Medicinal Plants
Alireza Moshrefi-Araghi; Seyyed Hossein Nemati; Mahmood Shoor; Majid Azizi; Nasrin Moshtaghi
Abstract
Introduction Mentha is one of the most important genera of aromatic plants which belongs to the Lamiaceae family. The genus of Mentha is distributed across Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North America. Mentha longifolia L., also known as wild mint, is a fast-growing aromatic perennial herb. ...
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Introduction Mentha is one of the most important genera of aromatic plants which belongs to the Lamiaceae family. The genus of Mentha is distributed across Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe, and North America. Mentha longifolia L., also known as wild mint, is a fast-growing aromatic perennial herb. It is widely used as herbal medicine and is beneficial for the immune system and fighting with secondary infections. The essential oil of this plant is partly responsible for the decongestant, antispasmodic and antibiotic effects. Currently, much emphasis is being laid on conserving plant germplasm as valuable bio-resources. Selection between and within accessions for a high level of herbage yield and other characters requires an effective tool to be applied by mint breeders. Achieving to cultivars that are more capable of optimum producing is a breeding goal. The objectives of this study were to analyze the diversion of the agronomical traits of Mentha longifolia L. genotypes from different regions of Iran under a similar condition in order to find the superior genotypes and introduce for the domestication of this plant. Material and MethodThis research was performed at the research field of the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The field is located at 36˚15' North latitude and 59˚38' East longitude, at an altitude of 985 meters. The information related to temperature and precipitation was obtained from climate station. Soil sampling was done in the depth of 0.3 meter and physical experiments on samples were done before starting the experiment. The field was fertilized by 25 kg/ha animal manure. Seeds of 20 genotypes of M. longifolia L. were prepared from Gene Bank of Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands and a view of the wild mint genotypes distribution was presented on the map. The experiment was performed in a field with 500m2 areas in 2015-2016 growing seasons. The experiment in form of compound analysis arranged in complete randomized design with three replicates of 20 wildmint's genotypes in every replication. In each furrow, fourteen bush was totally studied, in which the distance between the two plants was 20 cm. The plot was considered 1.2 by 3 m and the distance between rows was 0.50 m. The dimension in the plots for every replication area was 3.6 m2 and the distance between blocks were 1.5 and between experimental units were 0.5 meters. Picking up was done after elimination of 0.5 meters from every side of replication. The essential oil was extracted using Clevenger type apparatus and by hydrodistillation. Results and DiscussionAnalysis of variance showed that the effect of the diversity among the genotypes on morphological, agronomical and essential oil yield parameters of wild mint was significant (P≤0.01). The results of this study showed that Mentha longifolia L. herb has a high diversity under the same culture conditions among genotypes collected from 20 regions of Iran. Correlation result shows that vegetative organs have more effect on the essential oil content than the reproductive organs. This may be due to the distribution of essential oil accumulation and storage sites, which requires further research in this regard. The study of vegetative and reproductive characteristics suggests that the genotypes of the dry and semi-arid climates have different conditions, which may causes the separation of their genotypes compared with the other genotypes. The bi-plot, based on PC1 and PC2, reflects the relationships between the studied genotypes. The results of bi-plot of cluster analysis confirmed that genotypes were divided into two main groups based on agronomical and morphological traits. Conclusion Finally, plants of genotype G13 belongs to Hormozgan province and then G16 genotype belongs to Khuzestan province were selected because of more biomass, more aerial part volume and also the most essential oil performance compared to the other genotypes. Desirable traits for the aerial part such as the time of flowering, leaf length, leaf width, plant height, the highest number of leaves in the stem and internode distance are important traits that should be considered. In addition, the cultivation of these genotype in order to the further production can be the great help in the domestication of this species and, given the fact that the diversity is a precursor of breeding, this research can be an introduction for future breeding operations. However, further research is needed to confirm the phytochemical superior genotypes.
Medicinal Plants
Mina Amani; Saeideh Alizadeh Salteh; Mohsen Sabzi-Nojadeh; Mehdi Younessi Hamzekhanlu
Abstract
IntroductionMedicinal plants have long had a special place in the traditional agricultural system of Iran and the use of these plants as medicine to prevent and treat diseases has been considered by traditional medicine experts since ancient times. Medicinal plants with rich sources of secondary ...
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IntroductionMedicinal plants have long had a special place in the traditional agricultural system of Iran and the use of these plants as medicine to prevent and treat diseases has been considered by traditional medicine experts since ancient times. Medicinal plants with rich sources of secondary metabolites provide the basic active ingredients of many medicines. Although the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites is genetically controlled, but their construction is strongly influenced by environmental factors. One of the important climatic factors that affect the distribution of plants around the world and can cause morphological, physiological and biochemical changes in the plant is the lack of available water. Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) seems to show little resistance to water stress. For this reason, there is a need for protective mechanisms for the basil plant against stress due to water shortage. Plants are able to reduce or eliminate the effects of water shortage stress by coexisting with a number of soil microorganisms. Coexistence relationship plant with T. harzianum fungi is one of the ways to reduce dehydration in plants. These mushrooms by altering some of the root properties and absorbing nutrients in the host plants, they reduce the destructive effects of water shortage stress. Observing the positive effect of these fungi in increasing the absorption of nutrients from the soil, improving plant water relations, increasing water use efficiency in plants and finally increasing plant resistance to water deficit stresses on the one hand and on the other hand. The existence of water crises in different countries has prompted researchers to further study this aspect of the symbiotic relationship between the host plant and Trichoderma harzianum. Materials and MethodsPresent study was performed to investigate the effect of T. harzianum on the antioxidant content of Ocimum basilicum under water deficit stress. It is also intended to evaluate the effects of an endophytic fungi namely T. harzianum on the shoot yield, photosynthetic pigments, content and yield of essential oil from O. basilicum under water deficit stress. All experiments were performed as the factorial based on completely randomized design blocks with three replications in greenhouse condition. The experimental factors were the different irrigation regimes including 100, 75, 50 and 25% of field capacity and two concentrations of the T. harzianum (106 and 109 CFU/ml). At the beginning of flowering, water deficit stress was applied at four levels of 25, 50, 75 and the control treatment (100 percent) of field capacity until three weeks later. The application of water stress was such that the pots were weighed daily and the moisture deficiency in each treatment was removed by watering the pots until reaching the desired treatment level. After applying the stress, sampling and measuring traits were done at the full flower stage. After the plants reach the full flowering period, various traits including plant height, number of leaves, fresh and dry weight yield of the plant (as the economic yield of basil) and fresh and dry weight yield of roots per square meter, chlorophyll a, b, total (T), carotenoid, colonization percentage, yield and essential oil content were measured in all the plants in the pots. Results and DiscussionIncreasing the level of water stress reduced the economic performance of basil (O. basilicum). Coexistence with Trichoderma reduced the destructive effects of dehydration on the plant. With the application of dehydration stress, the essential oil content increased in mild and moderate stresses, but the yield of essential oil did not differ significantly from the control and plant height, number of leaves and plant pigments decreased under dehydration stress. According to the experimental results, it can be said that Trichoderma with a population density of 106 (spores per ml of inoculum) had a better effect on most growth indices, while the effect Trichoderma with a population density of 109 (spores per milliliter of inoculum) on important traits such as shoot fresh weight yield (212.2 g), percentage (0.7%) and essential oil yield It was higher. According to the obtained results, it can be stated that inoculation of basil with Trichoderma increased the percentage and yield of essential oil in both water stress and non-stress conditions, and considering that in cultivation of plants the goal is to increase the effective substance. It is in these plants. ConclusionFinally, the results indicated that the use of Trichoderma mushroom in comparison with the control (without inoculation with the fungus) under water stress conditions has the ability to improve plant growth and leads to an increase in plant efficiency under water stress conditions.
Medicinal Plants
Mahtab Salehi; Ramezan Kalvandi; Foroozan Salehi
Abstract
IntroductionThe medicinal plants have been used in traditional medicine for a long time all over the world. Over 80% of the world population depends on herbal medicines and products for healthy living, and also, a large part of pharmaceutical materials are derived directly or indirectly from plant sources. ...
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IntroductionThe medicinal plants have been used in traditional medicine for a long time all over the world. Over 80% of the world population depends on herbal medicines and products for healthy living, and also, a large part of pharmaceutical materials are derived directly or indirectly from plant sources. According to the new approach to the use of medicines and herbal products, the investigation of the medicinal properties of endemic plants in each region, is of particular importance. Morphological and phytochemical traits of medicinal plants are affected by the different environmental conditions as well as genetic variations. Therefore, investigating the changes in morphological and phytochemical traits of different populations of these plants in various regions and identifying the amount and constituents of their essential oils, can be effective for creating a suitable field for their planting or breeding, as well as standardizing their derived medicine products. The Achillea genus, a medicinal plant belonging to the Asteraceae family, is highly diverse in terms of morphological characteristics and essential oil constituents. 19 species of herbaceous and aromatic plants of this genus have been identified in Iran, of which 7 species are endemic. Some of the Achillea species have therapeutic properties such as reducing blood pressure and lipids, sedative, antispasmodic, analgesic, wounds treatment, antiseptic properties, treatment of stomach pain and diarrhea, stopping bleeding, etc. Materials and MethodsThis study was conducted in May 2022 in order to evaluate the diversity of morphological traits and essential oil constituents of A. santolinoides subsp. wilhelmsii (K. Koch) Greuter populations in 11 regions of Hamedan province. The plant samples were collected in the flowering stage and after measuring some morphological traits (plant height, number of flowering stem, stem diameter, inflorescence diameter, fresh and dry weight of plant, number of inflorescence, number of leaf, etc.), they were dried in shade condition. In order to investigate the physical and chemical properties of soil, soil samples were collected from a depth of 30 cm. and were transferred to the soil laboratory. The essential oils were extracted using hydro-distillation method which lasted for 4 hours. Then they were analyzed by GC and GC/MS in the Institute of Medicinal Plants in Karaj. Gas chromatography was carried out on Agilent 6890. The grouping of populations based on morphological traits and essential oil constituents, was done by cluster analysis in SPSS using the Ward method. Also, the traits correlation (quantitative) was done using the Pearson method. Results and DiscussionThe results indicated that the Vahnan population exhibited the tallest plant height at 23.20 cm, a significant difference compared to other populations. Conversely, the Nazool population displayed the lowest plant height at 13.60 cm. Regarding stem diameter, the Yalfan population showed the greatest diameter at 2.50 mm, a measure not significantly different from the populations of Islamabad, Nazool, and Varayeneh. In contrast, the Koohani population had the smallest stem diameter at 1.52 mm. The highest inflorescence diameter (4.30 cm) belonged to the Islamabad population, which statistically had no significant difference with the populations of Koohani, Vahnan and Yekan Abad, and the lowest (2.30 cm) was observed in Joorab population. The Vahnan population had the highest number of inflorescence (6.20), which statistically had no significant difference with Islam Abad, Zanganeh, Koohani, Yekan Abad and Nazool populations, and the lowest was related to the Yalfan population (3.40). The maximum leaf length was related to Varayeneh population (3 cm), which was statistically not significantly different from Yalfan, Islam Abad and Vahnan populations, and the lowest was related to Naseh Abad population (1.70 cm). Varayeneh and Yekan Abad populations respectively had the largest leaf width (4 mm and 3.80 mm) and the lowest leaf width (2 mm) was observed in the Joorab population. The highest number of flowering stems (13.80) and the maximum number of leaves (168) were belonged to Nazool population, and the lowest number of flowering stems (3.80) was related to Naseh Abad population and the lowest number of leaves (61) was related to Koohani population. Regarding the fresh and dry weight of the plant, the highest values of these traits (3.92 and 2.24 gr, respectively) was related to the Yalfan population and the lowest (1.60 and 0.79 gr, respectively) was related to the Naseh Abad population. Analysis of the essential oils chemical compositions using GC-MS, showed 28 compounds. Camphor, Fragranol, a-pinene, 1,8-cineole and Sabinene were the main constituents of the essential oil. The essential oils yield varied from 0.3 to 0.6% which the highest was related to Varayenh and Nazool populations (0.6%) and the lowest belonged to Heydareh Bala Shahr population (0.3%). Also, Islam Abad population (with the highest altitude), had the highest percentage of fragranol (43.29%). This indicates that environmental factors similar to genetic factors are effective in creating diversity in morphological and phytochemical characteristics of this plant. ConclusionIdentifying the compounds in the Iranian native plants, can provide a suitable field for the practical use of its plant resources and may be the basis of breeding programs. The various studies conducted on different species and populations of Achillea genus, have mentioned the valuable use of their extracts and essential oils in various fields such as pharmaceutical industries (in order to standardizing medicinal products), food, health cosmetics, making insecticides, etc. Researchers who have studied the essential oils of different populations of Achillea species in many regions of Iran, have emphasized on the significant difference between type and amount of the essential oil constituents. In this study, compounds such as Camphor, Fragranol, a-pinene, 1,8-cineole and Sabinene were the main components of the populations essential oils. Since fragranol is used in manufacturing the insecticides and pheromones, Islam Abad population can be used in this industry due to having high fragranol (43.29%). Also, due to the high amount of camphor in the essential oils of most of the studied populations and many uses of this compound, it can be used as an important economic resource in the health-cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries to make various creams and ointments.
