Medicinal Plants
Faraj Moayedi; Sajad Kordi; Ali Ashraf Mehrabi; Soheila Dastborhan
Abstract
Introduction: Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is an annual herbaceous plant from labiatae family. The amount and chemical composition of essential oil of sweet basil depends on genetics, growing season, environmental factors and plant growth stage. Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients required ...
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Introduction: Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is an annual herbaceous plant from labiatae family. The amount and chemical composition of essential oil of sweet basil depends on genetics, growing season, environmental factors and plant growth stage. Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients required by plants. This element plays an essential role in the synthesis of amino acids and proteins and is part of the structure of leaf chlorophyll and some plant hormones. Nitrogen application can significantly increase the growth and yield of medicinal plants in different climatic conditions and affect the quantitative and qualitative properties of essential oils. The results of various studies have shown that nitrogen significantly alters the amount of essential oils in basil. Despite the positive effect of nitrogen on improving plant growth and yield, excessive use of nitrogen fertilizer can have a negative effect on the absorption of other elements. On the other hand, high amounts of water-soluble nitrogen lead to groundwater pollution. Therefore, determining the appropriate amount of nitrogen fertilizer in proportion to the nutritional needs of crops, in addition to improving the quantity and quality of yield, reduces damage to agricultural systems and the environment. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of different amounts of nitrogen fertilizer on vegetative yield and quantitative and qualitative characteristics of essential oil of four basil cultivars and to introduce the best cultivar in Khorramabad climate.Materials and Methods: This experiment was performed as a factorial split plot in time in a randomized complete block design with three replications during 2016 growing season in the Agricultural Research Station of Khorramabad. Experimental treatments included four sweet basil cultivars (Italian Large Leaf, Cinnamon, Sweet Thai and Mobarakeh), three levels of nitrogen fertilizer (0, 100 and 200 kg ha-1 chemical nitrogen fertilizer) and three harvests. Nitrogen fertilizer (from urea source) was added to the plots in two stages (half of the fertilizer before seeds planting and the rest after the first harvest) based on the treatments. Basil plants were harvested three times at the beginning of flowering. Traits measured in this study included chlorophyll index, leaf/stem ratio, leaf dry weight, total plant dry weight, percentage and yield of essential oil and determination of chemical composition of essential oil. To extract the essential oil, water distillation method and Clevenger apparatus were used. To determine the main constituents of essential oil, all treatments related to a given repetition were chosen in second harvest were used. Gas chromatography with mass spectrometer was used to identify the compounds of basil essential oil. Analysis of variance of data was done using SAS ver. 9 and mean comparison was performed based on the Duncan's multiple range test at 5% probability level using MSTAT-C software. Figures were drawn by excel software.Results and Discussion: The results of the present research showed that the highest leaf/stem ratio (1.8) was obtained from applying 100 and 200 kg ha-1 of urea fertilizer in Italian Large Leaf cultivar in the first harvest. Among the studied basil cultivars, Italian Large Leaf cultivar had the highest leaf dry weight, total dry weight, percentage of essential oil and essential oil yield. The maximum leaf chlorophyll index was related to Sweet Thai and Cinnamon cultivars and the minimum chlorophyll index, percentage of essential oil and essential oil yield was related to Mobarakeh cultivar. Consumption of urea fertilizer was associated with a significant improvement in vegetative growth and as a result, basil yield increased. Although the essential oil percentage of basil cultivars under control treatment was higher than plants that were fed with nitrogen fertilizer, but the highest essential oil yield was obtained from application of 100 kg ha-1 urea fertilizer, which shows the greater effect of dry yield on essential oil yield compared to the percentage of essential oil. In all studied traits, the maximum value was related to the second harvest and the minimum amount (except the essential oil percentage) was allocated to the first harvest. In chemical analysis of essential oils obtained from young leaves and shoots of basil cultivars under different fertilization treatments, 29 to 35 compounds were identified. The maximum concentration of major constituents of essential oils (except 1-8-cineol, methyl cinnamate and methyl chavicol) was related to the control treatment (no fertilizer application).Conclusion: Since there was no significant difference between the levels of 100 and 200 kg ha-1 of urea in terms of total dry weight and the highest essential oil yield was obtained from the treatment of 100 kg ha-1 of urea fertilizer, Italian Large Leaf cultivar and consumption of 100 kg ha-1 of urea fertilizer can be used in environmental conditions similar to Khorramabad.
