مجله تحقیقات گیاهان دارویی و معطر ایران
سال بیست و هفتم شماره 3 (پیاپی 53، پاییز 1390)

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.) is an annual salt-tolerant species, which could be considered as vegetable, fodder or medicinal plant in saline conditions. Silicon is the second mineral element in the earth's crust after oxygen. Although its role is not so clear in plant nutrition, silicon has positive effects on plant's yield and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. In order to study the effects of salinity and silicon application on some morphophysiologic parameters of purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.), a greenhouse experiment was conducted at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in a split-plot arrangement based on completely randomized block design with 3 replications during summer 2008. Four salinity levels of NaCl (0.6, 7, 14, 21dS/m) were in main plots and two silicon levels (application of one mMol sodium silicate and not application) allocated to the subplots. The results showed that salinity up to 14 dS/m did not impose any significant differences in fresh and dry weight of leaves and stem, number of leaves, branches, leaf area index, specific leaf area and height of main stem compared with control but at 21 dS/m salinity all the above mentioned parameters decreased significantly, while specific leaf weight increased with increasing salinity. Application of silicon had a positive effect on number of leaves per plant, leaf area index and height of main stem. The results indicated that purslane (Portulaca oleraceae L.) could sufficiently tolerate saline conditions and can be considered as a medicinal plant in saline soils and arid regions. Also silicon application may improve plant's yield and tolerance to environmental stresses.

Two-spotted spider mite Tetranychus urticae Koch is one of the most well known polyphagous pests of crops in the world. Due to undesirable effects of synthetic pesticides such as expression of resistance in mites, this research was conducted to achieve alternative safe compounds to environment. Therefore, in this Research, repellent activity and persistence of two plant essential oils, including of Eucalyptus salmonophloia F. Muell and Eucalyptus kingsmillii (Mauden) Maiden & blakely, were studied on T. urticae, at 27 ± 0.5 °C, 50 ± 0.5% RH and photoperiod of 16:8 h (L:D). The essential oils were extracted using Clevenger-type apparatus. According to the repellency index formula, it was found that both essential oils of E. salmonophloia and E. kingsmillii from 4 applied concentrations were only repellent in two concentrations. Generally, no significant differences of repellency were found between two plant essential oils of E. salmonophloia and E. kingsmillii at different concentrations. In repellency experiment for essential oils, it was found that no significant differences were observed between essential oils of E. salmonophloia and E. kingsmillii. Our findings indicated that Eucalyptus species had reliable repellent activity and persistence on T. urticae. However, more research is necessary to make these compounds applicable.

In order to study the effects of water stress and different amounts of sulfur fertilizer on the grain yield, grain yield components, two osmotic components (carbohydrate and proline) and essential oil yield in Nigella sativa L. a field experimental split-plot design with three replications was conducted in 2009 at Ghaen city. Treatments included three levels of irrigation as 50, 100 and 150 mm evaporation from class A pan evaporation in main plot and four levels of sulfur fertilizer included 0, 75, 150 and 225 kg ha-1 as Bentonite in sub plot. Results showed that water stress significantly affect the grain yield of Nigella sativa as grain yield decreased up to 22.8% at the level of 150 mm evaporation from the class A evaporation. Except 1000-seed weight, water stress significantly decreased all grain yield components, including biomass production, the number of capsules per plant and seeds per capsule. Maximum reduction at the highest level of water stress related to the number of seed capsules (31.64 percent). Carbohydrate and proline increased under water stress while essential oil yield decreased in Nigella sativa. Sulfur fertilizer improved grain yield as applying 225 kg/ha sulfur fertilizer increased it up to 7.2 percent. Sulfur fertilizer especially at 150 kg/ha had significant positive effects on the grain yield components, osmotic solutes and essential oil yield.

Skin tannin and tan-bark of Quercus persica Jaub. & Spach were extracted by two different solvents namely methanol and ethyl acetate. Afterwards, their antioxidant effects were studied on edible vegetable oil compared with synthetic antioxidant Grindox 117 through AOM and Rencimat methods. AOM method was applied in condition of 120 ° C and an air flow of 8:35 l/h while 110 ° C and airflow of 20 l/ h were applied in Rencimat method. Induction period of sunflower oil was increased from 5.30 to 10.85 h by adding 200 ppm extract taken out with methanol 90%. This period was increased up to 10.9 h by adding 200 ppm extract taken out with ethyl acetate 99/99%. Induction period of soybean oil was increased from 5.9 to 8.87 h by adding 200 ppm extract taken out with methanol 90%. This period was increased up to 8.87 h by adding 200 ppm extract taken out with ethyl acetate 99/99%. In another sample of soybean oil, induction period was increased from 4.65 to 7.2 h by adding 200 ppm of a mixture of methanol extract and pure citric acid (ratio1:3). This period was increased up to 7.15 h by adding 200 ppm of a mixture of ethyl acetate and citric acid (ratio1:3).

