مجله تحقیقات گیاهان دارویی و معطر ایران
سال بیست و هشتم شماره 2 (پیاپی 56، تابستان 1391)

Thymus daenensis Celak. is an aromatic and medicinal species which due to hybridization within species and between species has high morphological diversity. This study was carried out in order to evaluate yield and yield components in 11 ecotypes of Thymus daenensis collected from Isfahan, Markazi and Lorestan. This experiment was performed in a randomized complete blocks design with three replications at Research Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources of Isfahan. Spike weight, spike length, number of flowers per spike, shoot height, leaf area, leaf length, leaf width, the largest and smallest diameter of canopy, 1000-grain weight, fresh and dry yield were measured. Analysis of variance showed that there was considerable variation for all studied characters. Results of mean comparisons showed that the highest dry and fresh yield per plant were 114/6 and 386/6 gr for ecotype of Khorramabad 1, respectively. The lowest yield was recorded for ecotype of Khorramabad 2. Maximum spike weight, spike length, number of flowers per spike, the largest diameter of canopy and leaf length was also recorded for ecotype of Khorramabad1. A positive significant correlation was observed between dry yield per plant and the largest diameter of canopy, leaf length, and fresh yield. Correlation between dry yield per plant and leaf width was strongly negative. Factor analysis introduced three factors that justified 79.71% of total variation among characters. Yield was identified as the first factor including dry yield with positive loading factor and leaf width with negative loading factor. Generally, ecotype of Khorramabad 1 was superior to other ecotypes in terms of yield. Canopy diameter, leaf length and leaf width were also determined as the most effective factors on yield per plant.

Zhumeria majdae Rech. has been used as traditional medicine in southern part of Iran. Essential oils and extracts from different parts of the plant have allelopathic effects. Present study investigated allelopathic effects of Zhumeria majdae Rech. essential oil on germination percentage, pigment content (chlorophyll and carotenoid) and antioxidant enzymes (catalase and Guiacol Peroxidase) activities on two wheat cultivars, Azar2 and Sardari. Plants were grown in perlite and the 10- days treated plants were used for the measurements. Different concentrations of the essential oil were obtained by 2.5% Arabic Gum solution. Distilled water and 2.5% Arabic Gum solution were used as control. Results indicated that germination percentage, pigment content, and the two antioxidant enzymes activities of the species treated with Arabic Gum were equal to those of the species treated with distilled water. With increasing essential oil concentration, in both cultivars, the germination percentage and chlorophyll content decreased and the carotenoid content increased. In the presence of essential oil, catalase activity increased slightly in both cultivars. In conclusion, it could be stated that incremnet of pigment content and antioxidant enzymes activities reduce their harmful effects on growth and development of the species through lowering the Reactive Oxigen Species (ROS) concentration.

Aloe vera L. is one of the most important medicinal plants in the world mostly cultivated due to its economic and medicinal value. In order to study the effects of different levels of nitrogen fertilizer and benzyl adenine hormone (BA) on growth and ramet production of Aloe vera L. a factorial experiment was carried out based on a complete randomized blocks design with four replications in an experimental greenhouse of Faculty of Agriculture, Tarbiat Modares University. Treatments included four levels of nitrogen fertilizer (N1: control, N2: 500, N3: 1000, and N4: 1500 mg per pot) and four levels of benzyl adenine (BA) (BA1: Control, BA2: 500, BA3: 1000, BA4: 1500 mg/L). At the end of the experiment period, plant height, stem diameter, number of ramets, number of leaf ramet, ramet weight, ramet height and total biomass were measured. The results showed that application of 1000 mg nitrogen and 1000 mg/L benzyl adenine had the most effect on the growth factors. Also, application of 1500 mg nitrogen and 1500 mg/L benzyl adenine had the highest effect on ramet characteristics. However, ramet number increased with increment of BA concentration and the highest ramet number was obtained on 1500 mg BA spray treatment without nitrogen application. According to the results, simultaneous application of 1000 and 1500 mg nitrogen and 1000 and 1500 mg\L benzyl adenine had the most influence on the measured factors.

