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Storage situation had important role in active substances quantity and quality of medicinal and aromatic plants. A little research was focused in secondary metabolite changes after extraction. In this research, a factorial experiment based on completely randomized design with three replications was conducted. Treatments were three levels of storage temperature including room temperature (21 ± 2 ° C), refrigerator temperature (4 ° C) and freezer temperature (–20 ° C) and three levels of storage time (T1: no storage, T2: three months storage, T3: six months storage). Essential oils after extraction by hydro-distillation method were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The results showed that, in each of the three storage temperatures, some compounds such as α-Thujene, β-Pinene, α-Phlandrene, α-Pinene, α-Terpinene, Myrcene and along with γ-Terpinene as Carvacrol precursors were decreased. However, Carvacrol content increased after 6 months, significantly. Also the amount of ρ-Cymene, β-Phellandrene were increased. The major constituent of the S. hortensis essential oil such as Carvacrol was increased in all three storage temperatures, so that the highest and the lowest increasing occurred at freezer and room temperatures, respectively. Storage of Summer savory essential oil in the freezer enhanced the quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satureja hortensis L. (summer savory) is herb from Lamiaceae plant family known by its usage in folk medicine and cooking. Despite these facts, this plant was not well studied regarding the application of nonconventional extraction techniques and utilization of prepared extracts. Thus, aim of this study was to prepare extract using conventional (maceration and Soxhlet) and non-conventional (ultrasound-assisted, microwave-assisted and subcritical water) approaches, to establish their chemical profile and biological activity using different assays and methods. Results confirmed the domination of subcritical water approach for isolation of natural compounds, following by microwave-assisted extraction. High performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (HPLC-PDA) analysis confirmed the presence and domination of rosmarinic acid in conventionally prepared extracts, while rutin and quercetin dominated in non-conventionally prepared ones. Antioxidant and cytotoxic assays followed the trends of previous analysis, where the highest activity was exhibited by subcritical extract. Thus, results showed that extracts may be applied in food and pharmaceutical industries for utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Variability of morphological traits, essential oil content and its composition and rosmarinic acid content of 30 Iranian accessions of Satureja hortensis L. was studied. Significant variation was observed among accessions for all the investigated traits. The accessions of Isfahan (53.0g/plant), Maraghe b (40.8g/plant) and Yasooj (39.5g/plant) showed high yield of drug fraction. The oil content varied between 0.5% in accession of Marivan to 2.9% in accession of Isfahan b. The essential oils of different accessions of S. hortensis were analyzed by GC-FID and GC–MS. Twenty nine components were identified in the oils and carvacrol (42.0–83.3%), γ-terpinene (0.5–28.5%) and p-cymene (1.0–17.1%) were the major components of all accessions. Qualitative and quantitative TLC analysis of rosmarinic acid content of methanolic extracts showed considerable variation ranging from 0.06% to 0.69% (w/w) of the dry matters which was lowest and highest in accessions of Sanandaj and Tabriz a, respectively. Due to the uniformity of cultivation and climatic conditions, variation of studied traits is related to genetic factors, therefore selection would be useful for their genetic improvement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Chitosan alleviates negative effect of water stress by osmotic adjustment in summer savory. • Chitosan can enhance biomass and dry matter of summer savory under severe water stress. • Chitosan application changes essential oil content and composition of summer savory. • Chitosan application affected the biochemical traits of summer savory under water stress. Water stress is the most common abiotic environmental factor that influenced the morphological and physiological traits of the plants. Application of antitranspirants substances such as chitosan can reduce water loss. Summer savory (Satureja hortensis L.) is one of the important medicinal and aromatic plants which is used in food and pharmaceutical industries. In this investigation, the response of summer savory to foliar application chitosan (acetic acid, 0, 0.5, 1 and 2 g/L) under three irrigation regimes (30, 60, and 90 % field capacity (FC), as a pot factorial experiment in randomized complete design with three replications, was evaluated. Chitosan and irrigation regimes treatments had significant effects on studied parameters, including biomass, dry matter, essential oil content, and composition as well as selected physiological characteristics comprising photosynthetic pigments, osmotic adjustment, total phenolic content, and antioxidant activities of the extract of summer savory. The results showed that chitosan application was useful under severe water stress (30 % FC) and 2 g/L of chitosan improved total phenolic, total soluble sugar and proline contents, antioxidant activity, and essential oil content of the plant. Elicitation of summer savory with chitosan under water stress modified essential oil compositions such as carvacrol, γ-terpinene, and p -cymene. In conclusion, the findings of the present experiment indicated that chitosan could be a favorable material used to decrease the deleterious effect of water stress. Furthermore, the chitosan spraying can behave beneficial effects on the essential oil quality and quantity as well as osmotic adjustment, antioxidant activity, and growth of summer savory under water stress conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]