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While sports are often viewed from a health perspective or with an emphasis on economic aspects, in this article, the author tries to examine the ethical function of sports and show its dimensions. The existence of some common patterns and attitudes towards sports and the dominance of medical or commercial attitudes towards them has prevented attention to the fundamental ethical aspects of sports. While sports, especially aerobic and non-competitive, are tied to moral virtues. With this in mind, the author suggests that non-competitive endurance sports have three moral functions in the long run. First, it leads to self-understanding, self-awareness and self-knowledge, second, it leads to domination of the body, emotions and feelings, and third, it cultivates many moral virtues, including courage, order, tolerance of pain and wisdom.
 

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To investigate the effect of droughtstress on chlorophyll content, enzymatic responses and some growth characteristics of Acacia victoriae seedlings and the effect of super-absorbent polymers (SAP) in reducing drought stress, a split plot experiment based on the completely randomized design was conducted. The treatments included four levels of drought stress (15, 30, 60 and 100% of field capacity) and four levels of SAP (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6% weight percentages). The results of ANOVA showed a significant effect of drought stress on all growth characters, chlorophyll content and catalase and peroxidase enzymes activity, while the SAP didn't show any significant effect on the weight and areas of the leaves. The interaction effect between drought stress and SAP on the weight, number of leaves, proportion of root dry weight to aerial organs, chlorophyll and peroxidase enzyme activity was also significant. The effect of drought stress on reducing the number of the leaves, leaf area, length, volume and surface of roots and also increasing the root dry weight to aerial organs dry weight ratio, amount of chlorophyll and activity of antioxidant enzymes was significant. The different levels of SAP could absorb and hold water and consequently reduce the effect of drought stress and improve the growth characteristics and reduce the activity of catalase and peroxidase enzymes.

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Soil affected by salt (NaCl) is a major problem worldwide and in areas with potential agriculture; lands in many countries are not enough to support crop production. The development of salt tolerant cultivars would be enhanced by better understanding of the genetic control of tolerance to salt stress. A new cereal, tritipyrum, a range of amphiploids between Triticum spp. and Thinopyrum spp. offers such a new chance. Those with the 6x construction (2n=6x=42, AABBEbEb) derived from Triticum durum (2n=4x=28, AABB) and Thinopyrum bessarabicum (2n=2x=14, EbEb) are of the potential to become a new high salt tolerant cereal crop. Tritipyrum is prone to problems similar to those exhibited by early triticales, e.g. chromosome instability and low fertility, which in that crop were eventually overcome by breeding. Other problems could be overcome through substitution of Eb genome chromosomes by D genome ones, and the feasibility of this has been assessed in the progenies of (6x tritipyrum) x (6x wheat) hybrids with the aid of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH). The cytological, morphological and agronomic studies of existing tritipyrum lines, including the effect of vernalization, were carried out, too. A novel multiple- pistil/seed characteristic of one original tritipyrum line has also been investigated and its genetic basis established. The results have shown that, first creation of substituted lines is feasible, and thus it could be a route for the elimination of undesirable traits. Second, improvement should be possible via selection for chromosomally stable lines, with increased fertility and yield. Third, it may also be possible to exploit the perennial habit and multi-tillering traits in a dual-purpose forage/grain crop. Fourth, the multiple-pistil/seed trait may be controlled by two recessive genes. Fifth, there is a high probability of having established the seven possible monosomic additions of Th. bessarabicum to T.durum for the first time.