Medicinal Plants
Mehdi Moradi; Bahram Abedi; Hossein Arouiee; Sasan Aliniaeifard; Kamal Ghasemi Bezdi
Abstract
Background and objectives
Light is the main environmental factor for plant growth and development. Different attributes of light such as intensity, quality and duration affect plant growth and productivity. Light spectrum of growing environment is a determinant factor for plant growth ...
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Background and objectives
Light is the main environmental factor for plant growth and development. Different attributes of light such as intensity, quality and duration affect plant growth and productivity. Light spectrum of growing environment is a determinant factor for plant growth and photosynthesis. The photosynthetic reactions are directly affected by various light parameters including its spectrum and intensity. Photosystem I and II (PSI and PSII) in the electron transport chain of photosynthetic apparatus are involved in converting solar energy to chemical compounds in plants. It has been found that the PSII is sensitive to light quality. Using The OJIP test, we can investigate the efficiency of various biological phases of the electron transport system. Light sources such as metal-halide, fluorescent, high-pressure sodium, neon lamps and light-emitting diode (LED) can be used for production of plants in closed environments instead of sunlight. Manipulation of the light spectrum of the lamps could trigger potential benefits by enhancing plant growth. Nowadays, by using the LED technology, it is possible to study the physiological effect of different light spectra for optimization of growth conditions and for increase the production of plants in controlled environments. This research was conducted to investigate photosynthetic apparatus, growth parameters, stomatal characteristics, transpiration rate and essential oil content of Salvia officinalis under different light spectra.
Materials and Methods
In this study, the effects of different light spectra were implemented and performed as a pot experiment using soilless media in the plant growth chamber based on a completely randomized design with 6 lighting spectra including White, Blue, Red and three combinations of R and B lights (R30:B70, R50:B50 and R70:B30) with three replications. The light intensity in all growth chambers was adjusted to photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) of 250 ±10 μmol m-2s-1 and light spectrum were monitored using a sekonic light meter (Sekonic C-7000, Japan). Growth condition was set at 14/10 h day/night cycles, 25/22oC day/night temperatures and 40% relative humidity. Three month following plant growth under different light spectra, the plants were evaluated for their growth parameters, stomatal characteristics (stomatal length, stomatal width, pore length or aperture) transpiration rate (E), relative water content (RWC), photosynthetic apparatus (evaluation of OJIP) and essential oil content. Data analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed using IBM SAS software (Version 9.1) and the differences between means were assessed using Duncan’s multiple range tests at p≤ 0.05.
Results
The results showed that the stomata characteristics, photosynthetic performance, growth characteristics and essential oil content of Salvia officinalis were affected by different light spectra. Increasing the ratio of red light especially combined Red and Blue lights (R70:B30) led to the improvement of growth characteristics. Transient induction of chlorophyll fluorescence showed that the highest fluorescence intensities at all OJIP steps were detected in Red light. The lowest Fv/F0 and Fv/Fm were obtained in plants grown under Red light. Occurrence of leaf epinasty and decrease in Fv/Fm indicative of phenomenon of red light syndrome in the plants under Red treatment. Red light caused a reduction in performance index per absorbed light efficiency of (PIABS) and increase in quantum energy dissipation (ΦD0), light absorption (ABS/RC) and electron trapping (TR0/RC) per reaction center. The highest Fv/F0, Fv/Fm and PIABS were obtained under combination of Red and Rlue light. The highest ΦE0 was also detected in combination of Red and Blue light. The narrow and large stomatal apertures were detected under Red and Blue light, respectively. The highest transpiration rate was achieved in plants grown under Blue light LED. Increasing the ratio of Red light resulted in reduction in transpiration rate and improvement of leaf capacity to control water loss via reducing the opening of stomata. The highest amount of essential oil (1/75% v/w) was achieved in plants exposed to combination of Red:Blue light spectra (R70:B30).
Conclusion
light spectrum during plant growth can change plant metabolism, LED can be used in favor of producing good-quality food in controlled environment agriculture due to their ease of application, waveband manipulation and limited heat production. Our result showed that photosynthetic apparatus, growth parameters, stomatal characteristics, transpiration rate, relative water content and essential oil content of plants were considerably influenced by light spectra. Using OJIP test confirmed that plants grown under monochromatic Red and Blue lights were less efficient to successfully transfer the excitons and most of the absorbed energy by the photosystems was dissipated as heat. In conclusion, combined Red and Blue lights (especially R70:B30) caused favorable growth, photosynthetic functionality and maximum essential oil content of Salvia officinalis. Therefore, combination of R and B lights (R70:B30) should be considered for production of Salvia officinalis under artificial light systems during commercial controlled environment production of plants.
Medicinal Plants
Asma Moshtzan; Alireza Yavari; Mojgan Soleimanizadeh
Abstract
Introduction
The diverse and magnificent plant kingdom of the world is widely known for its medicinal importance. Natural substances obtained from medicinal plants and their plant extracts are used for the treatment of a lot of diseases in human pathology as well as plant pathology. Therefore, it is ...
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Introduction
The diverse and magnificent plant kingdom of the world is widely known for its medicinal importance. Natural substances obtained from medicinal plants and their plant extracts are used for the treatment of a lot of diseases in human pathology as well as plant pathology. Therefore, it is important to understand the relationship between medicinal plant species and their environment in terms of producing optimal secondary metabolites. Salvia officinalis L., which belongs to Lamiaceae family, as the main herb in the world is cultivated in many countries. Essential oil from S. officinalis aerial parts is used as raw material in pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. It has been known that different harvest times have a great effect on both quality and quantity of essential metabolites. Furthermore, the drying process, which is one of the post-harvest processes, is very expensive, but if it is done correctly, it significantly increases the efficiency and components of the essential oil after harvesting. In large-scale agriculture, S. officinalis raw materials needs a lot of space and high cost for drying process due to the large volume of material at harvest time. In this case, if it is possible to directly extract the essential oil with the desired quantity and quality from the fresh plant, the production cost will be significantly reduced from the economic point of view. For these reasons, it is necessary to determine optimum harvesting time(s) and plant material kinds affecting essential oil quantity and quality. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the yield and quality of valuable medicinal plant essential oil of S. officinalis in different harvesting times of fresh and dried plants throughout the year in Fars province to determine the yield and quality of essential oil.
Materials and Methods
For these purposes, aerial parts of S. officinalis in full flowering stage were collected from selected plants from a 3-year farm located in Saadatshahr city of Fars province. A factorial experiment based on a completely randomized blocks design with three replications and two factors include three different harvesting times (5th of May, 26th of July and 5th of November, 2020) and two types of plant materials (fresh and dry) was performed in the farm. The essential oils of different S. officinalis samples were extracted by hydro-distillation using Clevenger apparatus and with three replications. The yields were calculated based on dry weight and the oils were analyzed by a combination of GC-FID and GC-MS techniques, to check for chemical variability based on British Pharmacopoeia. At the end of the experiment, data analysis was performed using SAS software (version: 9.4). The means were compared by Duncan's multi-range test at a statistical level of 1%.
Results and Discussion
The results of the current study revealed that the essential oil content of S. officinalis aerial parts harvested at different times and plant materials ranged from 0.19% to 1.18% (w/w). It was found that the interaction effects of harvesting times and plant materials on the essential oil yield was significant at the 1% probability level, and the comparison of the average interaction effects of harvesting times and plant materials showed that the highest essential oil yield of S. officinalis was related to the second harvesting time (26th of July, 2020) and the dry plant material (1.18 % w/w). Meanwhile, the lowest yield of essential oil (0.19% w/w) was obtained in the first harvesting time (5th of May, 2020) and in fresh plant material. 34 different constituents have been identified in which 22 compounds were common. Monoterpene hydrocarbons were the main group of compounds in all studied plant samples. The key compounds of essential oil were 1,8-cineol, α-thujone, β-pinene and camphor. The comparison of the average interaction effects of harvesting times and plant materials on the main compounds of the essential oil demonstrated that the interaction effects on α-thujone and camphor constituents were significant at the 1% probability level and for β-pinene were were significant at the 5% probability level. The results of this research showed that the yield of essential oil in dry plant materials was higher than in fresh plant materials and different harvesting times had a significant effect on the quantitative and qualitative performance of essential oil.
Conclusion
Eventually, the results obtained from this study showed that the quantity and quality of essential oil in S. officinalis were influenced by the different harvesting times and plant materials. In order to achieve the maximum quantity and quality of essential oil in this species, the best type of plant materials was dry plant material and the best harvesting times was the summer harvesting in the full flowering stage. Due to the fact that the performance of essential oil at different harvesting times fluctuates in terms of quantity and quality during the growing season, it is necessary to have the essential oil certificated from each harvest in order to successfully enter the market.
Medicinal Plants
Tayebeh Baeradeh; Hossein Arouiee; Mahboobeh Naseri; Mojtaba Mamarabadi
Abstract
Introduction
Fruits and vegetables are perishable due to high humidity and biological activity after harvesting (breathing, transpiration and biochemical activities). Covering fruits with antimicrobial compounds, while being edible and safe for consumers, is an effective solution to prevent the spoilage ...
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Introduction
Fruits and vegetables are perishable due to high humidity and biological activity after harvesting (breathing, transpiration and biochemical activities). Covering fruits with antimicrobial compounds, while being edible and safe for consumers, is an effective solution to prevent the spoilage of fruits and increase their shelf life. In developing countries, packaging, storage and transportation technologies for these products have not been developed yet. One of the cheap and high-performance methods to increase the shelf life of fruit and maintain its quality during the storage period is to use a coating on the fruit. The purpose of coating application is to reduce water loss, slow aging, polish and better marketing. In addition to improving quality, coating can protect the fruit from pathogens and contamination. Edible coatings create a thin layer on the surface of the food that are effective and eco-friendly alternatives and maintain the firmness of fresh fruits and vegetables. The main components of edible coatings are natural polysaccharides, including starch, cellulose, pectin, alginates and chitosan. These coatings apply by spraying, immersion or rubbing. The use of essential oils and other extracts of medicinal plants has been evaluated in the development of edible coatings.
Adding Ziziphora tenuior L. essential oil to food has been considered as an antioxidant and antimicrobial compound. Directly use of essential oils for fruits and vegetable shelf life has some limitations due to low solubility in water, high vapor pressure and physical and chemical instability. One of the ways to reduce these limitations is the nanoencapsulation of essential oil as. Applications of nano technology to the development of edible coatings (included various nanosystems, including polymeric nanoparticles, nanoemulsions), efforts to control the release of essential oils. Aloe vera gel, which is extracted from the inner parts of the leaves, is clear, odorless, completely healthy and environmentally friendly and can replace the coverings used after harvesting fruits. This is a polysaccharide gel, it dissolves easily in water and has advantages such as preserving the aromatic substances inside the fruit, covering the wound and cuts and it is possible to add substances such as vitamins and essential oils to this gel. Due to the antibacterial properties of aloe vera, adding aloe vera gel to edible coatings can increase the antibacterial properties of this biodegradable coating. On the other hand, using nano technology can increase the efficiency, consistency and better quality of food coatings.
Materials and Methods
The aim of the present study was to prepare and produce an oral coating of nanoecapsule containing Ziziphora tenuior L. essential oil. The components of the nanocapsule of Aloe vera gel was water, toewin and Ziziphora tenuior L. essential oil. Fresh Aloe vera leaves were used to prepare gel. Zeta-average diameter, particle size distribution, scattering index (PDI) and zeta potential (particle surface charge) were measured. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging was used to evaluate the morphology of the nanocapsule. The stability of produced nanocapsule was evaluated by measuring the particle size changes for 3 months.
Results and Discussion
21 compounds were identified in the essential oil of Ziziphora tenuior. The main and important constituents of Ziziphora tenuior L. essential oil were Pulegone, Menthofuran and 1,8-Cineole. The results showed that the particle size of nanocapsule containing essential oil was 84.46 nm and zeta potential was -16.02 mV. The results of transmission electron microscope (TEM) photos showed that the size of the particles is less than 200 nanometers and the shape of the particles is almost spherical. The outer surface of the capsules is completely smooth and uniform. Stability studies of particle size and zeta potential for 3 months showed that nanocapsule containing essential oils had good stability. In this formulation, the zeta potential was about -16 mV, which is due to the non-ionic parts of the surfactant on the surface of the nanocapsule, which contributes to the repulsion force and caused the stability of the size of the nanocapsules. In order to determine the amount of essential oil in the nanocapsule, spectrophotometric method was used. The percentage of essential oil in nanocapsule was 83.25%.
Conclusion
Nanoencapsulation of essential is one of the ways to reduce the limitations of essential oil aplication. In the present study, a nancapsule with natural and biodegradable materials (Aloe vera gel) containing Ziziphora tenuior L. essential oil was prepared and the results showed that Ziziphora tenuior L. essential oil was successfully encapsulated in Aloe vera gel. In general, the results of the present study showed that the nanocapsule of Aloe vera gel is a suitable carrier for Ziziphora tenuior L. essential oil and can be used as an oral coating to preserve fruits and vegetables.
