Biological effects of essential oils and extracts
Hanieh Mohseni fazel; Karim Nozad namini; Hossein Hoseini; H. Zeinali
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.) is one of the most widespread weeds in the world, and regarding the amount of damage caused to crops, it is the third dominant dicotyledonous weed in the world. It is recommended to reduce the use of chemical herbicides ...
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Background and Objectives: Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus L.) is one of the most widespread weeds in the world, and regarding the amount of damage caused to crops, it is the third dominant dicotyledonous weed in the world. It is recommended to reduce the use of chemical herbicides through the replacement of non-chemical methods in sustainable agricultural management, and the use of plants' allelopathic effects is one of these methods. On the other hand, plants in different growth stages have different allelopathy sensitivity.Methodology: To evaluate the allelopathic effect of aqueous and alcoholic extracts of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh) on Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus) growth stages, an experiment was carried out as a factorial based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in the greenhouse of Kashan Barij Essential Company, Iran. Treatments included aqueous and alcoholic extracts of eucalyptus (50, 75, and 100 %), controlled (0.002 concentration of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid, Ethanol 70%, distilled water), and three growth stages (five-leaf stage, seven-leaf stage, and stem elongation). The studied traits were measured in all three growth stages one week after treatments. To measure traits, ten plants were randomly selected from each pot. The studied traits included leaf length and width, total leaf wet weight, total leaf dry weight, stem wet weight, stem dry weight, stem length, root length, root wet weight, root dry weight, total plant weight, and shoot/root ratio. A ruler was used to determine the length and width of the leaf, the length of the root, and the length of the stem. Analysis of the variance of the data was done by MSTAC software. If the experimental factor was significant, the LSD test was used to compare the means.Results: Leaf width, total leaf fresh weight, total leaf dry weight, stem fresh and dry weight, stem length, root length, root fresh and dry weight, total plant weight, and shoot/root ratio were affected by the growth stage where the extracts were used. The effect of the concentration of aqueous and ethanol extracts of eucalyptus on leaf length and width, total leaf fresh weight, total leaf dry weight, stem fresh weight, stem dry weight, stem length, root length, root fresh weight, root dry weight, total dry plant weight, and shoot/root ratio was significant. Spraying at the stem and 5-leaf stages had the highest and lowest leaf width, stem length, and root dry weight, respectively. The extract application at the stem elongation and five-leaf stage had the highest and lowest leaf width, stem length, and root dry weight, respectively. The application of distilled water in the stem elongation phase produced the maximum leaf length (3.06 cm), total fresh and dry weight of plant leaf (1.00 and 0.2764 gr), stem fresh and dry weight (1.35 and 0.393 gr), and total fresh and dry plant weight (2.80 and 0.801 gr), respectively. The application of 75% concentration of eucalyptus ethanol extract at the 5-leaf stage produced the lowest total fresh and dry weight of plant leaf (0.188 and 0.0521 gr), stem fresh and dry weight (0.303 and 0.046 gr) and total fresh and dry plant weight (0.633 and 0.1157 gr), respectively.Conclusion: The aqueous and alcoholic extracts significantly decreased Pigweed growth indices, and its inhibitory effect was not significantly different in most traits with 2-4-D herbicide. The inhibitory effect of alcoholic extract on pigweed growth was greater than aqueous extract. Given that almost all eucalyptus extracts, either alcoholic or aqueous, significantly reduced Pigweed growth, it may be possible to reduce the pressure of this weed on crops by combining and using them as a bio-herbicide.
Improvement and breeding
M. Sarafraz; H. Dehghanzadeh; A.F. Hashemi
Abstract
To investigate the effects of biological and chemical phosphorus fertilizers, and gibberellic acid (GA3) on yield and its components, and essential oil of Salvia officinalis L., a factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in Ghara Chay region, Markazi ...