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Plants infected by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi can tolerate and recover more rapidly from different biotic and abiotic stresses such as soil water deficits than uninfected plants. Thereby study of the dominant mycorrhiza species in the fields under drought stresses is very useful for increasing crop productivity in these conditions and promising for biological fertilizer production in the future. The objective of this research was to study the variations in morphological and molecular diversity of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and identification of dominant AMF in wheat and barley fields of some arid and semi arid regions of Iran. For this purpose, about 66 samples containing root and rhizospher soils of wheat and barley plants were collected from some arid and semi arid regions of Iran (Isfahan, Tehran, Ghazvin, Arak, Tabriz). After trap culture of observed mycorrhiza in the samples, they were identified using morphological and molecular techniques. The ITS-rDNA of AMF in root DNA extracts of wheat and barley amplified with the primer pair LSU-Glom1/SSU-Glom1 as specific primer for AMF and ITS4/ITS5 as general primers in the first and second reactions of PCR (nested PCR), respectively. Aliquots of the positive second PCR products were cloned. Positive colonies were digested with Taq1. The restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) patterns of digested samples were compared and 1-3 representatives of each pattern at each cloning reaction were sequenced. Morphological and molecular diversity of AMF showed that more than 90% AMF observed in the regions belong to genus Glomus which coordinates with morphological studies and followed by G. intraradices. Also these studies confirmed presence of following species in some regions: G. fasciculatum, G. geosporum, G. sinosum, G. constrictum, G. macrocarpum and Glomus sp. and Acaulospora (Acaulospora sp.). It is important to note that the species G. etunicatu and G. dimorphicum were not detected in the morphological studies and Glomus mosseae was the most dominant AMF species in the all studied regions.

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Theeffect of salt stress on the pysiological and biochemical responses of the seedlings of eight Eucalyptus species viz. E. kingsmillii, E. tetragona, E. salubris, E. occidentali, E. microtheca, E. camaldulensis, E. globules and E. sargentii was analyzed. Four month-old seedlings grown in greenhouse were watered by five levels of salt solution (0, 50, 100, 150 and 200 mM of NaCl) in five replications with a factorial experimental design. The results indicated that salinity delayed and inhibited the seedlings’ growth after one month, and induced gradual decline in most of the criteria such as leaf area, relative water content and specific leaf area. Moreover, a significant reduction of chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll content was observed. Salinity stress raised the content of soluble sugars, proline and glycine betaine. Eucalyptus sargentii as the most tolerant species had the optimum growth up to 200 mM NaCl but E. globulus presented the most sensitive speciesto salinity stress. At 200 mM NaCl, proline and glycine beatine raised to 10.57 and 27 µg g^-1 in the tolerant species (E. sargentii), respectively while proline in the sensitive species (E. globulus) dropped to 0.003 µg g^-1. These results suggest that high tolerance of E. sargentii to salinity stress is closely related to lower specific leaf area and enhancement of compatible solutions such as proline, soluble sugar, glycine beatine. This would encourage the possibility of propagating E. sargentii in the southern coastal area of Iran. Furthermore, these results provided further biochemical support for the specific abiotic stress tolerance mechanism of Eucalyptus species.

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In several parts of the world, important yield losses are caused to Faba bean due to attack by the black bean aphid Aphis fabae Scopoli. Although resistance could be a good alternative to chemical control, its genetic basis is still largely unknown; and its phenotypic expression is still poorly described, making crucial the permanent evaluation of genetic resources available in different countries; together with using adequate agronomic parameters and statistical inference. In this study, two Faba bean collections provided by Faba bean breeding programs of Tunisia and Spain were evaluated for resistance to A. fabae during two consecutive years in the field, based on infestation rates and three yield parameters: number of grains (NG), weight of grains (WG) and weight of pods (WP). Principal components analysis (PCA) showed that the most effective parameters contributing to response variation were the weight of pods (WP) and the number of grains (NG). Genotypes were grouped based on clustering patterns inferred from PCA and UPGMA, both showing the existence of two distinct groups: a resistant group characterized by high WP; and in most cases high NG values; and a susceptible group characterized by a low WP; and in most cases a low NG + WG. Furthermore, tolerance to infestation was identified in one genotype from the Spanish collection. Our results demonstrate that WP is the most reliable parameter for resistance selection; and that the genotypes V1, V9 and V16 from the Tunisian collection and V2e and V7e from the Spanish one should be exploited for their resistance potential.

