Journal of Applied Research on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants最新文献

The cultivation of essential oil-bearing damask rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) is majorly focused on enhancing the essential oil content and quality. The current study aims to investigate the variability in the essential oil level and component makeup of damask rose at different harvests at regular intervals during the flowering season. The study consists of two vegetation years i.e. 2021 and 2022 with five harvesting dates, viz., April 6, April 13, April 20, April 27, and May 4 during both years. The damask rose variety ‘Jwala’ was used for the experiment and plants taken for flower harvest were 6 and 7 years old during 2021 and 2022, respectively. The essential oil content of damask rose fresh flowers was significantly higher in the first vegetation year (0.044%) and April 20 (0.048%) harvest and decreased with delay in harvesting after that. GC-MS profiling displayed citronellol and geraniol as major contributors to essential oil area percentage but quantitative variations were observed with variability in temperature and precipitation. The highest percentage of citronellol was recorded on the May 4 harvest. The highest geraniol content was recorded from April 27 than other dates of harvests but remained statistically analogous with April 13 and April 20. Essential oil decreased at both delayed and early harvests. Throughout the crop harvest season, harvesting on April 20 harvest date produced the highest essential oil content compared to early and late flush harvest. This suggests that the middle of the flowering season is suitable for procuring the highest essential oil yield under the mid-hill conditions of the western Himalayan region. These findings could have significant economic implications for the market demand and pricing for damask rose essential oil.

The bioactive compounds contents (BCC), total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and thus the potential health-promoting capacity of fruits and vegetables may depend on their processing history. Solanum anguivi Lam. fruits (SALF) are consumed as vegetables and have been traditionally used to manage diabetes, possibly due to the possession of bioactive compounds, including phenolics and saponins. Data on the effect of thermal treatments versus ripeness stage and accession on the BCC and TAC of SALF is currently limited. The present study investigated the effect of drying temperature (35, 55, and 85 °C), and traditional cooking method (boiling and steaming) at 100 °C, and duration (15, 30, 45, 60, and 120 min) on the BCC and TAC of SALF. Spectrophotometry was used to analyse the TAC and BCC (total phenolic, flavonoid saponins, and vitamin C contents), and gravimetry for total alkaloids. The effect of drying on the BCC and TAC of SALF significantly varied with drying temperature, accession, ripeness stage, cooking method, and cooking duration. Drying at 35 °C increased the total phenolics and TAC of unripe SALF more than 2-fold, and retained the highest vitamin C and total flavonoid contents. The effect of drying on saponins and alkaloids was dependent on the accession and ripeness stage. The effect of cooking on the BCC and TAC was significantly influenced by the cooking method and duration. Boiling and steaming increased the total phenolics and TAC 4-fold and 3-fold, respectively. Cooking reduced the saponins and did not affect flavonoid contents. Exceptionally, 15 min of boiling did not affect the total saponins and increased the total flavonoids. Total alkaloids were decreased by steaming and increased by boiling. However, very long boiling and steaming time (120 min) greatly increased the alkaloids 2-fold and 1.5-fold, respectively. All the thermal treatments negatively affected vitamin C. Overall, the thermal treatment that resulted in the highest total phenolics and TAC of SALF was boiling (for 15 min), which may result in the highest health benefits of SALF upon consumption.

Salinity is a global environmental constraint that hinders the growth and development of various aromatic and medicinal plants (AMPs) and declines their yield and productivity. This is due mainly to the overaccumulation of salt ions in plant tissues, which affects negatively the physiology and cellular metabolic homeostasis. Recent investigations highlighted that the major functions driving plant growth and development and plant’s survival such as seed germination, photosynthesis and water and mineral nutrition, are severely reduced in various AMPs under salinity constraint. Regarding their economic potential and their importance in worldwide health, improving the growth and production of AMPs, especially under salt-stressed conditions, is an important necessity and represents a global challenge. In this regard, seed priming and application of exogenous compounds have been reported among the most applied ecofriendly techniques to mitigate the effects of salt stress in various AMPs. Here, we first analyzed the harmful effects of salt stress on the growth and production of AMPs, by reporting the effects of salt ions on seed germination, flowering, photosynthesis, primary and secondary metabolite biosynthesis and essential oil production. This review also describes the potential effects of seed priming and exogenous compounds application in enhancing salt stress tolerance of several AMPs. Results and proposal mechanisms by which these approaches mitigate the negative effects of salinity on AMPs’ growth and productivity are analyzed and critically discussed.

