مجله تحقیقات گیاهان دارویی و معطر ایران
سال سی و هفتم شماره 4 (پیاپی 108، مهر و آبان 1400)

To investigate the effects of different nitrogen sources including ammonium nitrate, asparagine, and glutamine in five concentrations of 0, 50, 100,150, and 200 mg l-1 on some physiological and biochemical characteristics of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), an experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with five repliacations. The indices including plant height, shooting rate, number of leaves, necrotic leaf size, chlorophylls a, b, and total chlorophyll content, and the content of carotenoids, phenols, and flavonoids were measured. The results showed that the nitrogen sources significantly (P≤0.01) affected the all measured indices except the necrotic leaf size. The results of means comparison showed that the highest shooting rate and number of leaves were obtained at 100 mg l-1 of glutamine and asparagine and the highest plant height was obtained at 200 mg l-1 of ammonium nitrate. Also, the highest amount of photosynthetic pigments was obtained at 50 mg l-1 of asparagine and the highest amount of phenols and flavonoids was related to 200 mg l-1 of glutamine. In general, the results showed that the various nitrogen sources studied could positively and significantly improve the morphological and physiological characteristics of rosemary under in vitro conditions.

To investigate the effects of different salinity levels on the essential oil content, and some morphological and physiological characteristics of two oregano subspecies (Origanum vulgare subsp. gracile (K.Koch) letsw. and O. vulgare subsp. hirtum (Link) letsw.), a factorial greenhouse experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four treatments and three replications. The salinity stress treatment was applied using sodium chloride in Hoagland nutrient solution at four levels of control (no stress), and mild (salinity 30 mM), moderate (salinity 60 mM), and severe (salinity 90 mM) stresses. According to the results, under salinity stress the growth indices, total carotenoids, and chlorophyll index decreased, but the activity of antioxidant enzymes and concentration of malondialdehyde and hydrogen peroxide increased in both subspecies. The wet and dry weight, carotenoids, hydrogen peroxide, and guaiacol peroxidase activity were obtained higher in subsp. hirtum than subsp. gracile. The percentage and essential oil composition were also affected by salinity. With increasing the salinity levels, the essential oil percentage was significantly increased compared to the control and its highest amount (0.8%) was observed under mild stress. Thirty five compounds were identified in both oregano subspecies essential oil. Carvacrol (30-72%: subsp. hirtum crarvacrol more than the other subsp.), γ-terpinene, carvacrol methyl ether, and p-cymene were the main components of both subspecies. The results of this study demonstrated the superiority of subsp. hirtum to the other oregano subspecies in terms of the tolerance to salinity stress and also quantitative and qualitative yields.

To investigate the effects of hydrogel on growth, yield, and some secondary metabolites of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa L.) under drought stress conditions, an experiment was conducted in a farm located in the south of Dalgan city, Sistan and Baluchestan province in the 2017-2018 crop year. This research was carried out as a split plot experiment in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The experimental treatments included drought stress as main plot at four levels (irrigation at FC (field capacity), 85% of FC, 70% of FC, and 55% of FC), and hydrogel consumption as sub plot at three levels (A200 hydrogel consumption, silicate hydrogel consumption, and no hydrogel consumption). The quantitative traits including plant height, number of sub-branches per plant, number of flower per plant, plant fresh and dry weight, sepal fresh and dry yield, and harvest index and qualitative traits including content of anthocyanin and sepal phenolic compounds were measured. The results showed that the highest amount of quantitative traits was obtained from full irrigation treatment with the consumption of A200 hydrogel. But there was no significant difference between this treatment and the treatments of full irrigation with silicate hydrogel consumption and full irrigation without hydrogel. Also, no significant difference was observed between the above three treatments and the treatments of both types of hydrogels application in 85% and 70% of FC. The qualitative traits increased with increasing the stress intensity. The hydrogel consumption in comparison with not consuming it led to a decrease in the amount of anthocyanin and sepal phenolic compounds due to the modification of stress conditions by hydrogel.

Salinity stress is one of the most important factors in reducing the crop yield in the world. The application of humic acid along with selenium can improve the plant yield under salinity stress conditions by increasing the antioxidant capacity. To evaluate the effects of humic acid and selenium application under salinity stress conditions in Calendula officinalis L., a factorial greenhouse experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications in Islamshahr city in 2018. The experimental treatments included sodium chloride (0, 50, and 100 mg l-1), humic acid (0, 100, and 200 mg l-1), and selenium (0, 5, and 10 mg l-1) and their combined effects. The results showed that increasing the salinity significantly reduced the fresh and dry weight of shoots and roots and number of flowers per plant. The foliar application of 200 mg l-1 humic acid and 10 mg l-1 selenium improved carotenoids content of the petals and total chlorophyll of the leaves at all salinity levels. Also, with increasing the sodium chloride level up to 100 mg l-1, the amount of proline increased significantly. Meanwhile, the interaction treatments of humic acid and selenium had significant effects (P≤0.0.1) on improving the activity of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase enzymes at different salinity levels. The highest amount of essential oil (1.37%) was obtained in the interaction treatment of 200 mg l-1 humic acid and 10 mg l-1 selenium under salinity stress of 50 mg l-1 sodium chloride. In general, the results of this study showed that the foliar application of 200 mg l-1 humic acid and 10 mg l-1 selenium could be effective in reducing the negative effects of salinity stress on  C. officinalis.