Limonene, trans-α-bergamoten, geijeren, elemicine and germacrene B are being used widely in the formulation of pharmaceutical products, cosmetics, hygienic applications, and aromatization. These compounds are found in essential oils of Pimpinella affinis Ledeb. (a species native to Iran and Turkey). In the present study, aerial parts of the plant were collected in flowering and maturity stages from Alborz Research Station of Karaj, and dried in room temperature. Three methods of oil extraction including hydro distillation, water & steam distillation and direct steam distillation were applied based upon Taguchi statistical method in three levels to determine the quantitative and qualitative effects of the parameters namely method, time and mesh on essential oil. Essential oil yields were calculated based on dry weight. Identification of the compounds and determination of compounds percentage were done by GC and GC/MS. Mean comparisons of essential oil yield showed that more content of limonene, trans-α-bergamoten and geijeren was obtained by mesh size 20 in hydro-distillation and steam distillation methods. Mesh size 40 and time 2.5 h gave the best result for elemicine and germacren B in steam distillation method. The maximum and minimum essential oil yield was respectively obtained by mesh size 20 and 14 in water & steam distillation method. Therefore, deseirable percentage and compounds of the essential oil could be achieved from Pimpinella affinis Ledeb. by selection of the condition of essential oil extraction.

Several defense systems are cooperating together in plants to cope with stressful situations. One of these stresses is heavy metals pollution of the plant's growing environment. In This article, the effect of different concentrations of copper was studied on photosynthetic and non-photosynthetic pigments, non-enzymatic and enzymatic defence systems in Portulaca oleracea L. In order to show the effect of so-called heavy metal, copper, on pigments, anthocyanines, flavonoides, phenolic compounds and the activity of antioxidant enzymes some experiments were performed in a completely randomized design and statistical differences were applied at the p ≤ 0.05 level. After planting the plants with the same conditions in the sterile bed, they were nourished with Hoagland's liquid medium. The bed was then amended with graded concentrations (0, 10, 50, 100, 500, 1000 and 1500 µM) of copper salt, in the form of CuSO4.5H2O, separately as treatments and with the control group. Three replicates were maintained for each treatment and also for control groups. After ten days of applying the treatments, the plants were harvested for performing the experiments. After measuring and applying the statistical differences at the 0.05 level via SPSS software, these results were obtained: The amount of chlorophyll a and b was decreased. Amounts of carotenoides, anthocyanines, flavonoides and phenolic compounds were significantly increased. Peroxidase activity was increased and catalase activity was decreased in both shoots and roots.

Lepidium sativum L. is known as a medicinal plant. This plant is regarded as a cure for breast cancer due to antioxidant properties. The availability of manganese (Mn) in plants is governed by redox processes which depend upon pH and the presence of electrons. Excess Mn disturbs the metabolism of plants and inhibits the plant growth and oxidative stress is also induced which leads to the formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) including superoxide, hydroxyl and hydrogen peroxide that could damage plant cells. Salicylic acid (SA) is a natural signal molecule which plays an important role in regulating a number of physiological processes and plant resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. The protective function of SA includes the regulation of ROS, antioxidants, induction of gene expression, absorption and distribution of elements. In this investigation, the effects of different levels of salicylic acid (0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1mM) on different concentrations of Mn (0, 250, 500, 800µM) were studied on Lepidium sativum. Results showed that addition of SA (0.01, 0.05, 0.1mM) improved the inhibition of induced calcium and magnesium uptake. Ascorbare content in leaf was increased by SA (0.01, 0.05, 0.1mM) but decreased by concentrations of 500 and 800 µM Mn. The proline content significantly increased in treatments of Mn and SA. The protein content decreased by 500 and 800 µM but the treatment of SA (0.01, 0.05, 0.1mM) increased the protein content under conditions of manganese toxicity.