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The effects of water deficit on grain yield, yield components and the physiological char-acteristics of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) varieties were studied in a split plot design dur-ing the 1999-2000 growing season in Karaj, Iran. Five irrigation levels [0, 25, 50, 75, and 100% crop water requirements (CWR)] and six barley varieties Karoon Kavir , Rei-hani(drought tolerant), Torkman , C-74-9 (intermediate) , Kavir Badia and Gorgan-4 (2 rowed type, drought sensitive) were arranged in the main plots and sub plots respectively. Results showed that water deficit induced stress and this decreased the grain yield and yield components. Water deficit increased the canopy temperature and those varieties showed a higher canopy temperature under non-stress conditions, performed better un-der drought conditions. Severe stress reduced the chlorophyll content (SPAD values) con-siderably, but the differences were not significant between the 50, 75 and 100% CWR treatments. In addition, no significant differences were observed in the chlorophyll con-tent of barley varieties under drought conditions. The effect of irrigation on the photo-chemical efficiency of photosystemII (Fv/Fm) and the other fluorescence parameters for all varieties were significant. Although the Fv/Fm values were not significant in barley varie-ties at any level of irrigation, in general Karoon Kavir and Reihani varieties showed a better performance under water deficit conditions. Proline content was significantly dif-ferent in various irrigation treatments, but its accumulation at any level of irrigation did not differ significantly in barley varieties. It was concluded that the higher canopy tem-perature (less negative T) under well irrigated conditions and higher grain yield, 1000-grain weight, Fv/Fm values under water stress conditions could possibly be the proper cri-teria for screening the drought tolerant barley genotypes under field or laboratory condi-tions.

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 In order to introduce new chemical weed management program in maize weed control in Iran, a study was conducted during 2014 and 2015. Experiment were carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. 15 treatments of the common maize herbicides, including nicosulfuron, foramsulforon, eradicane and 2,4-D + MCPA were applied in their recommended doses, moreover the treatments related to cycloxydim with dicamba + tritosulfuron were used with different doses and in different times along with two control treatments (weedy and weed-free). Treatments contained 75-150 g a.i. ha^-1 of cycloxydim, showed similar results with the common treatments including nicosulfuron, foramsulforon, eradicane and 2,4-D + MCPA. However, treatments with high doses of cycloxydim, had a significant reduction in weed density and weed biomass. There were no significant differences between the effects of treatments on maize grain yield and biomass. Despite the acceptable weed control of the combined treatment of cycloxydim with dicamba plus tritosulfuron, maize canopy could overcome weed growth. Based on the results and by considering cycloxydim efficacy in controlling perennial grassy weeds in maize plantation, this chemical is a suitable option during different growing stages of weeds and maize. Finally, the application of 200-300 g a.i. ha^-1 of cycloxydim combined with dicamba plus tritosulfuron was the best option from an economic and environmental safety points of view.

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Objective: Recent studies suggest that intermittent and prolonged normobaric hyperoxia (HO) results in ischemic tolerance to preventing ischemia brain injury. In this research attempts were made to see the changes in excitatory amio-acid transporter 3 (EAAT3), TNF-α levels, and NF-κB activity following prolonged and intermittent NBHO preconditioning. Materials and Methods: Rats were divided into four experimental groups, each with 21 animals. The first two groups were exposed to 95% inspired HO for 4h/day for 6 consecutive days (intermittent HO; InHO) or for 24 continuous hours (prolonged HO; PrHO). The second two groups acted as controls, and were exposed to 21% oxygen in the same chamber (normobaric normoxia, RA; room air) continuously for six days (intermittent RA, InRA) or for 24 hours (prolonged RA; PrRA). Each main group was subdivided to MCAO-operated (middle cerebral artery occlusion), sham-operated (without MCAO), and intact (without any surgery) subgroups. After 24h, MCAO-operated subgroups were subjected to 60min of right MCAO. After 24h reperfusion, neurologic deficit score (NDS) were assessed in MCAO-operated subgroups. Immediately and 48h after pretreatment, blood sampling for assessment of serum TNF- levels were purformed. Then, the effect of InHO and PrHO on serum TNF- levels, NF-κB activity and EAAT3 expression were measured. Results: Preconditioning with InHO and PrHO decreased NDS and upregulate EAAT3 and increase serum TNF-α level and NF-κB activity significantly. Conclusion: Although further studies are needed to clarify the mechanisms of ischemic tolerance, InHO and PrHO seems to partly exert their effects via increase in serum TNF-α levels, NF-κB activity and upregulation of glutamate transporters.