Medicinal Plants
Mahmoud Ghojavand; Porang Kasraie; Hamidreza Tohidimoghadam; Muḥammad Naseri; Hamid Larigani
Abstract
Introduction
Satureja hortensis L. is an annual herbaceous plant of the mint family that has numerous raised or creeping stems or arched stems with a height of 10 to 30 cm. The height of this plant reaches a maximum of 60 cm. The stems and branches are usually covered with hairs. The leaves are ...
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Introduction
Satureja hortensis L. is an annual herbaceous plant of the mint family that has numerous raised or creeping stems or arched stems with a height of 10 to 30 cm. The height of this plant reaches a maximum of 60 cm. The stems and branches are usually covered with hairs. The leaves are opposite, have short or almost no petioles. The leaves are opposite, the petioles are short or almost without petioles, there are many small spots on the surface of the leaf called the tuber, which contains the essential oil. Knowledge of environmental, plant and agro-factors play an important role in the success of medicinal plants. One of the factors affecting the growth and development and production of active ingredients of medicinal and aromatic plants is water, the lack of which has a greater effect on reducing production than other inputs. Drought stress is an important global constraint on agricultural production and food security. Recently, there has been a growing interest in reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and exploring alternative methods for producing high-quality crops. This is particularly important in arid and semi-arid regions like most parts of Iran, where soil nutrient levels are often low. The use of biofertilizers can help strengthen plants and promote sustainable crop production. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of salicylic acid foliar application, Mycorrhiza-Azotobacter bio-fertilizers, and drought stress on the morphological and physiological characteristics of summer savory, a medicinal plant.
Materials and Methods
This experiment was conducted to evaluate some traits of summer savory in response to biological fertilizers, salicylic acid and drought stress in Zamanabad village of Rey city (Tehran province) during 2018 and 2017. This experiment was conducted using a randomized complete block design with three replications, as a factorial split plot. The main factor was irrigation, with three levels including soil moisture potential (as a control), potential of -5.5 atmospheres as medium stress, and potential of -10 atmospheres as severe stress. Sub-factors included four levels of biological fertilizers: No inoculation, seed inoculation with Azotobacter strain, seed inoculation with Mycorrhiza, and concomitant use of Azotobacter + Mycorrhiza. Salicylic acid was also considered at two levels: no foliar application and foliar application with a concentration of 0.6 mM. The following plant characteristics were studied: plant height, root dry weight, shoot dry weight, total chlorophyll content, proline content, percentage, and essential oil yield. At full flowering stage, the plants were harvested and placed in an oven at 75 ° C for 24 hours to measure the dry weight of roots and shoots. 10 g of leaves and flowering twigs from each replicate were transferred to the laboratory to measure physiological traits. SAS 9.4 software was used to perform a two-year combined analysis of variance for the recorded traits. To ensure the uniformity of variance of errors, the Bartlett uniformity test of variance was performed based on the mean squares and the degree of error freedom in two years. Mean traits were also compared using the least significant difference test (LSD) at the 5% probability level.
Results and Discussion
The results showed that the effect of drought stress, fertilizer and salicylic acid treatments on the studied traits of plant height and shoot and root dry weight, chlorophyll content, percentage and yield of essential oil and proline content were significant. Salicylic acid and the combined application of Azotobacter + mycorrhiza increased plant height, plant dry weight and root, as well as increased chlorophyll content, proline, percentage and yield of safflower essential oil under drought stress. According to the results of this experiment, it can be argued that the response of plant height, plant dry weight and essential oil yield to the increase in drought stress levels was negative, but the root dry weight, total chlorophyll, proline and essential oil percentage were the opposite response. The highest amount of these traits was observed in severe stress conditions and the combined application of bio-fertilizers (Azotobacter + Mycorrhiza) and salicylic acid 0.6 mM had a positive and increasing effect compared to other levels of bio-fertilizer and salicylic acid in The studied traits of the present study were observed.
Conclusion
According to the results of this experiment, the application of bio-fertilizers and foliar application of salicylic acid causes dehydration and dehydration, as well as the presence of essential oils, nutrients, and the quality of summer safflower under drought stress.
Medicinal Plants
Mahtab Salehi; Ramezan Kalvandi
Abstract
Introduction Medicinal plants have played an essential role in the development of human culture. Medicinal plants are resources of new drugs and many of the modern medicines are produced indirectly from plants. Although the production of secondary metabolites is controlled by genes, their production ...
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Introduction Medicinal plants have played an essential role in the development of human culture. Medicinal plants are resources of new drugs and many of the modern medicines are produced indirectly from plants. Although the production of secondary metabolites is controlled by genes, their production is considerably influenced by environmental conditions, so environmental factors cause changes in the growth of medicinal plants as well as the amount of active substances. Essential oil quantity and quality are affected by the different environmental conditions. Physiological, morphological and genetic variations were seen in populations of species that occurred in different habitats. These variations were created in response to contrasting environmental conditions. In many plant species, studies on the pattern of variation in populations have shown the localized populations are adapted to the particular environmental conditions of their habitat. The genus Phlomis L. (Lamiaceae) includes about 113 perennial herbs or shrubs distributed in Asia, Europe, and Africa. Some of the Phlomis species have been reported for their traditional uses as analgesic, diuretic, tonic, anti-diarrheic agents and to treat various conditions such as gastric ulcer, inflammation, diabetes, hemorrhoids and wounds. In Flora of Iran, this genus is represented by 20 species, including Phlomis olivieri Benth.Materials and Methods This study was conducted to evaluate the morphological and phytochemical diversity of eleven populations of P. olivieri Benth. from different districts of Hamedan province in 2021. Traits such as plant height, stem diameter, leaf length and width, fresh and dry weight of the flowering branch, inflorescence length, fresh and dry weight of the plant, number of inflorescence cycles, essential oil percentage were measured. In order to investigate the physical and chemical properties of soil, soil samples were collected from a depth of 30 cm. Then they were transferred to the soil laboratory. Plants samples were collected in the flowering stage and were dried at 25-30°C. They were stored in envelopes at 22±3°C away from the sun. For extracting the essential oil of the samples, 100 gr of the plant was milled and then distilled with water. Hydrodistillation lasted for 4 hours. The main components of essential oil were identified and determined by gas chromatography in the Institute of Medicinal Plants in Karaj. Gas chromatography was carried out on Agilent 6890 with capillary column 30m*0.25 mm, 0.25 mm film thickness. The grouping of populations based on morphological and phytochemical traits was done by cluster analysis in SPSS using the Ward method. Also, the traits correlation (quantitative) was done using the Pearson method.Results and Discussion According to the results, the highest fresh and dry weight of flowering branch (6.96 g and 3.48 g) and also the highest fresh and dry weight of the plant (11.77 g and 5.86 g) belonged to the Koohani population. The tallest inflorescence (24.2 cm) belonged to the Jowzan population and the shortest inflorescence belonged to the Gammasiab population (8.9 cm). The highest stem diameter (4.45 mm) was observed in the Garin population. The maximum plant height (49.4 cm) was related to the Rahdarkhaneh population, which was not significantly different from the Garin population, and the minimum was related to the population of Garmak (31 cm), which was not significantly different from the population of Gammasiab (33.50 cm). Also, 31 compounds were identified in this plant essential oil that caryophyllene, germacrene D, and (E)-b-Farnesene had the highest percentage of essential oil constituents. In this study, the highest amount of essential oil (0.04%) was related to the Koohani population which had the lowest altitude among other populations. Therefore, it seems that environmental factors, as well as genetic factors, have been effective in creating diversity in morphological and phytochemical characteristics of this plant.Conclusion The results obtained from this study showed that P. olivieri Benth. populations gathered from different regions of Hamedan province, had a high diversity in terms of essential oil content. The results showed that in addition to genetic factors, environmental and climatic factors also affect phytochemical traits. In this study, the highest amount of essential oil was produced in the Koohani population (located in Nahavand city) with the lowest altitude among other populations. According to the research on the essential oil components of P. olivieri in different regions of Iran, the components of its essential oil and their percentages are completely different; so, some of the components that are seen in one region, are not observed in another region, and this issue emphasizes on the effect of climatic conditions. This difference is quite evident even in the studied populations in a province.
Medicinal Plants
Mina Bagheri; Mohammad Hassan Rasouli-Sadaghiani; Esmaeil Rezaei-Chiyaneh; Mohsen Barin
Abstract
Introduction
The use of intercropping and the potential of microorganisms such as Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) is one of the important strategies in sustainable agriculture. Intercropping is multiple cropping systems, in which two or more crop ...
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Introduction
The use of intercropping and the potential of microorganisms such as Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) and Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) is one of the important strategies in sustainable agriculture. Intercropping is multiple cropping systems, in which two or more crop species planted simultaneously in a field during a growing season. Of course, this does not mean that in the intercropping, plants can be planted at a time together, but is the purpose that two or more crops are together in one place, during their growing season or at least in a time frame. Therefore, it is possible that plants are different in terms of planting date, and a plant is planted after the other plant. Potential benefits of intercropping are such as high productivity and profitability, improvement of soil fertility, efficient use of resources, reduction in the damages caused by pests and weeds, better lodging resistance and yield stability. On the other hand, the use of AMF and PGPR as biofertilizers can play a role in improving plant nutrition, plant growth and product quality. The aim of this study was to study the effect of AMF and PGPR inoculation on plant growth indices in bean-Moldavian balm intercropping.
Materials and Methods
This experiment was conducted in the Agricultural Research Greenhouse of Urmia University, Located in 11 kilometers Sero road of the city of Urmia, Iran (latitude 36° 57′ N, longitude 45° 24′ E and 1321 m elevation) in 2017. The climate of the area is a Hot-summer Mediterranean climate bordering continental climate with cold winters, mild springs, hot dry summers, and warm autumns. This experiment was carried out in a factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The factors including microbial inoculation {(AMF, PGPR, AMF+PGPR and without microbial inoculation) and planting patterns (Sole cropping of Moldavian balms and bean, 1 row bean+ 1 row Moldavian balms (1:1), 2 rows bean+ 1 row Moldavian balms (2:1), 1 row bean+ 2 rows Moldavian balms (1:2) and 2 rows bean+ 2 row Moldavian balms (2:2)}. For this purpose, soil samples were prepared from Naqhadeh city in West Azerbaijan Province in Iran. In order to greenhouse tests, the soils added to the pots (in each pot containing 45 kg of soil). In treatments, soil used with microbial inoculation. Microbial strains were used for microbial inoculation including PGPR (P. aeruginosa, P.fluorescens and P. putida) and AMF (Funneliformis mosseae, Rhizophagus irregularis and Claroideoglomus etunicatum). For plant cultivation, been (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and moldavian balms (Dracocephalum moldavica) seeds cultivar were grown in pots. At the end of the growth period, the characteristics of the agronomic traits in the bean plant were including plant height, number of seeds per pod, 1000 seed weight, biomass yield and Seed yield, and in Moldavian Balm were including, plant height, biomass yield and essential oil percentage were determined. In addition, the land equivalent ratio (LER) was calculated to determine the advantages of intercropping. The analysis of variance for the obtained data was done by statistical analysis system (SAS 9.4) software. The mean comparison was done using the Duncan test at the 5% probability level.
Results and Discussion
The results showed that the different intercropping and microbial inoculation had a significant effect on all traits, in Moldavian balms and common beans. All the plant growth indices in common bean-Moldavian balm intercropping were the highest in the combined treatment of AMF +PGPR, compared to another treatment. The highest and the lowest seed and biomass yield of bean were achieved in sole cropping with 3.20 and 9.70 g and 1:1 with 1.57 and 4.41 g, respectively. The maximum biomass yield and other traits of Moldavian balm obtained under sole cropping, while essential oil percentage was higher in all intercropping patterns than in sole cropping patterns. The main constituents of Moldavian balms essential oil were Geranyl acetate, Geranial, Geraniol and Neral. The highest LER value (1.67) was obtained from 2:2 intercropping in PGPR inoculation.
Conclusion
In general, the results showed that all of the plant growth indices of Moldavian balms and bean in sole cropping were higher than other intercropping patterns; however higher LER was observed in intercropping with microbial inoculation. This shows more exploitation of unit area in intercropping. In addition, the greater amount of LER in replacement intercropping than additive intercropping highlights the necessity of appropriate density of plants per unit area in the intercropping. It can be concluded that application of intercropping with combined application of AMF and PGPR leads to improvement on yield and yield components of plant.
Medicinal Plants
Shirin Taghipour; Abdollah Ehtesham Nia; Hamed Khodayari; Hassan Mumivand
Abstract
Introduction
Due to their pleasant and soothing taste and odor, attractive colors, and medicinal purposes, Chrysanthemum morifolium flowers have been widely used as food, tea, ornamentation, and medicine. It has been reported that C. morifolium can reduce hyperactivity of the liver, improve eyesight ...