Root rot severely affects Panax notoginseng, and an important causual pathogen is Fusarium solani. The pathogenesis-related proteins, including chitinase, are important for plant defenses against pathogens. In this study, a chitinase gene (PnCHI3) in P. notoginseng was isolated on the basis of published transcriptome data. Both the F. solani infection and exogenous methyl jasmonate treatment stimulated the expression of PnCHI3. In addition, the purified PnCHI3 recombinant protein had a significant inhibitory effect on root rot pathogens. Meanwhile, the resistance of transgenic tobacco over-expressing PnCHI3 was strengthened. The PnCHI3 promoter, which was cloned via genome walking, was employed to drive the GUS reporter gene expression in tobacco. Various signaling molecules, abiotic stresses, and fungal pathogens activated the PnCHI3 promoter. The results of an electrophoretic mobility shift assay and a yeast one-hybrid experiment revealed that the P. notoginseng transcription factor WRKY4 bound to the PnCHI3 promoter W-box cis-element and activated PnCHI3 transcription. In summary, the hormone signals including jasmonic acid and WRKY transcription factor enhances the expression of root rot resistance-related gene PnCHI3 in P. notoginseng in order to protect against invasion of F. solani.

Schisandra chinensis (Schisandra) is one of the most potent and traded herbs in Asian countries that has been described as a tonic and sedative in the Chinese, Korean, and American pharmacopoeias. It was included in the International Pharmacopoeia (edited by WHO) and the European Pharmacopoeia. Due to its enormous socioeconomic worth, there is a growing demand for S. chinensis cultivation; however, relatively little was known about the genetic diversity of the Schisandraceae plants. In this study, we assessed the genetic diversity and population structure of the Schisandraceae using 122 accessions collected from different regions of China. Using 38 expressed sequence tag-simple sequence repeats (EST-SSR) markers, a total of 78 polymorphic bands were detected in these accessions. The primers had an average polymorphism information content (PIC) of 0.407 (from 0.096 to 0.831), indicating a moderate level of polymorphism that might support the analysis of genetic diversity in Schisandraceae plants. Cluster analysis was carried out based on the results of EST-SSR amplification. Accessions with a genetic similarity coefficient of 0.61 were divided into two clusters: cluster I comprising 4 Schisandra sphenanthera accessions and 106 S. chinensis accessions, and cluster II containing 12 Kadsura coccinea accessions. The PCoA plot obtained was in accordance with the results of NJ cluster analysis. Finally, all accessions could be effectively identified. Based on population structure analysis, 122 samples were divided into five subgroups. The Fst, and Nm of the five subgroups were 0.044 and 5.376, respectively, indicating that 95.6% of the genetic variation was within subgroups and just 4.4% was between subgroups. This may be closely related to the strong gene flow between subgroups, the relative concentration of the collected regions, and the breeding method of monoecious plants. Overall, our findings will facilitate the Schisandraceae research by offering genetic background data to support breeding improvement and germplasm resource conservation.

Fritillaria taipaiensis P. Y. Li is one of the original species of Fritillariae Cirrhosae Bulbus (FCB), namely “Chuanbeimu”. It is difficult to identify the cultivated provenance of the FCB based on morphology, because of complexity of its original species. Therefore, it is necessary to develop an efficient molecular method to discriminate these species. In the present study, nine plastid genomes from cultivated F. taipaiensis and its related species were newly obtained using Next-generation sequencing, in addition to ITS sequences from Sanger sequencing. Then, DNA super, universal, and specific barcodes were compared in identifying these cultivation provenances using P-distance, Tree-building, and Online-blast methods. For the Tree-building, all individuals of F. taipaiensis could be successfully identified and DNA super barcode showed the highest success rate (91.67%) and reliability. Moreover, the super barcode could discriminate 88.88% of the individuals of these species except that of F. sichuanica using the Online-blast method in the NCBI database; however, only two individuals of F. taipaiensis were successfully identified using ITS sequences. This study further demonstrated that DNA super barcode based on plastid genome possesses a perfect ability of species discrimination on cultivation provenance of FCB.

