somayeh fekri qomi

Testing the origin of seeds from native species and identifying the appropriate provenance for producing high-quality seedlings and maximizing productivity in forest nurseries is essential. This study aimed to investigate the effect of seed origin on the germination percentage and growth traits of small-fruited cherry (Cerasus microcarpa C.A.M.) seedlings in the Khalkhal region of Ardabil province. For this purpose, ripe and healthy fruits of small-fruited cherry were collected from four habitats in Khalkhal. After measuring their quantitative properties, the seeds were planted in plastic pots containing natural habitat soil at the Kandragh Khalkhal nursery. The traits measured included seed germination percentage, survival percentage, height, collar diameter, and root and shoot dry weights of the seedlings. The findings showed that seeds from the Kandragh origin were larger and heavier compared to those from Barandaragh, Menamin, and Soshab populations. Analysis of variance indicated that seed origin significantly affected all investigated traits. The highest seed germination rate (38%), survival rate (93.5%), height (10.57 cm), collar diameter (2.94 mm), root dry weight (1.04 g), and shoot dry weight (1.98 g) were observed in seedlings from the Kandragh origin. Therefore, Kandragh is recommended as the optimal seed origin for producing healthy and robust small-fruited cherry seedlings in forest nurseries.

This research aimed to identify the volatile compounds of essential oils found in the aerial parts of two Nepeta species (N. kurdica Hausskn. & Bornm., and N. chionophila Boiss. & Hausskn.). This is the first phytochemical investigation of these two Nepeta species. The essential oils were obtained by hydro-distillation and analyzed by a combination of capillary gas chromatography (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Nineteen compounds accounting for 90.8% of N. kurdica oil were identified, while there were fifteen volatile components corresponding to 95.1% in N. chionophila oil. Nepetalactone isomers make up 64.2% of N. kurdica and 90.5% of N. chionophila oils. The main component of N. kurdica oil was 4aa-7a-7aa-nepeta lactone (57.7%), while 4aα-7a-7ab-nepeta lactone (71.8%) and 4aa-7a-7aa-nepeta lactone (15.9%) were the major constituents of N. chionophila oil. So, the essential oils of N. chionophila (endemic) and N. kurdica (native) can be used the same as catnip (N. cataria) oil that is used for antimicrobial, repellent and insecticide effect, as a fortifier, a disinfectant and a cure against cold.

In this article, a phytochemical investigation including identification and measurement of some phenolic compounds in the hydroalcoholic extracts of the Cichorium intybus L. collected from 6 localities was carried out. Among the studied compounds, chicoric acid (0.55 to 6.04 mg per gram of dry plant), chlorogenic acid (0.50 to 5.37 mg per gram of dry plant), and rutin (0.56 to 2.25 mg per gram of dry plant) were found in extracts of aerial parts and chicoric acid (0.03% to 0.29 mg per gram of dry plant) and chlorogenic acid (0.84% to 2.88 mg per gram of dry plant) were found in the roots of all samples. Among the studied populations, the highest amount of major compounds (chicoric acid and chlorogenic acid) were observed in the aerial parts of the sample collected from the National Botanical Garden of Iran with 6.04 mg of chicoric acid and 5.37 mg chlorogenic acid per gram of dry plant.

Essential oils of the air-dried aerial parts of Teucrium orientale L. collected from 11 different localities which obtained by hydro-distillation were investigated. The essential oils were analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. The oil yields were 0.03–0.20% (w/w), based on dry weight. Forty-four components, representing 91.0–99.5% of the oils, were identified. The results showed that there is a significant difference in yields, chemical compositions and concentrations of essential oils obtained from different geographical regions. However, there are main and common compounds such as caryophyllene oxide (3.72 to 23.60%), E-caryophyllene (1.03 to 39.36%), germacrene D (0.95 to 29.7%), spathulenol (1.98 to 11.11%), β-cubebene (1.31 to 24.64%), δ-cadinene (1.14 to 4.90%), hexadecanoic acid (0.47 to 32.60%), α-cubebene (0.53 to 11.37%) and hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (0.34 to 10.56%) that are found in all essential oils. According to the cluster analysis, the populations were placed in three clusters. Percentages of hexahydrofarnesyl acetone (10.6%) and humulene epoxide II (6.8%) were considerably higher in cluster 1 compared to other clusters. Percentages α-cubebene, β-cubebene and hexadecanoic acid were considerably highest in cluster 2 with means of 7.2%, 11.9% and 20.4% respectively. Populations of cluster 3 were rich sources of E-caryophyllene (29.4%), germacrene D (16.1%) and bicyclogermacrene (3.4%) compared to other clusters.

