Journal of Medicinal Plants and By-products
Volume:10 Issue: 2, Summer and Autumn 2021

The presence of various medicinal and ornamental plant species in the Sistan and Baluchistan region has turned this region into a paradise for investors in these plants. The relative advantages of this region for medicinal plants include climatic range and diversity, the feasibility of off-season cultivation in open air, abundant and inexpensive labor, and the availability of the ground for the production of safe and organic crops, facility of commercial exchanges and crop export, and having a long and dynamic history in folklore medicine. As well, the profitability of this treasure hidden in the soils of the region has made it imperative to invest in their production. To explore economical combination of medicinal plants based on regional potentials for investment, the present study used the data of research projects on several medicinal plants including Foeniculum vulgare Mill., Matricaria chamomilla L., Cuminum cyminum L., Trachys permum amm L., Nigella sativa L.,  Platogo cyminum, and the intercropping of bitter melon and watermelon conducted in an area of 1 ha. Data were analyzed by engineering economic techniques and the criteria of the net present value and cost- benefit ratio. The results showed that these plants had cost- benefit ratio of F. vulgare 3.78, M. chamomilla 3.89, C. cyminum 4.6, T. permum amm 4.7, N. sativa 4.7, P. cyminum 5.3, and M. charantia L. & Hibiscus gossypifolius Mill. 2.55, respectively. So, given the yield and the positive sign of this ratio for all studied medicinal plants, the cultivation of all of them is economical and they can contribute to diversifying farming and increasing income. Furthermore, was selected to be the most economical plant with a ratio of 5.37. Also, the results revealed that given the significance of producing medicinal plants in the region, the intercropping Momordica charantia & H. gossypifolius can produce a high yield with a benefit-to-cost ratio of 2.55 and can be effective in employment generation in the region, so this system is economical as its benefit-to-cost ratio is >1 and its net current value is positive. Hence, the medicinal plants have a great potential to be a source of development and productive employment generation in the region if adequate and reliable water is available during their growth periods, they are packaged appropriately and marketed soundly, and they can be processed in industries.

In recent years, medicinal plants have been used as sources of natural composition and they are used as alternative for synthetic antioxidants and antimicrobial agents in food and pharmaceutical industry, natural therapy and alternative medicine. The present regard is the first report on the assessment of chemical composition, antioxidant and antimicrobial activity of essential oil from the seeds of Nicotiana rustica L. Isolated from Iran. Tobacco seeds were collected from the tobacco fields in Borazjan city of Iran. Essential oils of the seed of N. rustica were prepared by hydro - distillation using Clevenger type apparatus during 3 hours after that Qualitative and composition of the oil was determined by GC-MS. The antioxidant activity of essential oil has been investigated by using DPPH assay method. For antimicrobial activity and MIC, MBC and MFC of the essential oil Micro broth dilution technique on eight pathogenic bacteria and two fungi has been used. The results obtained showed the presence of 28 components, in the oil with the highest content of Myristicin (32.75%) and ar-Turmerone (5.71%). The antioxidant activity of N. rustica oil was IC50 µg/mL = 27.93±0.834. In addition, oil has shown the best antimicrobial activity on Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus cereus, E. coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. The results of antimicrobial assays indicated that the most of examined microorganisms have been affected in low concentration. Also the essential oil demonstrates strong antioxidant activity but antifungal activity was not observed.

The use of environmentally friendly fertilizers is a new strategy to subside the undesirable effect of chemical fertilizers. The field experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of cow manure and NPK fertilizers on physiochemical characteristics and nutrients accumulation of Satureja macrantha C.A.Mey. in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in three replications. Cow manure and NPK (20, 20, 20) were used in four levels as cow manure (60 t/ha), NPK fertilizer (50: 25: 25 kg/ha), combined cow manure (30 t/ha) and NPK fertilizer, and untreated treatment (control) in Karaj, Iran, during 2017 and 2018. The results showed increased dry weight yield under manure or the combined NPK and manure fertilizers in second year. The relative water content (RWC) in second-year plants treated with manure was higher compared to other experimental treatments. Essential oil percentage increased by manure application and its combination with NPK fertilizer, ranging from 1.06 to 1.86%. Essential oil yield of aerial parts of S. macrantha under organic manure in the second year was significantly higher in comparison with control and NPK-treated plants. The GC/MS analysis showed that the main essential oil compounds of S. macrantha were p-cymene (22.14%-33.78%), γ-terpinene (21.7%-35.22%), and thymol (13.1%-37.9%). The minerals in aerial parts of S. macrantha were changed under fertilizers and year. Manure and its combination with NPK fertilizer significantly improved phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Both NPK fertilizer and cow manure significantly led to increased calcium (Ca) concentration in second-year plants. NPK fertilizer had negative effect on iron (Fe) in second-year plants, but the enhanced Fe was observed in the second year when plants treated with cow manure. The present study recommended the combined use of manure and NPK fertilizers to reach the optimum essential oil of S. macrantha.

