Volume 37, Issue 1 , March and April 2021
Biological effects of essential oils and extracts
S. Najafi Dorcheh; S. Rahgozar; D. Talei; E.S. Ghodousi
Abstract
Chemotherapy, as the most common way of cancer treatment, has many side effects that make it difficult to continue the treatment process. The studies show that the use of medicinal plants alone or in combination with the chemotherapy drugs can reduce the harmful effects of chemotherapy. This study aimed ...
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Chemotherapy, as the most common way of cancer treatment, has many side effects that make it difficult to continue the treatment process. The studies show that the use of medicinal plants alone or in combination with the chemotherapy drugs can reduce the harmful effects of chemotherapy. This study aimed at investigating the effect of 10-gingerol, as one of the major derivatives of ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe), on the acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines. The acute lymphoblastic cell lines (CCRF-CEM, R-CCRF-CEM, Nalm-6, and RN95) were treated with increasing concentrations of 10-gingerol after drawing their growth curves. The survival percentage was evaluated by the MTT assay. In addition, the trypan blue staining method was used to evaluate the rate of cell death and confirm the results of MTT assay. To explore the biological processes, molecular function, and cellular components related to the 10-gingerol target genes, a functional annotation analysis was performed using the gene ontology (GO) and Enrichr (a comprehensive gene set enrichment analysis tool) database. The Graph Pad Prism 6 software was also used for statistical analyses. The results of this study indicated that 10-gingerol had a cytotoxic effect on R-CCRF-CEM, Nalm-6, and RN95 cell lines significantly (p < /em> ˂ 0.05). This effect was stronger in R-CCRF-CEM and Nalm-6 than in CCRF-CEM at the higher concentrations. The GO analyses also recognized the apoptosis as the most important biological process associated with 10-gingerol. In the present study, for the first time, the cytotoxic effect of 10-gingerol on the acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines was demonstrated.
Agriculture and horticulture
M. Naghizadeh; R. Moradi
Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the potential of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) and chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) additive intercropping to improve the radiation use efficiency as a factorial based on the randomized complete block design with three replications at the research ...
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This study was conducted to investigate the potential of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) and chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) additive intercropping to improve the radiation use efficiency as a factorial based on the randomized complete block design with three replications at the research farm of Bardsir Agricultural Faculty, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, in 2018-2019 crop year. The experimental treatments included the fertilizer at four levels (1- Control, 2- NPK: 69-46-25 kg ha-1, 3- Cow manure: 20 t ha-1, and 4- Combination the half values of NPK and cow manure) and the planting pattern at three levels (1- Sole cropping of lavender, 2- Sole cropping of chamomile, and 3- Additive intercropping of lavender (main plant) and chamomile (associated plant)). The results showed that the total leaf area index of the two plants in intercropping was significantly higher than the sole cropping of them. The combined application of cow manure + NPK caused the highest lavender dry matter (DM) (868 kg ha-1), chamomile flower yield (366 kg ha-1), essential oil percentage of chamomile (0.56%) and lavender (0.80%), and radiation interception (1321 MJ m-2) in all the planting patterns. There was no significant difference between the planting patterns in terms of essential oil percentage. Due to the canopy overlap of the two plants in the intercropping, the value of photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) intercepted during the growing season in the intercropping treatment was higher than the sole cropping of both plants. The land equivalent ratio (LER) in terms of PAR (LERPAR) varied between 1.33 and 1.37 in fertilizer treatments. The highest radiation use efficiency (1.63 g DM MJ-1 radiation) was obtained for chamomile in the intercropping at the cow manure + NPK treatment. In general, the results illustrated that the application of cow manure + NPK treatment and intercropping of lavender and chamomile could be an appropriate approach for more efficient radiation use and improving the quantitative and qualitative yield of the two plants.
By-products and their exploitation methods
V. Abdollahi; H. Arzani; M.A Zare Chahuki; H. Movahed Mohammadi; Gh Haderbadi; J. Motamedi
Abstract
The utilization of medicinal plants based on the ecological principles is one of the aspects of multi-purpose use of rangelands. Therefore, the capability of Darmiyan mountain rangelands in the east of the country to exploit medicinal plants was evaluated. For this purpose, in addition to the ecological ...
