IRANIAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINAL AND AROMATIC PLANTS
Year:2009 | Volume:24 | Issue:4 (42)|Papers Count:16

The essential oils extracted from Carum copticum C. B. Clarke and Vitex pseudo-negundo (Hausskn.) Hand.-Mzt. using hydro distillation was tested against the stored product insect, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst), for antifeedant activity. Several experiments were designed to measure the nutritional indices such as relative growth rate (RGR), relative consumption rate (RCR), efficiency of conversion of ingested food (ECI) and feeding deterrence index (FDI). Treatments were evaluated by the method of flour disc bioassay in the dark, at 27±1oC and 60±5 % R. H. Aliquots of 10 ml of acetone (controls) or an acetone solution of essential oils (100-1500 ppm) were spread evenly on the flour discs. The solvent was allowed to evaporate and then 10 adult insects were introduced into each treatment. After 72 h, nutritional indices were calculated. Results indicated that nutritional indices were significantly varied as essential oil concentrations increased. In this study, C. copticum decreased RGR, RCR and ECI significantly higher than that of V. pseudo-negundo essential oil. Both of plant essential oils, with the same activity, increased FDI as the oil concentration was increased, showing high feeding deterrence activity against T. castaneum. Generally, antifeedant activity of C. copticum was more effective than V. pseudo-negund.

In order to study the effects of biofertilizers on quantity and quality of essential oil in fennel containing essential oil content and anethole content, fenchone content and limonene content in essential oil, an experiment was conducted at Hamand Research station in Damavand in 2005 and 2006. The factors were mycorrhizal inoculation (inoculated and non-inoculated), phosphatic biofertilizer (0, 30, 60 kg/ha) and vermicompost (0, 5 , 10 ton/ha). The experiment design was factorial experiment in the base of randomized complete blocks design with eighteen treatments and three replications. In addition, one plot was allocated to control in each replication and only chemical fertilizers (NPK: 90, 60 and 90 kg/ha) were used. Data obtained from control plots were used for comparing other plots. Mean comparison was carried out using Duncan multiple range test (at 5% level). Results showed that the highest essential oil content in seed and anethole content in essential oil and the lowest fenchone content and limonene content in essential oil were obtained with mycorrhiza treatment. Phosphatic biofertilizer also showed significant effects on essential oil content and anethole and limonene contents in essential oil (except fenchone content). The maximum essential oil content in seed and anethole content in essential oil were related to the plots with consumption of 60 kg/ha. The lowest limonene content in essential oil was obtained with consumption of 30 kg/ha phosphatic biofertilizer. The highest essential oil content in seed and anethole content in essential oil and minimum fenchone content and limonene content in essential oil were obtained with consumption of 10 ton/ha vermicompost. Comparison of control versus biofertilizer treatments was significant, as two biofertilizer treatments include inoculation with mycorrhiza, application of 30 kg/ha phosphatic biofertilizer and 10 ton/ha vermicompost and inoculation with mycorrhiza and application of 60 kg/ha phosphatic biofertilizer and 10 ton/ha vermicompost in relation to quantity and quality of essential oil were better than control.

Persian Cumin, a medicinal and aromatic plant, belongs to Apiaceae family. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic variation in germplasm of Persian Cumin collected from Kerman province using RAPD molecular markers. The Persian Cumin fruits were collected from 43 various regions in Kerman province. DNA was extracted from fruits using modified CTAB method. From the 27 used primers in PCR, 19 primers with better bands were selected for analysis. The 446 polymorphic bands obtained by these primers were scored. The binary matrix was converted to distance matrix by applying Dice similarity coefficient in NTSYS-pc (Ver 2.02) software. Then, the distance matrix was analyzed using UPGMA and the phylogenic dendrogram was plotted. Based on the results, investigated populations were clustered in 7 groups. The obtained clusters based on RAPD markers to some extent matched with the geographical origin of the studied populations of Persian Cumin. Furthermore, the obtained results of principal component analysis method were similar to the results of cluster analysis. The results indicated that RAPD technique is an efficient tool for assessing genetic diversity in these populations.

