Medicinal Plants
S. Alizadeh Salteh; M. Amani
Abstract
Introduction: Nowadays, due to the decrease in rainfall and groundwater level, the cultivation of crops with low water requirements should be given priority. Different regions of Iran, especially the region of East and West Azerbaijan, have faced a decrease in rainfall in recent years, compared to previous ...
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Introduction: Nowadays, due to the decrease in rainfall and groundwater level, the cultivation of crops with low water requirements should be given priority. Different regions of Iran, especially the region of East and West Azerbaijan, have faced a decrease in rainfall in recent years, compared to previous years. Saffron could have relatively stable production in these areas due to low water demand and suitable economic efficiency. Special properties of saffron such as low water requirement, irrigation in non-critical times, water requirement of other plants, possible operation of farms for several years after one planting, ease of transportation and storage of the product, possibility of high employment, possibility of cultivation in areas that lack industrial talents and limited agricultural water, having medicinal properties and also, suitable domestic and foreign sales market has made this plant for cultivation. On the other hand, saffron cultivation in the Iran could increase employment and non-oil exports.If we pay attention to its production and processing processes, it could provide a significant currency to the country. Today the cultivation of saffron is under development in areas such as Azerbaijan. On the other hand, due to the harmful effects of the using synthetic antioxidants in the food and pharmaceutical industries, special attention has been paid for using of natural antioxidants. Considering the importance of compounds in saffron quality and the effect of climatic conditions in different years on the amount of secondary metabolites and antioxidant properties of this valuable plant, the present experiment were evaluated the yield and quality of saffron and compared antioxidant activity of different parts of saffron during two cropping years.Materials and Methods: The effect of climate of Marand city of East Azarbaijan province in different years on quality and antioxidant characteristics of different parts of saffron was investigated in this region. So, the climatic factors governing this region during two consecutive years of 2014 and 2015 in terms of temperature, rainfall and humidity were studied using meteorological data. Saffron yield in the region were obtained by using a questionnaire from saffron producers in the region. Meanwhile, the amount of crocin, picocrocin and safranal and the antioxidant activity of different parts of saffron, including stigma, style, stamen and petals, were examined.Results and Discussion: The results showed that the Marand city was classified as semi-arid in accordance the amount of crocin metabolites in 2014 (maximum: 306 mg/g in the stigma), picocrocin in 2015 (102.15 mg/g in the stigma), and Safranal in 2015 (highest: 49.95 mg/g in saffron petals) and the antioxidant activity of saffron and saffron petals were the highest in 2014 (30.43% and 88.32%, respectively). The results showed that the quality of different parts of saffron varied in different years. Due to the quality of different parts of saffron in different years, different parts could be used for exploitation.Conclusion: The amount of active ingredients in the plant were not constant at all and varied according to the growth and climatic conditions and harvest time. Changes in the amount of active ingredients in the plant over consecutive years or even hours a day emphasized the importance of collecting the medicinal plant when the plant contained the maximum amount of active ingredient. The quality of saffron depended on the amount of crocin, picrocrocin and safranal compounds and antioxidant activity. These compounds varied in different organs of saffron (stigma, style, stamen and petals) and over consecutive years. Bonab of Marand region of East Azerbaijan is suitable for saffron cultivation due to the climate change. The quality of different saffron organs were different in consecutive years of multi-year cultivation. The highest amount of crocin in the first year of cultivation in the stigma and its antioxidant activity in the stigma and petals were the highest and in the following year the amount of picrocrocin in the stigma and safranal in the petals were the highest. Therefore, different metabolites could be harvested according to the need in the maximum number of years.
Medicinal Plants
M. Shamsaddin saied; M. Ramroudi
Abstract
Introduction: Biochar is a carbonaceous substance obtained from heating plant residues and wastes in an oxygen-containing medium with or without oxygen. Thermal decomposition of biomass in an oxygen-free medium is called thermophilicity (pyrolysis). Temperature is one of the factors influencing the characteristics ...
