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The commercial production of essential oil in Mentha actually depends on the nutrient, fertilization and climatic conditions. Mentha canadensis is one of the Mentha species that produces menthol more than other species. In this study, the effects of organic and nitrogen (N) fertilizer to determine phytochemical, morphological and yield responses of this species were investigated. Experiments were carried out in 3 levels of N and combinations of these applied during the growing season of 2015. The result of this study showed that organic and N fertilizers had significantly effects on growth parameters and essential oil yield and content of menthol, menthone and menthofuran. The minimum percentage of menthol was 38.2 in the control and the maximum percentage of menthol was 41.6 in 15: 400 (organic: nitrogen) combination fertilizers. This increase in essential oil yield might be due to either an increase in vegetative growth or changes in monoterpenes biosynthesis.

Peptic Ulcer Disease (PUD) is the most common disorder of the stomach and duodenum, which is associated with Helicobacter pylori infection. PUD occurs due to an imbalance between offensive and defensive factors and Proton Pump Inhibitors (PPI), Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs) and antibiotics are frequently used for the treatment. Recently, medicinal plants have emerged as efficacious, safe and widely available alternative therapies for PUD. The aim of this review was to study the medicinal plants and phytochemicals, which have been used for PUD treatment to evaluate the potential role of natural compounds to develop herbal remedies for PUD. Information was obtained using a literature search of electronic databases, such as Web of Science, Google Scholar, PubMed, Sci Finder, Reaxys and Cochrane. Common and scientific names of the plants and keywords such as ‘peptic ulcer’, ‘gastric ulcer’, ‘stomach ulcer’ and ‘duodenal ulcer’ were used for search. Eventually, 279 plants from 89 families were identified and information on the plant families, part of the plant used, chemical constituents, extracts, ulcer model used and dosage were abstracted. The results indicated that most of the anti-PUD plants were from Asteraceae (7.1%) and Fabaceae (6.8%) families while flavonoids (49%), tannins (13%), saponins (10%) and alkaloids (9%) were the most common natural compounds in plants with anti-PUD activity.

The genus Mentha, which belongs to the mint family (Lamiaceae). Essential oil yield and chemical components of two Mentha species including Mentha longifolia (L.) Huds. and (Mentha spicata L.) collected from three ecotypes in Iran were investigated. The essential oils of samples were obtained by hydro-distillation, and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A significant difference (p < 0.05) in oil yields was obtained from the aerial parts of two Mentha species. The essential oil yields were obtained from the aerial of M. longifolia, 0.62, 0.85 and 1.24 ml / 100 g dry matter identified in Ardestan, Saman and Kuhrang province, respectively and the aerial of M. spicata, 0.49, 1.02 and 1.54 ml / 100 g dry matter identified in Ardestan, Saman and Kuhrang province, respectively. Results indicated significant differences (p < 0.01) among the aerial for the main constituents in the essential oil from two Mentha species. The major constituents of the essential oil from the aerial of M. longifolia collected from Ardestan province were pulegone (31.21%), 1,8-cineole (23.01%), sabinene (6.76%), the aerial of M. longifolia collected from Saman province were pulegone (31.06%), 1,8-cineole (24.34%), sabinene (7.45%) and the aerial of M. longifolia collected from Kuhrang province were pulegone (36.42%) and 1,8-cineole (29.49%). The major constituents of the essential oil from the aerial of M. spicata collected from Ardestan province were 1,8-cineole (35.28%), carvone (30.71%), the aerial of M. spicata collected from Saman province were carvone (35.37%), 1,8-cineole (24.35%), pulegone (18.67%) and the aerial of M. spicata collected from Kuhrang province were carvone (41.51%), 1,8-cineole (25.95%). Generally, a comparison of our results with the previous reports suggests differences in the essential oil compositions and oil yield of the plant material could be attributed to genetic diversity in two Menthe species.

Dracocephalum moldavica L. and Dracocephalum kotschyi Boiss. are aromatic plants belonging to Lamiaceae family. The aim of this study was to identify the chemical components of D. kotschyi and D. moldavica from Iran. The aerial parts of D. kotschyi were collected from (Kamu Mountain) Isfahan province and the aerial parts of D. moldavica were collected from Sari (Mazandaran province) North of Iran, during 2014. The essential oil was extracted by a Clevenger approach and analyzed using GC/MS. In total, 32 and 24 compounds were identified in the essential oil from the aerial parts D. kotschyi and D. moldavica, respectively. The results obtained in our study indicated that the major components in the oil D. kotschyi were limonene (23.56 %), carvacrol (14.65 %), γ-terpinene (12.99 %), α -pinene (12.62 %), 2-methyl-1-octen-3-yne (9.73 %), camphene (4.66 %), myrcene (3.65 %) and α -terpinene (3.12 %). The major constituents of the oil D. moldavica were geranyl acetate (36.62 %), geraniol (24.31 %), neral (16.25 %) and geranial (11.21 %). D. kotschyi is one of the important sources of limonene and D. moldavica is one of the important sources of geranyl acetate.