Nasrin Shahabi; Alireza Abdali Mashhadi; Mohammad Hossein Gharineh; Amin Lotfi Jalal Abadi
Abstract
Introduction: The German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) is an annual herb from the Asteraceae family. This plant has many medicinal uses. Chamazulene, α-bisabolone oxide A and b-farnesene are part of essential oil components of German chamomile. Chamomile causes the chamomile essential oil ...
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Introduction: The German chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) is an annual herb from the Asteraceae family. This plant has many medicinal uses. Chamazulene, α-bisabolone oxide A and b-farnesene are part of essential oil components of German chamomile. Chamomile causes the chamomile essential oil to turn blue color. Chamazulene is the most important part of chamomile essential oil. Chamazulene has many therapeutic properties, including lowering total cholesterol and triglycerides and generally having a high anti-concentration effect of lipoprotein (Hyperlipidemia) in the blood. Most plants are more vulnerable in the early stages of growth. Within a region with adverse climatic conditions, microclimate can make more survival possible for the plants. In very warm and dry areas, in furrow sowing condition, seeds sowing in the bed of furrow in the different geographical orientations causes the formation of microclimates, especially in short plants and at the germination and seedling stages. For example, salt accumulation on the ridge and reducing soil salt in the bed of furrowimprove growth conditionsand on the other hand, shading the ridge on the furrow, by reducing the time of sunlight shining on the furrow bed reduces soil temperature and evapotranspiration in early stages of seedling growth. The geographical orientations of the sowing can affect the shading period time of the ridgeon bedfurrow.
Materials and Methods: Under low irrigation and saline-sodic soil condition (At a depth of 0 to 30 cm, with an average electrical conductivity of 7.7 dS.m-1, pH 7.7, silty clay soil texture, 1% organic matter and with an altitude of 22 meters above sea level), a field experiment conducted in a factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in Khuzestan Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University (North East of Ahvaz, 2016-2017). The experimental treatments were included the geographical orientations of sowing rows (control (nonlinear flat sowing) and orientations of sowing rows in the North-South, East-West, North East-South West, North West-South East) and chamomile landraces (Ahvaz, Isfahan, and Shiraz).The traits that were studied included: plant height, diameter of main stem, light extinction coefficient, capitule diameter, dry weight of 10 inflorescences, number of flowers per plant, number of stems per plant, dry inflorescence yield, essential oil percentage, essential oil yield, biological yield, percentage of chamazulene, α-Bisabolone oxide A and b-Farnesene in essential oil .
Results and Discussion: Experimental factors had no significant effect on dry weight of 10 inflorescences and capitule diameter. The lowest light extinction coefficient was observed in nonlinear flat sowing. The landraces had no significant effect on main stem diameter but the effect of geographical orientations of sowing rows were significant. The lowest and highest diameter of main stem were obtained from nonlinear flat sowing, respectively. The main effect of geographical orientations of sowing rows and interaction of populations and geographical orientations of sowing rows on number of stems per plant were significant. The highest number of stems per plant (15.2) was obtained from Shiraz landrace and northwest-southeast geographical orientation but the lowest number of stems per plant was in Shiraz landrace and nonlinear flat sowing (8.7). In both the highest and the lowest number of stems per plant, the landrace of Shiraz was common, this indicates a high effect of geographical orientations of sowing rows on this trait. The highest and the lowest of number of flowers per plant was observed in Isfahan landrace in north-south orientation (78.5) and Shiraz landrace and nonlinear flat sowing (49.5), respectively. The highest number of flowers per plant, dry inflorescence yield, and the highest biological yield were obtained from Isfahan landrace in the north-south, north-south and north west-south east orientations, respectively. The highest essential oil percentage was obtained from the Isfahan landrace (East-West orientation). The lowest and highest yield of essential oil was observed in Isfahan landrace and in nonlinear flat sowing and east-west direction, respectively, which increased by 221%. Isfahan landrace received different signals due to different climatic conditions (Ahwaz) compared to the main region (Isfahan) and this increased the percentage and yield of essential oil even more than native landrace (Ahwaz population). The highest percentage of chamazulene, b-Farnesene, and α-bisabolone oxide were shown in the Ahwaz (north-south), Shiraz (south west-north east) and Isfahan (north to south) landraces, respectively.
