Agriculture and horticulture
Babak Bahreininejad; Fatemeh Sefidkon; M.H. Lebaschy; Zahra Jaberalansar
Abstract
Background and objectives: Awareness of changes in medicinal plant yield quantity and quality over time is one of the most important goals in agricultural management. Satureja mutica is one of the valuable medicinal species growing in Iran. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different ...
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Background and objectives: Awareness of changes in medicinal plant yield quantity and quality over time is one of the most important goals in agricultural management. Satureja mutica is one of the valuable medicinal species growing in Iran. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different planting beds on changes in vegetative characteristics and essential oil components over the years of growth in S. mutica under rainfed conditions.Methodology: The experiment was conducted in the form of split plots in a randomized complete block design for three years (2018-2020) in the rainy conditions of Feridounshahr city, Isfahan province. Planting beds as the main plot included cow manure (30 tons per hectare), wheat straw (10 tons per hectare), and control (without cow manure and wheat straw). After the preparation of the field, the seedlings were planted at the bottom of the wells created at a distance of 50 x 50 cm from each other. During the growing season and at the time of 50% flowering, the studied traits including total plant dry weight, leaf and stem dry weight, plant height, crown diameter per plant, canopy area per plant, and in each square meter of land and the number of stems per plant were measured. For essential oil extraction, the flowering branches of the plants were harvested at the full flowering stage. After drying in the shade, the essential oil was extracted by the water distillation method. After determining the yield of essential oils based on the dry weight of the plant, the essential oils were analyzed and identified by gas chromatography, and gas chromatography was connected to a mass spectrometer in the phytochemistry laboratory of the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands. Considering that the plant is several years old and measurements are carried out every year on fixed plots, the design analysis was done on divided plots at the time of implementation. The SAS computer program was used to perform statistical calculations, and the LSD test was applied to compare the means. For essential oil extraction, the flowering branch of the plant was harvested at the full flowering stage. After drying in the shade, the essential oil was extracted by the water distillation method. After determining the yield of essential oils based on the dry weight of the plant, the essential oils were analyzed and identified by gas chromatography, and gas chromatography was connected to a mass spectrometer in the phytochemistry laboratory of the Research Institute of Forests and Pastures. The SAS computer program was used to perform statistical calculations, and the LSD test was used to compare the means.Results: The variance analysis of the data showed that the effects of bed, year, and their interaction effects on the measured traits were significant in many cases. Results showed that the highest values of plant height, crown diameter, canopy area, and number of stems per plant in the first year were seen in manure treatment. In the last year, they were in control. The highest rates of total dry weight, leaf dry weight, essential oil yield, and essential oil percentage were observed in control in the last year. These rates were 1427, 891, 42 kg ha-1, and 4.67%, respectively. The main essential oil components are thymol, carvacrol, p-cymene, and gamma-terpinene. These essential oil components are affected by the planting bed and the growth year. So in the case of p-cymene, the highest amount obtained in the first year was in the straw treatment. The highest amounts of gamma-terpinene were observed in all three planting bed treatments in the last year of growth. S. mutica had significant amounts of thymol, and the trend of changes among planting bed treatments and during growing years was very small. The highest amounts of carvacrol were observed in straw treatment and animal manure in the second year of growth. The results of the correlation coefficients showed that the most vital traits affecting essential oil yield were total dry weight, leaf and stem, and essential oil percentage. Thymol and p-cymene were inversely correlated with carvacrol and gamma-terpinene.Conclusion: On the whole, to produce S. mutica under rainfed conditions similar to this study, manure or straw could affect yield and essential oil over the first and second years; however, in the third year, this effect diminished, and control treatment was superior to straw and manure treatments.
Agriculture and horticulture
Z. Izadi; A. Biabani; H. Sabouri; B. Bahreyninejad
Abstract
Datura stramonium L. is one of the important medicinal plants in the pharmaceutical industry due to its alkaloid compounds. To investigate the effects of urea fertilizer at three levels (60, 120, and 180 kg.ha-1) and planting density at three levels (6, 10, and 14 plants.m-2) on the yield and yield components ...
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Datura stramonium L. is one of the important medicinal plants in the pharmaceutical industry due to its alkaloid compounds. To investigate the effects of urea fertilizer at three levels (60, 120, and 180 kg.ha-1) and planting density at three levels (6, 10, and 14 plants.m-2) on the yield and yield components of this plant species, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design in the research farm of Isfahan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center, Iran in 2018 and 2019 crop years. The main effects of density and urea on the traits including height, number of lateral branches, and 1000-seed weight and the interaction of different urea and density levels on the traits including seed yield, biological yield, number of capsules per plant, number of seeds per plant, and number of seeds per capsule were significant in both years. The highest seed yield (1282.37 and 1212.53 kg.ha-1, respectively in 2018 and 2019 years) was obtained in the urea fertilizer 180 kg.ha-1 and 6 plants.m-2 treatment. The causal analysis results showed that the highest direct positive effect at the different levels of density and urea was related to the number of capsules per plant. The results of this experiment showed that the application of 180 kg.ha-1 of urea and 6 plants.m-2 could play an important role in increasing the seed yield of medicinal plant D. stramonium.