The genus Hertia, belonging to the Compositae family, contains 12 species distributed all over South and North Africa and South Asia. The Iranian flora consists of only 2 shrubby species of Hertia distributed in the desert areas. In this study, Hertia intermedia (Boiss.) O. Kuntze was collected from Hezar Mountain, at an altitude of 2900 m, in Rayen area, Kerman Province, Iran during June 2010. Essential oils of leaves, stems and roots of the plant were separately extracted using hydrodistillation method and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Seventeen components (97.6%) were identified in the leaf essential oil, with β-pinene (32.1%), α-pinene (14.6%), β-phellandrene (14.2%), and α-thujene (13.5%) as the main constituents. Also among the twenty-one identified compounds (94.2%) in the stem oil, α-pinene (38.4%), β-pinene (14.8%), and trans-verbenol (12.3%) were found to be the major components. Furthermore, α-pinene (51.2%), germacrene D (11.2%), and myrcene (10.4%) were the main constituents among the eight compounds (95.3%) characterized in the root essential oil. All three oils were highly rich in monoterpenes.

One of the methods of natural resource management is utilization of inefficient lands and use of resistant plant species in hard conditions. In this study, sampling from natural habitat in Arak (Markazi province) was conducted in 2009 at 3 growth stages including growth, full flowering and maturity using plots with replication. In full flowering stage, plant height, number of tillers, big and small diameter, root length, root weight, chlorophyll, plant dry weight, soluble sugar content, proline, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, chlorine and iron were measured. Mean comparison of morphological characters showed that the largest values of plant height, number of tillers, canopy cover, total shoot and flowering shoot were recorded for the region (locality 3) with less salinity (EC= 7.6 dS/m). The largest values of root length, root weight and essential oil percentage at growthing, full flowering and maturity stages were also recorded for locality 1 with high salinity (EC= 11.7dS/m). Locality 1 showed the highest content of soluble sugar, proline, sodium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and chlorine. Locality 3 had the highest total content of chlorophyll, chlorophyll a and b while the highest iron content was related to locality 2. Results of correlation showed that there was negative significant relationship between plants height with essential oil percentage in full flowering stage. Significant correlation was also observed between soluble sugar and proline, magnesium, calcium and chlorine. There was significant negative correlation between soluble sugar and total chlorophyll 2. According to the results, Camphorosma monspilica L. is one of the salt tolerant plant species probably with medicinal and forage values.

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of extraction through two methods of maceration and microwave-assisted extraction on phenolic compounds of olive leaves (Mishen cultivar) with solvents of water, 80% methanol and acetone. The highest total phenolic content (211.385±0.13 mg tannic acid/g extract) was related to the methanol extract produced by microwave-assisted extraction but acetone extracts gave the lowest amount for both methods. Comparing the extraction methods showed that MAE had higher extraction efficiency in all three tested solvents. Regarding antimicrobial activity of olive leaf extracts, we evaluated the bactericidal effects of different solvent extracts on Staphilococcus aureus, Salmonella typhi and Escherishia coli. In terms of S. aureus, the lowest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC= 315 µg/ml) and. minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC= 2500 µg/ml) were observed with acetone extract in MAE and methanol extracts in both methods, respectively. As for E.coli the lowest MIC was 625 µg/ml and the lowest MBC (5000 µg/ml) was associated with water and methanol extracts in microwave-assisted extraction. In terms of S. typhi, the lowest MIC and MBC were 315 and 10000 µg/ml, respectively. To conclude, it was found that S. typhi was the most resistant bacteria against the extracts; in most cases MAE-produced extracts showed more antimicrobial activity compared to traditional-produced extracts.

Saffron (Crocus Sativus L.) has various biological properties. The main aim of the present research is to investigate the possible hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects of the saffron aqueous extract in streptozotocin-induced type 2 diabetic rats. In this study, 2-5 days old neonatal male Wister rats were randomly divided into healthy and diabetic groups with or without treatment with saffron aqueous extract. Diabetic groups received i.p. injection of streptozotocin (90 mg/kg body weight). Two Diabetic groups were treated with saffron aqueous extract with two doses of 100 and 150 mg/Kg body weight. A healthy group was also treated with high-dose saffron extract as control group. The study lasted for five months. The results indicate a decrease in the mortality rate and a significant increase (P<0.001) in the body weight of diabetic rats treated with saffron aqueous extract compared to the diabetic group. Our results showed that administration of saffron aqueous extract in diabetic rats was effective in decreasing the levels of glucose, HbA1c, TG, total cholesterol, LDL and increasing HDL in the fasting serum (P<0.001). According to the results, saffron aqueous extract has hypoglycemic and hypolipidemic effects in diabetic rats.

