the Mediterranean region, chill has traditionally been sufficient for many species, but this may change as temperatures increase. We explored the region’s present and future suitability for temperate trees by quantifying chill for the Sfax region in central Tunisia, one of the warmest regions where temperate nuts are commercially grown. We assessed climatic risk by calculating historic chill (since 1973) and using a weather generator calibrated with local weather data (1973–2015) to produce 101 years of chill estimates (computed with the Dynamic Model) and 3 past and 72 future scenarios (for 2041–2070 and 2071–2100, using two representative concentration pathways: RCP4.5 and RCP8.5). For almonds and pistachios, we compared available chill during the chilling period with the species’ estimated chilling requirements, and we computed the date by which sufficient chill was expected to have accumulated. Our findings indicated severe chill losses for all future scenarios. For all species, the current chill period is no longer expected to be sufficient for meeting chilling requirements in the future. Chill needs may still be fulfilled later in the year, especially for low-chill almonds, but this would result in delayed phenology, with possible adverse effects on productivity. Temperate nut production is thus unlikely to remain viable at this site, highlighting an urgent need to identify locally appropriate adaptation options. This challenge is likely shared by other warm production regions of temperate fruits and nuts around the world.

Plants respond to low nutrient availability by modifying root morphology and root system topology. Root responses to nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) limitation may affect plant capacity to withstand water stress. But studies on the effect of nutrient availability on plant ability to uptake and transport water are scarce. In this study, we assess the effect of nitrogen and phosphorus limitation on root morphology and root system topology in Pistacia lentiscus L seedlings, a common Mediterranean shrub, and relate these changes to hydraulic conductivity of the whole root system. Nitrogen and phosphorus deprivation had no effect on root biomass, but root systems were more branched in nutrient limited seedlings. Total root length was higher in seedlings subjected to phosphorus deprivation. Root hydraulic conductance decreased in nutrient-deprived seedlings, and was related to the number of root junctions but not to other architectural traits. Our study shows that changes in nutrient availability affect seedling water use by modifying root architecture. Changes in nutrient availability should be taken into account when evaluating seedling response to drought.