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To investigate the effects of biological and chemical phosphorus fertilizers, and gibberellic acid (GA3) on yield and its components, and essential oil of Salvia officinalis L., a factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications was conducted in Ghara Chay region, Markazi province, Iran. Experimental treatments included triple super phosphate at three levels (100, 70, and 30 % of the recommended amount), phosphorus bio-fertilizer of Barvar-2 at two levels (application and no application), and GA3 at three levels (0, 100, and 200 ppm). The results showed that Barvar-2, GA3, and triple super phosphate affected yield and its components, and essential oil significantly. The Barvar-2 application increased the yield and essential oil percentage by 7.7 and 18.2% compared to the control, respectively. It also resulted in a slight increase of the major essential oil compounds. Also, the GA3 200 ppm application increased the percentage and essential oil yield by 23.5 and 40.5% compared to the control, respectively. The highest biological yield and essential oil yield were obtained 3751 and 15.52 kg.ha-1, respectivley with the simultaneous application of 100% of the recommended triple super phosphate, Barvar-2, and GA3 200 ppm. The highest α-thujone percentage (27.91%) as the most important essential oil compound was obtained with the simultaneous application of 100% of the recommended triple super phosphate, Barvar-2, and GA3 100 ppm. The combined application of GA3 and Barvar-2 reduced the use of phosphorus chemical fertilizer to achieve better vegetative characteristics, and high yield and essential oil percentage, so that in many traits the simultaneous application of 70% of the recommended triple super phosphate, Barvar-2, and GA3 did not differ significantly from the 100% of the recommended triple super phosphate application. Therefore, with the combined use of GA3 200 ppm and Barvar-2, the amount of phosphorus fertilizer consumption could be reduced by 30% without causing a significant reduction in yield and essential oil of S. officinalis.
S.H.R. Salmani Hosseini; K. Nozad Namin; H. Dehghanzadeh
Abstract
To study the phenotypic and genotypic variation of Iranian flixweld (Descurainia sophia L.) populations and the effect of complementary irrigation on their yield and yield components, an experiment was conducted as a split-plot in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the research ...
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To study the phenotypic and genotypic variation of Iranian flixweld (Descurainia sophia L.) populations and the effect of complementary irrigation on their yield and yield components, an experiment was conducted as a split-plot in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the research farm of Islamic Azad University, Naragh Branch, during 2017-2018 growing season. Irrigation at two levels of rainfed cultivation and cultivation with one complementary irrigation was considered as the main plot and flixweld populations at eight levels of Hamedan, Esfahan, Chadegan in Esfahan, Markazi, Abuzeid Abad in Kashan, Bashrouye, Nakhjiravan, and Khomein as sub-plots. The results showed that grain yield, biological yield, the number of siliqua, the number of grains per silique, 1000-grain weight, and the number of sub-stems increased by complementary irrigation. There was a high variation among flixweld populations in terms of different traits. The highest grain yield under complementary irrigation and rainfed conditions was observed in Chadegan and Khomein populations with 499.1 and 359.1 kg ha-1, respectively. Cluster analysis divided flixweld populations into four groups under rainfed conditions. Populations Hamedan, Esfahan, Boshrouyeh, and Khomein were placed in the first group, Nakhjiravan in the second group, Markazi and Abuzeid Abad in the third group, and Chadegan in the fourth one. The highest broad-sense heritability (68.4%) was obtained for grain yield and number of siliqua traits.
H. Vosoughi Tabar; S.A. Hosseini Tafreshi; H. Dehghanzadeh
Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of Azotobacter on growth indices, yield and essential oil content of two cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) landraces under salinity conditions, an experiment was carried out in a factorial design arranged as randomized complete block design with three replications in ...
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In order to investigate the effects of Azotobacter on growth indices, yield and essential oil content of two cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) landraces under salinity conditions, an experiment was carried out in a factorial design arranged as randomized complete block design with three replications in 2015 at the Kashan University. The treatments included two cumin landraces (Ardestān and Mashhad Ardehal), four salinity levels (control, 100, 150 and 200 mili molar Nacl) and two levels of azotobacter (control and seed inoculation). Results showed that salinity and inoculation with bacteria had a very significant effect on germination rate and percentage, radicle length and plumule height. Increased concentrations up to 200 Mm sodium chloride resulted in a significant reduction in germination percentage and germination rate, radicle length, plumule height, grain yield and essential oil yield. According to the results, in both landraces and at all salinity levels, inoculation with bacteria, resulted in a significant increase in chlorophyll a, b, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase, grain yield and essential oil yield compared to the control. The Ardestān landrace had the highest chlorophyll a and b, catalase, ascorbate peroxidase and essential oil content and tolerated salinity better compared to the Ardehal Mashhad landrace. In salinity conditions, inoculation of seeds with Azotobacter could reduce the negative effects of stress and improve the germination rate, seed yield and essential oil yield. The results of this experiment indicated that Ardestān landrace could be cultivated and used to reduce the effects of salinity due to the inoculation with Azotobacter, and higher grain yield and essential oil yield could be obtained under conditions similar to this experiment.