In order to study the effects of different nutrition systems (Organic and Chemical) on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Fennel (Foeniculum valgare Mill.) under water deficit stress, an experiment was conducted as split plot in a randomized complete block design with three replications at the field station of Tarbiat Modares University in Peykan Shahr during cropping season of 2009. In this study, the main plots were three irrigation regime levels (Soil water content of 40% as the control treatment (C1), 60% (C2) and 80% (C3)) and sub-plots were different nutrition systems (10 ton/ha cattle manure, 10 ton/ha spent mushroom compost, 5 ton/ha cattle manure + 5 tan/ha spent mushroom compost and chemical fertilizer). Although the result showed that water deficit stress caused an increase in essential oil percentage, grain yield and essential oil yield decreased extremely under water deficit stress. The results showed that different nutrition systems significantly affected grain yield, essential oil yield and fenchone (p ≤ 0.01). Mean comparisons showed that using mushroom compost in favorable irrigation condition resulted in maximum essential oil yield (31.8 Kg.ha-1). This result was confirmed as the higher grain yield (1289.8 Kg.ha-1) obtained in the same treatment.

The genus of Heracleum is from Umbelliferae with 10 species growing in Iran of which, four species including H. gorganicum Rech. F. are endemic. The aim of the current study was to determine the quantity and quality of fruit essential oil of the mentioned species collected from Golestan national park at altitudes of 1400, 1700 and 2000 m. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillstion and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Twenty-one components were characterized for the seed oil. Main components of all essential oils were recorded for octyl acetate (33.1%, 36.6% and 39.9%), Hexyl butyrate 22.5%, 25.6%, 29.8% and Hexyl 2-methyl butyrate 5.4%, 6.3% and 7.1% respectively at altitudes of 1400, 1700 and 2000 m. It is noteworthy to state that no reports have been published yet on essential oil of the studied species.

Summer savory (Satureja hortensis L.) is one of the most important medicinal plants as its essential oil is used in different industries including pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food.In this research, effect of different types of nitrogen fertilizers on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of summer savory was evaluated in a complete randomized blocks design with three replications. The treatments included chemical fertilizer (150 kg/ha urea), biofertilizer (Azospirillum & Azotobacter), combinations of biofertilizer and 50% chemical fertilizer and control. Different characteristics such as plant height, number of lateral branches, flowering shoot dry weight, shoot dry weight, essential oil yield and essential oil percentage were recorded.According to the results, all studied characteristics were affected by different types of nitrogen fertilizers and the highest records were obtained at 50% chemical fertilizer. Percentage of essential oil was also significantly affected by fertilizer treatments as the most percentage of essential oil was respectively obtained at chemical fertilizer (2.07%), combination of biofertilizer and 50% chemical fertilizer (1.91%) and biofertilizer (1.90%). Application of different nitrogen sources significantly increased essential oil yield compared to the control treatment and the highest essential oil yield was obtained at combinations of biofertilizer and 50% chemical fertilizer (30.23 kg/ha). Afterward, chemical fertilizer and biofertilizer respectively produced the most essential oil yield. Our results indicated thatapplication of bio-fertilizers alone or in combination with chemical fertilizer has positive effects in improvement of qualitative and quantitative traits of Summer savory; so it could be considered instead of continuous use of chemical fertilizersas a shift towards sustainable agriculture and reduce pollution from chemical fertilizer.