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Introduction: Biochar is a carbonaceous substance obtained from heating plant residues and wastes in an oxygen-containing medium with or without oxygen. Thermal decomposition of biomass in an oxygen-free medium is called thermophilicity (pyrolysis). Temperature is one of the factors influencing the characteristics of biochar. One of the objectives of this experiment is to investigate the effect of different temperatures on the biochar characteristics of cattle manure. The use of biochar as a soil conditioner and source of organic carbon in agricultural soils with minimal environmental damage is considered. Marigold is an annual plant that is used in industry and pharmacy in addition to food. Another aim of this experiment is to investigate the effect of biochar use from different temperatures on marigold under salinity stress.Materials and Methods: For biochar preparation, after collecting cattle manure from Bardsir farms, air drying and sieving were used for pyrolysis process for four hours at different temperatures (300, 400, 500, 600 °C). Then pH, EC, carbon stability, ash and biochar performance were measured. In order to evaluate the effects of biochar resulting from different heat-treated temperatures on salinity tolerance of marigold, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design in the greenhouse. The two factors studied included salinity levels (0, 4, 8 and 12 dS.m-1) and biochar resulting from different thermocouple temperatures (0, 300, 400, 500 and 600 °C). The biochar rate was considered to be 20%. One month after salinity treatment, seedlings were evaluated for osmotic metabolites activity and growth characteristics of marigold seedlings.Results and Discussion: The results of ANOVA showed that all biochar properties were significantly affected by temperature factor. With increasing the pyrolysis temperature from 300 to 600 °C, pH and EC increased by 16.29% and 60.37%, respectively, and the ash content increased by 1.5 folds, but biochar performance and bulk density decreased by 52.28% and 48.1%, respectively. The highest carbon stability was observed at 500 °C, which increased by 20% compared to 300 °C. The results showed a significant negative effect of salinity stress on stem height, number and area of marigold leaves, so that with increasing salinity to 12 dS.m-1, 31.09, 17.28 and 45.7% decrease were observed in these traits, respectively. The physiological characteristics of marigold were significantly affected by the simple and interaction effects of salinity and biochar stress. In salinity treatments (0, 4, 8 and 12 dS.m-1) with increasing pyrolysis temperature from 300 to 600 °C 2.2, 2.04, 1.97 and 1.92 folds increase in leaf potassium concentration and 1.54, 2.26, 3.00 and 2.45 folds less than the control treatment in the amount of leaf proline was observed, respectively. The activities of catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase enzymes were also significantly affected by the interaction of salinity stress and heat temperature. The highest enzyme activity in biochar was from 600 °C, which increased up to 8 dS.m-1 for catalase and up to 4 dS.m-1 for ascorbate peroxidase and guaiacol peroxidase.Conclusion: In general, biochar salinity is its most important undesirable properties, which increases with increasing pyrolysis temperature, so the recommendation of biochar application in saline soils requires further studies. In the present study, the use of biochar under salinity stress did not have a significant positive effect on the development of marigold resistance and salinity stress tolerance.
Medicinal Plants
H. Kiani; Y. Sohrabi
Abstract
Introduction: In fact, drought is stress that restricts the plant photosynthesis and also it causes of chlorophyll content changes and damage to photosynthetic structures. One of the important reasons that environmental stresses such as drought reduce the growth and photosynthesis ability of the plant ...
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Introduction: In fact, drought is stress that restricts the plant photosynthesis and also it causes of chlorophyll content changes and damage to photosynthetic structures. One of the important reasons that environmental stresses such as drought reduce the growth and photosynthesis ability of the plant is a disturbance in the balance between production and removal of free oxygen radicals. Transpiration is a necessary process for photosynthesis and growth of plants but depending on the conditions that may be harmful in some cases. Therefore, the use of anti-transpirant can be one of the most effective methods for reducing the amount of water lost through transpiration and adjustment the reduction of the yield due to water deficiency in arid and semi-arid regions. Climate change happened on earth and the intensification of stresses caused by it, especially drought stress in arid and semi-arid regions such as Iran. Therefore, finding strategies that can reduce the effects of water shortages on plant growth and yield can be very important. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of irrigation regimes and application of different concentrations of tragacanth (naturally dried exudate from some Astragalus species) on black cumin plant. Materials and Methods: This research was carried out in a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with three replications in a greenhouse of the Agriculture College of Kurdistan University in 2018. The experimental factors were including irrigation at three levels of 100% (full irrigation), 70% (mild drought stress), and 40% (severe drought stress) of field capacity of soil and spraying with tragacanth extract at six concentrations of 0, 1.25, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 g/L. Spraying of this material was done using a back sprayer (Shark model) with a constant pressure of 2.4 bar and a volume of 250 liters of water per hectare., The normality test was performed using the Mini Tab software, before the data were analyzed. After ensuring the normality of data, analysis of variance was performed using SAS ver. 9.3. LSD (Least significant difference) was used to compare the mean of treatments. The graphs are drawn using Excel software. Results and Discussion: The results showed that increased drought stress intensity (irrigation reduction) led to the reduced leaf relative water content, Total chlorophyll content, efficiency of photosystem II, plant height, number of capsules per plant, mean number of seeds per plant, biological yield and grain yield. The positive effects of tragacanth consumption on reducing and modifying the effects of drought stress on different levels of irrigation and different concentrations of tragacanth were different. In the present study, under full irrigation conditions, lower concentrations of tragacanth were useful, while in drought stress conditions, higher concentrations of tragacanth (except 10 g/L) were useful. In full irrigation, the concentration of 1.25 g/L was positive for all studied traits. In mild drought stress, the use of higher concentrations of tragacanth up to 5 g/L had the best effect and more concentrations resulted in a reverse effect on studied traits. In severe drought stress, the use of more concentrations of tragacanth extract was beneficial and improved the studied traits up to 7.5 g/L, but 10 g/L had a negative effect on these traits.Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that the different effects of various concentrations of tragacanth material in different levels of irrigation on studied traits of black cumin. Therefore, it can be concluded that the application of different concentrations of tragacanth gum was completely dependent on the plant's water status. Therefore, using higher concentrations of tragacanth gum in drought stress conditions had a more positive effect on the plant, and vice versa, using a lower concentration of this material was useful in full irrigation. The effect of tragacanth gum on reducing and modifying the effects of drought stress in different plants requires further studies and extensive research. Tragacanth gum can be introduced as a new anti-transpirant agent with natural origin and its application can be useful and recommended in areas exposed to drought stress.