This investigation was carried out on six populations of Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn. in Isfahan Research Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2009. Karyotype of mitotic cells in metaphase of root apical meristem was studied. The base number of chromosomes for all populations was x = 17 and all populations were diploid. Based on Stebbin's two- way table, all populations were located in class 2B indicating the same evolutionary status. Analysis of variance showed significant differences for the length of the smallest chromosome, asymmetric index, and coefficient variation of centromic index (p < 0.01), total chromosome length, sum of small arms, sum of long arms and the largest length of chromosome (p < 0.05). Factor analysis introduced two factors that justified more than 94 percent of total variation. In the first factor, total chromosome length (TL) and sum of long arms (SLa) were identified as the most important factors while asymmetric index (AI) and coefficient variation of centromic index (CVci) in the second factor were highly effective. All populations were classified in four groups by cluster analysis. The least Euclidean distance was between Ahvaz and Sary populations and the highest Euclidean distance was observed between Ahvaz and Amol. Analysis of variance showed significant differences for all traits among groups. Populations of Ahavaz, Sary and Esfahan in the first group were superiour in terms of TL, SSa, SLa, LC and SC compared to other goups. Population of Amol in the second group showed the lowest SC, Cvci, and AI. Maximum CVci and AI were observed in population of Kordestan while TL, SSa, SLa and LC were the least in this population. Population distribution diagram was drawn based on the first and the second component values that would confirm the results of the cluster analysis.

Walnut green husk contains phenolic compounds which reduce cardiovascular diseases, prevent the risk of many cancers and LDL oxidation. Also they have antimutagenic, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. In this research, effects of different parameters including blanching, solvent concentration, harvest time, extraction time and method were examined on amount of extraction and phenolic compound of walnut green husk. Walnuts were picked at three times (June, July and August) and half of them were blanched. Phenolic compounds of this sample were extracted with different concentrations of methanol (100%, 80%, and 60%) and different extraction methods (maceration, soxhlet, ultrasound, and microwave). Results showed that blanching treatments significantly affected the total phenolics (p < 0.05), and the blanched samples obtained in June and were extracted with 60% methanol in microwave had the highest phenolics.

The present experiment was carried out to determine the effects of barley-based diet supplied with probiotic, medicinal plant and antibiotic on performance, blood factor, and broiler's SRBC criteria as means to assess immune response. Three hundred and twenty day-old male broiler chicks were allocated to a randomized complete blocks design with 4 treatments consisting of 4 replications for 42 days. Experiment treatments were included: 1) basal diet with 20% barley (barley control), 2) barley control + probiotic Galpro, 3) barley control + medicinal plant Antibiophen, and 4) barley control + antibiotic virginiamycin. In addition, basal diet supplemented with commercial enzyme preparation. Body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), feed conversion ratio (FCR), blood cholesterol and triglyceride and SRBC, as criteria of immune system response were the measured parameters. Analysis of the experiment showed significant differences within treatments for 42 day-old body weight, as antibiotic treatment had the highest BW and control barely showed the lowest BW. Among treatments, significant differences were found in FCR for the whole duration of the experiment (P<0.05). Not significant differences in FI were noted among treatments during experiment. The FCR was highest in the barley plus enzyme group, but not much different for other treatment groups. Stimulating of immunity system was determined with sheep erythrocytes in two stages. Antibody titer against sheep erythrocytes in groups fed with probiotic and medicinal plant were more than other groups (P<0.05). Cholestrol and triglyceride levels of serume were affected by treatments; medicinal plants had resulted to lowest cholesterol level and antibiotic caused highest triglyceride level. It could be concluded that diet supplementation of broiler chicken with medicinal plant and probiotic as compared with antibiotic offset the negative effect of barley inclusion.

Essential oils in aromatic plants are one of the valuable classes of natural product with medicinal properties. Many species from the genus of Eucalyptus contain essential oils and these oils could be used because of their antimicrobial effects. In this research, the essential oils of ten Eucalyptus species were obtained by hydro-distillation and examined against Escheichia coli (1330) and Micrococcus loteus (1110). The Eucalyptus species were Eucalyptus gilli, E. microcarpa, E. kingesmillii, E. loxophleba, E. gongylocarpa, E. salubris, E. erythrocorys, E. salmonophloia, E. spathulata and E. flocktoniae. The essential oils were analyzed by capillary GC and GC/MS. Antimicrobial effects of essential oils were evaluated after dilution with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) through agar diffusion method. The results showed that the main component of all essential oils was 1,8-cineole and α-pinene. The highest amount of 1,8-cineole (82.1%) was found in the oil of E. kingesmillii and the lowest amount (59.6%) was found in the oil of E. salubris. The results showed that all oils were effective against two bacteria. The diameters of inhibitory zones on Micrococcus loteus and Escheichia coli were 10 to 49 mm and 10 to 22 mm respectively.

