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The present work aimed to study the essential oil (EO) variation of Dracocephalum moldavica L. under different phenological stages. The EO yield was highest in the flowering stage, followed by floral budding, fruit set, and vegetative stages. Twenty-three components in EOs were identified by GC-MS and quantified using GC-FID. Geranyl acetate (31–50 %), geranial (16–27 %), geraniol (12–13.4 %) and neral (10.67–17.30 %) were four main constituents. Antifungal assays of EO through mycelial growth inhibition percentages (MGI %) with four concentrations (0, 250, 500, and 750 µl/l) showed concentration-dependent responses. EOs showed the high potential of antifungal activity with ID50 values of (89–145), (27–88) and (183–339) µl/l and ID90 values of (667–1293), (509–1296), and (389–866) µl/l for Aspergillus niger, Penicillium expansum, and Trichoderma harzianum respectively. EO of D. moldavica showed considerable promise as a natural bio-preservative and bio-antifungal agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the variation of four thyme species for aerial parts biomass, essential oil content and composition, a study was carried out in Zagheh, Rangeland, Khoramabad, Iran. Seeds of four species of Thymus pubescens Boiss. & Kotschy ex Celak., Thymus daenensis Celak. Thymus daenensis subsp. lancifolius (Celak.) Jalas and Thymus kotschyanus Boiss. & Hohen. were collected from their natural habitat in Lourestan province, Iran. Seeds sown in Jiffy pots in glasshouse in September 2016 and the seedlings were transferred to the field in October 2016 using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with 3 replications. Each unit of the experiment consists of 40 plants in two rows with 50 cm distance between rows and 50 cm between plants within rows. Data were collected for aerial parts biomass, morphological traits and essential oil percentages over two years 2017-2018. The essential oils of all samples were obtained by hydrodistillation, in flowering stage and the essential oil components were identified using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Considerable variation was found between species for fresh and dry weight of aerial parts biomass, plant height, root length and essential oil content. The mean values of aerial parts biomass, crown diameter and essential oil in T. daenensis were higher than other species. For the root length, the higher value was obtained in T. pubescens. The lower and higher essential oil content with average values of 1.53% and 1.95% were obtained in T. pubescens and T. daenensis subsp. lancifolius, respectively. The results indicated that the major components in the essential oil were carvacrol (5.8, 18.5, 42.4 and 33.5%) and thymol (78.9, 51.9, 36.19 and 42.7%) for T. daenensis, T. kotschyanus, T. daenensis subsp. lancifolius and T. pubescens, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nepeta binaludensis Jamzad is an endemic and rare perennial plant belonging to the Lamiaceae family which grows in a limited area in Binaloud Mountain in northeast of Iran. In order to study the effect of drying methods on its essential oil content and composition, the aerial parts were collected in flowering stage from its habitat at altitude of 2650 m above sea level in July 2018. Seven drying methods as sun drying, shade drying, oven drying at 30oC, 40oC and 50oC and microwave drying (180W and 360W) were applied in three replications. The essential oils of all samples were obtained using a Clevenger type apparatus during 3 h. The essential oils were analyzed using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Data statistically analyzed using one way ANOVA (CRD) with three replications and mean comparison were made using the Tukey method. The highest oil yield was obtained in oven drying 50 °C (2.16%) followed by shade drying (1.96%). In contrast, the lowest values of essential oil content, 1.09 and 0.65%, were obtained in sun drying and microwave 360W, respectively. Twenty-four compounds were identified in the essential oils of N. binaludensis with various drying methods with neptalactone (23.1-54.0%), 1,8-cineol (25.5-51.0%) and myrcene (2.0-4.0%) as major components. The highest percentage of 1,8-cineole (51%) was obtained from sample dried in oven 50 °C, while, the highest amount of neptalactone (54.0%) was obtained from sample dried by the microwave 180 W. The results demonstrated that drying the aerial parts of N. binaludensis in the shade and oven 50oC are the best optimal methods to obtain the highest oil yield, while drying in microwave at 180 W is recommended to enhance higher neptalactone content in the oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The composition of essential oils in six accessions of Achillea biebersteinii Afan., transferred from the natural habitats in various townships of Kurdistan province, Iran to the cultivated conditions, were analyzed by GC/MS. Twenty-nine components were identified, of which the main constituents of the essential oil of A. biebersteinii Afan. contained 1,8-cineole (17-34%), Bornyl acetate (0.7-39%), and p-cymene (2.2-19.2%). The cultivated accessions produced more 1,8-cineole and bornyl acetate than those of the natural habitats, while the highest amount of p-cymene was found in A. biebersteinii Afan., collected