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The utilization of medicinal plants based on the ecological principles is one of the aspects of multi-purpose use of rangelands. Therefore, the capability of Darmiyan mountain rangelands in the east of the country to exploit medicinal plants was evaluated. For this purpose, in addition to the ecological indicators, the economic, social, and environmental indicators related to the indigenous knowledge were also considered. In this regard, the vegetation inventory was performed inside the 60 two-square-meter plots located at a distance of 20 m from each other along the 200-meter transects, and the share of medicinal species in the plant composition was calculated. The limitations and potentials of the region to exploit the medicinal plants were also evaluated from the point of view of exploiters and experts by designing a set of questions in the form of Likert scale. The final suitability map to exploit the medicinal plants based on the good, medium, low, and non-suitable degrees of suitability was prepared by integrating the maps in the GIS and based on the FAO limiting factor approach. The results showed that 50.11% (6367.83 ha) and 49.89% (6341.44 ha) of the rangelands had medium and low suitability for exploitation, respectively. The canopy percentage had the highest share of limiting the suitability of plant types, in which the harvest of medicinal plants is less recommended to protect the soil and improve the rangeland conditions. The guaranteed purchase of medicinal plants from the exploiters and providing them with the necessary training on various aspects of this profession, will also increase the capability of this type of rangelands exploitation. Accordingly, they should be given more attention in designing the instructions to determine the rangelands suitability to exploit the medicinal plants.
Biological effects of essential oils and extracts
M. Karami; F. Ghassemi
Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effects of aqueous-alcoholic extract of Ducrosia anethifolia (DC.) Boiss. leaves on the fetal heart tissue changes in the diabetic rats. Forty-eight female rats weighing 200-220 g were fertilized with eight male rats weighing 230-250 g. After ensuring the pregnancy, ...
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This study aimed to investigate the effects of aqueous-alcoholic extract of Ducrosia anethifolia (DC.) Boiss. leaves on the fetal heart tissue changes in the diabetic rats. Forty-eight female rats weighing 200-220 g were fertilized with eight male rats weighing 230-250 g. After ensuring the pregnancy, the females became diabetic by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin (80 mg kg-1 body weight) on the first day of pregnancy, and were randomly grouped. Groups included Control (healthy rats without treatment), Sham 1 (healthy rats receiving 1 ml D. anethifolia extract), Sham 2 (diabetic rats without treatment), and three groups of treatments which respectively received 1 ml D. anethifolia extract at the doses of 250, 500, and 1000 kg kg-1 body weight of the diabetic rats from 6th to 20th day of the pregnancy by gavage. On the 20th day of pregnancy, after anesthetizing the rats and taking 2 ml of blood from their hearts, the fetuses were removed from their uterus. The fetal hearts were isolated and fixed in the 5% solution of formalin. After the tissue processing, the five-micron sections were prepared by the stereological method and stained with hematoxylin and eosin. The heart circumference and its wall thickness were measured by the image analysis software, and the number of heart cells was counted by the Grids-stero lite software. The data were analyzed by the ANOVA and the means were compared by the Tukey test (p < /em>≤0.05). The findings showed an increase in the blood glucose, density and length of cardiocytes, and heart circumference in all the diabetic groups compared to the control, which were significantly reduced in the diabetic rats treated with D. anethifolia extract compared to the diabetic group without treatment. According to the results, the aqueous-alcoholic extract of D. anethifolia leaves could slightly compensate the destructive changes caused by diabetes in the fetal cardiovascular tissue by reducing the blood glucose in the diabetic rats.
Agriculture and horticulture
R. Ahmadi; S. Maleki Farahani
Abstract
To investigate the effects of sowing date and nitrogen fertilizer on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics and nitrogen efficiency in Lallemantiaiberica (M.Bieb.) Fisch. & C.A.Mey. and Lallemantiaroyleana (Benth.) Benth., an experiment was conducted as a factorial split plot in a randomized ...
