نشریه اکوفیتو شیمی گیاهان دارویی
سال دهم شماره 1 (پیاپی 37، بهار 1401)

To investigate the effect of different drying methods on the Solidago virgaurea L., an experiment based on a completely randomized design with six treatments and three replications was conducted in 2018 in the Ecophysiology Laboratory of Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran. In this study, aerial parts of S. virgaurea L. was harvested from Sangdeh natural habitat located in Mazandan province at full flowering stage. The drying methods were shade and sun-drying (natural drying), oven-drying (40 and 50 °C), and microwave-drying (550 and 1000 watt). In all methods, drying of the plant materials was continued until the moisture content reached 10% (based on plant fresh weight). Methanolic extract was obtained from the dried samples and some secondary metabolites including content of total phenol, total flavonoid and leiocarposide were measured by Folin-Ciocalteu method, aluminum chloride method, and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), respectively. The minimum (7 minutes) and maximum (60 hours) drying times were related to 1000 watt microwave drying and shade drying methods, respectively. The highest content of total phenol (30 mg Gallic acid /g DW) in shading drying treatment and the highest content of total flavonoids (7.95 mg Rutin/g DW) and leiocarposide (3.07 mg/g DW) was observed in the oven at 40 °C. In addition, active metabolites content decreased with increasing microwave power and oven temperature. In general, the correct choice of drying method depends on several factors, and among them, the type of active ingredient, optimal energy consumption and cost savings should also be considered.

Neem (Azadirachta indica) that belongs to the Meliaceae family has many medicinal properties such as treatment of skin diseases, hypoglycemia, hypertension, cancer, and AIDS. In this study, to investigate the effect of different solvents on the quantity and quality of phytochemical properties of neem collected from Bahoklat area in Chabahar city, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design in 2021. Ethanol, methanolic,
n-hexane and acetone extracts of neem leaves and fruits were prepared by cold maceration method. Total phenol content, total flavonoid and antioxidant activity were measured by folin-cicalto reagent, aluminum chloride colorimetric and diphenylpicrylhydrazyl free radical scaving (DPPH) methods, respectively. The results showed that the effect of organ type, solvent type and their interaction on all measured traits was significant. Based on the results, the highest amount of total phenol (48.22 mg Gallic acid / g dry weight) was reported in acetone leaf extract, and the lowest amount (2.76 mg Gallic acid / g dry weight) was reported in hexane extract of fruit. In addition, the highest amount of total flavonoids was observed in acetoin fruit and leaf extracts (4.71 and 4.61 mg Quercetin / g dry weight, respectively) and the lowest amount (3.22 mg quercetin / g dry weight) was obtained in the hexane extract of fruit. The highest and the lowest antioxidant activity was detected in ethanolic leaf extract (94.77%) and acetone extract of fruit (12.02%), respectively. Therefore, neem leaf is suggested as a useful source of phenolic compounds and natural antioxidants.

In this study, in order to study and compare the morphological and phytochemical traits of Artemisia sieberi Besser., aerial parts of the plant at the full flowering stage were collected randomly from 20 different regions of Qom province. Morph physiological and phytochemical traits including plant height, leaf dry weight, stem dry weight, leaf ash percentage, leaf and width length, shoot dry weight, as well as chlorophyll content, soluble sugars, proline, phenol, flavonoid, and essential oil percentage of different populations, were measured. In addition, ecological conditions and soil composition in each area were assessed. Due to the ecological diversity of habitats in Qom province and based on the analysis of the main components for ecomorphological and phytochemical traits of Artemisia sieberi populations, the highest diversity of characteristics and factor load was observed in chlorophyll a, b and aerial dry weight as the most important distinguishing feature of A. sieberi populations, respectively. The results of cluster analysis showed the separation of A. sieberi populations in two main groups with 13 and 7 populations in a hierarchical dendrogram, respectively. The results of correlation of traits showed that aerial dry weight had a significant positive relationship with chlorophyll and essential oil content. In general, the amount of proline, soluble sugars, phenols and flavonoids had a significant relationship with ecological traits, temperature and rainfall in each region. In addition, the altitude of each region was negatively correlated with the amount of proline and positively correlated with the percentage of essential oil, so that the population of Vanan with the highest altitude had the highest percentage of essential oil. In general, the amount of rainfall and the height of the environment affect the appearance and amount of plant compounds.