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Introduction
Due to their pleasant and soothing taste and odor, attractive colors, and medicinal purposes, Chrysanthemum morifolium flowers have been widely used as food, tea, ornamentation, and medicine. It has been reported that C. morifolium can reduce hyperactivity of the liver, improve eyesight and regulate cellular immunity. Pharmacological investigations have shown that Flo's chrysanthemum exhibits antibacterial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and heart-protective characteristics. Previous phytochemical studies on caffeic acid derivatives, flavonoids, triterpenoids, glycosides and alkaloids have been isolated from Flo's chrysanthemum. In this study, chrysanthemum cultivars were evaluated in terms of having secondary compounds and desirable medicinal properties, as well as antibacterial effects to introduce superior cultivars and purposeful planning for breeding research. The purpose of the present study, 25 cultivars of C. morifolium were compared in terms of essential oil content, leaves total phenolic, flavonoid and antioxidant activity.
Materials and Methods
In this experiment, 25 chrysanthemum cultivars were studied in terms of essential oil percentage, antioxidant index, total phenol and flavonoid content and antibacterial effects in a randomized complete block design in Lorestan University research farm in the year 2016. Essential oil was extracted from dried flowers in the shade using a Clevenger apparatus for 3 hours. Evaluation of antioxidant activity of the extract was measured by DPPH method based on the method of Kulisic et al. (2004). The amount of flavonoids was measured by aluminum chloride and total phenol by Folin - Ciocalteu reagent colorimetric. Ward analysis was done to classify the cultivars.
Results and Discussion
The results of analysis of variance showed that the studied chrysanthemum cultivars had significant differences in terms of all studied phytochemical traits. According to the obtained results, among different cultivars, the total amount of phenolic compounds is between 14.52-47.90 mg/g dry weight, the total flavonoid content is between 11.59-55.62 mg/g DW and IC50 index varied between 83.92 and 257.43 μg/ml. The highest amount of total phenol was present in Avadis and Dila cultivars (45.86-47.90 mg/g dry weight), while Yasamin cultivar (14.52 mg/g DW) had the lowest amount. Also, in terms of total flavonoid content, Golnar and Farahnaz cultivars had the highest total flavonoid content with 55.62 and 53.01 mg quercetin/g DW, respectively. Cluster analysis divided all studied cultivars into five groups. The percentage of essential oil among different cultivars varied between 0.41 to 0.62% and a high variability was observed in terms of the amount of essential oil in the studied cultivars. The highest percentage of essential oil was related to Farhnaz and Elmira2 cultivars. In general, the results showed high antioxidant activity of most cultivars. Therefore, chrysanthemum extract can be introduced as a suitable source of natural antioxidants. Also in this study, Paridokht, Sana and Ashraf cultivars were studied in terms of antioxidant and antibacterial index and Farahnaz and Elmira 2 cultivars appeared superior to other cultivars in terms of essential oil production. Hedaei et al. (2018) studied evaluation of some bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity of leaf methanolic extract and flower essential oil content from different cultivars of Chrysanthemum morifolium, in this review, total phenol and flavonoid contents and IC50 values in different cultivars were ranged from 17.63-33.20 mg/g DW, 12.62-53.17 mg quercetin/g, and 54-228 μg/ml respectively. The highest phenolic content was in cultivar “Poya3” (33.20 mg/g DW), whereas the cultivar “Sahand2” (17.63 mg/g DW) contained the lowest value. Also, in terms of total flavonoid content, cultivars “Marmar” and “Sahand 2” had the highest and the lowest flavonoids with 53.17 and 12.62 mg quercetin per gram, respectively.
Conclusion
The results of the present study indicate a significant difference between different cultivars in terms of the total amount of phenolic, flavonoid and antioxidant compounds that the existence of such diversity can be the role of cultivar and genetics in the production of these compounds. According to the results of this study, chrysanthemum cultivars with desirable levels of phenolic and flavonoid compounds can be used as a source of natural antioxidants as an alternative to synthetic antioxidants. In this study, Sana, Paridokht and Ashraf cultivars appeared superior to the existing genotypes in terms of phytochemical and antibacterial traits. The results of this study can be used to select the correct parents for purposeful crosses in subsequent chrysanthemum breeding programs in order to improve the phytochemical traits of existing cultivars.
Medicinal Plants
Lamya Vojodi Mehrabani; Yagoob Anvari Gheshlagh; Alireza Motallebiazar
Abstract
Introduction
NaCl Salinity is one of the major environmental stressors affecting agricultural production everywhere. Salinity impacts the plants by the osmotic stress, nutritional imbalance with plants cells and by reducing the nutrients absorption and reactive oxygen species over-generation, ...
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Introduction
NaCl Salinity is one of the major environmental stressors affecting agricultural production everywhere. Salinity impacts the plants by the osmotic stress, nutritional imbalance with plants cells and by reducing the nutrients absorption and reactive oxygen species over-generation, as well as by ionic competition for the absorption, translocation, distribution and ion toxicity inside plants. Under salinity stress, plants develop various physiological and biochemical mechanisms to overcome this conditions, like ion homeostasis and compartmentalization, ion uptake, biosynthesis of osmoprotectants, activation of antioxidant enzymeic (superoxide dismutase, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and glutathione peroxidase) and nonenzymic compounds (proline) to overcome salinity stress. Optimum nutrition under stressful saline conditions is important to overcome the problem and to produce optimum yield. Pelargonium graveolens is a plant commonly used in food and pharmaceutical industries. Iran has favorable micro-climates for the Pelargonium graveolens, production, and since this plants is in common use with diverse industries, this experiments was conducted to study the effects of foliar spray with Se and nano Fe on growth and physiological traits Pelargonium graveolens under NaCl salinity depression
Materials and Methods
Two separate experiments were concluded to evaluate the effects of foliar application of selenium and nano-Iron (0, 1.5 and 3 mgL-1) on pelargonium under saline (0, 50 and 100 mM) conditions as factorial based on Completely Randomized Design. In the first experiment, the effects of magnetized Iron and in the second experiment, the effect of selenium were assayed on pelargonium growth and physiological traits (plant dry weight, enzymic activity, elemental content, essential oil percent and oil constituents) under salinity stress.
Results and Discussion
The results obtained from the first experiment showed that, the aerial parts dry weight, Na, Fe and H2O2 content, catalase activity and oil percent of Pelargonium graveolens were independently affected by the salinity and (1.5 and 3 mgL-1) Fe foliar treatment. At the first experiment the highest amount of K/Na ratio, flavonoid content, K content, malondialdehyde, proline and superoxide dismutase activity were influenced by salinity stress. The top amount amount of plant dry weight, Fe content, K/Na, Na and superoxide dismutase activity were recorded at control plants. The top amounts of Na, proline, malondialdehyde, H2O2 content were recorded at 100 mM salinity stress. control and 50 mM NaCl increased oil percent in plants. Foliar spray with 1.5 and 3 mgL-1 Fe increased catalase, yield, phenolic content and oil percent in plants. At the second experiment; aerial parts dry weight, proline and flavonoid content were influenced by salinity stress. Catalase activity, malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase activity and H2O2 content were influenced by sole effects of salinity and Se foliar application. Under non saline condition, plant dry weight, superoxide dismutase activity, K content were increased in plant. With increasing salinity to 100 mM NaCl, proline, malondialdehyde and H2O2 content were increased. Se, Na content and K/Na ratio in the second experiment was influenced by the interaction effects of salinity and foliar spray. At the second experiment, the top amount of K/Na ratio were recorded at NaCl0 × 1.5 and 3 mgL-1 Se spray. The top amounts of Na were recorded at NaCl0 × no foliar application. The superoxide dismutase activity, malondialdehyde and K+ were responded to the individual effects of salinity and Se treatment. The highest amounts of total phenolic content was attained by (1.5 and 3 mgL-1) nano Fe and Se treatment in both experiment. With salinity of 50 and 100 mM, the flavonoids contend was increased at both experiments. Foliar spray with 1.5 and 3 mgL-1 Nano Fe and Se increased catalase activity in plants. 1.5 and 3 mgL-1 Se and nano Fe foliar application reduced H2O2 content in plant at both experiment. GC/MS analysis revealed that β-citronellol (12.5-20.5%) was the major constituent with control treatment Citronelly formate (10.75-25.2%) were the dominant constituents of oil control plants. Β-Thujone (12.61%), trans-Rose oxide (2.85- 9 %) and the highest amounts of Aromadendrene (5.42 %) only recorded at control plants. Salinity stress and foliar spray had negative effects on α-Pinene biosynthesis and the highest amounts of α-Pinene was recorded in control plants. The top amounts of Geranyl formate (0.7-7.8 %) was recorded at NaCl50 × 1.5 mgL-1 Fe spray. Y- muurolene (0.4 – 4.06 %) biosynthesis increased at NaCl50 × 1.5 mgL-1 Se.
Conclusion
Salinity stress involves changes in metabolic processes and various physiological traits, controlled by salinity stress severity. In total, salinity had negative effects on the growth and physiological responses of plants, however, foliar treatment with Se and Fe improved some physiological traits of Pelargonium graveolens.
Medicinal Plants
Seyyed Amir Hamzeh Bahari Meymandi; Shahram Sharafzadeh; Omid Alizadeh; Froud Bazrafshan; Bahram Amiri
Abstract
Introduction In recent years, the aggressive application of chemical fertilizers for agricultural production has endangered the health of soil, water, air, as well as crops, and has raised many concerns for the global environment and human health. In addition to the positive biological effects and ...
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Introduction In recent years, the aggressive application of chemical fertilizers for agricultural production has endangered the health of soil, water, air, as well as crops, and has raised many concerns for the global environment and human health. In addition to the positive biological effects and modification of soil physical and chemical properties due to the gradual release of nutrients, organic fertilizers cause less pollution in the environment. Due to the significant role of medicinal and aromatic plants in different industries, it is important to increasing production of yield and secondary metabolite produced without the use of harmful chemical fertilizers. Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill) is widely grown in arid and semi-arid regions and due to its economic importance and pharmaceutical industrial applications, it is one of the world’s most dimension medicinal plant. This plant has antiseptic, antispasmodic, antiinflammatory, diuretic, carminative and analgesic effects and is effective in gastrointestinal disorder treatment. Moreover with its antioxidant and antiulcer properties, it is used to treat neurological disorders.Materials and Methods This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of organic and biological fertilizers on the morpho-physiological and phytochemical properties of fennel (Foeniculum vulgar Miller). In this study, the impacts of vermicompost (0, 4, 8% in pot), animal manure (0, 7.5, 15% in pot) and mycorrhizal fungi (0, 1%) on physiological and biochemical properties of fennel in greenhouse conditions was evaluated. In order to extract the samples to measure biochemical factors, methanol 70% was used at a ratio of 5:1 (volume- weight). Determination of free radical scavenging was performed by using the DPPH test. The samples’ absorptions were read at a wavelength of 517 nm with Epoch Microplate Spectrophotometer, BioTek Instruments, Inc., USA. Measuring the total phenols was performed according to the Folin’s reagent method and the use of gallic acid as standard (purchased from the brand MERCK, Germany) by using a spectrophotometer at the wavelength of 765 nm. Total flavonoid content was measured using a spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 510 nm through a standard curve of quercetin from Sigma-Aldrich. The Essential oils were obtained from seeds by hydrodistillation for 3 h using a clevenger type device. The analyses of essential oil volatile components were determined by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Data were analyzed by using Duncan’s multiple range test (P< 0.05) by SAS, version 9.4 for Windows.Results and Discussion The results of current investigation showed that organic and biological fertilizers improved the fennel yield and phytochemical properties such as the plant height, seed weight per plant, fresh and dry weight of roots and plants, content of total phenols and flavonoids, antioxidant activity, percentage of essential oil and root colonization. The highest plant height, number of flowers, umbrellas and seeds per plant and fresh and dry weight of roots were obtained after combined application of 8% in pot vermicompost, 15% in pot animal manure and application of mycorrhiza. According to the results, the highest amount of total flavonoids (177.66 mg/100g DW) and root colonization (35.8%) after of 8% in pot vermicompost + 15% in pot animal manure + mycorrhiza application was observed. The results also revealed that the highest fresh and dry weight of the plants (121.33 and 17.41 g, respectively) was obtained after application of mycorrhiza + 15% in pot animal manure. Application of mycorrhiza in combination with 15% in pot animal manure compared to other treatments caused a significant increase in total phenol content in aerial parts with 73.22 mg/100g DW. In addition, the highest amount of antioxidant activity (51%) was obtained after 8% in pot vermicompost + 15% in pot animal manure application. Application of organic and biological fertilizers significantly increased the 1000 seed weight and the percentage of essential oil in fennel. After 15% in pot animal manure treatment, the highest percentage of essential oil by 3.43% was recorded. In general, the highest percentages of essential oil components were related to (E)-Anethole (78.26%), Fenchone (7.15%), Limonene (6.12%) and Methyl chavicol (3.85%), respectively. The amount of (E)-Anethole as the essential oil predominant compound, in the control treatment was 66.92%. The application of mycorrhiza + 4% in pot vermicompost increased the content of (E) -Anethole in essential oil to 80.72%.Conclusion In general, application of vermicompost, animal manure and mycorrhizal fungi improved the growth, biochemical and yield characteristics and essential oil yield of fennel in greenhouse conditions. These fertilizers increased plant yield by providing large amounts of required nutrients and affecting various aspects of root growth and development. Among them, the role of nitrogen may be more prominent due to its participation in protein synthesis and the role of iron in nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis and electron transfer.