The aim of this study was to develop five empirical and three mass-transfer based models for fitting the T. serpyllum SFE process. Additionally, the determination of the effect of SFE parameters (pressure, temperature, CO₂ flow rate and mean particle size) on kinetic curves and model parameters was investigated. Among the selected models, all empirical and mass-transfer models provided adequate fit with experimental data. However, mass-transfer model VIII has proved to fit the experimental results accordingly and has shown that the most influential parameters were pressure and CO₂ flow rate. The pressure and CO₂ flow rate exhibited positive effect, while the temperature had rather negative impact on Y. In addition, the initial slopes of Model VIII were calculated in order to increase the efficiency and reduce unnecessary process costs.

The phytochemical composition and antioxidant activities of tropical Ficus trees: Ficus benjamina (FB), Ficus racemosa (FRa) and Ficus religiosa (FRe) were analysed in this study. The bark and leaf samples of these species were subjected to solvent extraction using absolute methanol and analysed for their total chlorophyll (TCC), total carotenoid (TXc) and total anthocyanin (TAC) contents. The TPC, TFC and antioxidant potential of the extracts were also determined. The stability of the extracts during storage at different temperatures (4 °C, − 20 °C and − 80 °C) was investigated at weeks 0, 4 and 8. The results showed that the bark of F. racemosa and leaves of F. benjamina contained the highest amounts of phenolic content, with significantly higher antioxidant properties. PLSR analysis revealed that the secondary metabolite composition strongly influenced the antioxidant activities differently with Ficus trees. VIP scores were also computed to determine the most important factors that contributed to the ABTS and FRAP activities in the extracts from each species. Specifically, TPC, TFC, TXc, TCC, chlorophyll a, and chlorophyll b contents were the most important variables for F. benjamina. Meanwhile, TPC, TAC, TFC and chlorophyll b were the most important factors for F. racemosa, and only TAC, TPC and chlorophyll b were the most important factors for F. religiosa. Long term storage (8 weeks) of the extracts at 4 °C was observed to cause the highest percentage of metabolite degradation (up to 88.56% in TXc, 66.86% in TPC and 81.93% in TFC). Storage at − 80 °C was found to be the most suitable for retaining the secondary metabolites content and bioactivities of the samples. Taken together, F. religiosa leaf was identified as the best source of pigments and antioxidants. The findings of this study highlight the huge potential of plant extracts as both natural pigments and antioxidants in the food industry. These extracts can serve as a source of colorants while also improving the nutritional quality of food products, which aligns with the growing demand for clean-label and sustainable food options that can replace synthetic food additives.

The medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) industries generate a substantial amount of waste and residues during the production of many important and useful products. If not effectively managed, these wastes can lead to environmental pollution and economic challenges. In recent years, there has been a growing emphasis on the use of these waste materials to create value-added products. One such method is vermicomposting which converts MAP wastes into vermicompost and offers numerous benefits for agricultural applications. Vermicompost serves as an organic fertilizer that improves soil health and fertility while reducing the need for chemical fertilizers. This comprehensive review explores the management of residual waste released from the MAPs industries, focusing on their conversion into vermicompost and their subsequent application in the agriculture sector. The waste generated during the extraction of essential oils from MAPs is also discussed along with the importance of implementing eco-friendly waste management solutions. Overall, this review sheds light on the production of MAP wastes, problems generated and the possible solutions for their environmental friendly management.

More than 1000 species of Salvia genus are reported all over the world, some of which have high pharmaceutical values for use in food-pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In order to domesticate and breed some endemic Salvia species of Iran, the seeds of 14 species were collected from North, West, Central, and Northeast of Iran, in an altitude ranging from 580 m to 2269 m. To evaluate the diversity of the studied Salvia species without environmental influences, the seeds of the collected species were planted under similar environmental and soil conditions. At flowering stage, the morphological and essential oil content of the grown plants were determined. The assayed species were phenotypically diverse, and there were considerable variations among the species in terms of plant growth and flower characteristics. Furthermore, significant differences were observed among the studied species regarding the quantity of essential oil. The mean essential oil content and yield of different Salvia species were 0.06–1.24% v/w and 0.02–0.19 g per plant, respectively. Among the species, Salvia officinalis and Salvia sclarea showed the highest essential oil content and yield, respectively. Correlation analysis showed a weak relationship between the morphological characteristics and essential oil content. Moreover, the results of Principal Compound Analysis (PCA) based on the assayed traits were partially accordance with the species categorizing by Hierarchical Custer Analysis (HCA). Generally according to the obtained results, Salvia sclarea, Salvia reuterana, Salvia officinalis, and Salvia spinosa can be suggested for further domestication and breeding programs.