Conclusion: Isfahan non-native landrace had higher biological yield (northwest-southeast orientation) and essential oil percentage (east-west orientation) and essential oil yield (east-west orientation) than Shiraz and Ahwaz native landraces. Generally, row sowing in the furrow and in a suitable geographical orientation can be a low-cost method to increase crop productivity.
Farzaneh Nourbakhsh; Vida Chalavi; Vahid Akbarpour
Abstract
Introduction: Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) is a perennial, ever green and fragrant plant belongs to Lamiaceae family. Vegetative parts of this plant have essential oil and compounds with anti oxidant and antibacterial properties which are used extensively in pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic ...
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Introduction: Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) is a perennial, ever green and fragrant plant belongs to Lamiaceae family. Vegetative parts of this plant have essential oil and compounds with anti oxidant and antibacterial properties which are used extensively in pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. The use of biofertilizers such as vermicompost and Nitroxin could have beneficial effect on production of rosemary by increasing the production of plant growth hormones and the availability of macro and micro nutrients in growing media.
Materials and Methods: The effect of vermicompost and Nitroxin biofertilizers was investigated on growth, yield, the amounts of photosynthetic pigments, flavonoid, essential oil percentage and yield of rosemary. The experiment was based on a randomized complete block design with two factors, including vermicompost (0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% w/w) and Nitroxin (inoculated and non-inoculated with Nitroxin) with four replications. This research was done at Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Sari, Iran, in 2012-2013. Uniform one-year old rooted rosemary cuttings were selected for this experiment. Before planting, rooted cuttings were treated in diluted Nitroxin solution in water (1:10) for 10 minutes. After planting, rosemary plants were fertilized twice by Nitroxin for every 45 days according to the producing company recommendation. During growth period, irrigation was done according to plants requirement. At the end of experiment, parameters such as plant height, shoot fresh and dry weight, root dry weight, chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll, leaf flavonoid and essential oil yield were measured. Data was analyzed using standard analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the general linear models procedure of SAS, (version 9.1; SAS Institute, Cary, N.C.). Differences among means were tested by least significant difference (LSD) (p ≤ 0.05).
Results and Discussion: Obtained results showed that the application of different levels of vermicompost and Nitroxin inoculation and their interactions had significant effect on some rosemary morphological and physiological properties such as plant height, shoot fresh and dry weight, root dry weight, chlorophyll a, total chlorophyll, leaf flavonoid and essential oil yield. The interaction of vermicompost and Nitroxin were highly significant for shoot weight. The highest fresh weight (71.55 g) for each plant were obtained from 40% vermicompost with Nitroxin inoculated treatment. The lowest fresh weight (45.62 g and 44.4g) belonged to 10% vermicompost and control treatments, respectively. Shoot dry weight yield was also affected by vermicompost with Nitroxin interaction and was highly significant. The highest dry weight (31.37 g) was obtained from 40% vermicompost with Nitroxin inoculated treatment while the lowest dry weight (18.68 g and 18.79 g) was observed in control and Nitroxin treatment, respectively. The amount of chlorophyll a and total chlorophyll were affected by vermicompost with Nitroxin interaction too. The highest amount of chlorophyll a (25.89 mg/g) was observed in 30% vermicompost treatment. The highest amount of chlorophyll b (2.13 and 1.81 mg/g) belonged to 20% and 30% vermicompost treatments, respectively and , the highest amount of total chlorophyll (27.7 mg/g) was measured in 20% vermicompost in combination with Nitroxin inoculated treatment. The highest amount of leaf flavonoid (6.25 mg/g) was determined in 10% vermicompost with Nitroxin inoculated treatment. The highest essential oil yield (0.263 and 0.272 g per plant) was obtained from 20% and 30% vermicomposts treatments, respectively. According to the presented results, amendment of growing media with vermicompost and Nitroxin inoculation significantly increased quantity and quality properties of rosemary.