Forty eight damask rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) accessions from different parts of Iran (11 native accessions of Kermanshah and 37 accessions from other provinces of the country) were cultivated in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Mehregan research station, Kermanshah province in 2006-2011 and their yield, morphological, and phenological traits were studied. Each experimental plot consisted of three individual plants with a distance of 3 m × 3 m. The drip irrigation was carried out once every 10 days. Also, the chemical fertilizers and pesticides were not used in the field. The desired traits were recorded and analyzed after the seedlings establishment in the third to fifth years. The results of combined analysis of variance showed that all the studied traits were significantly different (P<0.01) between the experimental years and between the different accessions. The variance of accession × year interaction in all the traits was significant (P<0.01). According to the results, the accessions Kermanshah codes 10, 11, 2, and 3, Kurdistan 1, and Isfahan codes 7 and 4 could be introduced for the cultivation in the climatic conditions of Kermanshah province as the compatible accessions with suitable flower and essential oil yield.

Silybum marianum L., from fam. asteraceae, is a very important medicinal plant in the pharmaceutical industry due to its active ingredient silymarin. Silymarin is very effective in treating the liver diseases, hepatitis, and cardiovascular disorders. Since the potential and production speed of this medicinal compound is low in habitats under natural conditions, the use of genetic engineering and production of transgenic plants using the various techniques such as tissue culture has been considered in this plant. The first step in this direction is to obtain an in vitro regeneration protocol. In this study, the leaf explants obtained from the Hungarian cultivar of S. marianum were evaluated for the direct regeneration affected by different combinations of hormones. Six weeks after the culture, the highest shooting (57%) was observed in the ½ MS medium containing 0.4 mg l-1 zeatin, 0.2 mg l-1 BAP, and 0.2 mg l-1 NAA. The shoots were then transferred to the root culture medium with the different hormonal treatments. The results showed that the best treatment to obtain the long and high roots was the ½ MS medium containing 0.25 mg l-1 NAA and 2 g l-1 activated charcoal. The seedlings obtained from the direct regeneration grew well after transplanting into the soil.

To identify the appropriate detection methods of stable and adaptable genotypes for essential oil yield, an experiment was conducted on 35 Iranian Rosa damascena Mill. genotypes in a randomized complete block design with three replications in seven locations (Kurdistan, Markazi, Isfahan, Khuzestan, Fars, Kerman, and Khorasan Razavi provinces) during two years (2007-2008). The total mean of essential oil yield was obtained 0.029%. There were significant differences (P≤0.01) between genotypes, locations, environments or location-years, and also the interactions of genotype × location and genotype × environment in terms of essential oil yield. The positive correlation between environmental variance, coefficient of variation, and regression coefficient of yield over environments with essential oil yield showed that only the low essential oil yield genotypes had the similar phenotype in different environments (static stability). There was no stable genotype with the static regression concept and the essential oil production of stable genotypes by environmental variance was very small, but some adaptable genotypes by the environmental coefficient of variation (e.g. KM1) had moderate essential oil yield and yield stability at the same time. The stable genotypes according to the dynamic stability concept had moderate essential oil yield. The superiority index introduced the genotypes with the highest essential oil as the adaptable ones. The stable genotypes with the lowest variance of the years within locations produced the least essential oil. The results showed that a R. damascena genotype can demonstrate the static and dynamic stabilities with the high essential oil yield at the same time. The coefficient of variation, dynamic aspect of regression statistics, and superiority index could be suggested as the desirable statistics to evaluate different aspects (static and dynamic) of essential oil stability in R. damascena. In general, the genotypes IS3, KZ1, and CM1 with the moderate essential oil yield and its general stability and adaptability could be recommended for Iran.

Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the fam. lamiaceae that is used as a spice for flavoring foods and also for medicinal purposes as carminative, diaphoretic, expectorant, sedative, stomachic, diuretic, antitussive, and antirheumatic. To evaluate the effects of salinity stress on some growth and physiological parameters, essential oil content, and nutrients absorption in two oregano subspecies, a factorial pot experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications. The experimental factors included two subspecies of oregano (ssp. vulgare and ssp. gracile) and salinity stress at four levels (0, 25, 50, and 100 mM of NaCl). The results showed that the salinity stress had a significant effect on the measured parameters. With increasing the salinity level, the growth characteristics (plant height, stem diameter, number of leaves, and dry matter yield), leaf relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll index (SPAD), percentage and essential oil yield, N, P, and K content and K/Na ratio in leaves and roots decreased, while Na and Cl content in leaves and roots of both subspecies increased. The two subspecies response to the different levels of salinity stress was different. The higher Na accumulation in the roots and higher K/Na ratio in the leaves compared to the roots indicated the ability of oregano subspecies to limit the transfer and accumulation of Na+ ions in their shoots. Overall, the findings of this study showed that the ssp. vulgare had higher tolerance to the salinity stress than ssp. gracile due to the less accumulation of Na and Cl ions, higher K/Na ratio, and lower reduction in chlorophyll index and dry matter yield.

To investigate the effects of sex and fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum L.) seed powder on the growth performance, immune response, and intestinal microflora and morphology of broilers, a factorial experiment was conducted with 240 one-day-old broilers (strain Ross308, 120 males and 120 females) in a completely randomized design with three levels of fenugreek seed powder (zero, 0.5, and 1 %) and two sex (male and female) with four replications and 10 birds per replicate. The results showed that the body weight gain, feed intake, European efficiency factor, and intestinal Lactobacillus bacteria population were higher in the males than the females (P<0.05). The main effects of fenugreek seed powder and sex showed that the length and villi width and villus length to crypt depth ratio were higher in the intestine of chickens fed with the diet containing 1% fenugreek than the control and in the males than the females (P<0.05). The interactions showed that the length and villi width and villus length to crypt depth ratio were lower in the intestines of males fed with the control diet compared to the other groups (P<0.05). The antibody titer against the sheep red blood cells in the serum of chickens fed with the diet containing 1% fenugreek was higher than the control (P<0.05). In general, the results showed that adding 1% fenugreek seed powder to the broilers diet had beneficial effects and could improve the intestinal morphology and immune response.

To study the effects of different levels of iron and zinc chelates application and supplementary irrigation on the quantity and quality of Ferula assa-foetida L. asafetida, a factorial experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Neyriz City (Fars province) in 2018. The experimental treatments included the supplementary irrigation (no irrigation (control), once, and twice irrigation) and zinc and iron chelates foliar application (no foliar application (control), Zn (two per thousand) foliar application, Fe (two per thousand) foliar application, and combined Fe (1.5 per thousand) and Zn (1.5 per thousand) foliar application). The studied traits included the number of leaves, leaf length, crown diameter, aerial parts dry weight, plant survival percentage, concentration of elements Fe, Mn, Cu, and Zn in the aerial parts, asafetida weight, and essential oil content. The results showed that the supplementary irrigation increased the number of leaves, aerial parts dry weight, and survival percentage of the plant. Twice supplementary irrigation resulted in the highest aerial parts Fe content. Also, the iron and zinc chelates foliar application increased the leaf length and survival percentage of the plant compared to the control. The highest aerial parts Fe content was obtained by iron chelate foliar application. Under both supplementary and control irrigation conditions, the zinc and iron chelates foliar application significantly increased the plant volume by 1.5 times, asafetida weight by 2 to 2.8 times, and essential oil content by 0.6 to 0.9%. In addition, under no supplementary irrigation conditions, the highest aerial parts Mn content of the plant was obtained by zinc chelate foliar application as well as combined iron and zinc chelates foliar application, but under once and twice supplementary irrigation conditions, the foliar application had no significant effect on this parameter. Under both supplementary and control irrigation conditions, the highest aerial parts Cu content of the plant was observed in no foliar application treatment. The Zn foliar application caused the highest aerial parts Zn content of the plant. Therefore, it seems that the supplementary irrigation with the foliar application of iron and zinc chelates could increase the asafetida yield and essential oil content in F. assa-foetida by improving the growth characteristics.

Sorbus persica Hedl. is an Iranian endemic slow-growing tree (fam. rosaceae) and is endangered. It is important in terms of the gene storage, environmental protection, and medicinal uses. To in vitro propagate this species by the lateral bud culture, a factorial experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design in three levels of culture medium and three levels of cytokinin with three replications. For shooting, the DKW, WPM, and MS culture media containing the cytokinins BAP, Kin, and 2ip, and for rooting, the complete and modified DKW, WPM, and MS culture media containing the auxins NAA and IBA separately and in a consecutive application were investigated. The results showed that the best sterilization treatment was a consecutive application of sodium hypochlorite 20% (v/v, 15 min) and mercuric chloride 0.1% (3 min) in summer. The best proliferation and longitudinal growth of shoots was observed in the MS medium containing IBA (0.01 mg l-1), Kin (0.25 mg l-1), and BAP (3 mg l-1) growth regulators. Also, the best rooting was obtained in the DKW medium with a quarter of the concentration of macroelements containing the NAA+IBA hormones (0.3+0.3 mg l-1).