Ecophytochemistry journal of Medicinal Plants
Year:2020 | Volume:7 | Issue:4 (28)|Papers Count:8

Nowadays, the use of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacter (PGPR) as a biofertilizers is one of the ways to improve growth and phytochemical characteristics of medicinal plants. This study was carried out as a factorial experiment based on randomized complete block design with a randomized complete block design with 3 replications in the research farm of the Institute of Medicinal Plants-ACECR in 2017. The growth-promoting bacteria as a first factor were non-inoculation, Pseudomonas, Azotobacter, Pseudomonas + Azotobacter, and Thiobacillus + Sulfur. The chemical fertilizers as a second factor were no fertilizer or control, 50% recommended fertilizer and 100% recommended fertilizer. At flowering stage, the alkaloids were extracted by using chloroform, methanol and ammonia solvents. The amount of atropine and scopolamine was measured by High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The biological and chemical fertilizers, as well as their interaction effect had significant effect (p<0. 01) on growth traits, atropine and scopolamine content of leaf and root. The maximum biological yield was observed in Pseudomonas with 100% of recommended fertilizer. The highest amount of leaves atropine and scopolamine was related to Pseudomonas with 50% fertilizer and non-biofertilizer treatment with 50% recommended fertilizer, respectively. The highest amount of root atropine was related to Pseudomonas without chemical fertilizer application. The highest content of root scopolamine was observed in treatment of Pseudomonas with 100% recommended. Therefore, the highest biological yield and the amount of atropine in leaves and roots, as well as the scopolamine content of the root were obtained using Pseudomonas application.

Juniperus sabina L. is one of the valuable medicinal plants belonging to Cupressaceae family which has precious pharmaceutical effects such as anti-cancer properties, prevention of cell division, anti-malarial and anti-fertility. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the quantity and quality of essential oil compounds as well as antioxidant activity in the brunchlets of Juniperus sabina. samples were collected from three habitats of Ramsar, Ramyan and Tooskestan in the summer of 2018. The essential oils compounds were analyzed by using GC-FID and GC-MS. Both TAOC and DPPH methods were used to evaluate the antioxidant potential and the colorimetric method (Folin-ciocalteu) for measuring total phenol. The highest amount of total phenol in Ramsar sample (3. 33 ± 0. 19 mg GAE/g dw), DPPH radical scavenging in Ramyan sample (43. 1± 4. 99%) and total antioxidant in Tooskestan sample (19. 5± 0. 12 mg ascorbic acid /g dw) was observed. Sabinene was one of the major constituents in all samples (12. 5, 49. 8 and 58 % respectively). The notable finding of this study was the presence of myrtenyl-acetate (72. 6%) in the Ramsar sample that has been never reported in this plant. Due to the significant difference observed in the essential oil composition of Ramsar, further studies on this plant is suggested and it may be introduced as a new chemotype in the future.

Salinity is one of the most important ecological stresses which reduces productivity. Humic acid as an organic acid and ascorbate as a strong antioxidant can be effective in improving plant yield under salinity stress. In this study, to investigate the effect of ascorbic acid and humic acid on the amount and chemical constituents of essential oil (Dracocephalum moldavica L. ) under salinity stress, a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design with three replications was conducted at research greenhouse of faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. Treatments included salinity at four levels (0, 50, 100 and 150 mM), humic acid and ascorbic acid at three levels (0, 100 and 200 mg / l). The aerial parts of plant in blooming were collected and were extracted by steam distillation method using Clevenger apparatus and its components were separated and identified by gas chromatography and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. The essential oil content decreased with increasing salinity stress and application of salt stress moderators (ascorbic acid and humic acid) improved this trait. So that at 150 mM salinityit reached to the lowest level (0. 2%) and application of 200 mg / l humic acid increased 51. 61% of essential oil compared to control. Most of the essential oil constituents in control treatment (no use of moderators and no salinity conditions) were geranial (36. 65%), neral (31. 94%), geraniol (15. 56%), geranyl acetate (0. 66), Trans-4, 2-heptadienal (1/25%), linalool (1. 09%), pulegone (0. 95%) and verbenol (0. 4%) which included 99. 5% of the essential oil components respectively by 36. 65, 31. 94, 15. 56, 11. 66, 1. 25, 1. 09, 0. 95 and 0. 4 percent. In different levels of salinity stress with 100 mg/l of humic acid treatment and application of salt stress moderators (100 and 200 mg/l ascorbic acid and 200 mg/l of humic acid) a large number of combinations was observed compared to control treatment. These includedalpha-pinene, beta-pinene, camphene, camphor, alpha-thujone, nerol and thymol.

In the recent years use of plant essential oils (EOs) in the food and medicine industry is increasing. So, the aim of this study was to optimize effective factors for maximizing essential oil yield and evaluation of its composition under the optimal conditions. The effect of different parameters including different amounts of plant (X1), extraction time of essential oils (X2) and particle size of seeds obtained with mesh (X3) on three levels (1, 0, 1-) as independent variable to optimize essential oil percentage as dependent variables were evaluated using response surface methodology. The seeds of Heracleum persicum Desf. Ex Fischer were collected from Ayalono area (East Azerbaijan) in August 2015. The essential oil was extracted by Clevenger apparatus and were identified by GC/MS. ANOVA analysis results and experimental error for the RSM model were showed that the predicted model for the essential oil percentage was significantly accurate (P <0. 01). The highest percentage of essential oil (5. 33) was obtained in 30 g of plant material for 2 hours of extraction and 1 minute of grinding of seeds. In gas chromatographic analysis, 28 compounds were identified in essential oil of plant seed, the major components of which included hexyl butyrate (43. 27%) and n-acetoacetate (15. 78%). Since extraction of essential oils on industry scale is a time and energy consuming process, so the results of this study may be used in the industrial scale after further studies.