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The Greenbug Schizaphis graminum (Rondani), one of the major pests of cereals, overwinter as adults and nymphs in temperate regions. The aphid population increases in early spring as the weather conditions become favorable, but it gradually decreases in mid-June as air temperature rises. Adult aphid colonies were acclimated to measure cold tolerance at 20, 15, 10, 5, and 0 °C for one week. In contrast, other colonies were acclimated to measure heat tolerance at 20, 25, and 30 °C for one week and 35 °C for two days. Then, the lowest temperature resulting in 50% mortality (LLT₅₀) and the highest temperature resulting in 50% mortality (ULT₅₀) of tested populations were defined. Moreover, changes of sugars and polyols were studied at the end of each thermal regime. The lowest LLT₅₀ was -13.2 °C at 0 °C and the highest ULT₅₀ was 40.1 °C at 35 °C. In the cold acclimation condition, glucose was the highest at 0 °C and reached to 80.9 µmol/g f.w. However, in the heat acclimation condition, the mannitol was the highest at 35 °C and reached to 43.7 µmol/g f.w. Findings indicate that high temperatures due to climate change could be a threat to aphid population size and distribution.
 

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Heat stress is a major environmental stress limiting wheat productivity in most cereal growing areas of the world. In order to map and characterize quantitative trait loci controlling heat tolerance, 144 recombinant inbred lines deriving from the cross of Kauz and MTRWA116 were assessed in a greenhouse and growth chamber at 35°C. One hundred and sixty six SSR and 3 AFLP markers were used to construct a linkage map containing 18 linkage groups and covering 16 chromosomes of wheat. Using the composite interval mapping method, three QTLs were detected for heat tolerance and measured by the Fischer susceptibility index, on chromosomes 1B, 5B and 7B. The alleles of both parents contributed to heat tolerance. A large amount of explained phenotypic variances and small confidence intervals indicate that the linkage information between markers and QTLs could easily be used in breeding for heat tolerance.

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Price manipulation in the Tehran Stock Exchange has been one of the most widely discussed issues among academic and professional practitioners in recent years. In this article, we first calculated the abnormal Returns- significance difference between actual and risk-based adjusted expected returns- by using an autoregressive test, for all 130 accepted firms in the Tehran stock market during 2002-2006, which seemed to be manipulated, since they had experienced great fluctuations in their stock prices. For any firm, if changes in share prices are not at random and/or its stock prices are autocorrelated with the past ones, it can be concluded that the firm is under a price manipulation. In the next stage, we have developed a binary logit regression model for predicting the firms' price manipulation based on four factors i.e. the information transparency, the liquidity of the shares, the size (capital) of the firm and the P/E ratio. Finally, the model efficiency for predicting price manipulation in the Tehran Stock Exchange is validated by using appropriate statistical tests such as, The Wald, Likelihoods Function, and the Wilk's Lambda tests. The results showed that the model is efficient and robust for predicting the price manipulation (P<0.05, Wilk's Lambda=0.205; Cox & Snell R2=0.792 ,0.799; -2Log likelihood= 27.49).