The citron (Citrus medica L.) belongs to Rutaceae family. Citron peel oil is widely used in perfume industry, medicine, and food products. In this research the fruits of citron were collected from North of Iran in the fall and peel oil obtained by hydrodistillation and cold-press methods with the extraction efficacy of 0.6% and 0.5% (w/w), respectively. The oils were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Twenty-five components were identified in the hydrodistilled oil. The main components were limonene (58.3%), g-terpinene (16.8%), geranial (6%) neral (4.8%), geranyl acetate (1.4%) and geraniol (1.36%). Twenty-three components were characterized in cold-pressed oil with limonene (63.7%), g-terpinene (21.7%) and geranial (1.3%) as the main components.

On the basis of anti-inflammatory effect of Apium graveolens L. in traditionally herbal medicine, in present study aqueous and hexane extracts were evaluated to find effective fractions. For induction of inflammation xylene-induced ear edema were used. Male NMRI mice were divided into three groups: positive control (dexamethason 15mg/kg), negative control (normal saline), and experimental groups. Experimental groups were injected by 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500mg/kg of aqueous and hexane extracts intraperitoneally. To find effective constituents of extract, TLC (thin layer chromatography) was performed. Results have shown significant anti-inflammatory effects of both extracts (100-500mg/kg doses) with control, and there was not significant difference with dexamethason. Data show potent anti-inflammatory effects of aqueous and hexane extracts even with low doses which may be due to existence of flavonoid, phthalid and coumarins in Apium graveolens seeds.

In order to study the effects of plant density on growth indices of safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) an expriment was conducted in Homand Research Station of Pasture under a Completely Randamized Block Design with 5 repelications in 2004. The treatments were 29, 20 and 14 plants/m2. The effects of C. tinctorius plantlets densities on some growth indices including DM, LAI, RGR and CGR, according to Growing Degree Days were evaluated. The results showed that the max. DM and LAI were 684 gr/m2 and 1.3 in 29 plant/m2 treatment respectively. In the highest density the DM, LAI and CGR were high in the beginning and middle of growth periods but RGR was low in the lowest density. The maximum RGR and CGR were observed in low density. Growth potential of Carthamus tinctorius is considrable as an industrial and medicinal plant with the acceptable growth indices in Damavand dry farming system with the semi suitable rain fall and distribution.

Linum nodiflorum L. has high amount of omega 3 fatty acid. In this study seeds of 8 populations of Linum nodiflorum L., collected from different parts of Kermanshah, were cultivated in a farm at Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Center of West Azarbaijan. Three samples from each population were selected randomly. During and at the end of growing season phenological and 27 morphological characters such as length of main and secondary stems, numbers of capsules, distance of peduncles, length and diameter of root and and so on were measured. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. The results showed: Some characters had positive correlation. Distance of peduncles with diameter of secondary stems and length and width of capsules with length of root had positive significant correlation at 5% level of significance. There were two individual groups in accordance with measured characteristics. Bistoon sample had the longest period of growth with 3 months and 13 days and the longest period of reproduction was for Mahmud Abad sample with 1 month and 17 days.

The allelopathic effects of rue (Ruta graveolens L.) were evaluated on seed germination of velvet flower (Amaranthus retroflexus), flixweed (Descurainia Sophia) and purslane (Portulaca oleracea) in laboratory using the aqueous extracts of dried powdered of rue leaves. The treatments were 0.5, 1, 2.5, 5, 10 and 15% extract of Ruta graveolens and distilled water (control). According to the results, extracts significantly inhibited seed germination of weed species and the degree of inhibition increased with increasing concentration of extracts. Germination of Amaranthus retroflexus seeds was inhibited at concentrations greater than 5%. In addition, radicle and plumule lengths of Amaranthus retroflexus were significantly reduced at 1% compared to the distilled water. Results indicated germination percentage, germination rate and radicle and plumule lengths of Portulaca oleracea were significantly reduced by the extracts compared to the distilled water. Results confirm germination of Descurainia Sophia seeds was inhibited at concentrations greater than 2.5%. Accordingly germination rate and radicle lengths of Descurainia sophia were significantly reduced by the extracts compared to the distilled water. Therefore, extract of rue might be useful as natural herbicides and might also contain numerous growth inhibitors that could be used for the development of biological herbicides.

