نسرین قوامی

The genus Mentha consists of several important medicinal plant species whose active ingredients are used for treating liver and prostate cancers, acute respiratory infection and allergic digestive problems, neuralgia, and migraines.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of methyl jasmonate (MeJA) and salicylic acid (SA) in the field condition on the chemical composition of the essential oil of two in vitro propagated species of Mentha genus including Mentha x piperita and Mentha pulegium.

M. piperita and M. pulegium species were propagated through the tissue culture method and the in vitro propagated plants were transferred to the farm after acclimatization. Then, the plants were treated with foliar application of MeJA and SA at four concentrations (0, 2, 4, and 6 mM) at three developmental stages. Chemical composition of the essential oils of samples were determined using a GC-MS analysis.

Both elicitors increased the level of menthol production in peppermint (M. x piperita), but in pennyroyal (M. pulegium), the level of pulegone production as the main secondary metabolite was decreased. Among different metabolites detected in the essential oil of peppermint, myrcene, octanal, γ-terpinene, ocimene, carvacrol, iso-menthol, neo-menthol, and oxygenated sesquiterpenes were the constituents with the lowest amounts under MeJA and SA treatment.

The application of MeJA and SA significantly impacted on the quality and quantity of secondary metabolites of these species. The desired performance of valuable secondary metabolites can be achieved by determining the type and dosage of elicitors.

Lavandula angustifolia L. is one of the most important plants belonging to Lamiaceae which has abundant use in traditional and pharmacological medicine. Lavender seed dormancy is one of the problems in producing seedlings which increases seed consumption. In this regard, an experiment was carried out to investigate different treatments for seed dormancy elimination of Lavender and measuring germination and growth indices.

An experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications at the Ecophysiology Laboratory of Karaj Institute of Medicinal Plants in 2018. The experiment consisted of 14 treatments on seed dormancy elimination. The treatments included the control, hormonal treatments (Gibberellic acid with 250, 500, 750 and 1000 mg/l concentrations) and Prechilling treatments (7, 14 and 21 days of refrigeration). The integrated treatments were 7 days refrigeration + 500 mg/l gibberellic acid, 14 days refrigeration + 500 mg/l gibberellic acid, 7 days refrigeration + 1000 mg/l gibberellic acid, 14 days refrigeration + 1000 mg/l gibberellic acid, 30 minutes at 40 ° C water + 14 days refrigeration, and 30 minutes at water 40 degrees +14 days refrigeration + 500 mg/l gibberellic acid.

The results showed that the highest germination percentage (70.67%), germination rate (24.26%) and germination index (246) were achieved in 750 mg/l Gibberellic acid, and the highest epicotyl length (5.09 cm), seedling length (6.23 cm) and seedling fresh weight (0.57 gr) were produced with 500 mg/l Gibberellic acid. Also, the lowest mean germination time (MGT) (4.12s day) was obtained in 1000 mg/l Gibberellic acid treatment. Also, 7 days of refrigeration + gibberellic acid at 500 mg/l treatment had no significant difference with the other concentrations of gibberellin treatments. Therefore, low gibberellin concentration with 7 days of prechilling had the same effect as higher gibberellic acid concentrations. In addition, 14 days of refrigeration + 1000 mg/l gibberellic acid treatment and treatment of 30 min in water at 40 ° C +14 days prechilling + 500 mg/l gibberellic acid produced the lowest shoot (0.78, 0.82 cm), seedling height (0.99, 1.04 cm) and fresh weight (0.013, 0.01 gr) that showed the negative effects of increased prechilling time and water at 40 ° C,

It was finally found that the lavender seed dormancy type is physiologically non-deep and moderate and Gibberellic acid is a suitable substitute for prechilling. The best treatment was gibberellic acid with a concentration of 750 mg/l to break the dormancy of lavender seeds.

Agriculture is facing many problems and dilemmas on the way to achieving the optimal performance of its products in terms of quantity and quality, due to the presence of various biotic and abiotic stresses such as pathogens, pests, weeds, inappropriate temperature and humidity, and many other factors. It is predicted that by 2050, the world's population will reach about 9.6 billion people, in this way, agricultural production should increase between 70 and 100 percent in order to fulfill the responsibility of providing human food. Factors such as the shrinking of arable land, lack of water resources, climate change, and the reduction of the effectiveness of agricultural chemical inputs have intensified the problems caused by biotic and abiotic stresses for all types of crops. In this way, obtaining modern technologies and new findings to protect plants against stresses and improve the efficiency of using chemical inputs with the aim of ensuring food security in a healthy and sustainable manner is absolutely vital. Nano-biotechnology, which includes using nanostructures (substances smaller than one hundred nanometers) in biological applications, is a promising tool for realizing sustainable agriculture, which is a crucial factor in meeting the growing need for food in the world. In this paper, the general role of nanotechnology in the agricultural industry is reviewed as nano fertilizers, nano pesticides, nano growth regulators, nano water and soil remediators, etc.