Medicinal Plants
Nahle Taghvaeefard; Askar Ghani; Seyyed Mehdi Hosseinifarahi
Abstract
Introduction: The harvest time and type of plant part have important roles in obtaining maximum amounts of active substances from medicinal plants. Medicinal plants vary in terms of phenological stages and maturity and each medicinal plant can be evaluated separately in research. Determining the exact ...
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Introduction: The harvest time and type of plant part have important roles in obtaining maximum amounts of active substances from medicinal plants. Medicinal plants vary in terms of phenological stages and maturity and each medicinal plant can be evaluated separately in research. Determining the exact time of harvest and selecting a plant organ for maximum yield of secondary metabolites can be very important and economically effective. Othroj-Saghir (Citrus medica var. medica Proper) or Othroje-Kabir (Citrus medica var. macrocarpa) is one of the most important citrus species. The southern provinces of Iran, especially the southern cities of Fars province, are the largest areas in which this species is cultivated. In addition to fruit juice, other parts of the fruit especially the flavedo, can be used for medicinal purposes and in food industries. In this study, for the first time, some physical and biochemical changes of different parts of Citrus medica var medica fruits were evaluated during fruit ripening. Also, some active substances (i.e. essential oil content, flavonoid components, etc.) of the flavedo were measured as the most important medicinal parts of the fruit through different stages of ripening.
Materials and Methods: In this study, the effects of fruit ripening on the biochemical properties of different parts of Citron fruit were evaluated. A factorial experiment was set up according to a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with two factors and four replications. The first factor included four levels: different stages of fruit maturity (green mature, intermediate, yellow ripe and over ripe stage). The second factor had four levels: the different parts of the Citron fruit (i.e. outer skin or flavedo, inner skin or albedo, pulp and juice). The most important measured traits were flavon and flavonols, total flavonoids, total phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity. Physical changes in different parts of the fruit (fresh and dry weight of flavedo and albedo, fresh weight of fruit, fruit diameter and height of fruit, etc.) were measured.
Assessments also carried out to identify several features of fruit juice such as acidity, total soluble solids (TSS), titrable acidity (TA) and vitamin C during fruit ripening. Chemical measurements were aimed at determining the most important phytochemical compounds of the flavedo section during fruit ripening. These features included the essential oil percentage and yield, chlorophyll content and polyphenols constituents (rutin, trans-ferulic acid, hesperidin, hesperetin and quercetin by HPLC).
Results and Discussion: The results showed that the fruit maturity stage significantly affected most of the studied traits. The highest amounts of flavon and flavonols (0.377 mg quercetin/g dry weight) and total flavonoids (16.38 mg quercetin/g dry weight) were measured in the flavedo at the over ripe stage. The antioxidant activity initially increased during fruit ripening, but it decreased slightly (75.0%) from the yellow stage to the over ripe stage. The lowest rate of antioxidant activity (53.6%) was observed in the green stage and the highest rate (78.4%) was measured in the yellow ripe stage. The highest amounts of antioxidant activity (83.3% and 73.8%) were measured in the albedo and flavedo samples, respectively, and the lowest amount (54.1%) was recorded in the pulp section. The highest amount of flavedo essential oil (2.37%v/w) was measured in intermediate stage. The chlorophyll content with maturity progress was decreased. Progress in fruit maturity was reduced the most components of polyphenols. The maximum amount of hesperidin, as an important phenolic component, was identified in the peel of Citron fruit (1.86 mg/g dry weight) at the green mature stage. Its amount decreased through the stages of maturity, so that the lowest amount (0.68 mg/g dry weight) was measured at the over ripe stage.
Conclusion: In general, the stage of maturity and plant part had important effects on the amount of biochemical traits. The flavedo part of Citron fruit showed superior medicinal properties. Different active substances react variedly during maturity and so the preferable composition should be harvested according to the desired conditions. The best stages to reach maximum essential oil percentage and polyphenol components are the early stages of maturity (i.e. green mature and intermediate stages).
Farnoosh Malekshahi; Ali Ashraf Mehrabi; Elahe Tavakol; Khosro Mehdikhanlo; Vahid Shariati
Abstract
Introduction: Basil genus (Ocimum) contains 30 to 150 species which grown in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, Central and South America and found as a wild plant in these areas. In India, around 25,000 ha is under cultivation of Ocimum spp., with an annual production of about 250–300 ...
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Introduction: Basil genus (Ocimum) contains 30 to 150 species which grown in tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, Central and South America and found as a wild plant in these areas. In India, around 25,000 ha is under cultivation of Ocimum spp., with an annual production of about 250–300 tonnes of essential oil. Ocimum gratissimum L., a dicotyledonous shrub plant, which belongs to the Lamiaceae family, stands out for the quality, quantity and chemical diversity of the essential oils. These oils have been used in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries. Some of the essential oil compounds have antibacterial, insecticidal and antioxidant properties with high demand on the international market of the fine perfumery industry. It is also popularly used in herbal medicine for treating several diseases, such as upper respiratory tract infection, fever, cough, diarrhea and pneumonia. Being a short-duration economically viable medicinal and aromatic crop, clove basil has huge potential for large scale cultivation. Plant genetic has an important role in determining the type and amount of secondary metabolites of medicinal plants. Moreover, the recognition of species and genotypes with high genetic capability in the production of desired metabolites has been at the top of the plant breeding plans of medicinal plants. In addition, essential oil composition of plants may be affected by harvest time which is due to the impact of weather conditions on plant growth and development. The present study was aimed to evaluate the oil composition of two genotypes in two harvests. Materials and Methods: The research was conducted in the research farm of the college of agriculture, shahid Chamran University, Ahvaz, Iran during 2019. Two valuable genotypes of Ocimum gratissimum L. (278 and 296), with two different essential oil profiles, were investigated in two harvests; spring and autumn seasons. The aboveground parts of the plants were collected on June and November and dried on shade at room temperature. The essential oils of the plants were extracted by water distillation through Clevenger apparatus and the quantity and quality of the essential oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Results and Discussion: The results of present study showed that the essential oil content of two genotypes was not affected by the harvest season while its amount was different in two genotypes. The essential oil content of genotype 296 was 2-fold of 278. According to the qualitative analysis of the essential oils, fifty compounds were identified in the essential oils of 278 and 296 genotypes. More than 98% of the identified compounds (in the essential oils of these two genotypes) were classified into five chemical classes; including hydrocarbon and oxygenated monoterpens, and hydrocarbon and oxygenated sesquiterpene and phenylpropanoids. The major constituent of the essential oil of genotype 278 was oxygenated monoterpene, thymol, on June (35.48 %) and November (45.85 %), which was not found in genotype 296. Gamma-terpinene was also significantly increased from June (13.15 %) to November (25.80 %). P-cymene (11.31-3.56 %), alpha- thujone (4.76-2.94 %), Germacrene D (3.73-2.76 %), caryophyllene E (3.66-1.51 %), myrcene (2.93-3.01 %), alpha-terpinene (2.63-3.38 %) and bourneol (2.28-0.71 %) were the remains of oil composition. Dihydro eugenol, which belongs to the chemical class of phenylpropanoids, was identified as the main essential oil components of genotype 296 which its amount was not affected by the harvest time. The other oil constituents were Beta (Z)-Ocimene (11.89-3.40 %), Germacrene D (3.58-2.80 %), and caryophyllene E (0.52-2.68 %). Conclusion: Terpenoids such as thymol are synthesized via the mevalonic acid pathway, and phenylpropanoid compounds such as dihydroeugenol and eugenol are synthesized via the shikimic acid pathway. The metabolite diversity across different species could be explained by the differential gene expression pattern. According to the results of the present study, thymol was identified as the main oil components of genotype 278. This may be due to the increased expression of mevalonate enzymes. The monoterpene was replaced by phenylpropanoid; dihydrogenugenol, in the oil of genotype 296 which might be due to more expression of the enzymes of the phenylpropanoid pathway. In the other hand, Thymol, P-cymene and gamma-terpinene in genotype 278 varied significantly in different harvesting times, indicating the effect of temperature on the activity of enzymes involved in the synthesis of essential oil components. On the contrary, the amount of dihydrogenugenol in genotype 278 on June and November is not affected by the environmental conditions in two seasons. With regard to the conclusions to the proper growth of genotype 278 and 296, as well several harvests annually, essential oil content and thymol and dihydrogenugenol, therefore, it is suggested that further research should be carried out for developing plant cultivation in Khuzestan and southern provinces which is not suitable for basil growth.
Seyyed Mohammad Bagher Razavi nia; Nasibeh Pourghasemian; Farzad Najafi
Abstract
Introduction: Pollution of the biosphere with toxic levels of metals has accelerated dramatically since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Soil pollution by heavy metals including cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) is a global problem, which can cause agricultural lands to become hazardous for wildlife ...
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Introduction: Pollution of the biosphere with toxic levels of metals has accelerated dramatically since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Soil pollution by heavy metals including cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) is a global problem, which can cause agricultural lands to become hazardous for wildlife and human populations. Accumulated Cd and Pb in their roots and shoots may also be negatively affect their photosynthesis, growth, and reproduction. Cd and Pb uptake and their effects on plants may be influenced by a variety of factors, e.g. the plant species, cultivar, soil characteristics and etc. Heavy metals such as Cd and Pb may cause the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), damage plant tissue membranes, and inhibit photosynthesis, carbon dioxide assimilation, and growth. Photosynthesis is the fundamental process of energy metabolism and therefore, closely related to the plants growth and productivity. However, it is a sensitive process and an important target of environmental stresses. Plants counteract the harmful effects of heavy metals by a variety of protective mechanisms including immobilization, exclusion, chelation, compartmentalization, osmotic regulation and elevating antioxidant system.
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) is a widely grown aromatic and medicinal plant of the Labiatae family. The plant has various therapeutic properties and is also used to flavor different food products due to its particular taste. Little scientific data exist on the response of this medicinal plant to Cd and Pb stress. Therefore, the objective of this work was to investigate the biological and physiological responses of lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L.) under cadmium and lead stress conditions.
Materials and Methods: A factorial randomized complete block design experiment with four replications was used to study the effect of Cd in four concentrations (0, 6, 12 and 24 mg.kg-1 soil) as well as Pb in four concentrations (0, 150 300 and 450 mg. Kg-1 soil). Before harvesting, chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthetic and transpiration rates were measured with fluorescence meter and photosynthetic meter, respectively. Thereafter, plants were harvested and the roots were washed in distilled water. Then, half of the plants were separated into roots and shoots, which were dried at 105 °C for 24 h to determine the dry weight, Cd and Pb concentrations, Cd transfer factor and essential oil content. The other half of the plants were separated into roots and shoots, kept in liquid nitrogen, and then stored in freezer for one week to determine proline and shoot MDA concentrations. Data were subjected to two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the difference between means was compared using LSD test. A significance level of 95% was applied by SAS 9.2.
Results and Discussion: According to the results, root and shoot dry weight, protein content, photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and chlorophyll fluorescence were decreased by increasing Cd and Pb concentrations. However, Cd concentration decreased these traits more than Pb. The shoot MDA concentration, essential oil and proline content were enhanced by increasing Cd and Pbconcentrations. The combination of two pollutants (Cd and Pb) together reduces the negative impact of each element alone. Shoot and root Cd and Pb concentrations were increased by increasing Cd and Pbconcentrations. The interaction effect of Cd×Pbapplication showed that increasing Cd concentration decreased root and shoot Pb concentrations and increasing Pb concentration decreased root and shoot Cd concentrations. Cd and Pb were not detected in essential oil. Moreover, the Cd transfer factor was increased with increasing Pb concentration under high Cd concentration levels (12 and 24 mg.kg-1).
Conclusion: This study demonstrated that Cd toxicity is more than Pb toxicity due to its high mobility. There was an antagonistic relationship between Cd and Pb. Furthermore, due to the absence of Cd and Pb in the essential oil, lemon balm may be a suitable plant for areas contaminated with heavy metals especial Cd and Pb.
Mahtab Salehi; Ramezan Kalvandi
Abstract
Introduction: Medicinal plants are rich sources of the main active substances in many drugs. Although the production of secondary metabolites is controlled by genes, their production are considerably influenced by environmental conditions, so that environmental factors cause changes in the growth of ...
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Introduction: Medicinal plants are rich sources of the main active substances in many drugs. Although the production of secondary metabolites is controlled by genes, their production are considerably influenced by environmental conditions, so that environmental factors cause changes in the growth of medicinal plants as well as the amount of active substances. In different habitats, physiological, morphological and genetically variations are seen in populations of species. These variations are created in response to contrasting environmental conditions. Studies of population in many plant species regarding to the pattern of variation have showed the occurrence of localized populations which adapted to the particular ecological conditions of their habitat. Iran as a center of diversity of Stachys houses about 35 species. The majority of species prefers alpine and subalpine habitats and grows under various ecological conditions in habitats like rocky places, mountain steppes, and stream banks or sometimes in forests. S. inflata Benth. is a medicinal plant from Lamiaceae family which is used extensively in folk and traditional remedies to treat infection, asthma, rheumatism and other inflammatory diseases.