Medicinal Plants
Zhaleh Zandavifard; Majid Azizi
Abstract
Introduction: St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) is a medicinal plant which used mainly in treatment of mild depression, neurological disorders and has been recently shown to have anticancer potential. The principle medicinal components of St. John’s wort are hypericin, pseudohypericin, ...
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Introduction: St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum L.) is a medicinal plant which used mainly in treatment of mild depression, neurological disorders and has been recently shown to have anticancer potential. The principle medicinal components of St. John’s wort are hypericin, pseudohypericin, and hyperforin. Light is one of the most important environmental factors affecting plant growth, survival, reproduction and distribution. The light quality, light intensity, duration and photoperiod directly affect plant growth. Light quality refers to the color or wavelength reaching the plant's surface. A prism (or raindrops) can divide sunlight into respective colors of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Red and blue have the greatest impact on plant growth. Green light is least effective (the reflection of green light gives the green color to plants). Blue light is primarily responsible for vegetative leaf growth. The principle objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of different spectral quality including red, blue, green and white on the growth factors and production of hypericin.Materials and Methods: This experiment was conducted on the basis of Completely Randomized Design with four treatments and 10 replications in the growth chamber in the Department of Horticulture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad (FUM), Iran. In this study, seeds were obtained from the research greenhouse of FUM. Seeds after soaking in running water for 24 hours were planted in small pots (250g). After the seedlings have reached to height of 25cm, each 10 pots were put inside the boxes (20×30cm) made of colored filters. Experiment continued in a growth chamber with day and night temperature 25 and 21°C, respectively, relative humidity 45%, 16 hours of light with the intensity of 1000 lux and 8 hours of darkness for 50 days. Then morphological parameters including plant height, number of stems, number of leaves, number and length of internodes, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root were measured. To count the number of black nodules, the upper, middle and lower parts of seedling were evaluated individually. Hypericin content of the H. perforatum plantlets were measured according to the previous work of Azizi & Omidbaigi, 2002. Data were analyzed statistically by using SAS and Excel software. The significant differences between means were assessed by Tukeyʼs test at P < 0.05.Results and Discussion: The results showed that morphological parameters including plant height, leaf number, internode length, root fresh weight, dry weight of stem and root were affected significantly by light treatments. Minimum and maximum of plant height was related to white and red lights, respectively. Increasing plant height under the influence of red light was due to the variation in levels of growth regulators. Red and blue light by changing of the GA hormone level in the plant and affected elongation of plant stem. Minimum and maximum of leaf number was related to blue and white light respectively. Also, other morphological traits including internode length, fresh and dry weights of stem and root showed significant differences. Internode length for white light was less than red, green and blue light. Maximum of the fresh and dry weight of shoot and root of seedlings was observed under white light. Results suggest that photosynthetic compounds move in plant under the influence of light quality. Also the number of black nodules in three different parts of plant and hypericin content were compared in plantlets under the effect of light quality. Results analysis also confirmed that different lights had the significant impact on the number of black nodules in upper and middle leaves of H. Perforatum seedlings. Seedlings treated with the red light had the highest number of black nodules in the middle section of H. perforatum. In the top third of St. John’s wort seedlings, red, blue and green light was inducted the highest number of black nodules formation than white light. The highest level of hypericin was related to red, white, blue and green lights, respectively. The number of black nodules in the plant and the hypericin content have positive correlation. It seems that in the seedlings treated with the red light, carbohydrates made from photosynthesis most used in biosynthesis of secondary metabolites than plant growth. In fact, carbon allelochemical compounds such as terpenes and phenolics have such metabolism direction to explain the increasing in secondary metabolites.Conclusion: Different light spectra affects plant hormones levels and with alteration in the primary and secondary metabolites lead to a change in the morphological and biochemical traits of plant. In general, it can commented that the quantity and quality of light is able to affect the growth and the active metabolites of medicinal plants and using red and white mixture of light during seedling growth period have an effective role on generation of more strong seedlings with higher potential production of active ingredients.