Taxol (Paclitaxel) has been highly recommended to control and treat a wide range of cancers. Taxus baccata L. is primary and natural origin of Taxol.

Due to severe restriction and prohibition of cutting T. baccata, the alternative way for Taxol production is to apply in vitro culture method which was implemented at the current study. Here, for the first time, the effect of amino acid complex as elicitor along with chitosan in cell suspension culture ofT. baccata for enhancing Taxol production was studied.

Young leaves of T. baccata as explants were cultured in different callus induction treatments. At the next step, the calli from the best callus induction treatment were transferred to cell suspension cultures containing chitosan and amino acid complex alone or in combination with each other. Taxol content in treatments were measured by HPLC.

MS medium supplemented with 2,4-D at 2 mg/L and NAA at 1 mg/L proved to be the best treatment of callus induction (100 %), fresh weight (495 mg) and dry weight (272 mg) of calli. Also, HPLC analysis confirmed the maximum production of Taxol (1.96 mg/g) in MS medium having 2 ml/L amino acids complex with 10 mg/L chitosan.

Applying amino acid complex as elicitor with chitosan is suggested for enhancing Taxol production in cell suspension culture of T. baccata.

Nowadays, the optimization of the culture conditions in bioreactors is considered as an approach to produce secondary metabolites such as thebaine.
Thebaine is the dominant alkaloid in Iranian poppy that is used as a precursor for the synthesis of analgesic compounds. Optimization of culture conditions of Papaver bracteatum adventitious roots in bioreactor for the scale-up thebaine production. In this study, adventitious roots was induced from the stem explants and then cultured in a bubble column bioreactor. The research was conducted as a factorial experiment based on randomized complete design. The bioreactor temperatures were 14, 20, 26 and 32 °C, as well as aeration volumes were 0.05, 0.1, 0.2 and 0.4 vvm. The results showed that the temperature and aeration volume had significant effect on root fresh weight and thebaine content. The highest root dry weight was related to aeration volume of 0.2 vvm and temperature of 26°C. The maximum content of thebaine was observed in aeration volume of 0.2 vvm and temperature of 26°C. According to the results, aeration volume and temperature were two important factors for large-scale production of Papaver bracteatum biomass and thebaine in bioreactor conditions.

Fenugreek is a multipurpose and valuable medicinal plant that its consumption of seeds in the pharmaceutical industry for the economically production of mucilage (galactomannan) and trigonelline is very important. Foliar application of methanol as a biostimulant on C3 plants such as the fenugreek can increase the CO2 fixation in photosynthesis and decrease photo-respiration and the result will produce more dry matter in these plants. The aim was to determine changes in seed and mucilage yield of fenugreek in response to foliar application of different concentrations of methanol. This research was carried out at the experimental farm of Medicinal Plants Institute (MPI) of Academic Center for Education, Culture & Research (ACECR) located in Karaj during two cropping seasons based on a randomized complete block design with 5 treatments and 3 replications. Foliar application during the growing season was run 3 times with 12 days interval. The treatments were control (sprayed with distilled water without methanol) and foliar application of four different concentrations of methanol (10, 20, 30 and 40 volumetric percent). Foliar application of different concentrations of methanol had a significant effect on number of branches per plant, number of leaves per plant, shoot dry weight, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod, seed yield, yield of seed mucilage, seed ash content, seed swelling index (p≤0.01), plant height, and 1000 seeds weight (p≤0.05). Foliar application of methanol as a bio-stimulant and the new method in production of medicinal plants improved seed yield and yield of seed mucilage in fenugreek. In general, the maximum amounts of the studied traits were achieved in the foliar application of 40% v/v methanol concentration.