In order to study the effect of different harvesting stages on aerial yield, essential oil percentage and essential oil components in Thymus daenensis Celak., an experiment was conducted in Esfahan as a randomized complete blocks design with 3 replications during 2007- 2009 and the best harvest time for maximum aerial yield, essential oil yield and amount of thymol were investigated. Aerial parts of the plants were harvested at four stages including: beginning of flowering, 50% flowering, full flowering and fruit set and were dried in the shade. The results showed that different harvesting stages had significant effects on all evaluated traits. According to the results of mean comparisons, the highest aerial dry weight and essential oil yield occurred at full flowering stage and the highest essential oil percentage was recorded at 50% flowering. Interaction effect of year and different harvesting stages showed that the highest aerial dry weight and essential oil yield (3083 and 68.61 kg/ha respectively) were recorded at full flowering stage in the second year. In both years, the highest amount of essential oil percentage was observed at 50% flowering and the year had no significant effect on this trait. The essential oil was mainly consisted of six components, among them thymol was dominant at four harvesting stages. The highest amount of thymol was obtained from beginning of flowering stage (85.9%) which had significant difference compared to other stages. The second dominant component was carvacrol at fruit set which showed significant difference compared to other stages. The maximum amount of P-cymene, 1,8-cineole and δ-terpinene were recorded at 50% flowering stage (3.4, 1.4 and 1.8% respectively). Borneole was also dominant (2.53%) at fruit set. In conclusion, full flowering stage was identified as the best time for harvesting of T. daenensis to achieve the maximum aerial yield, essential oil and thymol yield.

\Narcissus tazetta L., belonging to Amaryllidacea, is an endemic species to Iran. Beautiful flowers of this plant in autumn and winter, in addition to the ornamental value, have high medicinal value due to the aromatic properties and essential oil production. Thus, the rapid proliferation and production of many plants of the mentioned species in a short time is considered. Conventional propagation relies upon bulb division method which is a costfull & time consuming method. In vitro micropropagation of Narcissus tazetta is of utmost importance in callus induction and extraction medicinal compounds from callus and production of complete plantlets for ornamental and medicinal uses. In this research, the possibility of callus induction from different explants of Narcissus tazetta and possibility of plant propagation using bulb explants were investigated. The effects of BA with NAA or 2. 4-D at different concentrations in MS medium were evaluated for callus induction of Narcissus tazetta through twin scale or leaf plate explants. Adventitious shoots were induced on twin- scale explants taken from the basal plate region of bulbs on MS medium containing BA with IBA or NAA. All media were supplemented with 30 gl־¹ Sucrose & 8 gl־¹ Agar. For callus induction, cultures were maintained in dark at 25 ºc and for shoot formation 16 h light and 8 h dark at 25ºc were used. Based on the results, 35% of twin- scale explants produced callus with the average of 8 mm diameter. Callus was not produced in leaf scale explants. The highest number of shoots (2) with elongated stems (5 mm lenght) were obtained in twin- scales cultured in MS medium with 2 mgl־¹ BA + 1 mgl־¹ IBA. In this treatment, regeneration rate of the explants was 50%.

Mistletoe is an evergreen, perennial and epiphytic plant of Loranthaceae which obtains all of its required water and nutrients such as Nitrogen and a small part of the food from the host plant by a root-like organ called "Haustorium". This plant is very important in terms of medical and pharmaceutical and some of its effects in the treatment of many diseases have been proved. Two species of "Viscum album L." and "Arceuthobium oxycedri (D.C.) M. Bieb." both from the family Viscaceae are epiphytic plants. The dominant hosts of Viscum album L. in Gorgan forest are Parrotia persica (D.C.) C.A.Mey and Carpinus betulus L. respectively in altitude of 700 m and 1800m (above sea level). The host of Arceuthobium oxycedri (D.C.) M. Bieb is Juniperus polycarpus L in 2200m (above sea level). In this study, leaves and twigs of mistletoe and the host were collected. Three infected hosts from each species and three uninfected trees as control with similar conditions of diagonal and height were randomly selected, and the effects of these epiphytes on activity of antioxidant enzymes of the host plants, including Catalase, Peroxidase and Ascorbate peroxidase, were studied. The results showed that the infection of epiphyte caused drought stress in host plant and the activity of these enzymes was increased. The activity of Catalase in infected and uninfected hosts of V.album (P. persica and C. betulus) did not show significant differences, but in host of A. oxycedri (J. polycarpus) in male and female trees significant differences were observed. Activity of Ascorbate peroxidase and Peroxidase was significantly increased in all of infected hosts. But in none of the samples, activity of these enzymes was not dependent on the genus.