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted to evaluate the morphological and phytochemical diversity of seven populations of S. inflata Benth. from different districts of Hamedan province in 2017. Traits such as plant height, stem diameter, leaf length and width, fresh and dry weight of floral branch, inflorescence length, fresh and dry weight of flower, essential oil percentage and phenol and flavonoid content were measured. In order to investigate physical and chemical properties of soil, soil samples were collected from a depth of 30 cm. Then they were transferred to the soil laboratory. Plants samples were collected in flowering stage and were dried in 25-30 °C. They were stored in envelopes in 22±3 °C away from the sun. For extracting essential oil, 50 gr of shoots were milled and then mixed with distilled water. This process lasted for three hours. Main components of essential oil were identified and determined by gas chromatography. The grouping of populations based on morphological and phytochemical traits was done by cluster analysis. The correlation between the elevations of studied areas above the sea level and soil properties was also done by Pearson method.
Results and Disscution: The results showed that the highest essential oil content was related to Avarzaman, Aznaveleh and Koohani populations (0.2%) and the lowest amount was obtained from Asadabad (0.11%). Although 22 compounds were identified in the essential oil, there was a great deal of variation in the percentage and type of components of the essential oil in the studied populations. The main components of essential oil were Spathulenol (26.25%), Octanol acetate (14.03%), Germacrene D (13.96%), Incensole acetate (13.41%), Bicyclogermacrene (10.66%) and Phytol (9.52%). Avarzaman population had the highest total phenol (141.9 mg GAE/gr) and flavonoid content (109.4 mg routine/gr) and the lowest content of phenol (86.9 mg GAE/gr) and flavonoid (68.8 mg routine/gr) was related to Asadabad and Koohani populations respectively. Avarzaman had the highest plant height (47.2 cm) and was significantly differed with other populations. The highest dry weight of floral branches (1.16 mm) was related to Asadabad population that was not significantly differed with Aznaveleh and Avarzaman population and the lowest dry weight of floral branch (0.57 mm) was observed in Koohani population. There was a significant negative correlation (-0.86) between the height of the studied habitats and the level of phosphorus in these areas. According to the morphological traits dendrogram analysis, seven studied populations were divided into two main groups. The populations of Avarzaman, Ekbatan, Ghazi Khan, Aznaveleh and Asadabad were in group A and Koohani and Gammasiab populations were in group B. Based on phytochemical traits dendrogram analysis, the populations of Ekbatan, Ghazi Khan, Asadabad, Koohani and Gammasiab were in group A and Avarzaman population was in group B.
Conclusion: In this study, the highest amount of essential oil content was obtained from populations which were collected from areas with the lowest elevation above the sea level. The soil of these areas had more phosphorous content. Therefore, the environmental factors as well as genetic factors have contributed in creating diversity in morphological and phytochemical characteristics of this plant.
Faraj Moayedi; Sajad Kordi; Ali Ashraf Mehrabi; Soheila Dastborhan
Abstract
Introduction: Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is one of the oldest spices belongs to the Lamiaceae family. It is a herbaceous annual plant, which is native to subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, America. Basil is an important economic crop and widely used in the culinary arts, food processing and ...
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Introduction: Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is one of the oldest spices belongs to the Lamiaceae family. It is a herbaceous annual plant, which is native to subtropical regions of Asia, Africa, America. Basil is an important economic crop and widely used in the culinary arts, food processing and pharmaceutical industries. Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients for plant production that plays a major role in photosynthetic activities and crop yield capacity and its availability affects plants growth and biochemical processes. Nitrogen deficiency is often a limiting factor in vegetable production such as sweet basil. Nitrogen usage significantly can be increased the herb yield of basil grown in different environmental conditions. The nutritional and environmental factors are the most important factors for growth of the medicinal plants. In the present research, changes in yield, nitrate content, essential oil yield and some physiological traits have been investigated in four cultivars of sweet basil under different levels of nitrogen.
Materials and Methods: A field experiment was carried out in the Agricultural Research Station of Khorramabad during 2016 growing season. The experimental factors were arranged as a factorial-split-plot in time experiment based on randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Experimental factors were cultivars of sweet basil (O.basilicum var Italian Large Leaf، O. basilicum var Mobarakeh, O. basilicum var Sweet Thai and O. basilicum var Cinnamon) and nitrogen fertilizer (0, 100 and 200 kg ha-1 urea) assigned to the main plots as factorial and different cuttings (three harvests from each plot) considered as sub-plots. The half amount of nitrogen (as urea; 46% N) was distributed in experimental plots before planting the seeds and the rest used after the first harvest. Seeds of sweet basil were planted at May, 25th 2016 as five rows with 2m length and each main plot area was 5 m2. The space between rows was 50 cm. All plots were irrigated immediately after sowing. Subsequent irrigations were carried out every four days. The control of weeds conducted manually during the experiment time. The sweet basil plants were harvested three times in early flowering stage in July 12, August 15 and September 25. Samples of 1 m length were taken from the center of two rows located in the middle of each plot. Plants were cut from above ground and transferred to the lab for measuring total dry yield. The measured traits in this study included branches per plant, inflorescences per plant, plant height, leaf percentage, total dry yield, essential oil yield, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoid and nitrate content. SAS (version 9.1) and MSTAT-C statistical software were used to conduct analysis of variance (ANOVA) and comparison of means, respectively. The Duncan's multiple range test, at 5% probability level, was used to rank the differences among means.
Results and Discussion: The results indicated that the application of nitrogen fertilizer significantly improved all the studied traits. The highest and the lowest essential oil yield belonged to 100 kg ha-1 urea and control, respectively. Nitrogen fertilizer by providing the nitrogen needed for the basil plant during the growing season provides a favorable environment for the production of further biomass. Total dry weight of the all basil cultivars increased with application of nitrogen fertilizer in all harvests. The highest total dry weight and nitrate concentrations were achieved by Italian largel cultivar with application of 200 kg ha-1 urea in the second harvest. The increment in total dry weight of basil by application of nitrogen fertilizer could be attributed to the increment in chlorophyll content and better growth of plants and subsequently the better canopy development which ultimately leads to the better usage of solar irradiance, higher photosynthesis and finally higher dry weight in basil plants. Application of nitrogen chemical fertilizer could increase essential oil yield of sweet basil, mainly due to the increasing of total dry weight.
Among basil cultivars, Italian large leaf cultivar had the highest leaf percentage and essential oil yield compared to the other cultivars. The lowest number of branches per plant, number of inflorescences per plant, leaf percentage, essential oil yield and total chlorophyll belonged to Mobarakeh cultivar. All the evaluated parameters were lower than the first harvest except leaf percentage and chlorophyll content.
Conclusion: According to the results, application of nitrogen fertilizer had a positive effect on growth, and consequently led to increase the plant vegetative yield. Due to the fact that in terms of more of the studied traits there was no significant difference between application of 100 and 200 kg ha-1 urea fertilizer and also reduce the consumption of chemical fertilizers generating pollution, Italian large leaf cultivar and application of 100 kg ha-1 urea are recommended to access an acceptable growth and quantitative and qualitative yield in sweet basil under the environmental conditions similar to Khorramabad.
Maryam Heidarzade; Gholamreza Zarei; Abolfazl Morowati
Abstract
Introduction: Lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora H. B. k.) is a valuable medicinal plant because of the essential oils, such as neral and garanial, which are used in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and sanitary industries. In different industries, using essential oil of medicinal plants depends on the ...
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Introduction: Lemon verbena (Lippia citriodora H. B. k.) is a valuable medicinal plant because of the essential oils, such as neral and garanial, which are used in the pharmaceutical, food, cosmetic and sanitary industries. In different industries, using essential oil of medicinal plants depends on the chemical composition, which is influenced by environmental factors, harvest time and farming methods.
Materials and Methods: This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different levels of urea fertilizer and several iron fertilizers on yield and quality of lemon verbena at Fathabad garden of Kerman in 2017. The plants were planted based on factorial experiment in format of a randomized complete block design with three replications. Different levels of urea fertilizer (0, 100, 150 and 200 kg ha-1) and different sources of iron fertilizers included non-use, iron sulfate, nano iron chelate and ortho-chelate iron, were considered in four levels. The measured traits included plant height, fresh and dry weight of leaf per plant, number of branch, chlorophyll content and essential oil quantity and quality. Essential oil extraction was carried out using water distillation method using Clevenger's apparatus and identification of essential oil compounds was performed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MAS). The data were subjected to variance analysis using SAS software and means comparison were done with LSD at 5% level.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that different levels of urea and various iron sources had significant effect on all traits. Treatment with 150 kg ha-1 urea had the highest effect on measured traits compared to control. Among the types of iron sources, ortho-chelate iron had highest effect on quantity and quality compared to other iron sources and control. Generally, 150 kg ha-1 urea in combination with ortho-chelate iron produced the highest quantitative and qualitative yield. The same trend was observed in chlorophyll (35 mg/ml) and oil content (1.3%). In this study, a significant positive correlation was observed between chlorophyll content of leaves with vegetative traits and essential oil, which confirmed the positive effect of chlorophyll content on measured traits. Evaluation of quality of the leaves, 20 chemical compositions were detected in essential oils that were more than 85 percent of the total components. The neral and geranial were the predominant compounds in essential oils and the lowest levels of these compounds were observed in control (33.8%) and the highest levels were observed in the combination of 150 kg ha-1 urea with nano iron chelate (44.9%). The essential oils are terpenoid compositions that their constructive units need to NADPH and ATP, thus the presence of nitrogen is essential for the formation of these compounds. Moreover, iron acts as a cofactor for NADPH and ATP activity in nitrogen metabolism. Therefore, the increase in nitrogen and iron absorption by the plant has increased the content of essential oil. Due to the fact that geranial and neral are the most important compounds used in the essential oil of lemon verbena in various industries, especially pharmaceutical industry. The results of this experiment can be used to increase the quantity and quality of lemon verbena.
Conclusion: The current study demonstrated that different levels of urea and various iron sources had a significant effects on all traits. Generally, 150 kg ha-1 urea in combination with ortho-chelate iron produced the highest quantitative and qualitative yield. A significant positive correlation was observed between chlorophyll content of leaves with vegetative traits and essential oil. Twenty chemical compositions were detected in essential oils that the neral and geranial were the most predominant compounds.
Samane Mohammadi; Majid Azizi; Jamil Vaezi
Abstract
Introduction: Thyme is a perennial plant belongs to Lamiaceae. Thymus is a well–known medicinal plant, native to Southern Europe and its essential oil is manufactured commercially for use in cough drops, mouth-washes, liniments, toothpastes, detergents and perfumes. The herb is approved by Commission ...
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Introduction: Thyme is a perennial plant belongs to Lamiaceae. Thymus is a well–known medicinal plant, native to Southern Europe and its essential oil is manufactured commercially for use in cough drops, mouth-washes, liniments, toothpastes, detergents and perfumes. The herb is approved by Commission E in the treatment of bronchitis, whooping cough and upper respiratory inflammation. The Thymus genus comprises over 300 species of which, 18 are found in Iran, which grow wild in many regions and four of them are endemic. There are serious difficulties in the taxonomical interpretation of the taxa belonging to the genus Thymus owing to the high variability of populations with respect to many morphological and micro-morphological traits. The morphology and different components of essential oils in different species of Thymus are variable due to hybridization and polyploidization, despite its rare self-pollination. In general, intraspecific hybrids of the genus Thymus seem to possess intermediate morphological characteristics and composition of essential oil in comparison with the relevant characteristics of the parent plants. The accumulation of the essential oil takes place in gland hairs, which are distributed on the surface of the epidermis of the aerial parts of the plant. The content of the essential oil can depend on origin, climate, harvest, as well as drying and storage conditions. By carefully examining the structural, phenotypic, chemical and genetic aspects of the natural populations of a plant, it is possible to select either them or samples from them as an important step in the process of breeding the desired medicinal plant.
Material and Methods: In order to have a comparison microscopically and morphologically characteristics of Thymus vulgaris, two landraces of Thymus transcaspicus were studied in completely randomized design with four replications at the faculty of Agriculture in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. Inflorescence length, number of flowers per inflorescence, shoot height, leaf, bud and flower length, leaf width, the largest diameter of canopy, weight, fresh and dry herb yield, percent of essential oil, distinct and type of trichomes, were measured. For glands morphological and structure analysis leaves were processed according to conventional techniques for scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In order to obtain comparable results the leaves from the third node of the apex were used for SEM analyses. Leaf samples were fixed in glutaraldehyde and paraformaldehyde. After being dehydrated, they were coated with gold in the vacuum evaporator. Finally, the preparations were observed and photographed with a KYKY-2800B SEM.