Conclusions: The presented results showed that the use of vermicompost, and Nitroxin separately or in combination have positive effect on growth yield, pigments formation and essential oil yield of rosemary. The increased fresh and dry yield of rosemary in this study could be the result of optimum condition of growth media provided by vermicompost. The use of vermicompost increases water holding capacity and better ventilation environment for plant roots. In addition, the presence of vermicompost in growing media provides greater nutrient availability for plants and therefore increases plant fresh and dry yield. This greater nutrient availability could be due to increased microbial population and their activities in vermicompost- amended growth media.
Kazem Barghamadi; Shahla Najafi
Abstract
Introduction: Unbalanced application of fertilizer and chemical pesticides reduce soil fertility and agricultural products quality. Application of bio-fertilizers is quite important for sustainable agriculture..According to the principles of ecological agriculture, soil fertility and plant nutrition ...
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Introduction: Unbalanced application of fertilizer and chemical pesticides reduce soil fertility and agricultural products quality. Application of bio-fertilizers is quite important for sustainable agriculture..According to the principles of ecological agriculture, soil fertility and plant nutrition play an important role in improving the yield and quality of medicinal plants. The use of biological fertilizers is one of the main strategies in ecological agriculture for plant nutrition. Organic materials are not the only source of bio-fertilizer but bacterial and fungal particles and materials from their activities in relation to nitrogen, phosphorus and other nutrients are examples of biological fertilizers too. Today particular attention has been paid to the canvas of biological nitrogen fixation byfree-living bacteria such as Azospirillum and Azotobacter companion agricultural systems. Nitrogen is mainly the first nutrient which its deficiency in the arid and semi-aridoccurs.It is due to this fact thatthe amount of organic matter that is the major source of nitrogen stored in these areas is negligible. Nitroxin contains the most effective nitrogen fixation bacteria (Azotobacter and Azospirillum). Nitroxin bacteria besides nitrogen fixation of atmosphere and counterbalance of macronutrients and micro nutrientsare required for plant uptake, with the synthesis and secretion of various hormones and growth regulators such as auxin (IAA), the secretion of various amino acids, antibiotics, andhydrogen cyanide hydrogen will cause siderophore growth and development of roots and aerial parts of the plant. Due to environmental concerns, the use of organic acids to improve the quality and quantity of crops and gardens is not possible. Small amounts of organic acids have significant impacts on physical characteristics, chemical and biological soil because of the useful hormonal effects of compounds in increasing production and improving the quality of agricultural products. Humic acid, as one of the appropriate fertilizer, is used in the agricultural organic system. Humic acid causes shoot growth increase due to the absorption of calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, manganese, iron, zinc and copper. Bio-fertilizer application information on medicinal plants is very important. In the present study, nitroxin and humic acid effects on Carumcopticum extract were investigated.
Materials and Methods: In order to evaluate the effect of different levels of humic acid, organic fertilizer and Nitroxin bio-fertilizer on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Ajowan, a factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in Zabol University. The seeds used in this study were obtained from a local variety that was planted superficially. Active ingredientof the seed was extracted by distillation with water for threehours. Essence percentage was determined by sodium sulfate. The Kejeldal method was used to determine the percentage of nitrogen. The crude method was used to determine the concentration of calcium, potassium, phosphorus and magnesium in dry ash. A factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted at the Research Farm. Treatments include the seed inoculation with Nitroxin bio-fertilizer in fourlevels including N1= zero (control), N2 = 0.5, N3 = 1 and N4 = 1.5 L/ha and organic fertilizer humic acid as irrigation water solublefour-leaf stage on fourlevels H1 = zero (control), H2 = 1, H3 = 2 and H4 = 3 kg per hectare. SAS statistical software was used to analyze the data and mean of three traits were compared by LSD test at the 5% level.
Results and Discussion: None of the treatments affected plant height and Nitroxinhumic acid interactions were not significant. The results showed significant effects of humic acid on seed weight, number of umbels and lateral branches, essential oil percentage and yield. The highest percentage and oil yield was 4.17% and 64.75 kg per hectare of treated H4, respectively. Nitroxin effect on all traits was significantly different except oil percentage. Interaction of humic acid and Nitroxin treatments on yield and biological yield were significant. The highest yield (1758.33 kg per ha) was treated with N4H3.
Conclusion: Our results showed that 1.5 L/ha Nitroxin and 3 kg humic acid per ha were the best treatments in the production of oil yield and percentage of Ajowan organic farming.