Different species of Phlomis are important for terpenoid compounds and anti-inflammatory and antioxidant flavonoids in their essential oils. In the present study, three species of Phlomis including Ph.  olivieri Benth, Ph. persica Boiss, and Ph. herba-venti were collected from the natural habitats located in Azarshahr (elevation 1671 m), Urmia (elev. 1598 m) and Tuyserkan (elev. 1598 m) at the full-flowering stage in June 2017. Then, their essential oil constituents and some phytochemical properties the extracts were evaluated. The essential oils were extracted by the hydro-distillation method (Clevenger apparatus). CG and CG-MS were used to analyze chemical constituents. Extraction was performed using an ultrasonic device and phytochemical indices were evaluated in terms of total phenol content, total flavonoid, and antioxidant activity (%DPPH). A total of 38 compounds were identified in the essential oils of three plant species, which among them, Diisooctyl phthalate (69.71%), γ-Elemene (7.93%), and Germacrene D (7.44%) in Phlomis olivieri Benth. and Nepetalactone (45.24%), Bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (32.72%), and Germacrene D (5.59%) in Phlomis herba-venti were the main compounds. Diisooctyl phthalate (49.74%), t-muurolol (16.18%) and Hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (7.82%) were identified as major compounds of Ph. persica Boiss. Comparison of identified compounds among the three species showed a higher percentage of Diisooctyl phthalate (69.71%) in Ph. Olivieri. Also, the highest amount of total phenol (136.34 GAE/g DW), total flavonoid (49.29 mg Qu. g-1 DW) and antioxidant activity (68.48%) were related to Plomis persica Boiss.

Ethnobotany or botanical ethnography is the knowledge of documenting of traditional unwritten information in order to make optimal use of resources and effeectively protect of biodiversity and cultural information.Due to the diversity of vegetative cover in North Khorasan province and also many traditional and scientific sources, a study in 2020 was carried out to identify the medicinal plants of Maneh and Semelghan regions and use of the knowledge and experience of the indigenous people  to introduce the properties and unknowns dimension of medicinal plants. Information about various aspects of plants such as traditional uses and how to use and sampling time of plants by preparing a questionnaire in the form of face-to-face interview and participatory observation were collected from experienced natives. The results of the present study showed that out of 106 species of medicinal plants, 18 species belonged to the Lamiaceae family, followed by the Asteraceae family with 17 species and the Apiaceae family with 12 species respectively. Liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) with 385 reports to relieve digestive and respiratory problems and Chicory (Cichorium intybus L.) with 366 reports for treatment of digestive and skin diseases and Mallow (Malva sylvestris L.) with 358 reports to treat systematic and respiratory diseases showed the highest Use of Report, respectively. Also Glycyrrhiza glabra with 0.98, Cichorium intybus with 0.95 and Thymus transcaspicus with 0.93 had the highest rate of Relative Frequency of Citation index, respectively. In terms of biological form, 48 species of Hemicryptophytes, 21 species of Phanerophytes, 17 species of Therophytes, 12 species of Chameophytes and 8 species of Geophytes were identified in the region. The findings of this study show that the ethnobotanical information of the people of this region can provide a good basis for identifying the new therapeutic effects of plants, better use of medicinal plants and their products.