Results and Discussion: The ANOVA of the data showed that there was considerable variation for all studied characters. Results of mean comparisons showed that the highest height, the largest diameter of canopy and percent of essential oil were for T. vulgaris. Maximum inflorescence length, number of flowers per inflorescence, leaf, bud and flower length, leaf width, was also recorded for T. transcaspicus. Results of essential oil (EOs) analysis by GC/MS showed that thymol and carvacrol were the major compounds of all EOs samples, with highest and lowest content observed thymol and carvacrol in T. vulgaris (64.75 and 6.78 %). T. vulgaris produced more essential oil as compared to another thyme species. Two types of glandular trichomes are distributed on the outside surface of leaf, namely, peltate ones (PGTs) and capitate ones (CGTs). The glandular hairs of Lamiaceae likely release various secretions, such as the essential oil and polysaccharide. When trichomes got matured, essential oil could be found on all of the glandular trichomes on aerial organs of Thymus. Besides essential oil, what else trichomes could secrete needs further study.
Conclusion: The essential oil is highly complex chemical compounds. The content and composition of it vary depending on season, growing conditions, and plant species. High essential oil content is related to a much secretion of glandular trichomes. An application for variety protection was filed for ‘T. vulgaris’, now recommended to producers in Mashhad interested in a thymol-rich thyme. We can carry out a selection program to optimize quality and yield of thyme (T. transcaspicus L.) landraces, with used of T. vulgaris and crossing with clones of T. transcaspicus.
Mohsen Eisapoor; Khodayar Hemmati; Nastaran Hemmati
Abstract
Introduction: Horsemint (Mentha longifolia L.) is a valuable medicinal and aromatic plant belonging to Lamiaceae family. It was reported that the contents and composition of perceived pharmacological properties varied significantly among populations. The genus Mentha L. (Lamiaceae), is widely distributed ...
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Introduction: Horsemint (Mentha longifolia L.) is a valuable medicinal and aromatic plant belonging to Lamiaceae family. It was reported that the contents and composition of perceived pharmacological properties varied significantly among populations. The genus Mentha L. (Lamiaceae), is widely distributed in all continents (except in South America and Antarctica). The systematic of the genus is not very elucidated because of the strong morphologic variations, levels of ploidy (2n = 2x = 24 to 2n = 6x = 96), and hybridizations intra- and interspecific (or between spontaneous and cultivated forms). M. longifolia or horsemint is a fast-growing and perennial herb which cultivated in all regions. The species possesses antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. The antimicrobial properties of the essential oils can be attributed to the presence of pulegone, menthone and neomenthone because they can destroy the structure of different polysaccharides, fatty acids and phospholipids by altering the permeability of the cell membrane and destroying the bacterial wall. The essential oils of horsemint are said to be cyclohexane and aromatic, and pulegone is the main compound of these oils has a definite aroma in the range of intense to spicy mint. The effects of environmental conditions on the plant growth and development, reproduction and distribution are well known in plant ecology. Many studies have been carried out about the relationships among plant chemical contents, biological activity and environmental variables in the natural and cultivated plant species. This information has been used to determine the medicinal value and economic importance of plant products.
Materials and Methods: In this research, the effects of six habitats with different altitudes (habitats of Amol city) on some morphological and biochemical characteristics of horsemint plants were investigated in a completely randomized design with three replications. This study was done to compare the amount of pulegone, total phenol, total flavonoids, antioxidant activity, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoid and also morphological features of horsemint such as number of leaves per plant, number of branches per plant, number of flowers and number of nodes. For antioxidant properties using DPPH method in 517 nm wavelength, total amount of phenol using Folin-Ciocalteu method in 765 nm wavelength and the total amount of flavonoid were done using the aluminum chloride method in 415 nm wavelength and they were measured by spectrophotometer. Essential oil was extracted from dried aerial parts using distillation by Clevenger apparatus for 3 hours. Gas chromatography (GC) was used to measure pulegone.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that the altitude and ecotype significantly affecting the growth and biochemical characteristics of horsemint plant. The highest number of leaves (25) and the shoots (27) of horsemint were obtained in the Gat Lash region with 2000 meters and Siozmin with 1850 meters above sea level, respectively. Gat Lash and Siozmin had the highest and lowest content of photosynthetic pigments, respectively. Although there was no significant difference between the content of phenol and flavonoids in different habitats, the highest rates were observed in the Pardemeh and Gat Lash habitats. The results showed that the highest and lowest oil were obtained from ecotypes of Gat Lesh with 2000 meters and Vash Verin with 2300 meters above sea level, respectively. As the height increased, the amount of pulegone was also increased in the leaves, so that the highest amount of pulegone was found in Pardemeh )6069 ppm) habitat by 2600 meters above sea level.
Conclusions: Generally, for obtaining the highest essential oil content and pulegone, the best ecotypes were Gat Lash and Pardemeh habitats, respectively. Due to the importance and usage of secondary metabolites in the human life, investigating the relationship between environmental conditions with the production and accumulation of secondary metabolites in plants can be very useful. Our results showed that the climatic conditions had a significant effect on the morphological characteristics of the horsemint, thereby increasing or decreasing the essential oil. In the present study, the best habitat for the highest pulegone was Pardemeh habitat but the habitat of Gat Lash could be a suitable habitat for domestication and cultivation of this plant because of its higher essential oil yield and relatively good pulegone content. For this purpose, it is recommended to study different habitats of this species in other parts of the country for finding the best ecotypes.
Khodayar Hemmati; Bakhtiyar Ardavanpour; Mina Ghazaeian; Vahid Akbarpour
Abstract
Introduction: Essential oils make up a large part of aromatic substances in plants. Generally, essential oils are considered as remnants of main processes of plants metabolism, especially in stressful conditions. Summer savory (Satureja hortensis L.) is one of the most important plants in Lamiaceae family, ...
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Introduction: Essential oils make up a large part of aromatic substances in plants. Generally, essential oils are considered as remnants of main processes of plants metabolism, especially in stressful conditions. Summer savory (Satureja hortensis L.) is one of the most important plants in Lamiaceae family, which it’s more than 30 species grown in the East Mediterranean. It is one of the oldest plants that have been used as vegetables and medicinal and aromatic plants. Dried summer savory has been introduced as one of the most pleasant spices that are planting in large areas of farmland in many countries. Generally, the aerial parts of it, that is usually harvested at flowering stage, has therapeutic effects such as facilitating digestion, stomach tonic, diuretic, astringent, carminative, anti-diarrhea and anti-worm. Summer savory essential oil is used in food (conserves and beverages) and pharmaceutical industries. Various studies on S. hortensis essential oil has been showed that it contains high amounts of phenolic compounds such as Carvacrol, γ-Terpinene, Thymol, p-Cymene, β-Caryophyllene, Linalool and other terpenoids.
Organic fertilizers have been known to improve the biodiversity and may prove a large depository for excess carbon dioxide. These fertilizers increase the number of soil organisms by providing organic matter and micronutrients for organisms such as fungal mycorrhizae, (which aid plants in absorbing nutrients), and can drastically reduce external inputs of pesticides, energy and fertilizer, at the cost of decreased yield. Nevertheless they are as effective as chemical fertilizers over longer periods of use.
The aim of this project was to study the effects of different organic matters on vegetative and reproductive growth and percentage and components of essential oil in three Satureja ecotypes in Gorgan, Golestan, Iran climate.
Materials and Methods: This study was designed as a factorial experiment based on Randomized Complete Block design with four replications and done in research farm of Agriculture and Natural Resource, University of Gorgan in 2010. Treatments were cattle manure, municipal solid waste, leaves compost, the mixture of them and control. Three ecotypes of summer savory studied in this experiment were Kordestan, Shiraz and Yazd.
The plants were harvested at full flowering stage, when they have the highest essential oil and were dried in oven at 45 °C. The essential oils of dried samples were isolated by hydro distillation for 3 h, using a Clevenger-type apparatus.
Statistical analysis was performed by SAS software and the mean comparison were measures by using Duncan tests at 5% level of probability.
Results and Discussion: The analysis of variance showed that media had significant effect on yield components in summer savory. There were no significant differences between ecotypes and media*ecotype effect on some parameters of yield components. The cattle manure showed positive effects on bush height in this experiment. Hendawy et al (2010) showed that the application of cattle manure and sheep manure had reached significantly the 5% level of plant height and essential oils percentages. They concluded that sheep manure have macro and micro nutrients which provide thyme plants with their requirements from these elements. Essential oil percentage also, tended to increase with application of organic fertilizers either cattle manure, sheep manure or compost. Khalil (2002) showed the effect of two kind of organic fertilizers on Rosmarinus officinalis and Jasminum spp growth parameters and yield components. In this experiment organic manure treatments showed increasing in plant fresh and dry weight. This could be related to positive effect of organic manure on soil texture and fertility. Ahmadian et al. (2006) showed that the animal manure significantly enhanced the number of umbers per plant, the number of seed per plant, the biological and seed yield in Cuminum cyminum. Animal manure significantly enhanced cumin aldehyde and r-cymene and decreased b-pinene, g-terpinene and a-pinene in cumin oil.
Due to the results, treatments had no significant effects on essential oil percentages, but were effective on essential oil components. Hussein et al. (2006) showed that compost levels combined with different distances had a pronounced effect on the various essential oil constituents in Dracocephalum moldavica. In this experiment, Although Shiraz ecotype showed the maximum essential oil percentage (1.2 percent) but there was no significant differences between ecotypes. Among essential oil components, the maximum percentages of Carvacrol achieved in mixture media and Yazd ecotype. Control treatment showed the highest amount of γ- terpinen and paracymene in compare to other media. Shiraz and Kordestan showed also, the highest percentages of γ- terpinen and paracymene, respectively. Plants in mixture media had maximum levels of Carvacrol (74.69 percent). Between ecotypes, Yazd had maximum Carvacrol percentages. Between media, Control treatment was maximum contents of γ –terpinen (5.48) and paracymene (1.76) and other treatments had reduction effects on essential oil components. Between ecotypes, the highest γ-terpinen percentage (5/79) was in Shiraz ecotype and the highest p-cymene percentage (1/69) was in kordistan ecotype.
Conclusion: Therefore, by considering the fertilization of savory plants with different organic manure fertilizers in the form of compost that are economic in each region is recommended.
Esmaeil Chamani; Zahra Eftekhari; Alireza Ghanbari; Hamid Reza Heydari; Mousa Arshad
Abstract
Introduction: Fritillaria imperialis L. is an ornamental and medicinal plant native to mountainous regions of Iran. This plant genetic resource is in danger of extinction, Because of grazing livestock and pest outbreaks. Therefore, micro propagation of Fritillaria through in vitro regeneration is essential ...
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Introduction: Fritillaria imperialis L. is an ornamental and medicinal plant native to mountainous regions of Iran. This plant genetic resource is in danger of extinction, Because of grazing livestock and pest outbreaks. Therefore, micro propagation of Fritillaria through in vitro regeneration is essential for conservation and commercial production. Thymol and Carvacrol are one of the main essential oil compounds in family Lamiaceae.
Material and Methods: Fritillariaimperialis L. bulbs in dormancy stage obtained from mountainous regions of Lorestan in Iran and were placed in cold room at +4 °C for 4-6 weeks. Then, Bulbs were surface-sterilized with 70% ethanol for 45 s followed by immersion in 5% (v/v) NaOCl solution for 20 min with gentle agitation, and then rinsed three times in sterile double distilled water. Present study was conducted in two separate experiments. In first experiment, effect of different concentration of Thymol and Carvacrol and in second experiment, different concentration of NAA and BA on in vitro characteristics of Fritillaria was evaluated. Explants (1× 1 cm) prepared from the lower third of scales with basal plate and were placed in MS basal medium supplemented with different concentrations of Thymol (50, 100, 150 and 300 ppm), Carvacrol (10, 100, 500 and 100 ppm), BA (1, 2 and 4 mg/l) and NAA (1, 2 and 4 mg/l).All cultures were incubated in a growth chamber at 24±2°C, and a photosynthetic photon flux of 40-60 μmol m–2 s–1 was provided by cool white fluorescent lamps with a 16-h photoperiod. This experiment wascarried out in completely randomized designs with fivereplications.
Results and Discussion: Analysis of variance showed that Thymol and Carvacrol were not effective on number of new bulblets but had significant effects on bulb diameter, number and length or roots, number and length leaves and callus induction and diameter of callus obtained from scales (P< 0.05). The highest rate (3 bulblets) of bulblets formation was obtained fromMS medium supplemented with 50 ppm Thymol that showed significantly difference from other treatments. Medium containing 10 ppm Carvacrol gave the highest Bulblet formation (2.5 bulblets) between Carvacrol treatments. Investigation of rooting was done by assessment of the number and length of roots. Mean comparison of the effect of cultivar type on root number showed that the largest number of roots per explant was obtained fromMS medium containing 50 ppm Thymol. Lowest number of roots observed in mediums supplemented with 300 ppm Thymol and 100 ppm Carvacrol. The best medium for increasing the root length per explant (10.90 cm) was MS medium supplemented with 100 ppm Carvacrol, while the least increasing in root length per explant observed from culture mediums contained 300 ppm Thymol and 100 ppm Carvacrol. Also, the largest number of leave formation obtained from culture medium supplemented with 50 ppm Thymol that significantly higher than other treatments. Statistical analysis (ANOVA) of the data showed that high frequency callus induction and formation occurred in MS mediums contained 50, 100 and 150 ppm Thymol and 10 ppm Carvacrol and culture mediums supplemented with 300 ppm Thymol and 1000 ppm Carvacrol showed least callus induction. In contrast, largest callus diameter observed in culture mediums supplemented with 300 ppm Thymol and 500, 100 ppm Carvacrol.