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To investigate the effects of sowing date and nitrogen fertilizer on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics and nitrogen efficiency in Lallemantiaiberica (M.Bieb.) Fisch. & C.A.Mey. and Lallemantiaroyleana (Benth.) Benth., an experiment was conducted as a factorial split plot in a randomized complete block design at the Faculty of Agriculture, Shahed University. The treatments included the sowing date as the main plot at two levels of autumn and spring sowing, and the nitrogen fertilizer at three levels of 0, 50 (8 kg ha-1), and 100%(16 kg ha-1) and two Lallemantia species as the subplots. The results of analysis of variance showed the significance of the effects of sowing date, nitrogen fertilizer, plant species, and the interaction of all three treatments on grain yield, 1000-grain weight, harvest index, leaf area index, leaf chlorophyll content, seed protein, nitrogen, and mucilage content, and nitrogen uptake, use, and utilization efficiencies. The autumn sowing in comparison with the spring one had the most positive and incremental effect on the studied traits except seed nitrogen. The results showed that the application of 16 kg ha-1 nitrogen fertilizer on both sowing dates increased the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of both Lallemantia species compared to the non-fertilizer application conditions. Increasing the use of nitrogen fertilizer compared to the non-fertilizer application conditions increased the nitrogen uptake and use efficiencies in the autumn and spring sowing dates in both Lallemantia species. Increasing the use of nitrogen fertilizer in the autumn sowing increased the nitrogen use efficiency in both Lallemantia species, but in the spring sowing, the nitrogen use efficiency was higher under the non-fertilizer application conditions compared to the different levels of nitrogen fertilizer application. L.iberica showed a more positive reaction to the nitrogen fertilizer application compared to L.royleana.
Agriculture and horticulture
A. Rahmani; E. Sharifi Ashourabadi; A. Ebrahimi; M. Mirza
Abstract
To investigate the effects of soil fertility methods on the yield and yield components of hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.) in the different harvests, an experiment was conducted as a factorial in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Karaj (Alborz province) in 2017. The experimental ...
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To investigate the effects of soil fertility methods on the yield and yield components of hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis L.) in the different harvests, an experiment was conducted as a factorial in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Karaj (Alborz province) in 2017. The experimental treatments included the harvest time and soil fertility methods. The results showed that the first harvest had higher plant height, number of sub-branches, and leaf area index and the second harvest had higher plant dry matter weight and chlorophyll content. With the soil fertility, the plant height, number of sub-branches, plant dry matter weight, leaf area index, chlorophyll content, essential oil yield, and nutrients uptake increased significantly. The highest plant height and number of sub-branches was obtained from the application of 120 kg ha-1 nitrogen+ 96 kg ha-1 phosphorus+ 120 kg ha-1 potassium treatment. The maximum dry matter weight of the plant was allocated to the combination of 20 t ha-1 manure with 80 kg ha-1 nitrogen+ 64 kg ha-1 phosphorus+ 80 kg ha-1 potassium. The highest essential oil yield was obtained from the 120 kg ha-1 nitrogen+ 96 kg ha-1 phosphorus+ 120 kg ha-1 potassium treatment which was statistically in the same group as the treatments including 40 t ha-1 manure, combination of 30 t ha-1 manure with mycorrhiza, and combination of 40 kg ha-1 nitrogen+ 32 kg ha-1 phosphorus+ 40 kg ha-1 potassium with 30 t ha-1 manure. Based on the results, the desired quantitative and qualitative yield in hyssop could be achieved with the integrated feeding method and use of biological and organic fertilizers.
Improvement and breeding
E. Danaee; V. Abdossi
Abstract
Salinity is one of the most important abiotic environmental stresses which restricts the growth and production of plants. On the other hand, silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element in the soil and alleviates the biotic and abiotic stresses in the plants. For this purpose, a greenhouse experiment ...
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Salinity is one of the most important abiotic environmental stresses which restricts the growth and production of plants. On the other hand, silicon (Si) is the second most abundant element in the soil and alleviates the biotic and abiotic stresses in the plants. For this purpose, a greenhouse experiment was conducted as a factorial in a completely randomized statistical design with three replications to investigate the effects of silicon and nano-silicon (50 and 100 mg l-1) on some morphophysiological and phytochemical properties of peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) under salinity stress at the different levels of sodium chloride (0, 50, and 100 mg l-1) in 2019. The results showed that the salinity stress significantly reduced the fresh and dry weight of aerial parts and root, and chlorophyll, total phenol, and protein contents. The activity of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase enzymes and essential oil percentage differed at the different salinity levels. The amount of proline also increased significantly due to the sodium chloride treatment of 100 mg l-1. The plants treatment with the different levels of silicon and nano-silicon reduced the negative effects of salinity stress on the evaluated indices. The nano-silicon treatment of 100 mg l-1 showed the highest inhibition of salinity stress effects on the growth indices, antioxidant enzymes activity, and essential oil percentage. Therefore, according to the results of this research, the foliar application of silicon and nano-silicon could be recommended to reduce the negative effects of salinity stress on peppermint.