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Orobanche crenata, an obligate holoparasite, causes severe damage to faba bean grown in the Mediterranean region. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine and compare the potential of salicylic acid (SA), and acetylsalicylate (AcSA) used as seed soaking (0.5-1.5 mM, each) or foliar spray (2-6 mM, each) to increase faba bean tolerance to Orobanche crenata infection. Under the challenge of Orobanche infection, the application of SA or AcSA enhanced the growth of faba bean plants by improving their viability, height, and fresh and dry weight. SA and AcSA reduced the growth of parasite tubercles and retarded their development to emerged spike, the most harmful stage. AcSA was more effective than SA in increasing faba bean tolerance to O. crenata infection, and seed soaking showed the greatest effect. At 110 days of sowing, soaking seeds in 0.5 or 1 mM AcSA completely prevented the death of infected plants and increased the weight of plants by 22 and 67%, respectively, and pod weight/plant by 512 and 442%. Moreover, these two treatments greatly reduced Orobanche growth, and complete inhibition of tubercles and emerged spikes occurred by soaking seeds in 0.5 mM AcSA. Orobanche infection greatly increased phenolic content and antioxidant activity in the host tissues, but their levels tended to reduce by all salicylate treatments. The results suggest the great potential of soaking host seeds in AcSA, the inexpensive commercial form of SA, can enhance plant resistance against Orobanche parasite.

 

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 The European grapevine moth, Lobesia botrana (Denis and Schiffermueller) (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae), is a significant pest causing economic damage to vineyards worldwide. In this research, the cold tolerance of the pupae and its relationship with diapause was investigated at 23 ± 0.5 °C, 70 ± 5% RH, and LD 12:12 h. One-day-old eggs were transferred to LD 12:12 h to induce diapause at the pupal stage. Diapausing pupae exhibited a mean supercooling point (SCP) of -24.35 °C, whereas in the non-diapausing pupae (23 ± 0.5 °C, 70 ± 5% RH, LD 16:8 h), it was -23.06 °C, with no significant difference between the two groups. Furthermore, diapausing pupae demonstrated significantly higher cold tolerance (LT₅₀ of -14.43 °C) than non-diapausing pupae (LT₅₀ of -3.33 °C). Diapausing pupae tolerated subzero temperatures without significant changes in the SCP, tolerating 11 °C lower than control pupae due to the short daylength alone. Our results suggest that the diapause state and cold hardiness of L. botrana are independent of changes after SCP, and the insect employs a freeze-intolerant strategy to overcome subzero temperatures. Cold acclimation at -5 and -10 °C for 72 h induced a significant decrease in the SCP of diapausing pupae, while a 72-h cold acclimation had no notable impact on the SCP of non-diapausing pupae. These findings provide valuable insights into the survival mechanisms of the European grapevine moth under cold conditions and diapause-related adaptations.


 

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The ability of bacteria to tolerate low pH is a very important trait to survive in a variety of environments. In the literature, there is a lot of information about the acid tolerance of different bacteria. However, little is known about the acid tolerance of Morganella morganii, the most prolific histamine former in fish and seafood products. Therefore, in the present study, the effect of growth phase, type of acid and medium on the acid tolerance of M. morganii at different pHs were evaluated. To achieve this purpose, cells of M. morganii in exponential or stationary growth phases were exposed to low pHs (3, 4 and 5) adjusted by adding hydrochloric, acetic, lactic, citric or tartaric acids into TSB or PBS for one hour. Survival percentage was obtained by dividing the surviving population by the initial population. In general, results of the present study showed a high acid tolerance of M. morganii. For all the acids tested, the lower the pH of the mediums used, the lower the survival percentage observed. Cells of M. morganii in the stationary phase were more resistant to acidic conditions tested and no significant difference was observed (p<0.05) in the acid tolerance of M. morganii in TSB and PBS at different pHs. In addition, acetic acid and lactic acid showed more antimicrobial effect on both the stationary and exponential phase cells than the other acids use.