Now, the use of amino acids and methanol as a plant biostimulant is very interested for the increased secondary metabolites in medicinal plants. The aim was to evaluate the effect of biostimulants and methanol on the content and components of essential oil and morphological traits of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.). This experiment was conducted on the basis of randomized complete block design with nine treatments and three replications. The treatments of this study included foliar application of kadostim, fosnutren, humiforte, and aminolforte, each of them with two levels of methanol aqueous solution at 10 and 20 %v/v, and control treatment (without application of plant biostimulants and methanol). The results showed that were statistically significant the number of branches, stem diameter, shoot dry weight, thymol and carvacrol content at the 1% level, and the number of leaves per stem, plant height, essential oil content, and leaf dry weight at the 5% level. The maximum plant height, number of branches, number of leaves per stem, stem dry weight, leaf dry weight, and shoot dry weight in treatment of kadostim with 20% methanol, and the highest stem diameter, essential oil content, thymol, and carvacrol content in treatment of humiforte with 20% methanol were obtained. Application of kadostim and humiforte with 20% methanol enhanced the quantitative and qualitative yield of thyme. Therefore, the integrated application of biostimulants and methanol can be synchronized with reduce the use of some chemical fertilizers to the extent that it was leading to sustainable agriculture and reduction of environmental pollution.

Trigonelline in fenugreek seed is a valuable medicinal metabolite in reducing blood cholesterol and blood. Object: Determine the most important components of seed yield, percent and yield of seed trigonelline in fenugreek under foliar application and non-application of methanol. The experiment was done a randomized complete block design with two treatments as foliar application of methanol (0 and 30 v/v%) and four replications. Path analysis and stepwise regression were used in order to denote the most important effective traits on seed yield, percent and yield of seed trigonelline in fenugreek. The results showed that 1000-seeds weight and number of branches per plant for seed yield; total dry weight and number of pods per plant for percent of seed trigonelline; seed yield and percent of seed trigonelline for yield of seed trigonelline in the non-application of methanol, and also, the number of seeds per pod, percent of seed oil, number of pods per plant and plant height for seed yield; leaf dry weight, shoot trigonelline and geometric mean diameter of seed for percent of seed trigonelline and seed yield; percent of seed trigonelline and pod length for yield of seed trigonelline in foliar application of methanol (30 v/v%) treatment significantly justified changes related to the dependent variables. Path analysis of dependent variables showed that the yield of seed trigonelline by direct positive effect of seed yield and the percent of seed trigonelline were the most important yield components of seed trigonelline. Generally, the results indicate that seed yield and percent of seed trigonelline can be used for increasing of yield of seed trigonelline in the breeding of fenugreek.

Silybum marianum Gatrn. (Family: Asteraceae) is an annual or biennial plant, native to the Mediterranean area, which has spread in North and South of Iran. The seeds contain high amount of oil (20 - 35%) which exhibits wound-healing, anti-burn, and hepatoprotective properties. Determine the most seed yield components and oil yield in milk thistle. This research was conducted using two genotypes of milk thistle (Ahvaz wild type and Germany) in a randomized complete block design with four replications, to evaluate the most seed yield components and oil yield. Initially, oil and seed yield (dependent variable) separately determined for any variety using stepwise regression analysis. In Ahvas type, seed yield and oil percent for oil yield, and capitulum diameter for seed yield whereas, in Germany type, number of capitulum for seed yield and seed yield for oil yield justified variation related to dependent variable significantly. Regression analysis represented seed yield is affected by capitulum diameter and number, and secondary metabolites of seed (R2=98.16) and oil yield is justified by oil percent and seed active constituents and yield (R2=99.91). The path analysis revealed that direct and positive effect number of capitulum (0.49), diameter of main capitulum (0.41) and oil percent (0.1) and direct and negative effect of active ingredient silymarin, are important components of oil yield. In general, this result showed that for increasing of seed and oil yield can be used from capitulum diameter and number and oil percent in medicinal plant breeding of milk thistle.

Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) is an aromatic and medicinal plant of Lamiaceae family which cultivated in different region of Iran. Evaluation of methanol and ethanol spraying effects on dry matter and phytochemical yield of thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.). This study was done in a randomized complete block design with three replications and eleven treatments in the research farm of ACECR - Institute of Medicinal Plants in Karaj, Iran. The treatments were: control (without spray), ethanol solutions with 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% (v/v) and methanol solutions with 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% (v/v). The volatile oil was extracted by hydrodistillation using Clevenger-type apparatus then after it was analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The results showed that the foliar application of hydro-alcohols treatments had significant effect (p<0.01) on all studied parameters. The highest dry matter yield was obtained at methanol 30% and ethanol 20%. Also, the highest yield of oil, thymol and carvacrol was observed at 20% methanol, 10 and 20% ethanol, respectively. Foliar application of methanol and ethanol increased the yield of dry matter and content of volatile oil, thymol and carvacrol.

