Improvement and breeding
B. Asghari; S. Mafakheri; M. M. Zarrabi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Hibiscus sabdariffa L., commonly known as Roselle, is a plant cultivated in many regions of the world regions. Roselle has been used as a medicinal herb in traditional medicine for controlling and treating different diseases and physical ailments. These therapeutic effects ...
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Background and Objectives: Hibiscus sabdariffa L., commonly known as Roselle, is a plant cultivated in many regions of the world regions. Roselle has been used as a medicinal herb in traditional medicine for controlling and treating different diseases and physical ailments. These therapeutic effects are attributed to active compounds such as carotenoids, fatty acids, and phenolic compounds, including phenolic acids and flavonoids. One common method to stimulate plants for increased production of active compounds is subjecting them to various types of stresses, such as drought or salinity, along with plant growth regulators. This study investigated salicylic acid's effect on the phytochemical content and various biological properties of Roselle plants under water scarcity conditions.Methodology: The experiment was conducted as a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design, including irrigation intervals at three levels: three days (D1), five days (D2), and seven days (D3), and foliar application of salicylic acid at three levels: 0 (SA0), 0.75 mM (SA1), and 1.25 mM (SA2), with three replicates in a research greenhouse at the International Imam Khomeini University. The required seeds for cultivation were obtained from Pakanbazr Company in Isfahan. The imposition of drought stress through irrigation intervals of 3, 5, and 7 days started at the 4-leaf stage of the plants, and the plant spraying with salicylic acid was performed at the 6-leaf stage, three days before the start of irrigation treatments. The measurement of electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde content was carried out to determine membrane stability and lipid peroxidation level. Additionally, the measurement of proline content and the activity of three antioxidant enzymes, including peroxidase, catalase, and ascorbate peroxidase, was performed in different samples. Furthermore, the total phenolic, flavonoid, and anthocyanin contents, as the main secondary metabolites of Roselle plants, were measured. The biological and medicinal properties, including the free radical scavenging activity (DPPH) and α-glucosidase inhibitory activity, were also evaluated. The obtained data were analyzed using SAS statistical software version 9.4. Mean comparisons were conducted using Duncan's multiple range test at a significance level of 5%.Results: The results showed both electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde content increased significantly with increasing levels of applied drought stress on Roselle plants. However, overall, applying salicylic acid treatments led to a decrease in both indicators. The measurement of proline content in Roselle samples showed that the highest amount of proline was observed in plants subjected to the highest drought stress and treated with the 1.5 mM salicylic acid solution. The activity of all three antioxidant enzymes increased with the intensity of the applied drought stress and the concentration of salicylic acid solutions. Roselle's highest levels of phenolic and anthocyanin content were observed in samples sprayed with 1.5 mM salicylic acid solution. The change in anthocyanin content of Roselle plants also demonstrated that increasing the severity of water scarcity resulted in higher levels of this compound. The highest DPPH free radical scavenging activity was observed in Roselle samples grown under the highest drought severity and sprayed with the highest concentration of salicylic acid (61.93%). The highest antioxidant activity was also observed in samples treated with the highest concentration of salicylic acid solution in all irrigation regimes. The highest α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (69.2% and 67.7%) was associated with Roselle samples grown under the highest applied drought severity, sprayed with 1.5 mM and 0.75 mM salicylic acid solutions, respectively.Conclusion: It can be concluded that the use of salicylic acid as a growth regulator can contribute to the enhancement of phytochemical content, especially secondary metabolites such as phenolic and flavonoid compounds, anthocyanins, and the elevation of defensive parameters such as the activation of antioxidant enzymes, as well as an increase in osmolyte content like proline in Roselle plants. These effects assist the plants in exhibiting greater resistance to drought stress and mitigating the negative impacts of this type of stress on the plant.
Improvement and breeding
P. Yari; R. Aminian; A.H. Keshtkar; H. Bagheri; S. Mafakheri
Abstract
Tragopogon spp. has many medicinal properties in addition to its edible consumption due to its many useful compounds. One of these identified compounds is inulin, which is present in the roots of this plant. To investigate the effects of low irrigation stress and growth-promoting rhizobacteria (Bacillus ...