Galega officinalis L. (Papilionaceae) is a native to southeastern Europe that is used in the treatment of various diseases including diabetes. The extract of this plant contains many effective compounds such as Galegine that is a guanidine alkaloid. In this research, column chromatography with a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) technique was used to achieve this valuable material. The extracted components were separated by column chromatography using silica gel as stationary phase. For eluting of components from the Galegine extract, once mobile phase was completely non-polar hexane solvent, and then, the polarity of the solvent was increased until all the remaining components were removed. Finally, 11 fractions were achieved. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) method was used to identify the isolated components. Then, the Galegine in the extraction fraction was purified using MIP technique. The results showed that the chromatographic separation method led to removing significantly the interfacial compounds. Interestingly, it was resulted that while the column chromatography was priority used from MIP adsorption, the purification and isolation efficiency of Galegine was enhanced up to 17 times compared to using MIP alone.

This study evaluates the reliability of polystyrene/MgAl-layered double hydroxide as a 3D new nanostructure solid phase microextraction fiber coating for extraction and determination the essential oil of Grammosciadium platycarpum Boiss. & Hausskn. growing wild in Maragheh region, East Azerbaijan province, Iran. The Headspace solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography/mass spectrometric method was applied for analyzing of volatile oils. The Headspace solid phase microextraction parameters including the extraction temperature and time, sample weight, and water amount were optimized. The method was compared with traditional hydrodistillation. The analysis of the oils resulted in the identification of 31 compounds. Linalool (57.31 and 61.05%) and α-humulene (5.62 and 4.82%) were found to be the major components, in hydrodistillation and headspace solid phase microextraction methods, respectively. The novel 3D nanostructure fiber coating based on MgAl LDH had the advantages of the strong interaction between analyte and sorbent, simplicity, high thermal stability and more convenient handling than the other traditional SPME fibers. Although to date, SPME devices have been used mainly in laboratory applications, recent research has been directed towards remote monitoring, particularly for clinical, field environmental and industrial hygiene applications.

This study investigated the photocatalytic effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on some physiological and phytochemical properties of stevia plant. Stevia plant was treated with eight concentrations of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (0, 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 200 and 400 µL/L). After 3 weeks of plants treatment, samples were collected for analysis of chlorophyll, PAL enzyme activity, total phenol and flavonoid content. Also extraction of plant for assessment of steviosides and rebaudiosides glycosides by HPLC was performed. The results showed that treatment of titanium dioxide nanoparticles at 400 µL/Lconcentration had the highest and at control had the lowest effect on chlorophyll content of leaves, total phenol, total flavonoid and Phenylalanine ammonia lyase enzyme activity. Glycoside content showed that treatment of nanoparticle at 200 µL/L concentration had the highest and control concentration had lowest effect on stevioside content. Rebaudiosides content showed that, nanoparticle at 400 µL/L had highest effect and at 20 and 40 µL/L had lowest effect on rebaudioside A and B content. But, nanoparticle at 80 µL/L had maximum effect, and at 20 and 40 µL/L had lowest effect on rebaudioside C and F content. It was concluded that varied concentration of nanoparticles has different effect on glycosides content that this results could apply for further technologies in agriculture industry.

The genus Bunium (Apiaceae) comprises about 50 species spreading in Asia, Europe and North Africa. The genus Bunium comprised 14 species in Iran. It has various biological activities related to digestive and urinary tract disorders. In traditional medicine, it has been used in chronic stomach diseases, colitis, jaundice, chronic cholangitis, swelling and kidney stones. Aerial parts of Bunium kuhitangi Nevski and Bunium microcarpum (Boiss) Freyn & Bornm. were collected from Golestan provience,  Gorgan, Golestan Park, on June 2020, essential oil extracted by water distillation method (Clevenger-type apparatus) for 3 h to obtain the essential oil. Chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed by Gas chromatography (GC), Gas chromatography and Mass spectrometry (GC-MS), simultaneously. Main components from B. kuhitangi . were 9-epi-(E)- caryophyllene (35.38%), α- copaene (8.38%) and δ- selinene (7.35%) and main components for B. microcarpum. were 9-epi-(E)- caryophyllene (73.61%), γ- cuprenene (8.37%) and  a-cadinene (5.75%).  β-caryophyllene is a pale yellow oily liquid with an odor midway between odor of cloves and turpentine.   To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the chemical constituents of B. kuhitangi. from Iran. In this study, it was aimed to clarify the chemical profile of essential oil obtained from B. kuhitangi and B. microcarpum.. and to determine its main compounds.

