مجله تحقیقات گیاهان دارویی و معطر ایران
سال سی و هفتم شماره 6 (پیاپی 110، بهمن و اسفند 1400)

Ethnobotany is a branch of traditional knowledge that studies the role of plants of a certain district in the knowledge of its indigenous people and is the recovery of unwritten traditions that are in the danger of extinction. Therefore, a study conducted to identify the medicinal plants of Razo-Jargalan district and use of the knowledge and experience of the indigenous to introduce the properties and unknown dimensions of the desired medicinal plants. The information about various aspects of plants such as the traditional uses, how to use, and sampling time of plants were collected from the experienced natives. The results of the present study showed that out of 85 medicinal plant species, 14 ones belonged to the fam. Asteraceae, followed by the fam. Lamiaceae with 13 species and the fam. Apiaceae with 11 species. Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) with 201, thyme (Thymus transcaspicus Klokov) with 191, and artemisia (Artemisia siberi Besser.) with 178 showed the highest use of report (UR). A. siberi with 0.77, G. glabra with 0.73, and Th. transcaspicus with 0.69 had also the highest amount of relative frequency of citation index (RFC). Five life forms including hemicryptophytes (38 species), therophytes (16 species), phanerophytes (16 species), chameophytes (11 species), and geophytes (4 species) were observed among the species. The aerial parts was the most used part of medicinal plants in this region and the main uses of medicinal plants were in the treatment of digestive, general and unspecified, respiratory, and skin diseases, respectively. Regarding the informant consensus factor (ICF), the musculoskeletal diseases group obtained the highest value of this index (0.96) among the other groups.

Ascorbic acid and melatonin as the biostimulants affect the biosynthesis of phytohormones, facilitate and increase the nutrients uptake, enhance the defense mechanisms, stimulate the root growth, and finally, increase the quality and quantity of the product by affecting the plant metabolites. This study was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications to investigate the effects of foliar application of melatonin and ascorbic acid on the grain yield and mucilage content of Plantago ovata Forssk. in the research greenhouse of Bardsir Faculty of Agriculture, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman in 2020. The experimental treatments included the foliar application of distilled water (control), melatonin 100 μM, ascorbic acid 100 μM, and melatonin 100 μM + ascorbic acid 100 μM. The foliar application treatments continued from the time of complete establishment of seedlings (3-4 leaves) to the physiological maturity stage of seeds (four times every two weeks). The results showed that the foliar application of melatonin and ascorbic acid (single and combined application) enhanced the number of tillers per plant, number of spikes per plant, spike length, number of seeds per spike, and 1000-seed weight significantly. The highest grain yield was obtained from the foliar application of melatonin (59.98 g.m-2) and melatonin + ascorbic acid (61.85 g.m-2) without statistically significant differences with each other. The ascorbic acid foliar application also significantly increased the grain yield by 6.61% compared to the control. The foliar application of ascorbic acid, melatonin, and melatonin + ascorbic acid increased the mucilage content by 12.29, 19.89, and 23.80%, respectively compared to the control. The application of melatonin alone or in combination with the ascorbic acid, without statistically significant differences with each other, had the greatest positive effect on increasing the mucilage percentage. The mucilage yield was obtained 10.03, 13.47, 14.94, and 15.64 g.m-2 in the control, ascorbic acid, melatonin, and melatonin + ascorbic acid treatments, respectively. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the foliar application of melatonin and ascorbic acid could improve the quantitative and qualitative yield of P. ovata, and among the treatments their combined application was more effective.