B. Bahreininejad; B. Abaszadeh; F. Sefidkon; Z. Jaberalansar
Abstract
Two species of Nepeta assurgens Hausskn. & Bornm. and N. eremokosmos Rech., are endemic medicinal plants to Iran. This study was conducted to investigate the vegetative traits, aerial parts yield, the quantity and quality of essential oil, as well as evaluating the relationships between these traits ...
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Two species of Nepeta assurgens Hausskn. & Bornm. and N. eremokosmos Rech., are endemic medicinal plants to Iran. This study was conducted to investigate the vegetative traits, aerial parts yield, the quantity and quality of essential oil, as well as evaluating the relationships between these traits in mentioned species under field conditions in Isfahan. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete block design with three replications over 2017 and 2018. Results showed that the fresh and dry weight of aerial parts in N. assurgens (11353 and 2351 kg ha-1, respectively) was remarkably higher than that of N. eremokosmos (2638 and 527 kg ha-1, respectively). The average content and yield of essential oil in N. assurgens and N. eremokosmos was 1.60 and 0.64%, and 20.16 and 2.21 kg ha-1, respectively. Based on qualitative analysis of essential oil, the total amount of nepetalactone isomers (4aα, 7α, 7aα-nepetalactone, 4aα, 7α, 7aβ-nepetalactone, 4aα, 7β, 7aα-nepetalactone) in N. assurgens and N. eremokosmos was 78.6 and 62.8% on average, respectively. Correlation analysis showed that leaf dry weight, total fresh and dry weight, and large diameter of the plant had the highest correlation with essential oil yield. Stepwise regression analysis indicated that essential oil yield changes were mainly explained by leaf dry weight, essential oil content, total fresh weight, the number of stems and the amount of plant crown cover. In general, according to the results, the superiority of the N. assurgens species was significant and could be recommended as a valuable and high potential yielding plant for pharmaceutical purposes.
S.J. Jazayeri; M. Mousavinick; A. Ghanbari; B. Bahreininejad
Abstract
In order to determine the effect of fertilizer and plant density on qualitative and quantitative characteristics of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonaloba L.), a medicinal-industrial plant, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2015 and 2016 crop ...
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In order to determine the effect of fertilizer and plant density on qualitative and quantitative characteristics of guar (Cyamopsis tetragonaloba L.), a medicinal-industrial plant, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2015 and 2016 crop years. Fertilizer was considered as the first factor at two levels of 60-70-70 and 90-100-100 kg ha-1 nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, respectively, and the second factor was planting density at three levels of 60, 75 and 90 plants per m2. The results showed that in the first year, the effect of fertilizer treatment levels was not significant on the traits studied except seed swelling trait. Planting density affected the number of pods significantly (1%), but had no significant effect on other traits. The interaction of fertilizer and plant density was significant on mucilage production. In the second year, the effect of fertilizer was significant only on biomass and mucilage production. Also, the effect of planting density was significant on biomass and the number of pods, and the interaction of fertilizer and planting density was significant only on the amount of mucilage. The mean comparison indicated the increase in biomass and seed yield in the second year in both factors. By reducing the plant density, the number of branches and pods per plant increased, which increased the yield. In the second year, the amount of crude protein and seed mucilage increased and decreased, respectively. In this study, the amount of seed swelling was not positively correlated with the mucilage amount. Regarding the results of the present study, as well as guar as a legume, and the possibility of supplying part of the plant nutritional needs by the plant itself, if the purpose is mucilage production, the 60-70-70 fertilizer treatment and 60 plants per m2 are recommended under similar conditions to this research.
B. Bahreininejad; M. Mirza
Abstract
Thymus daenensis Celak is one of the Iranian endemic plants. Since this species is one of the most valuable medicinal plants in the central Zagros region, extra-human exploitation has put it at risk of extinction. Ordination technique is one of the methods showing the relationship between plant and environmental ...
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Thymus daenensis Celak is one of the Iranian endemic plants. Since this species is one of the most valuable medicinal plants in the central Zagros region, extra-human exploitation has put it at risk of extinction. Ordination technique is one of the methods showing the relationship between plant and environmental variables. In order to study the effects of ecological variables on essential oil components, eight growing regions of Thymus daenensis in Isfahan province were identified and after collecting the aerial parts of plant materials, the essential oil was extracted and their components were detected. Twenty four bio-climatical, edaphical and topographical factors in each habitate were collected for ordination analysis. Results showed that elevation, mean temperature of the wettest season, isothermality, precipitation of the wettest season, annual precipitation, precipitation of the driest season and annual temperature range, clay, gravel, organic matter, available nitrogen and potassium were the most effective variables on the essential oil components. Thymol content as the main component in the essential oil was affected by annual temperature range, elevation, and slope. Soil sand percentage and the mean temperature of wettest quarter were the most effective variables on carvacrol. The result of this study could have valuable role in Thymus daenensis cultivation management in nature or farm regarding to its chemical components needed in the medicinal and hygienic industries.