Thymus daenensis Celak, Thymus kotschyanus Boiss. & Hohen., Thymus transcaspicus Klokov and Thymus vulgaris L. are aromatic and medicinal species which due to hybridization within species and between species has high morphological diversity. A study was carried out in order to evaluate yield and yield components in 10 ecotypes of Thymus species collected from Isfahan, Markazi, Qazvin and West Azerbaijan provinces. This experiment was performed in a randomized complete block design with three replications at Research Center for Agriculture and Natural Resources Research and Education of Razavi Khorasan province. Plant height, shoot yield, 1000-seed weight, essential oils (EO) content, EO yield, number of nodes per stem, internode length and days to flowering stage were measured in all ecotypes. T. vulgaris was considered as the control. The results of analysis of variance showed that there were significant differences (p≤0.05) for days to 50 % flowering, number of nodes, internode length, plant height, stem weight, seed weight, EO content and yield among species and ecotypes within Thymus species. The highest EO content and yield among species were observed by 2.45% and 1.28 g/plant in T. vulgaris, and 2.03% and 0.84 g/plant in T.daenensis, respectively. The highest EO content was observed among ecotypes at 1.84% in T.kotschyanus, ecotype K54 and 2.32% in T.daenensis, ecotype D49. The strong and significant (P ≤ 0.01) positive correlation of EO yield was observed with EO content (r=0.88**), seed weight per plant (r=0.78**), plant height (r=0.70*), shoot yield (r=0.80**) and internode length (r=0.89**). In the principal component analysis in thyme species and ecotypes, the eigenvalues obtained from the first three main components, explain 53%, 15%, 11%, and a total of 80% of the total variance of the variables. It was concluded that the ecotypes of D49 and D72, in T.daenensis having higher EO yield were recommended for breeding improved varieties.

Drought is the major limiting factor of plant growth and productivity in many regions of the world. To determine the response of different ecotypes of ispaghula (Plantago ovata Forssk.) to drought stress, a field experiment was conducted at the Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands, Tehran, Iran in 2018. The experimental design was a split plot based on a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. The main factor included drought stress at three levels control (D1), drought stress after flowering stage with supplemental irrigation in the filling stage (D2), and post-flowering drought stress (D3). The second factor contained eight ecotypes of Plantago ovate, including Dehloran (3328), Alborz (3968), Markazi (14592), Dashtestan (21228), Hormozgan-1 (31536), Hormozgan-2 (31563), Ghaen (37496), and Sarbisheh (38917). The results showed a significant effect of drought stress and ecotypes for all traits (P<0.01). The interaction between ecotypes and drought stress was not significant for yield and yield components. Ispaghula ecotypes showed similar responses to drought stress. The highest grain yield with an average value of 720 kg/ha was obtained in ecotype 3328 and it was considered as the best ecotype to cope drought stress conditions. Ispaghula grain yield decreased by an average of 11.02% and 23.65% with drought stress D2 and D3 in comparison with control (D1), respectively. A significant difference between D2 and D3 were observed, so that the grain yield of D3 was 11.26% lower than D2. Regardless of the drought stress level, ecotype Dehloran (3328) produced the highest grain and was recommended for breeding improved varieties. Considering drought the ecotype Dehloran (3328) that had a good yield under normal irrigation conditions produced the least yields than other ecotypes.

Mentha aquatica L. as an important medicinal plant is known for its phenolic acids with pharmaceutical properties, especially rosmarinic acid. In order to obtain high amounts of secondary metabolites, the establishment of hairy root cultures through Agrobacterium rhizogenes infection is considered as a suitable alternative. In order to compare the abilities of A.rhizogenes strains to induce hairy roots, the leaf and shoot explants of M.aquatica were used for hairy root induction by five different bacterial strains (ATCC 15834, A13, R318, A4, 9534). Furthermore, the effect of phosphate, nitrogen, and reducing environmental acidity on growth and rosmarinic acid content of hairy roots were studied. The results indicated that the percentage of rooting in stem explants (50%) was higher than the leaves (42.6%). Among the bacterial strains, the strain A4 showed the highest rooting efficiency. It was also demonstrated that phosphate deficiency and increased phosphate levels significantly increased the rosmarinic acid content of hairy roots. Various effects on hairy root biomass were observed in response to different phosphate levels. However, increasing the amount of nitrogen did not affect the studied factors. It was concluded that different types of explants have different potentials of hairy root formation in interaction with bacterial strains.