Rosa damascena Mill. is an aromatic plant, having different components that usually use in natural products. The main industrial products from oil-bearing rose are rose oil, rose water, rose concrete, and rose absolute which are produced by hydro-distillation and solvent extraction processes. However, essential oil productionis the best part that the industry is eager to it. Hydro-distillation with cohobation is a widely used method for producing volatile oils from oil-bearing rose. Newly, different methods of extraction of volatile compounds of rose oil, rose water and residue water from the flower of R. damascena, such as headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) is developed. However, every method of extraction affects the quality of Rosa product. In this way the hydro-distilled rose oil analyzed by gas chromatography (GC-FID/GC-MS) revealed that the percentages of alkanes or steaoreptens like hexadecane (1.3%), nonadecane (7.2%) and heneicosane (1.8%) were higher than those of HS-SPME. However, there is a preference of rose oil extraction by hydro- distilation that the rose water (hydrosol) and residue water have phenylethyl alcohol (PEA), which is easily soluble in water, rose water and residue water. Actually rose water is a by-products of the hydro-distillation method, and it contained very high amounts of phenylethyl alcohol and  can be employed as the best natural fragrance of the oil-bearing rose due to its very high phenylethyl alcohol content. Phenyl ethyl alcohol is a naturally occurring aromatic compound found in various flowers including roses, lavender, ylang-ylang, geranium and champagne. For determining the content of phenyl ethyl alcohol in the flower R. damascene, according to the geographical similarity, the flowers were collected from different provinces of Iran by scientists of RIFR. In a research in 2021, after the extraction of essential oil and rose water, it was conducted on the remaining water in the still. The leftover water inside the distillation pot was extracted with eight different solvents (chloroform, cyclohexane, dichloromethane, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, hexane, petroleum ether and toluene) by a separatory funnel and extracted crude were analyzed by (GC) and  (GC/MS). The amount of phenylethyl alcohol obtained by different solvents containing chloroform, cyclohexane, dichloromethane, diethyl ether, ethyl acetate, hexane, petroleum ether and toluene was 96.1%, 46.3%, 96.1%, 46.3%, 89.6%, 100%, 0.42% and 74%, respectively. Therefore, the research revealed the phenylethyl alcohol compound can be separated from the wastewater in the still and used.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of habitat on the quantity and quality of essential oil of Teucrium stocksianum Boiss. Accordingly, the branch of this species at the time of flowering (August 2017 and 2018) were collected from 4 regions of Hormozgan province (northern side of Tang Zagh mountain at 1100 meters of altitude; Abmah mountain at 850 meters of altitude; Tang Zagh mountain at 1400 m and Enveh mountain at 2000 m) . Essential oils were extracted by hydrodistillation method ( Clevenger apparatus) and were analyzed by using GC and GC/MS. The results showed that with decreasing altitude, the amount of essential oil reduced, so that the lowest and highest amounts of essential oil belonged to the samples of Abmah mountain at 850 m and Enveh mountain at 2000 m, respectively. Chemical analysis of T. stocksianum essential oils showed that the common compounds in the essential oils of this species were elmol (2.4 to 8.5%), caryophylene oxide (3.0 to 7.1%) and β-eudsmol (2.2 to 12.1%). Compounds such as α-pinene and myrcene, the most volatile compounds found in essential oils, were not observed in lower-altitude samples, which may be related to high air temperatures in plant geographical location. Also, significant amounts of compounds such as valerianol, polgon, limonene and epi-alpha-cadinol were observed in some samples, which shows the effect of the ecological and climatic conditions on the quality of plant essential oil.