Physalis alkekengi L. belongs to the Solanacae family and its fruit is widely used in traditional medicine to treat diseases such as kidney and urinary tract stones, gout and hepatitis. Since the use of biostimulants in agriculture can be effective in improving the quantity and quality of active ingredients of medicinal plants and improving their yield, in this study, to evaluate the effect of salicylic acid and urea foliar application on morphological characteristics and phytochemical composition of this plant an experiment in a completely randomized design in research greenhouse of Islamic Azad University, Miyaneh Branch in 2019 was conducted. Spraying salicylic acid (0.001, 0.0025, 0.005 and 0.01 mM) and urea (0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2%) was applied in three stages with an interval of 10 days in three repetitions. Extraction was performed simultaneously with harvest (mid-September) by soaking method and the amount of phytochemical compounds in the shoot was determined using HPLC. Based on the results of variance analysis, the effect of foliar application on all morphological traits of shoots (except leaf width), root morphological traits and yield traits was significant. Increasing the concentration of urea and salicylic acid in most of the measured traits showed a positive effect. The highest increase in the mentioned traits was mainly related to the concentrations of 1% and 2% urea and salicylic acid 0.01 mM. Compared to the control, concentrations of 1% urea and 0.01 mM salicylic acid increased the number of fruits (76.8% and 64.6%, respectively), fruit diameter (17.3% and 25.7%, respectively), fruit length (15.07 and 33.4%, respectively), fresh weight of shoots (29.9 and 56.4%, respectively) and dry weight of shoots (28.4 and 61.4%, respectively). In addition, with increasing salicylic acid concentration the amount of luteolin, quercetin, campferol, ferulic acid and chlorogenic acid increased compared to the control treatment.

Saffron (Crocus sativus L.) the most valuable agricultural and pharmaceutical product in the world, has a special place among Iran's industrial and export products. The aim of this study was to study the changes in quantitative, qualitative, physiological traits, and heavy metals accumulation in cultivated saffron samples in three important saffron producing provinces, North Khorasan (Shirvan city), Razavi Khorasan (Torbat-Heydariyeh city), and South Khorasan (Ghaen city), based on a randomized complete block design with three replications in 2019-2020 crop year.In this study, quantitative traits (flower and stigma yield), qualitative traits (safranal, picrocrocin, and crocin content extracted by aqueous method and measured by spectrophotometry), physiological characteristics (anthocyanin, flavonoid, total phenol, and antioxidant activity extracted by alcohol andmeasured by spectrophotometry) and the selenium, lead, and nickel metals accumulation (by acid extraction and atomic absorption measurements) were investigated. Also, the effect of climatic parameters on quantitative and qualitative yield was investigated. The results showed that the samples cultivated in these provinces had significant differences in terms of quantitative, qualitative, physiological, and metal accumulation characteristics. North and Razavi Khorasan provinces with the highest flowers and stigmas yield, as well as safranal and crocin content, had the highest quantity and quality.In addition, the highest anthocyanins, flavonoids, and total phenol content, antioxidant activity, and lead content was obtained in North Khorasan province. The two climatic parameters of relative humidity content and average annual rainfall had a high correlation with quantitative and qualitative yield and are the most influential environmental factors on the quantity and quality of saffron. In general, North and Razavi Khorasan provinces had a significant advantage in terms of quantitative and qualitative yield of saffron compared to South Khorasan provinces.

Continued use of herbicides has increased the resistance of weeds to them and also reduced the quality of soil and groundwater. Due to the herbicidal properties of plant essential oils, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of fennel essential oil on seed germination and seedling growth of common mallow and white goosefoot in laboratory conditions, which was performed as a factorial in a completely randomized design in the research laboratory of the Cooperative Foundation of Rudan city, Hormozgan province, in 2016 . The essential oils were extracted from Fennel seeds by hydrodistillation by using a clevenger apparatus and were analyzed by GC and GC-MS. The results showed that the highest percentages of seeds essential oil components were related to e-anethole (66.92%), methyl chavicol (14.54%), fenchone (7.01%) and limonene (6.84%), respectively. Weed seeds after disinfection with sodium hypochlorite and then drying, exposed to concentrations of 0 (distilled water), 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 μl/l of fennel essential oil in suitable light conditions at 25 °C. Based on the results the Fennel essential oil reduced the percentage and speed of seed germination, root and shoot length of common mallow and white goosefoot. With increasing the concentration of essential oil, the percentage and speed of seed germination also decreased significantly. In general, the response of the studied weeds to fennel essential oil was different; In a way, the common mallow was more sensitive to white goosefoot. The greatest inhibitory effect on the germination of common mallow and white goosefoot seeds was related to the concentration of 1000 μl/l of essential oil, so that in the case of common mallow, germination stopped completely. Allelopathy index at a concentration of 1000 μl/l fennel essential oil for common mallow and white goosefoot was -1 and -0.83, respectively.According to the results, the use of 1000 μl/l fennel essential oil is recommended to control common mallow and white goosefoot.