Statistical analysis of results showed that different concentrations of BA and NAA had significant effects on bulblets number and bulblets diameter (P
Farzaneh Badakhshan; Farideh Sedighi Dehkordi; Seyyed Mohammad Hassan Mortazavi
Abstract
Introduction: Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.), is considered as one of the main edible crops of Lamiaceae family. In addition of consuming as a leafy vegetable, basil is known as a medicinal plant due to its aromatic and phytochemical compositions. The common edible basil has two main varieties i.e. Green ...
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Introduction: Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.), is considered as one of the main edible crops of Lamiaceae family. In addition of consuming as a leafy vegetable, basil is known as a medicinal plant due to its aromatic and phytochemical compositions. The common edible basil has two main varieties i.e. Green and Opal. Although the production of this plant is highly happened in open farms during hot seasons, recent changes in agricultural policies in terms of year-round production, using less water and increasing the yield and quality, have encouraged the production of basil under controlled environments such as hydroponic systems. The main criteria to proceed a successful hydroponic culture are selecting proper cultivar, planting density and nutrition management. Optimum plant density alleviates the competition between plants and as a consequence, sufficient light and nutrient can lead to higher quantity and quality. This study aimed to discover the impact of plant density on the quality and yield properties of two main varieties of basil under hydroponics system.
Material and Methods: The experiment was done at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz during 2015-2016 growing season. A pot experiment was conducted based of Split-plot in time design with three replications. Cultivar (Green and Opal) and planting density (150, 200 and 250 plants per m2) were considered as the main and sub plot respectively. The plants were cut twice and different morphological and biochemical properties including number of leaves, leaf area, leafy parts yield, chlorophyll, carotenoids, soluble solid content, titrable acidity, total phenolic content, antioxidant capacity and essential oil content were analyzed.
Result and Discussion:The results showed that among applied treatments, the highest number of leaves (30.61), leaf area (26140 mm2) and stem fresh weight (3.28 g) were recorded for the var. Green with 150 p/m2 planting density at second cut. In contrast, this treatment had the lowest number of leaves (12.33) and leaf area (10810 mm2) at first cut. While maximum leaf fresh weight (5.84 g) was obtained for second cut of 150 p/m2 planting density, minimum leaf and stem fresh weight (3.09 and 2.01 g respectively) were found for second cut of 200 p/m2 planting density. Total fresh yield as an important criteria for a leafy vegetable was affected by both variety and planting density factors. The highest amount of yield (1427 g/m2) was recorded at second cut when plants were at 250 p/m2. In contrast, the plants of 150 p/m2 had the minimum yield at first cut (1020 g/m2). The chlorophyll content was higher in Opal variety surprisingly and the plants of 250 p/m2 and 150 p/m2 had around 2.09 mg/g chlorophyll at second cut. Similar findings were obtained for total phenolic content of leaves that was around 104.3 mg/Kg fresh weight for these treatments. Lowest levels of chlorophyll (1.29 mg/g FW) and total phenolic content (6.158 mg/kg) were seen in the leaves of var. Green when they were planted at 150 plant/m2 density. The data for total carotenoids content showed that the level of this pigments were affected by both parameters of variety and planting density. The leaves of var. Opal of 250 p/m2 density had the highest (6.252 mg/g fresh weight) carotenoids content. The highest (2.021 mmol Fe II/g FW) and lowest (0.69 mmol Fe II/g) amount of antioxidant capacity was recorded in Opal and Green varieties respectively, when they were at 150 plant/m2 density. The taste related parameters including total soluble solids, titrable acidity and essential oil content were not affected by planting density and variety. However, the level of acidity was increased by increasing plant density. On the other hand, a significant difference was seen in terms of TSS, acidity and essential oil between first and second cuts.
Conclusion: Overall and based on obtained data, it can be said that the var. Opal at 150 and 250 plants/m2 density showed the best results in terms of evaluated morphological and qualitative traits and can be recommended for hydroponics basil cultivation. Basil is harvest in 2-3 cuts and this experiment showed that for almost all vegetative parameters, the second cut had better results. The improved yield and quality at second cut could be attributed to the better establishment of roots and providing higher levels of nutrients.
Gonai Baghdadi; Majid Azizi; Naser Sedaghat; Vahid Rowshan; Hossein Arouiee
Abstract
Introduction: The aim of medicinal plant storage is to preserve qualitative and quantitative properties of active substance. Carum copticum fruits (Zenyan in Persian) were used for its therapeutic effects. Seed storage condition after harvest till to extraction time is not suitable in our country and ...
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Introduction: The aim of medicinal plant storage is to preserve qualitative and quantitative properties of active substance. Carum copticum fruits (Zenyan in Persian) were used for its therapeutic effects. Seed storage condition after harvest till to extraction time is not suitable in our country and the major part of seed quality deteriorates during the storage period. So, the loss of seed qualitative and quantitative characteristics will increase during unsuitable storage condition. Appropriate storage conditions and management preserve seed active substance, seed viability and vigor for long periods by reducing the rate of seed deterioration. Optimal seed storage can be achieved by modifying the environment around the seeds. Numerous storage systems have evolved over the years for post harvest preservation of crop seeds. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of various storage conditions and storage time on essential oil percentage and germination factors in C. copticum seeds during the storage period. The results of this research will be used for optimum storage of these seeds to better preserve their quality.
Materials and Methods: In order to investigate the effects of storage conditions (packaging materials and temperature) and storage time on quality of C. copticum stored seeds, a split-plot factorial arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replications is performed in Faculty of Agriculture at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad during 2013 and 2014.Tukey's range test was performed to determine the significant difference between treatments. The calculations were conducted by JMP 8 software. Temperature) at two levels: 20±3°C and 30±3°C( as main plots and packaging materials (at six levels: paper, polyethylene, aluminum foil under vacuum condition, Polyethylene-polyamide packages under vacuum condition, Polyethylene-polyamide packages with a gas composition of [98%N2 + 2%O2] and [90%N2 +10%O2] ) and storage periods (at four levels: 0, 3, 6 and 9 months) as sub plots were considered. Seed samples were taken randomly from each package at four times period. Essential oil percentage, seed weight, gas composition in packages with modified atmosphere and seed germination factors (seed germination percentage (SGP), germination rate (GR), mean germination time (MGT), and germination Index (GI)) were evaluated during this nine months Storage.
Results and Discussion: The highest weight loss was 2/43% in the paper bags stored at 30°C at the fourth to sixth months especially in the fifth month. Aluminum foil package under vacuum condition stored at 30°C had the lowest weight and minimum weight changes during nine months of storage, so it was the best packages compared to others. The results show that Polyethylene-polyamide packages and Aluminum foil packages under vacuum condition are almost impermeable to air and moisture. Increasing weight at 20°C may be due to accumulation of water vapor from the respiration during early period of storage. Seed germination test provides an indication about seedling vigor as well as performance of seed in the field. In most cases, performance relates to the ability of seeds to germinate and produce a seedling that will emerge from the soil and development into a healthy vigorous plant. Packages with different combinations of gas (2% and 10% oxygen) at 30°C,aluminum foil under vacuum condition and Polyethylene-polyamide packages with a gas composition of [98%N2 + 2%O2] at 20°C were packages with higher germination percentage after nine months storage. Based on this results, it appears that packaging materials and storage temperature did not show any significant difference on essential oil percentage and further changes in the amount of oil related to duration of storage. Kumar et al. (2013) showed that the essential oil content and composition were affected by harvest time and storage conditions. Kazaz et al. (2009) investigated the effect of different storage temperatures (0◦C and 3◦C) and durations (7, 14, 21 and 28 days) on oil yield and essential oil components of oil rose (Rosa damascena Mill.). Their results showed that the effect of storage temperatures on oil content were not significant whereas the effect of storage duration was significant and it was similar to our results.
Conclusion: Essential oil percentage as the most important property of Carum copticum and germination percentage decreased significantly with increasing of storage period. Finally, results show that Polyethylene-polyamide packages with a gas composition of [98%N2 + 2%O2] and [90%N2 +10%O2] in 9 months storage time and 30±3°C storage temperature preserve qualitative properties better than other conditions. Whereas, aluminum foil package under vacuum condition and 20±3°C storage temperature are recommended for 6 month storage time.
Mohammad Taghi Darzi; Bijan Sadeghi Nekoo
Abstract
Introduction: Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) is a perennial herb which is cultivated in temperate regions of Asia, Europe and America. The essential oil of hyssop is widely used as traditional drug in some of the parts of Asia and Europe to treat respiratory diseases. Hyssop is also used in food, pharmaceutical, ...
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Introduction: Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis) is a perennial herb which is cultivated in temperate regions of Asia, Europe and America. The essential oil of hyssop is widely used as traditional drug in some of the parts of Asia and Europe to treat respiratory diseases. Hyssop is also used in food, pharmaceutical, flavor and cosmetic industries throughout the world. It is mainly used for antispasmodic, stomachic, antifungal, relax spasm and cough treatment. Applying organic fertilizers and biofertilizers such as compost, vermicompost and nitrogen fixing bacteria contain Azotobacter and Azospirillum has led to a decrease in chemical fertilizers consumption and has provided high quality agricultural products. Several studies have shown that organic and bio-fertilizers application such as vermicompost and nitrogen fixing bacteria can increase essential oil content of medicinal plants of dill, basil and fennel.The main object of this work was to record the best suitable treatment of organic and biological fertilizer to obtain highest yield of Hyssop.
Materials and Methods: A field experiment, arranged in a randomized complete blocks design with eight treatments and three replications at research field of the Agriculture Company of Ran, Firouzkuh, Iran during the growing season of 2012. The treatments were (1) 20 t/ha compost, (2) 12 t/ha vermicompost, (3) biofertilizer [inoculated seeds with Azotobacter and Azospirillum], (4) 10 t/ha compost + 6 t/ha vermicompost, (5) 20 t/ha compost + biofertilizer, (6) 12 t/ha vermicompost + biofertilizer, (7) 10 t/ha compost + 6 t/ha vermicompost + biofertilizer and (8) control [without fertilizer application]. Inoculation was carried out by immersing the hyssop seeds in the cells suspension of 108 CFU/ml for 15 min. The required quantities of compost and vermicompost were applied and incorporated to the top 5 cm layer of soil in the experimental beds before planting of hyssop seeds. Each experimental plot was 3 m long by 2.28 m wide with the spacing of 15 cm between the plants and 38 cm between the rows. There was a space of one meter between the plots and 2 meters between replications. Hyssop seeds were directly sown by hand. There was no incidence of pest or disease on hyssop during the experiment. Weeding was done manually and the plots were irrigated weekly (as trickle irrigation system). All necessary cultural practices and plant protection measures were followed uniformly for all the plots during the entire period of experiment. In this study, some morphological traits and yield hyssop including plant height, branch no./plant, fresh weight of plant, dry weight of plant, herb fresh yield, herb dried yield, essential oil content and essential oil yield were evaluated. In order to determine herb fresh yield and herb dry yield, 1 m-2 plants were used at the harvest time (full blooming). For determine the essential oil content (%), About 100 g dried herb of hyssop (dried in shadow) as sample from the each plot were selected and then were subjected to hydro-distillation (Clevenger type apparatus) for 3 hours. Essential oil yield also was calculated by using essential oil content and herb dried yield. Analysis of variance by using SAS software and mean comparisons by Least Significant Difference Test (LSD) (at the 5% probability level) was done.
Results and Discussion: The present results have shown that the highest plant height and branch no/plant in treatment of integrated application of 20 t/ha compost,biofertilizer,the maximum fresh weight of plant and herb fresh yield in treatment of application of 20 t/ha compost were obtained. Also, the highest dry weight of plant in treatment of integrated application of 10 t/ha compost, 6 t/ha vermicompost and biofertilizer and the highest herb dried yield, essential oil content and essential oil yield in treatment of integrated application of 12 t/ha vermicompost and biofertilizer were obtained. Vermicompost application through high ability for absorption of mineral nutrients like N, P and K by plants and then increase of biomass amount has a positive effect on secondary metabolites concentration such as essential oil and subsequently the enhanced essential oil content. Increased essential oil yield in treatment of 12 tonnes vermicompost per hectare and biofertilizer can be owing to the improvement of yield attributes such as herb dry yield and essential oil content.
Conclusion:Integrated application of organic manures and biofertilizer positively influenced morphological traits and yield of hyssop, as the highest herb dry yield, essential oil content and essential oil yield were obtained in treatment of integrated application of 12 t/ha vermicompost and biofertilizer and treatment of integrated application of 10 t/ha compost, 6 t/ha vermicompost and biofertilizer. On the base of research results, organic amendments and biofertilizer application can be caused in improvement of morphological characters and yield of hyssop.