Collection and identification of medicinal plants have been carried out since 2001 for five years in Golestan Province. Results showed tthere are 409 species of medicinal plants related to 95 families. Among them 45 species have traditional usage in the province. The medicinal plants of Golestan province in basses life forms including: 83 tree and shrub species, 189 perennial herbs species and 137 biennial and annual species. Study of distribution of medicinal plants in the Golestan province showed that 156 species in the forest, 98 species in the rangeland, 47 species in the agricultural lands and roads margin and 108 species are to form common in three lands.

Hyssop, as one of the most important medicinal plants, is a perennial and woody plant which belongs to Lamiaceae family. It is used for treatment of respiratory system diseases like cough, pertussis, bronchitis and asthma. Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.) essence has antibacterial and antifungal properties and has different applications in hygiene, cosmetic and food industries. In order to determine the effects of salinity and drought stress on stimulation of germination on Hyssop, separate experiments in a randomized complete block design with 4 replications were conducted. Treatment included 4 levels of salinity and 4 levels of drought induced to seedling by NaCl and Poly Ethylene Glycol (PEG) 6000 respectively. Germination characters included rate and percentage and length of radicles were measured. Salinity caused a significant (P<1%) reduction in rate of germination and length of radicles but not in percentage of germination. Results indicated that rate of germination increased up to -3 bars and then decreased. Although percentage of germination was not affected by inducing salinity, the most of this character was on -6 bar level. Our results showed that rate and percentage of germination and length of radicles were significantly different on drought levels. In general, results of this study indicated that salinity stress induced between -3 and -6 bar could stimulate germination and optimize seedling establishment.

In order to investigate the effects of the two factors (deficit irrigation and manure) on yield and quality characteristic of the Plantago ovata Forssk. and experiment was conducted at the Research Farm, Zabol University. For this purpose split plot design based on completely randomized block with 4 replications was used. Results of the variance analysis indicated that there were significant difference between irrigation levels on the yield and it’s five dependent traits except 1000 seeds weight and Biomass. The application of manure showed significant effect for all traits except 1000 seeds weight and Plant height. Levels of irrigation and manure had no significant effects on the quality characters such as amount of mucilage and swelling factor.

There are limited information about phytoestrogenic components on physiological phenomena and their interactions with endogenous estrogens. The aim of this investigation to examined the phytoestrogenic effect of Matricaria recutita L. (MR) and it is relationship with endogenous estrogens on locomotor activity with administration of estrogenic receptors antagonist (tamoxifen) on adult female mice. 49 NMRI adult female mice weighted 32±3 grams in 7 groups (each group was 7 mice) receiving: 1) saline, 2) MR (50 mg/kg), 3) tamoxifen (0.1, 0.5, 0.75 mg/kg, in 3 separate groups), 4) saline + MR, 5) tamoxifen (0.5 mg/kg) +MR were used. Motor activity monitor was used for locomotor activity evaluation. Four locomotors parameters such as fast and slow activity and fast and slow rearing were measured. The results showed that: MR (50 mg/kg) increase significantly the fast activity and slow rearing in female mice and partially the other locomotor parameters. Tamoxifen (0.5 mg/kg) decreased fast and slow activity in female mice and other doses had no effect. Most of locomotor parameters decrease significantly in presence of MR and tamoxifen (0.5 mg/kg). It seems MR affects locomotor activity parameters through the estrogenic receptors, and the presence of this receptors and endogenous estrogens are essential for action of its phytoestrogenic components.

The conditions used for spearmints growth in this work have been adequate for testing range of tolerance and adaptation to excess zinc. For studying oxidative changes, antioxidanic responses and metal accumulation in Spearmint (Mentha spicata L.) in reply to zinc, plants remained in a controlled environment for 12 weeks in nutrient solutions that contained different doses of zinc. This study showed that Zinc as heavy metal induced oxidative stress as evidenced by an increase in lipid peroxidation (malondialdehyde and other aldehydes). Under Zn treatments, phenolic compounds such as flavonoids and anthocyanins were increased significantly compared to control plants. The total protein content in leaves increased significantly by increment concentration of Zn but decreased with higher Zn supply. Lipid peroxidation (MDA) was increased only in the highest concentration of zinc. High levels of Zn decreased the shoot to root translocation of Zn and Fe which caused accumulation of these metals in root. In general, the results of this investigation proved high antioxidanic capacity in spearmint plants.