Silicon (Si) has a principal role in mitigating the adverse effects of salt stress on plant growth; however, its effects on physiochemical properties of medicinal plants under salinity is still unknown. This study investigated the effect of Si and salinity on growth, chlorophyll and water content, the antioxidant capacity of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) leaves as factorial in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Foliar application of 50, 100, and 200 mg/L Si and 50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl were applied on 4-leaf plants. The results revealed reduced growth by representing lower shoot and root dry weight through progressing the salinity. 100 and 200 mg/L Si represented a greater role in alleviating the salinity stress on growth properties. Salinity significantly reduced chlorophyll (Chl) and relative water content (RWC), but they were improved by Si spraying. Total phenol content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) significantly increased up to 100 mM NaCl and then decreased at 200 mM NaCl. Salinity led to increases in catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, but higher Si concentration reduced them. 100 mg/L Si and 100 mM NaCl was the best treatment for obtaining the optimum essential oil (EO) percentage and yield. Finally, 100 mg/L Si can be suggested to promote the plant growth and yield by changing physiochemical characteristics under medium or severe salinity.

Since edible flowers have been widely used to treat different diseases, new management practices are required to improve their productivity. Potassium (K) and selenium (Se) as important nutrients can influence plant quality and quantity. The purpose of present study was to investigate the effect of soil applied potassium (K) and selenium (Se) on plant growth, flower quality, and some physiological and biochemical properties of Pelargonium peltatum (L.) L'Hér. In a completely randomized design (CRD). K was used as potassium nitrate (KNO3) in the concentrations of 2, 4, and 6 mM and Se was applied as sodium selenite (Na2SeO4) in soil application of 20, 40, and 60 µM. The results showed that the highest flower number was obtained at 5 mM K. Shoot fresh weight (SFW) significantly increased by both 6 mM K and 40 µM Se. Flower longevity was improved with increasing K concentration so that the highest flower longevity was obtained at 6 mM. The highest relative water content (RWC) and total chlorophyll (Chl.) content were observed at 4 mM K. In contrast, the lowest RWC was observed when plants were supplied with 60 µM Se. Anthocyanin and malondialdehyde ‎(MAD) significantly increased with K and Se concentrations. Although total phenolic compound (TFC) in all concentrations of K and Se was higher than control, there was no significant difference between K and Se levels. Ascorbic acid and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activity increased with K and Se application, in which its highest amounts were observed at 6 mM K. P. peltatum was identified as Se accumulator because of more than 100 mg Se/kg DW in the leaves when treated with Se levels. Heat map analysis represented that 4 and 6 mM K were obviously distinguished from other treatments. This experiment suggests using 4-6 mM K and 40 µM Se to improve growth and productivity of P. peltatum.

The purpose of the present research was to evaluate the essential oil and forage quality optimizer (EFO) apparatus to improve oils, while preserving forage quality and digestibility for the first time. Prangos ferulacea L. Lindl aerial parts were collected and used for the essential oil, forage quality, and digestibility analysis. Effects of temperature treatments (60, 75 and 90 °C) at EFO method on essential oil were compared to steam distillation. After the oil extraction, the nutrient compositions were measured and compared with the samples of before extracting. The results showed a significant increase in the content of essential oil in 75 °C compared to the other treatments (p<0.05). Also, the quality and the digestibility of fodder were as follows: SD method < before the essential oil extraction < the EFO innovative method (75 °C). Therefore, temperature of 75 °C in EFO was concluded as the optimum temperature, for increasing both of the quality and quantity of oil as well as preserving the quality and digestibility of forage. It is suggested that the EFO can be tested to obtain a more qualitative essential oil and forage that can be exploited in the pharmaceutical and animal food industry

Investigation of the compounds of rich plants growing in all over the world is of great importance. The performed survey was accomplished to analyze the phytochemical constituents and antimicrobial potential of the fruit and flower of Pistacia atlantica subsp. kurdica Rech. f. which has been traditionally used for various therapeutic goals including tonic, aphrodisiac, and antiseptic aspects. Water, ethanol, acetone, and ethyl acetate solvents were utilized to obtain the extracts of P. atlantica which were screened to evaluate the existence of various phytochemicals including alkaloids, carbohydrates, glycosides, flavonoids, resins, tannins, triterpenoids, steroids, starch, tannins, inorganic and organic acids, amino acids, coumarins, proteins, phenolic compounds, phlobatannins, saponins, antraquinones, oil and fat, flavonols, flavones, and chalcones. Moreover, the in vitro evaluation of the antimicrobial activity of the extracts were performed against five strains of bacteria including Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Klebsiella pneumoniae and a fungus named Candida kefyr by agar plate well diffusion method. The findings of the survey suggest that the fruit and flower of P. atlantica are good sources of some phyto constituents such as carbohydrates, flavonoids, resins, inorganic acids, and phenolic compounds and have antibacterial effects against both gram-negative and -positive bacteria. These results prove the existence of many therapeutic chemical compounds in the fruit and flower of P. atlantica and its high potential of antimicrobial activity. This research supports the local use of this valuable plant as a herbal medicine, food additive, and jam.