Agriculture and horticulture
M. Babaei; F. Sefidkon; M. Nasiri
Abstract
Two species Nepeta cataria L. and Nepeta bracteata Benth. (fam. lamiaceae) are native to Iran. To study the quantity and quality of the two species essential oil in the field, the seeds of eight populations from these two species were collected from natural habitats and planted in a randomized complete ...
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Two species Nepeta cataria L. and Nepeta bracteata Benth. (fam. lamiaceae) are native to Iran. To study the quantity and quality of the two species essential oil in the field, the seeds of eight populations from these two species were collected from natural habitats and planted in a randomized complete block design in Alborz Research Station of Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands (Karaj, Alborz province). The flowering branches were harvested at the full flowering stage and after room temperature-drying, their essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation, and analyzed and identified by GC and GC/MS. The essential oil yield of N. cataria populations varied between 0.02 (Karaj) and 0.50% (Arak). Twenty-three compounds were identified in the essential oil of this species, and the main compound in all populations was from nepetalactone isomers. NepetalactoneIII (4aα,7β,7aα-nepetalactone) and nepetalactoneI (4aα,7α,7aα-nepetalactone) constituted 44.4 (Karaj) to 91.6% (Arak) and 0.8 (Karaj) to 15.9% (Bafgh1) of the essential oil, respectively. NepetalactoneII (4aα,7α,7aβ-nepetalactone) was observed only in the population Bafgh2 (21.2%). The amount of 1,8-cineole in the essential oil of different N. cataria populations varied from 0.4 (Taft1) to 12.8% (Karaj). The essential oil yield of N. bractaeta populations was obtained between 0.02 (Ardakan) and 0.70% (Taft2). Twenty-seven compounds were identified in the essential oil of this species, and the main compounds were 1,8-cineole (1.0, 9.6, and 41.0% in Tabas, Ardakan, and Taft2, respectively) and geranyl acetate (0.9, 3.4, and 39.8% in Tabas, Taft2, and Ardakan, respectively). In general, the results showed that the N. cataria populations were all from the same chemotype, but N. bracteata populations were from two chemotypes (ct. geranyl acetate and ct. 1,8-cineole).
Identification, introduction, ecology and ethnobotany
M. Ghadimi Joboni; M. Ghavam
Abstract
Ethnobotany is the recording of traditional unwritten information for the rational exploitation of resources and the effective protection of biodiversity and cultural information in any community. The present study aimed at recording the local's indigenous knowledge of Jubon village in Rudbar city of ...
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Ethnobotany is the recording of traditional unwritten information for the rational exploitation of resources and the effective protection of biodiversity and cultural information in any community. The present study aimed at recording the local's indigenous knowledge of Jubon village in Rudbar city of Guilan province about using medicinal and edible plants. The research data were obtained through the semi-structured interviews with 35 local experts. The descriptive statistics models such as the relative frequency of citation, use value, and cultural significance indices were used to analyze the data. The results showed that 34 plant species from 19 families were used for therapeutic and edible purposes in the study area. Plants of the families apiaceae, lamiaceae, and asteraceae with the frequencies of 19, 16, and 9%, respectively, were the most used in the region. The most important medicinal plants in the region were Malva sylvestris L., Echium amoenum Fisch. & C.A.Mey., Urtica dioica L., Eryngium planum L., and Foeniculum vulgare Mill., respectively, which had the highest cultural significance and relative frequency of citation indices among the medicinal plants of the region. The findings also indicated that the most common purpose of therapeutic use of the plants was about the gastrointestinal diseases, which were mainly used orally in cooking. In general, the people of Jubon village have a rich knowledge about the use of medicinal and edible plants, and this knowledge has existed in the region for generations.
Agriculture and horticulture
H. Heydarnejadiyan; A. Maleki; F. Babaei
Abstract
To investigate the effects of different levels of drought stress, and foliar application of zinc nanofertilizer and salicylic acid on the yield and yield components of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.), a split-plot factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications ...