In the present study, first, an in vitro experiment was conducted to study the effects of Thymus vulgaris L., Foeniculum vulgare Mill., Rosmarinus officinalis L., and Mentha piperita L. water extracts on reducing the growth of Fusarium rot disease factor of cucumber (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-cucumerinum (forc)) by the saturated paper disk method. According to the results, the water extracts of Th. vulgaris, F. vulgare, R. officinalis, and M. piperita at a concentration of 250 ppm with the inhibitory zone diameter of 24.66, 17.33, 11.66, and 10.33 mm, respectively, showed the highest antifungal activity compared to the control (the inhibitory zone diameter of 3.66 mm). Then, it followed by a greenhouse experiment to investigate the effects of Th. vulgaris and F. vulgare water extracts on the cucumber cv. Nagene treated with F. oxysporum. The water extract of Th. vulgaris at a concentration of 200 ppm with the disease index of 31% showed the greatest reduction in the disease symptoms compared to the infected control and the F. vulgare treatment with the disease indices of 82.66 and 42%, respectively. Study on the activity of polyphenol oxidase, β-1, 3-glucanase, and peroxidase enzymes under the greenhouse conditions showed that the activity of all three enzymes had an increasing trend. So that the activity of enzymes in the combined treatment of Th. vulgaris water extract (200 ppm) and pathogen increased respectively from 1.12, 1.11, and 0.27 ΔOD/min/mg protein on the first day after the inoculation to 5.25, 4.81, and 2.88 ΔOD/min/mg protein on the 12th day, and it had a significant difference with the control. Considering the results of this research, it was found that the water extract of Th. vulgaris, in addition to the direct fungicidal effect, could increase the activity of defense enzymes in the cucumber plants resulted in the host plant resistance induction against the pathogen.

Medicinal plants are a rich and valuable source of secondary metabolites that are strongly influenced by the environmental factors, especially drought stress. In this regard, a greenhouse experiment was conducted on Thymus vulgaris L. as split plots in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The main plot included three levels of moisture supply (40, 65, and 90% of potting soil field capacity (FC)) and the sub-plot was the elicitors levels including (1) control: without elicitor, (2) 150 µM cyclodextrin (CYC), (3) 75 nM coronatine (COR) + 150 µM CYC, (4) 150 nM COR + 150 µM CYC, (5) 150 µM methyl jasmonate (MJ) + 150 µM CYC, and (6) 300 µM MJ + 150 µM CYC. Except for the essential oil percentage, the other traits including the leaves proline content, electrolyte leakage, relative water content, plant height, canopy diameter, dry and fresh weight of shoots, dry weight of leaves and stems, and weight of essential oil had a very significant correlation with each other. The highest amount of leaves proline was obtained form the interaction of elicitors (levels 4 and 6) and the 40% FC level of moisture supply (3.88 and 3.94 μmol g-1 fresh leaf weight, respectively). The highest amount of plant height (28.3 cm), canopy diameter (17 cm), and relative water content (79%) was observed at the 90% FC level of moisture supply. The highest percentage of essential oil was obtained in the treatment of non-application of elicitor (2.67%) and the highest essential oil weight per plant (0.046 g plant-1) was observed in the treatment of non-application of elicitor at the 65% FC level of moisture supply. The mild stress increased the essential oil yield and the elicitor treatments decreased it.

Seed pretreatment with the cold plasma and salicylic acid is one of the methods to improve the seed germination and quantitative and qualitative growth of plants. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of seed pretreatment with the cold plasma (0 and 100 W for 4 min) and seed pretreatment and foliar application of salicylic acid in the micro and nano forms (0 and 1.5 mM salicylic acid) to improve the growth and production of secondary metabolites in Salvia leriifolia Benth. The results showed that the use of salicylic acid as seed pretreatment and foliar application increased the plant height, chlorophylls a and b, total phenol, and caffeic acid of the leaves significantly. Also, the seed pretreatment with nano salicylic acid form and foliar application of micro salicylic acid form and cold plasma increased the seedlings fresh and dry weight and phenylalanine ammonialyase and tyrosine ammonialyase enzymes by 3.48, 13.3, 227.7, and 277%, respectively compared to the control. The seed pretreatment and application of salicylic acid did not have a positive effect on increasing the amount of rosmarinic and salvianolic acids of the leaves compared to the control. According to the results, increasing the enzymes activity involved in the biosynthesis of phenolic acids could affect the amount of caffeic acid positively. Overall, the findings of the present study showed that the seed pretreatment with salicylic acid and foliar application of nano salicylic acid could improve the growth traits and activity of enzymes involved in the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites in S. leriifolia more than other treatments.