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Tragopogon spp. has many medicinal properties in addition to its edible consumption due to its many useful compounds. One of these identified compounds is inulin, which is present in the roots of this plant. To investigate the effects of low irrigation stress and growth-promoting rhizobacteria (Bacillus subtilis) on inulin content and root morphological traits in some genotypes of Tragopogon spp., a factorial experiment with three factors in a completely randomized design with three replications was conducted in the research greenhouse of Bu Ali Sina University in 2020. The factors included irrigation at two levels of without stress (100% of field capacity) and low irrigation stress (50% of field capacity) as the first factor, genotype at 15 levels (different genotypes of Tragopogon spp) as the second factor, and plant growth-enhancing rhizobacteria (PGPR) at two levels of inoculation with B. subtilis and without inoculation as the third factor. Length, area, volume, diameter, weight, and inulin content of the plant roots were measured. The results showed that the irrigation × genotype × bacteria interaction effect was significant on all studied traits. Low irrigation stress increased length, area, and volume of the plant roots in most genotypes, but decreased root weight and inulin content. Inoculation with B. subtilis affected genotypes differently. Iranian genotype No. 11 (Kaboudar Ahang) had the highest inulin content at different stress and B. subtilis levels, followed by Italian genotype No. 4 at both B. subtilis levels under non-stress conditions. Overall, stress reduced inulin content of the plant roots, but the effect of inoculation with B. subtilis depended on the genotype.
Phytochemistry (extraction, identification and measurement of active components)
S. Mafakheri; R. Hallaj; B. Asghari
Abstract
Dragonhead with the scientific name of Dracocephalum moldavica L., is an annual medicinal and aromatic herbaceous plant from Lamiaceae family. In this research, D. moldavica seed oil, aqueous, and ethanol extracts were prepared and quantity and quality of fatty acids, phytosterols amount, phenolic and ...
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Dragonhead with the scientific name of Dracocephalum moldavica L., is an annual medicinal and aromatic herbaceous plant from Lamiaceae family. In this research, D. moldavica seed oil, aqueous, and ethanol extracts were prepared and quantity and quality of fatty acids, phytosterols amount, phenolic and flavonoid compounds contents, and DPPH radicals scavenging activity were measured. The seed oil was extracted by cold press method. The results showed that the highest amount of palmitic and stearic acids (9.4 and 3.55%, respectively) was obtained in the ethanol extract. While, the highest amount of oleic (9.7%), linoleic (19.53%), and α-linolenic (59.01%) acids were found in the oil. The ethanol extract exhibited the highest amount of total phytosterol (833.86 mg.100 g-1 DW), γ-tocopherol (38.72 mg.100 g-1 DW), and total tocopherol (39.21 mg.100 g-1 DW). The highest total phenolic (17.4 mg GAE.g-1 DW) and flavonoid (112.12 mg QE.g-1 DW) contents were found in the ethanol extract of seeds and lowest of them (near to zero) was found in the seed oil. Also, the ethanol extract showed the highest DPPH radicals scavenging activity. Overall, ethanol is recommended as the best solvent for extracting dragonhead seed extract to maintain more qualitative properties.
Sh. Gheidarlouei; R. Khademian; S. Mafakheri
Abstract
To investigate the effect of mycorrhiza inoculation on increasing the resistance of medicinal plant dill (Anethum graveolens L.) to salinity stress, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications at the research greenhouse of Imam Khomeini International ...