Cassia angustifolia Vahl. is a valuable medicinal plant and drought-resistant shrub belonging to Caesalpinaceae that، in general، known as senna. The origin of this plant is Saudia Arabia and Somalia where it has naturalized in India. The leaves and pods contain two anthraquinones: Sennoside ‘A’ and ‘B’، which are extensively used as a laxative in pharmaceutical industry. The plant also contains rhein، chrysophenol، emodin and aloe-emodin. Besides being an excellent laxative، senna is also used as a febrifuge in splenic enlargements، anaemia، typhoid، cholera، biliousness، jaundice، gout، rheumatism، tumours، and bronchitis. This study reviewed the most important chemical constituents in senna and its therapeutic properties.

Trigonelline is an alkaloid composition that involved hormone role in plants. This metabolite is synthesized by methylation of nicotinic acid in plant and is found in several plants species, including coffee, fenugreek, soybean, pea, alfalfa and etc. This alkaloid is claimed to have anticarcinogenic, antimigraine, antiseptic, hypocholesterolemic, and hypoglycemic activities. Several studies has indicated that trigonelline inhibit the major enzymes of glucose metabolism thus decrease the blood glucose level. Based on this, trigonelline metabolite may be cause of a new production drug for the management and treatment of diabetes. Trigonelline was identified as a leaf-closing factor in a nyctinastic plant, a signal in the response to oxidative stress in plants, an osmoregulator in response to drought and salt stress, a molecule promoting cell arrest in G2, and an inducer of nod genes during colonization of root legumes.

In order to sustainable agriculture, applications of bio-fertilizers are as a gradual alternative to chemical fertilizers or at least to minimize the levels of these chemical. To determine the effects of some bio-fertilizers and urea fertilizers on agronomical and pharmaceutical yield of Peppermint. This study was done in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with nine treatments and three replications. The treatments were control (no applying fertilizer), three different bio-fertilizers (4 & 8 kg.ha-1 for each one), and chemical urea fertilizer 75 & 100 kg.ha-1. The result showed that fertilizer treatments had significant effects on plant height, stem fresh and dry weight of per ha, dry weight of leaf per ha, menthone content (p<0.05), leaf number per stem, fresh and dry weight of leaf per stem, essential oil yield per ha, and menthol content (p<0.01). Generally the lowest qualitative and quantitative yield of peppermint was related to control treatment. However, the application of bio-fertilizers significantly increased the yield in respect of all studied parameters and the highest yield was observed in Nitroxin and urea treatment. So that, the amount of menthone and menthol of essential oil in bio-fertilizer of Nitroxin (8 kg.ha-1) had not significant statistical difference with urea fertilizer (75 kg.ha-1). The application of the bio-fertilizers especially Nitroxin increased qualitative and quantitative yield of peppermint. Then, the application of bio-fertilizers can be used in order to an alternative or reduction in application of chemical fertilizers in agro-ecosystem which is attitude toward the minimize of environmental pollution and sustainable agriculture.

Milk thistle [Silybum marianum (L.) Gaertn] is an annual or biennial plant, native to the Mediterranean area, which has spread in north and south of Iran. A fruit of milk thistle contains a relatively high amount (approx. 20%) of oil, which exhibits wound-healing, anti-burn, and hepatoprotective properties. Experimental: In this research, a pot experiment was conducted using a completely randomized design with seven level of salinities [1.09(control), 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 dS/m] for two genotypes, Ahvaz wild type and cultivated German origin (Royston). At the harvest, the results have showed that both genotypes grow satisfactorily and had a normal size in soils up to salinity of 9 dS/m, compared to the control plants. However, growth parameters such as number of capitula per plant, main shoot capitulum's diameter, and seed yield and yield components per plant was reduced with salinity greater than 9dS/m in both genotypes. The seed oil content reduced with salinity greater than 9 dS/m slightly. Industrial and practical recommendations: Our results suggested that both types of milk thistle could survive salinity up to 15 dS/m and produced seeds but maximum yield seed get in up to 9 dS/m. Growing milk thistle in low fertile soil and under moderate salinity (≤9.0 dS/m) conditions could be important not only such as a cover crop against soil erosions but also for producing seeds of greater value for medicinal and nutrition purposes