Ducrosia anethifolia (DC.) Boiss. is one of the medicinal plants belonging to the fam. apiaceae that has been recommended as a treatment for the neurological disorders. The present study was aimed at investigating the changes in the phytochemicals content and the antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties of D. anethifolia ethanolic extract at the different phenological stages (vegetative, flowering, and seeding). The plant shoots were collected at each stage randomly. The total phenols and flavonoids contents of the ethanolic extracts were measured using the spectrophotometry method and the antioxidant activity was determined by the DPPH free radical scavenging method. The disk diffusion method was used to investigate the antibacterial activity of the plant extract against Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis) and Gram-negative (Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) bacteria. Also, the anti-inflammatory activity of the plant extract was assessed using the human red blood cell stabilization method. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the different phenological stages in terms of the total phenols and flavonoids contents and the antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties (P <0.05). The highest amount of total phenols and flavonoids (148 ± 1.7 mg Gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g dry weight and 97 ± 1.5 mg Quercetin equivalents (QE)/g dry weight, respectively) and antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory activities was observed at the flowering stage. The results also showed that the plant extract studied had a greater inhibitory effect on the Gram-positive bacteria than the Gram-negative ones. The results indicated that the ethanolic extract of D. anethifolia could be used as a promising agent with the antioxidant, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory properties to treat many diseases. Also, the flowering stage could be introduced as the best harvest time for the medicinal use of this species.

Plants are the main sources of secondary metabolites with high medical value. The most important member of these valuable compounds are alkaloids with the different drug purposes. Concerning the limited production of some of these metabolites in the plants, these medicinal compounds can be produced naturally and commercially with the identification and transfer of alkaloids-producing enzymes corresponding plant genes to the microorganisms as an alternative method. In this way, the characterization of the corresponding genes is the first step. Among the different enzymes involved in the alkaloid biosynthesis, the cytochrome P450 enzymes play an important role. Due to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) localization of these enzymes and their glycoprotein characters, they cannot be expressed functionally in the standard bacterial systems. Consequently, the heterologous expression aimed to verify the enzymatic activity can favorably be performed using the eukaryotic systems, like yeast or insect cells. Herein, in this study, with employing a phylogenic comparison of cheilanthifoline synthase sequence of Eschscholzia californica Cham. and comparing the sequence with the homolog amino acid sequences of Chelidonium majus L. achieved from bioinformatics databases, six cytochrome P450 enzymes responsible for cheilanthifoline synthase in Ch. majus were identified. To prove the efficacy of these enzymes practically, their genes were cloned into the pPIC3.5 vector. Then, these recombinant vectors were transferred to the yeast cell (Pichia pastoris) and the scoulerine alkaloid was given to its media. Finally, the cheilanthifoline alkaloid microbial production by P. pastoris containing the recombinant plasmids was evaluated by LC-MS. The results of the present study indicated that among the enzymes genes cloned and introduced to the yeast host, only the Contig8931 enzyme had the cheilanthifoline synthase activity.

Due to the similarity of many medicinal plants and the perfumers ignorance about the science of botany, many unintended frauds are occurring in the supply of medicinal plants, like the presentation of different types of medicinal plants called lemon balm. This study was aimed at identifying the species offered under the name of lemon balm as well as comparing the antioxidant activity and phenolics content of these species. In this study, the species that are offered as lemon balm in the perfumeries of Yazd and Shiraz cities were collected and then scientifically identified using the valid botanical keys. In this study, the anti-radical activity was evaluated by the DPPH test. In addition, the total phenols content was measured by the Folin Ciocalteu method. Based on the results of species identification, it was proved that three species of Asperugo procumbens L., Hymenocrater elegans Bunge, and Melissa officinalis L. are sold in Yazd city under the name of lemon balm and H. elegans had the highest percentage of supply. Two species, M. officinalis and Stachys inflata Benth., also are sold under the name of lemon balm in Shiraz city, where the largest supply belonged to S. inflata. Also, M. officinalis and A. procumbens had respectively the highest and lowest amounts for the traits including total phenols and antioxidant activity.