Medicinal Plants
Mehdi Rastegar; Hassan Mumivand; Alireza Shayganfar; Abdolhossein Rezaei Nejad
Abstract
Introduction: In the last decades, human activities have had adverse effects on the atmosphere and the stratospheric ozone layer, resulting in an increase in the ultraviolet radiation on the ground, especially in highlands. Among living organisms, plants are the most exposed to ultraviolet rays due to ...
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Introduction: In the last decades, human activities have had adverse effects on the atmosphere and the stratospheric ozone layer, resulting in an increase in the ultraviolet radiation on the ground, especially in highlands. Among living organisms, plants are the most exposed to ultraviolet rays due to their high and unavoidable need to light for photosynthesis, and are therefore more vulnerable to them. Plants show different responses to ambient UV radiation. The response of plants to ultraviolet light is manifested in two general ways, including tolerating the destructive effects of this radiation or/and avoiding it. The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of ultraviolet light on growth, morphological and phenological characteristics of three cornflower cultivars under greenhouse conditions in 2018.
Materials and Methods: The experiment was performed as a split plot in a completely randomized design. Ultraviolet light was considered as the first factor in four levels (including: control, ultraviolet –A radiation, ultraviolet -B radiation and ultraviolet A + B radiations) and three cornflower cultivars (including: ‘Kornblume pink’, ‘Kornblume rot’ and ‘Kornblume blau’) as the second factor. The UV treatment was applied by lamps made by Q-Lab Co, USA. It should be noted that the 40-watt lamps used in this study were broadband and had the highest compliance with ultraviolet B (in the case of UV-B lamps) and ultraviolet A (in the case of UV-A lamps) received from the sun on the ground. So they provided the best possible simulation. During the growth period of plants, phenological traits were recorded and morphological traits and biomass traits were measured at the end of the experiment.
Results and Discussion: The results showed that UV-B radiation and simultaneous application of UV-A and UV-B radiations resulted in the reduction of the most morphological traits and yield traits including plant height, internode length, leaf width, leaf area, flowering stem length, plant fresh and dry weight, leaf dry weight, flower dry weight and number of flowers. However, flower yield was not affected by ultraviolet radiations. UV-A treatment reduced the flowering stem length and fresh and dry weight of plant in compared to the control treatment, but it had no significant effect on plant height, leaf width, leaf dry weight, flower dry weight and number of flowers. Plants response to ultraviolet radiation is very different. In many species, it has been observed that UV-A does not have a negative effect on plant growth, while, UV-B reduced the growth and yield of plants. It seems that the main reason for the reduction of plant growth and production is prevention of cell division caused by ultraviolet radiation. Degradation of plant pigments (chlorophyll) is also one of the main reason of photosynthesis decrease led to plant growth and yield reduction. The results of the present study showed that the application of UV-A reduced the number of days until the emersion of the first flower bud and the number of days until the opening of the first flower in cornflower cultivars compared to the control. UV-B treatment forced cornflowers to earlier flowering than UV-A. However, the fastest entry into the reproductive and flowering phase of cornflower cultivars was observed with the simultaneous application of UV-A and B radiations. Plants mechanisms against environmental stresses mainly depend on their origin and genetic factors. These mechanisms include three main strategies including “avoidance”, “tolerance” and “escaping”. One of the most important ways to reduce the life cycle is early flowering. It seems that the process of early flowering and completing the growth in cornflower species is a kind of stress escaping under ultraviolet radiation stress.
Conclusion: In this study, ultraviolet radiation reduced the growth and development of all three species of cornflowers. However, UV-A treatment showed the least negative effect on flower yield of plants. On the contrary, UV-B radiation and simultaneous application of UV-A and UV-B radiations reduced the growth and development of cornflowers, but did not have any significant negative effect on the flower yield (as the main useable organ of plant). Therefore, it seems that the ultraviolet radiation can be considered as a positive factor due to its positive effects on the production of secondary metabolites and early flowering and lack of significant negative effects on plant flower yield. Finally, ‘Kornblume pink’ cultivar, with higher flower yield and earlier flowering, is more suitable for cultivation than other cultivars.
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).