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To investigate the effect of mycorrhiza inoculation on increasing the resistance of medicinal plant dill (Anethum graveolens L.) to salinity stress, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications at the research greenhouse of Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin province, Iran. The first factor was ecotype at two levels (Isfahan and Varamin), the second factor was salinity at three levels (0, 5 and 10 dS/m), and the third factor was mycorrhiza at three levels (0, 75 and 150 g fungi). The results showed that mycorrhizal inoculation improved all the quantitative traits studied so that under salinity conditions, the plants inoculated with mycorrhiza showed better growth than non-inoculated plants. The highest dry weight, plant height, number of seeds plant-1, and 1000-seed weight were obtained in ecotype Isfahan, salinity level 5 dS/m and 150 g of mycorrhiza. Eleven compounds were identified in dill essential oil. The highest percentage of limonene (7.5%) was obtained from ecotype Varamin plants treated with 5 dS/m salinity and 150 g mycorrhiza. The highest percentage of carvone (86.3%) was obtained in ecotype Isfahan treated with 150 g mycorrhiza and non-salinity.
S. Mafakheri; R. Aminian
Abstract
Though chemical fertilizers increase crop production, their long-term use causes soil compaction and decreased fertility, increased air and water pollution, as well as increased greenhouse gases emission, ultimately leading to serious damage to human health and the environment. A greenhouse experiment ...
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Though chemical fertilizers increase crop production, their long-term use causes soil compaction and decreased fertility, increased air and water pollution, as well as increased greenhouse gases emission, ultimately leading to serious damage to human health and the environment. A greenhouse experiment was conducted during 2018 to evaluate the effects of chemical and bio-fertilizers on the quality and quantity of Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) in a randomized complete block design with four treatments. The experimental treatments included chemical fertilizer (NPK), seaweed extract, humic acid, and control (without fertilizer) with five replications. The results showed that the treatments had a significant effect on most of the traits. The highest plant height, plant dry weight, number of umbels per plant, number of seeds per plant, 1000 seed weight, number of primary branches, chlorophyll content, leaf carotenoid content, and essential oil content were obtained in the plants treated with chemical fertilizer as well as seaweed extract. The highest plant fresh weight was obtained from chemical fertilizer treatment, and the highest number of secondary branches (9.08) and linalool percentage (61.32%) were obtained from the seaweed extract treatment. The results indicated that the seaweed extract could be a good replacement for chemical fertilizers in coriander.
S. Mafakheri; B. Asghari; M. Shaltooki
Abstract
In order to investigate the effects of biological, chemical and nano-fertilizers on qualitative and quantitative factors of Lallemantia iberica (M.B.) Fischer & Meyer, an experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions in 2016, at the research greenhouse of Imam Khomeini International University, ...
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In order to investigate the effects of biological, chemical and nano-fertilizers on qualitative and quantitative factors of Lallemantia iberica (M.B.) Fischer & Meyer, an experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions in 2016, at the research greenhouse of Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with 9 treatments and 5 replications. Treatments included control (no fertilizer), biophosphat, nitroxin, nano fertilizer, chemical fertilizer, biophosphat×nitroxin, nitroxin×nano fertilizer, biophosphate×nano fertilizer, and biophosphat×nitroxin×nano fertilizer. Analysis of variance revealed that treatments significantly affected the plant height, fresh and dry weight, essential oil content, and essential oil constituents of dragon’s head. The maximum plant height (35gr) was obtained by applying chemical fertilizer, the highest fresh and dry weight (36.05 gr and 5.09 gr respectively) were found in the treatment with nitroxin×nano fertilizer, and the highest essential oil percentage with an average of 0.57% belonged to the biophosphate×nano fertilizer treatment. Twenty-four compounds were identified in the essential oils of L. iberica, of which the main constituents were limonene, linalool, verbenone, ß-caryophyllene, germacrene-D and β-cubeben. The highest limonene (7%) occurred with the nitroxin×biophosphate; the maximum amount of linalool (17.9%) was obtained by nitroxin×nano fertilizer; maximum percentage of verbenone (8.8%) was found in the treatment with biophosphate×nitroxin×nano fertilizer; the highest percentage of β-caryophyllene (12%) was observed with biophosphate×nano fertilizer; the highest amount of germacrene-D and β-cubeben (15% and 11.5%, respectively) in the essential oil were obtained by application of nano fertilizer. In addition, our results indicated that the combination of nano, nitroxin and biophosphate fertilizers could improve the growth and quality of dragon’s head plants.