The use of chemical drugs is an inseparable part of the patient treatment process. However, the herbal medicines have also been used to treat many diseases and improve human health in the long run. The low side effects of medicinal plants and herbal medicines versus the higher side effects of chemical drugs is an advantage that can be used to improve and develop the market of medicinal plants. The present study aimed at investigating the factors affecting the purchase of various herbal medicines in Mashhad city. The data required in this study were collected by completing 150 questionnaires by the visitors to the Mashhad pharmacies who were selected by random sampling in 2018. Using the two-stage Tobit model, the results showed that the factors such as doctor's prescription, history of herbal medicine use in the relatives, and education have a positive and statistically significant effect on both the desire to buy and buy the herbal medicines stages. Accordingly, more attention to increase the awareness of the community and physicians to prevent the drug interactions can be an effective step to improve the use of these drugs.

The use of elicitors to produce the environmentally friendly biological products and in conjunction with the modern agriculture can increase the qualitative and quantitative growth of plants and reduce the effects of environmental stresses on them. To investigate the effects of biostimulants under the low irrigation stress on the morphological and phytochemical characteristics of Dracocephalum moldavica L., a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized block design in the Zanjan University research farm in three replications in 2019. The main factor was the irrigation (100 and 70% of field capacity) and the sub-factor was the foliar application of elicitors including saffron extract (0.01 and 0.05%), ginseng extract (0.5 and 1%), amino acid L-cysteine (50 and 100 μM), and control treatment (no foliar application) at the four-, eight-, and twelve-leaf stages. The morphological and phytochemical traits were evaluated at the 90% flowering stage of the plants. In the present experiment, the highest amount of total chlorophyll (35.68 mg / g FW), carotenoids (9.18 mg / g FW), and relative leaf water content (83.20%) was obtained under the full irrigation conditions stimulated by the 50 μM L-cysteine treatment. While under the water stress conditions, the highest content of total phenols (33.17 mg GA / g DW), total flavonoids (1.53 mg QE / g DW), and antioxidant capacity (95.37%) was obtained in the no foliar application of elicitors treatment. The highest essential oil percentage (0.38%) was observed in the 100 μM L-cysteine treatment under the full irrigation conditions. Although the morphological parameters of D. moldavica had their highest values under the full irrigation conditions, the low irrigation stress led to the synthesis of higher amounts of phenolics and flavonoids and the stronger antioxidant capacity.

The morphological, yield, and phytochemical characteristics of Solidago virgaurea L. were studied at the full flowering stage in two habitats of Pol Sefid and Sang Deh in Mazandaran province in 2019. The traits including plant height, plant diameter, inflorescence length, number of stems, length and leaf width, length and ray floret width, tubular floret length, flower diameter, receptacle diameter, stem diameter, fresh and plant dry weight, fresh and leaf dry weight, fresh and stem dry weight, fresh and leaf+flower dry weight, and total phenols (by Folin-Ciocalteu method), flavonoids (by aluminum chloride method), and leiocarposide (by HPLC) contents were measured. The results showed that the highest amounts of inflorescence length (40 cm), flower diameter (21.1 mm), plant dry weight (9.44 g plant-1), flower dry weight (6.06 g plant-1), flower+leaf dry weight (7.22 g plant-1), and stem dry weight (2.22 g plant-1) were obtained in the population "Pol Sefid". A positive and significant correlation was observed between the plant dry weight and traits including the plant height, number of stems, stem diameter, flower diameter, plant fresh weight, fresh and leaf dry weight, fresh and stem dry weight, fresh and leaf+flower dry weight, and total flavonoids. The content of total phenols (26.95 mg Gallic acid/g DW), total flavonoids (8.82 mg Rutin/g DW), and leiocarposide (2.08 mg/g DW) was higher in the population "Sang Deh" than "Pol Sefid".