In order to study the effect of triple super phosphate (in three levels of 0, 50 and 80 kilograms of pure phosphorus per hectare) with or without phosphorus bio-fertilizer (Barvar 2) on yield and essential oil production of Matricaria recutita L., an experiment was conducted in a factorial design based on randomized complete blocks with three replications at research farm of Shahed University in Tehran, 2008. In this experiment, phonologic attributes (the time of appearance of the first bud and flower, number of flowers, fresh weight of flowers) and physiologic attributes (amount of essential oil and percentage of chamazulene) were studied. The results showed that there was a significant difference in the level of 1% among the treatments of phosphorus fertilizer with a view to yield (number of flowers and dry weight of flower) and the amount of 40 Kg phosphorus together with bio-fertilizer with production of 452.93 flowers and 7.74 grams of dry flower had the highest yield as compared with the other fertilizer treatments. Also the treatment of 40 kilograms of phosphorus together with bio-fertilizer with production of 0.53 milliliter essential oil and 15.81 percent chamazulene (effective ingredient) from 152/52 gr-1 m2 of dry flower had the highest yield of essential oil and chamazulene percentage. According to the results applying of 40 kilograms of phosphorus per hectare together with 80 kilograms of nitrogen with seeds inoculated by phosphorus biologic fertilizer of Barvar 2 is recommended.

Oviposition deterrency and ovicidal activity of 18 medicinal plant essential oils were investigated on the Indian meal moth Plodia interpunctella Hübner. To determine oviposition deterrency of the oils, one pair of the moth was exposed to different concentrations of the oils for four days and the number of deposited eggs was counted. Also, one-day-old eggs were exposure to three concentrations of the oil at 3, 12 and 24 µl essential oil/l air. Percentage of egg hatching was recorded after 96 hours. The results showed that all essential oils had properties of oviposition deterrency. Fourteen plant essential oils tested such as Cinnamomum zelanicum Bl. caused more than 80% deterrency, and they were not significantly different. However, the lowest deterrency was recorded for essential oils of Rosmarinus officinalis L., Anethum graveolens L., Artemisia dracunculus L. and Achillea millefolium L. with about 28.33, 32.50, 36.18 and 55.00%, respectively. Essential oils of Ziziphora clinopodioides Lam. and C. zelanicum had the highest ovicidal activity on the Indian meal moth. Also, with increase of essential oil concentration ovicidal activity was increased. These findings indicated the high capability of Z. clinopodioides and C. zelanicum oviposition deterrency as well as ovicidal activity. Therefore, they could be suitable components for management of the Indian meal moth in storages.

To study the influence of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi inoculation and drought stress on growth, chlorophyll content and phosphorus uptake of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.), a pot experiment was conducted using a factorial based on randomized complete blocks design with four replications. The factors were mycorrhizal inoculation (non-inoculated and inoculated with Glomus mosseae T.H. Nicolson & Gerd. and Glomus intraradices N.C. Schenck & G.S. Sm) and three irrigation regimes (irrigation intervals were every 4, 8 and 12 days). The results showed that drought stress had significant effects on evaluated characteristics. As with decrease of the soil water content, plant height, stem diameter, number and area of leaves, number of axillary shoot, root dry weight, fresh and dry herb yield, chlorophyll content, P concentration in leaves and root colonization decreased. Also, AM fungi inoculation had significant effects on growth parameters and P uptake. Plants inoculated with AM fungi had higher growth, yield and P uptake than non-inoculated plants under droughtstress and non-stress conditions. G. mosseae was more effective than G. intraradices in alleviation of drought stress. It could be concluded that AM fungi are able to enhance the growth and yield of basil under drought stress condition through enhancing P uptake.

One of the rangeland species that has many capabilities considering the studies done in terms of multiple uses is Bidens bipinnata L. which belongs to Compositae family and Bidens genus. This research was conducted in Karaj area in order to identification the chemical compounds in aerial parts of Bidens bipinnata. To study on ingredients of the essential oil, after complete identification of plant and determination of its habitat, the aerial parts of the plant in fruit stage were collected. Plant samples were dried in shade condition and essential oils were extracted by Clevenger apparatus through Hydrodistilation method. Chemical compounds of the essential oil were completely separated and identified by (GC) and (GC/MS). Thirty one compounds were identified that among those, α-pinene (25.83%), β-myrcene (22.73%), germacrene D (10.20%), Bicyclogermacrene (7.61%), δ-elemene (3.50%), spathulenol (2.94%), were identified as major compounds respectively.