The purpose of this study was to collect, identify the distribution and medicinal plants uses in Zagheh and Biranshahr areas. Due to the necessity of identifying the medicinal species, we used questionnaires to collect information on the use of medicinal plants by native people in these areas. After transferring the samples to the herbarium of the University of Lorestan for each plant species, their medicinal and traditional uses were coordinated with other available reliable sources. Based on the results, 218 medicinal species were identified from 55 families out of which 35 species belonged to Asteraceae, 21 species to Fabaceae, 19 species to Lamiaceae, 15 species to Liliaceae, 11 species to Rosacea, 10 Species to Brassicaceae, 9 species to Apiacea, 7 species to Poaceae and others belonged to different families. Among the 218 introduced species, 110 species were widely used for most of the populations in the studied area. The highest consumption of medicinal plants in the field of ethnobotanical related to relieve digestive problems (36%), respiratory (16%), blood sugar and lipid lowering (10%), urinary tract diseases (8%), skin diseases (5%), oral and dental problems (5%), and ocular diseases (2%). Evaluation of the results were showed that there is a wide variety of medicinal plants in the Beyranshahr and Zagheh areas that their therapeutic applications are common in Iranian traditional medicine and research on these medicinal plants can be a way to explore new drugs in the field of treatment.

Water stress is one of the limiting factors of plant growth. In order to investigate the effect of chitosan and nano-chitosan on Nigella sativa L. under drought stress, a split plot experiment based on randomized complete block design was conducted in research Field of Islamic Azad University Arak Branch in 2016. The main plots consisted of sprayingwith chitosan, nano-chitosan and water as control and the sub plots consisted of cultivars Arak, Azerbaijan, Semirom, Yasuj and Torbat-e-Heydariyeh. Irrigation was performed regularlyfrom the beginning of planting until flowering stageand then stopped and spraying was achieved. After 80% emergence of floret, plots were sampled and number of secondary branches, capsules per plant, plant height, 1000 seed weight and oil percentage were evaluated. Percentages of oil and fatty acids were measured by gas chromatography. Experimental results were showed that drought stress reduced the components of black cumin yield but improved qualitative factors such as oil and fatty acids percentage. The highest and lowest seed oil content was in Azarbaijan (28. 76%) and Semirom (26. 39%), respectively. Yasuj can be considered as a drought tolerant cultivar due to its high content ofcapsules, 1000-grain weight and weight/m2. The effect of nano-chitosan in moderating stress-induced effects was better than chitosan. Azerbaijan and Semirom cultivars had the highest amount of oleic acid (Omega 9), Yasuj cultivar had the highest amount of linoleic acid (Omega 6) and Torbat Heydariyeh and Arak cultivars had the highest amount of linoleic acid (Omega 3).

Artemisia sieberi Besser. (Asteraceae) is a medicinal plant belongs to flora of Iran, which is used in treatment of parasitic and infectious diseases. In recent years, many habitats parts of this plant have been destroyed by human activities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the autecological characteristics and estimation of Artemisia density in Roodab region of Sabzevar in 2017. At first the A. sieberi habitats was determined on satellite images, then ecological information including topography, climate, soil, geology and phenology was collected. In the next step, Artemisia densities in degraded rangelands were investigated by using neural network model. For this purpose, 70 random soil samples consisting of independent variables (texture, EC, SAR, pH, N, P, K, cations, organic matter and lime percentage) as well as dependent variable (plant density) were used to construct the model. The results were showed that A. sieberi prefers altitudes of of 1400 to 1800 m, 0% to 12% slope, 160 to 200 mm rainfall, and loamy to calcareous loam soils with low salinity. plant vegetative activity begins in late March and seed ripening occurs early in December. The results of model prediction indicated that the lowest plant density with 0. 11 / m2 was related to the plots that were 40 years under plowing stress and the highest density with 0. 4 /m2 was related to the plots after two years of degradation. The regression model (R2) showed that 95% of independent variables were involved in determining plant density. Model prediction also indicated that the lowest density by 0. 11 and 0. 4 plant per m2 belonged to rangelands have been plowed more than 40 years and which lasted two years from their destruction, respectively. Regression model (R2) also showed that independent variables have a 95% effect on the determination of A. sieberi density.

In this factorial study in a completely randomized design, the effect of different concentrations of colchicine (0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 mg/L) and different time intervals (12, 24 and 48 hours) on the amount of phenol and lignan production was investigated in the callus tissue of Linum usitatissimum L. For callus induction, cotyledon explants were cultured on solid MS medium supplemented with 2 mg/l 6-Benzylaminopurine (BAP) and 1 mg/l 1-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). The total phenolic and lignan contents were measured by spectrophotometric method based on the standard curves of gallic acid and sesamin at 765 and 288 nm, respectively. The highest amount of fresh and dry weight of callus was related to 45 mg/l colchicine treatment. Maximum and minimum levels of lignin in experimental periods were obtained from 15 mg/l (in average 28. 4 mg SE/ g DW) and 30 mg/l (in average 19. 75 mg SE/ g DW) colchicine, respectively. According to the results, the highest (164 mg GA/g) and lowest (145. 6 mg GA/g) levels of total phenol content were observed in 60 and 30 mg/l colchicine treatments, respectively. The results indicated that the production of valuable secondary metabolites such as phenol and lignan in flax callus were increased under some colchicine treatments.