Quantitative and Qualitative Evaluation of some Biochemical Traits of Sambucus ebulus L. Medicinal Plant in Different Habitats of Mazandaran Province

[1]- Controlled deterioration test Medicinal plants are a source of many organic substances, including secondary metabolites, which are used as raw materials for pharmaceutical and industrial compounds. Knowing medicinal plants and using their compounds instead of making chemical compounds has always been of interest to researchers. Elderberry (Sambucus ebulus L.) is a valuable native medicinal plant that grows in the north of Iran.

In this research, in order to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate some of the biochemical traits of Sambucus ebulus plant, the three organs of the leaf, stem and fruit of this plant from the three regions of Sari, Babol and Amol at three altitudes of 0-100, 500-600 and 900-1000 meters from the sea level were collected and extracted with three replications in a completely random design, and traits such as chlorophyll, carotenoid, anthocyanin and proline were analyzed quantitatively. Also, anthocyanin and proline traits were also qualitatively investigated.

The qualitative test results showed the presence of anthocyanin and proline in all three organs. The results of analysis of variance showed that the height above sea level and the body had a significant effect on chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, total chlorophyll, carotenoid, anthocyanin and proline. The effect of region was also significant on all investigated traits except chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll. The comparison of the averages showed that carotenoid and anthocyanin increased in all three organs of the leaf, stem and fruit of the mackerel plant with increasing altitude. Also, the amounts of chlorophyll and proline decreased with increasing height in leaf organs, but these compounds increased in stem and fruit organs. The amount of anthocyanin and proline in the fruit of Sambucus ebulus plant was the highest, but the number of photosynthetic pigments was higher in the leaf organ than in the fruit and then in the stem. The highest amount of chlorophyll a and b (21.45 and 11.55 mg/g fresh weight) related to leaf organ was observed in Sari region at an altitude of 0-100 meters above sea level. The results of correlation coefficients showed that there was a positive and significant correlation between photosynthetic pigments and the highest correlation coefficient was observed between chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll (r = 0.962).

The results of the present experiment show that environmental factors such as altitude and geographic characteristics have a significant effect on the number of metabolites. In general, according to the results obtained from this research, the best habitat in terms of the highest number of photosynthetic pigments was Sari region among the studied regions.