In this study, limonene synthase (Ls) gene expression was investigated with SQ-RT-PCR method in organs and also during some developmental stages of cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) native to Iran. After culture and sampling of roots, shoots and leaves (one stage of each) and flowers (four stages of developmental phases), results revealed that this gene was expressed in very small (<2mm) and small (3-4mm) flowers in size and shoot vegetative tissue, while it was not expressed in roots, leaves, medium (4-5mm) and larger flowers. Maximum gene expression of limonene synthase was observed in shoot, very small and small flowers, respectively. During developmental stages of the flowers, LS gene expression was highest in the youngest stage, but this was gradually declined and ceased at later developmental stages. Results revealed that this gene was expressed during different growth and developmental phases from two leaves to flowering of intact plants, with an increase during generative phase that confirmed synchronize gene expression on both vegetative and reproductive organs. Partial sequencing of limonene synthase gene revealed that cumin is 58%-64% identical to that of some other plants. Anatomical studies indicated that essential oil ducts were located on the fruit tissue. The overall results of the present research showed high expression of LS gene in young reproductive organs, while the high level of expression in shoot vegetative tissue and during whole period of plant life cycle was a remarkable point.

This study was carried out in the greenhouse of the college of Agriculture, 2009 to evaluate the effect of seed priming with polyethylene glycol and sodium chloride on germination and growth indices of Pimpinella anisum L. In this study, the effects of seed priming with a solution of polyethylene glycol at three levels (-5, -10 and -15 bar), seed priming in sodium chloride solution at three levels (-5, -10 and -15 bar) and control treatment (seed priming with distilled water) were investigated in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The results showed that the effect of seed priming with polyethylene glycol and sodium chloride on most traits including germination percentage, germination speed and seedling dry weight was significant (p ≤ 0/05).With decreasing water potential, germination percentage, germination speed and seedling dry weight (except for polyethylene glycol 10 bar) were significantly decreased (p ≤ 0/05) as results of seed priming with polyethylene glycol 10 bar were very close to the results of the control treatment.

In order to investigate the response of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of isabgol (Plantago ovata Forssk.) to different irrigation regimes and different fertilizers, a field experiment was conducted at the research farm, Shahrekord University, 2009. The experimental design was split-plot in randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Whole plots were three replications of irrigation intervals (irrigation after 7, 14 and 21 days), and sub plots were different N fertilizers including 100% chemical fertilizer, 100% chicken manure, 75% chemical fertilizer + 25% chicken manure, 50% chemical fertilizer + 50% chicken manure, 25% chemical fertilizer + 75% chicken manure and no fertilizer. The irrigation regimes showed significant effect on the plant seed yield, plant height, number of spike per plant, spike length and mucilage percentage, but was not affected significantly in number of tillers per plant, number of seeds per plant, 1000-seed weights and seed swelling. The greatest seed yield and mucilage percentage were obtained at 7 and 14 days of irrigation regimes respectively. Seed yield, number of tillers per plant, plant height, number of spikes per plant, spike length, number of seeds per plant, 1000-seed weights, mucilage percentage and seed swelling were significantly affected under different fertilizer treatments. The maximum dry weight and seed yield were obtained with 50% and 70% replacement of chemical fertilizer and chicken manure respectively. In summary, our results illustrated that application of 75% chicken manure + 25% chemical fertilizer with 14 days intervals of irrigation was beneficial to isabgol.

Flavonoids, are a large class of polyphenols, with more than 4000 combinations. They have a antioxidant role in plant photosynthesis and in human body have such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticancer and profection of the heart. Quercetin is in flavonol group, is used to fight with viruses and cancer cells. In this study, extraction and measurement of quercetin were carried out in A. millefolium L., A. biebersteinii Afan. and A. Tenuifolia Lam. species. Samples were collected in early June 2010 from experiment farms, in Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran. Various extraction methods were tested using different organs (flowers, leaves and stems) performed. The extraction from stem is reported for the first time. In the first extraction was performed soxhlet apparatus using with chloroform solvent for 72 hours. In the second method the previous sample with chloroform solvent extraction had been performed after separating the solvent, adding methanol extraction surgery was performed again. The third method, depending on the amount of plant matter with solvents methanol and acetic acid (ratio 9:1) by small electric mill and was filtered, in the end a new method with solvents, methanol and acetic acid (ratio 9:1) by electric mill crushed and then soaked for a week and was filtered. Then all samples were concentrated into 30 ml. Totally 36 samples were obtained by the amount quercetin contents in 36 obtained samples were measured combined with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). The highest amount of quercetin (2164 ppm) obtained in flower of A. millefolium. In second method with methanol by soxhlet apparatus were 2064 ppm in leaves, and was 2034 ppm in stem, in fourth method Macerated with methanol related to first method in A. millefolium was lowest 127 ppm amount, in stem of A. biebersteinii was 110 ppm and 23 ppm was btained from A. tenuifolia stem.