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To investigate the effects of different levels of drought stress, and foliar application of zinc nanofertilizer and salicylic acid on the yield and yield components of fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.), a split-plot factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the village of Sultanabad, Razan city in Hamadan province in two years, 2018 and 2019. The main factor included the irrigation regime at three levels of irrigation after 50 (no stress), 75 (moderate stress), and 100 (severe stress) mm evaporation from Class A evaporation pan and the sub-factors consisted of foliar application of zinc nanofertilizer at two levels (without fertilizer and zinc nanofertilizer spray) and salicylic acid at four levels (0, 2, 4, and 6 mM). The drought stress decreased the number of umbels per plant, number of umbellules per umbel, number of seeds per umbellule, 1000-seed weight, and grain yield and increased the percentage of essential oil. The highest number of umbellules per umbel was obtained in the severe drought stress treatment with the application of zinc nanofertilizer and salicylic acid with a concentration of 4 mM. The application of zinc nanofertilizer under no stress, moderate, and severe drought conditions increased the grain yield by 14, 5.3, and 4.5%, and the essential oil content by 6, 2.9, and 9.9%, respectively. The concentration of 6 mM salicylic acid had the highest essential oil percentage (2.8%).
Identification, introduction, ecology and ethnobotany
A. Pourmeidani; H. Tavakoli Neko; M. Ghamghami
Abstract
Since Iran has always faced fluctuations and decreases in the rainfall, and on the other hand, the uncontrolled harvest of water resources have led to a more severe decline in the groundwater resources, the medicinal plants cultivation can help overcome the water deficit crisis. This study aimed at determining ...
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Since Iran has always faced fluctuations and decreases in the rainfall, and on the other hand, the uncontrolled harvest of water resources have led to a more severe decline in the groundwater resources, the medicinal plants cultivation can help overcome the water deficit crisis. This study aimed at determining the ecological suitability of cultivation of four medicinal plants including damask rose (Rosa damascena Mill.), saffron (Crocus sativus L.), thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.), and lavender (Lavandula angustifolia L.) in 36 plains located in the Salt Lake (Namak Lake) catchment. The research methodology included the collection, reconstruction, and quality control of the information, climatic simulation, calculation of the agro-climatological indicators, and estimation of the agriculture share of water resources separately for each plain, estimation of the plant water needs, determination of the moisture balance, preparation of the suitability layers of cultivation, and finally overlaying the layers to produce the suitable/unsuitable agricultural lands for the cultivation of these plants. The climate simulation was performed by the strategic re-sampling technique to generate the different scenarios during the period 2011-2035. All the models under the different scenarios predicted a decrease in the rainfall and an increase in the maximum and minimum temperatures. The EC-EARTH model under the RCP2.6 scenario predicted the highest percentage of rainfall decrease (about 23%) and temperature increase. Due to the salinity and heat stress, the agricultural lands located at Sharifabad plain, northern parts of Qom-Kahak plain agricultural lands, eastern lands of Saveh plain, northern lands of Kashan plain, and southern lands of Varamin plain were unsuitable for the cultivation of all four medicinal species. The cultivation of saffron and damask rose in most of the plains of Salt Lake catchment was suitable or very suitable.
Phytochemistry (extraction, identification and measurement of active components)
V. Abdossi; B. Tavakoli; A. Mehrafarin; H.A. Naghdibadi
Abstract
To evaluate the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Echinophora platyloba DC. under the influence of different drying methods, an experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 12 treatments and three replications in 2019. The experimental treatments included fresh plant, ...
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To evaluate the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Echinophora platyloba DC. under the influence of different drying methods, an experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 12 treatments and three replications in 2019. The experimental treatments included fresh plant, drying the plant in the shade and sun, drying the plant with an oven at three temperatures of 45, 55, and 65 °C, drying the plant with a vacuum oven at three temperatures of 45, 55, and 65 °C, and drying the plant with a microwave at three powers of 200, 400, and 600 W. The aerial parts of the plant was collected from the heights of Tuyserkan city in Hamedan province in June and was affected by the different drying methods. The essential oil was extracted by Clevenger apparatus and then its components were identified by GC-MS. The findings of this study showed that the different methods of plant drying had a significant effect on the percentage and all the components of essential oil. The microwave drying method at 400 W, despite not being suitable for preserving the secondary metabolites of the plant, caused the highest essential oil content. The shade-drying method, despite the long drying time, was the most suitable method for preserving the essential oil composition in E. platyloba. The essential oil percentage in this study ranged from 0.06% to 0.39% and the main essential oil constituents included trans-β-ocimene (34.16-57.52%), α-phellandrene (8.87-16.52%), cis-ocimene (1.69-4.57%), b-phellandrene (2.08-9.24%), p < /em>-cymene (1.53-5.05%), β-pinene (0.73-1.94%), a-pinene (1.83-5.15%), veloutone (0.39-3.78%), trans-carveol (0.38-1.92%), linalool (0.72-3.57%), and germacrene-D (1.67-4.91%).