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Maize improvement for high temperature tolerance requires the reliable assessment of parental inbred lines and their combinations. Fifteen maize inbred lines were evaluated during 2007 and 2008 in Shushtar city (Khuzestan Province). The inbred lines were planted at two dates: 6 July, to coincide heat stress with pollination time; and 27 July, as normal planting to avoid high temperature during pollination and grain filling period. In addition, 28 hybrids from a combination of eight selected lines, were evaluated under the same conditions in 2008. Five stress tolerance indices, including mean productivity (MP), stress tolerance (TOL), stress susceptibility (SSI), stress tolerance index (STI) and geometric mean productivity (GMP) were used in this study. Data analysis revealed that the SSI, STI and GMP indices were the more accurate criteria for selection of heat tolerant and high yielding genotypes. The positive and significant correlation of GMP and grain yield under both conditions revealed that this index is more applicable and efficient for selection of parental inbred lines in producing hybrids to be tolerant to high temperatures and high yielding under both conditions. Based on two years’ data and using the STI, GMP and MP indices, K166B, K166A and K18×K166B proved to be the most heat tolerant lines and hybrid. Biplot analysis allowed us to distinguish groups of tolerant and sensitive inbred lines and hybrids. Based on the results of this study, the hybrid K18×K166B can be recommended for the Khuzestan region.

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The overwintering conditions and cold tolerance of the Lime butterfly, Papilio demoleus L., are relatively unclear. In the present study, overwintering pupae were collected over several months, and changes in supercooling point (SCP), cold-hardiness, and body color were investigated. Also, some eggs were collected and reared in the laboratory, and then pupae were kept for 1-4 weeks at 0, 5, and 15 °C, and the changes in SCPs were studied. Shelters were prepared and installed in the field to check the overwintering sites. Also, the digestive tract was investigated before and at the beginning of the overwintering phase. The results showed that the SCP gradually decreased from -9 to -13 °C during the autumn months, and in lab-reared pupae treated at 0-5 °C, the SCP was reduced to -13 °C. None of the pupae survived at temperatures below the SCP, so this species uses a freeze avoidance strategy. As the weather gets cold, the color of most of the pupae (76.19%) tends to brown, while in the summer months, more than 80% of the pupae are green. The overwintering pupae emptied their ingested foods, and the contents of their digestive system before emptying contain Pseudomonas and Enterobacter species, both of which can act as ice nucleators. Ultimately, the relationship between these factors in adapting the pest to low temperatures was discussed.

 

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Elastic optical network has recently raised immense research efforts to serve as a highly-flexible and scalable platform required by the emerging on-demand cloud applications. Besides, virtual network embedding on top of elastic optical network has been introduced as a promising solution to fine-grain sharing of node processing and optical bandwidth resources. Owing to the diverse delay sensitivity requirements of heterogeneous cloud applications, an efficient double queue scheduler is presented, to deliver differentiated setup delay embedding in a fair manner.  Extensive numerical simulations carried out over two prototype substrate networks, demonstrated that our proposed scheme can concomitantly enhance blocking and fairness performance of the single queue scheduler over wide range of offered traffic loads.

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The short arm of rye (Secale cereale L.) chromosome 1 (1RS), besides being part of the rye genome, is present in many hundred wheat cultivars as either 1RS.1BL or 1RS.1DL wheat-rye translocation. In this study, the distribution of the wheat–rye translocation was examined in 33 Iranian winter and spring wheat cultivars, nine of which had a known donor of 1RS.1BL translocation and the other 24 were randomly selected cultivars without a known source of 1RS.1BL in their pedigree. The presence of the translocation was verified in 4 cultivars, using genomic in situ hybridization analysis. We also compared the Na+ exclusion and K+/Na+ ratios in leaf and root of the identified 1RS.1BL translocations and in eight randomly selected non-translocated (NT) control cultivars grown in hydroponic solutions, containing 0 and 200 mM NaCl. Mean comparisons showed that the 1RS.1BL cultivars (Atrak, Dez, Falat, Rasul) had significantly lower rates of whole plant dry weight and root dry weight in the presence of 200 mM NaCl compared with NT control cultivars. No significant difference was observed between translocated and NT cultivars for Na+ concentrations and K+/Na+ ratios in their leaves or roots. Although, there are many useful genes in 1RS arm, it has no substantial contribution to Na+ exclusion in comparison with NT controls at seedling stage.