from natural habitats. The essential oils were characterized by the highest amount of 1,8-cineole (24.9-37.9%), bornyl acetate (13.7-26.9%), and p-cymene (2.7-9%) in all cultivated accessions. When transferred to the field conditions, the accession Khan gorge of Baneh City was demonstrated as the best in terms of 1,8-cineole, and the accession Booein village of Baneh produced the largest amount of bornyl acetate. The accessions from Janevareh village and Ney village in Marivan city had the largest amount of p-cymene in both fields and in both years of cultivation. The results of the study of the pharmaceutical ingredients, extracted from cultivated conditions and natural habitats, could be very important for the next stages of cultivation and domestication of A. biebersteinii Afan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants are exposed to solar ultraviolet radiation due to use of sunlight for photosynthesis. Additionally, salinity in soil or water influences the plant productivity and quality considerably. Moreover, when plants are simultaneously exposed to multiple stresses, one form of stress can affect the response to other stress. Particularly, it has been shown that they can benefit from dual tolerance as salinity and UV-B radiation are applied together. In order to understand the effects of UV-B radiation and salinity stress on some physiological and biochemical parameters, one-year-old cuttings of rosemary plants were grown under different levels of ultraviolet B radiation (0, 4.32 and 6.05 kJ m-2 d-1) and salinity stress (control, 50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl). The results showed that 4.32 kJ m-2 d-1 UV-B treatment significantly increased plant biomass up to 17.9% as compared to control. However, by increasing salinity to 150 mM, plant biomass significantly decreased up to 18.1%, as compared to control. Regardless of UV-B treatments, plants, grown under 100 mM salinity stress, had produced 2.8 times higher total phenolic compounds (TPC) and also have greater antioxidant activity (33.1%) in comparison to control. Both treatments, enhanced UV-B radiation and salinity stress, significantly increased the concentration of proline, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondealdehyde (MDA). In relation of total soluble sugar (TSS) and ion content, both treatments acted in an opposing manner. In turn, the enhanced UV-B radiation decreased concentration of TSS and the Na+ content in leaves, salinity stress increased the concentration of TSS, as well as the Na+ content in leaves and root. The plants grown under 150 mM salinity level accumulated 5.32 and 2.83 times higher Na+ ions in leaves and roots, respectively, than control. In addition, salinity significantly decreased the relative water content (RWC), photosynthetic pigments and K+ content in leaves and roots. The interaction between UV-B irradiation and salinity showed that the UV-B radiation improved the K+ content in leaves, RWC and membrane stability and consequently resulted in a better tolerance of rosemary to salinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In present work, the chemical composition of the essential oils obtained from dried flowering aerial parts of Teucrium hircanicum L. (Labiatae) originated from ten wild populations in Iran was analyzed by a GC-FID and GC/MS system. The oil yields varied from 0.04% to 0.1%. A total of thirty-two compounds representing 67.6–97.7% of the oil were identified. The essential oil was found to be rich in sesquiterpene hydrocarpons (E)-α-bergamotene (17.5–86.9%) and (E)-β-farnesene (0.5–21.4%). Of the total identified compounds, sesquiterpene hydrocarpons (36.1–89.7%) were included the greatest essential oil fraction in all the populations, followed by oxygenated monoterpenes (2.2–21.6%), oxygenated sesquiterpenes (0.0–14.4%) and monoterepene hydrocarbons (0.0–9.5%). Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) were used to distinguish any geographical variations, indicating that the clustering of populations is related to their geographic origin. According to the GC/MS analysis, two chemotypes consisting of (E)-α-bergamotene and (E)-α-bergamotene-(E)-β-farnesene were identified in the populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Changes in essential oils ( EOs) content and composition of lemon verbena leave at different packaging methods (packaged with air, nitrogen, or under vacuum) and during storage period (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 months) were determined. All the samples were hydrodistilled every 2 months during storage for EO content evaluation. EO composition was determined by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The results showed that by extending the storage period in all packaging methods, EO content was significantly decreased. Parallel to the increase in the storage duration in all packaging methods, citral content was decreased, whereas the amounts of limonene and 1,8-cineole were increased. Packaging of lemon verbena leaves with nitrogen preserved the highest EO content during 8 months of storage and achieved the desired amounts of citral, limonene, and 1,8-cineole. This investigation also showed camphene may be a useful marker for the indication of storage duration of lemon verbena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]