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Many medicinal plants have natural antioxidant properties. In this study, the chemical composition of Mentha aquatica L. essential oil was determined and antioxidant properties of essential oils and methanolic extracts, ethanolic extracts, acetonic extracts and aqueous extracts were studied. Also, Phenolics, flavonoids and tannins contents of all the mentioned extracts were determined. The essential oil of the dried flowering aerial part of wild water mint is extracted by hydrodistillation. The essential oil was analyzed by capillary GC and GC-MS. The Folin-Ciocalteu method was adopted to determine the total phenols content while flavonoids were estimated according to the aluminum chloride colorimetric method. To evaluate tannins content, vanillin and HCl were added to the extracts. The antioxidant potential was measured by 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging and the inhibition of ß-carotene bleaching assays. The main components of essential oil were pipritenone oxide (37.80%), 1, 8-cineole (24.13%), a-gurjunene (11.96%) and pulegone (4.64%). The antioxidant properties of the essential oil were more considerable than all the other extracts. The antioxidant properties and total phenolics, flavonoids and tannins contents of methanolic extracts, ethanolic extracts and acetonic extracts were larger than the aqueous extract. These results show that essential oils, methanolic extracts, ethanolic extracts and acetonic extracts of M. aquatica from Southern Khorasan of Iran have a great potential of polyphenols which can be used as a natural food preservative and antioxidant source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Barberry (Berberis vulgaris L.) is exclusively and widely cultivated in the South Khorasan province of Iran. This experiment aimed to evaluate the foliar application of urea, boric acid, iron sulfate, zinc sulfate, and copper sulfate effects on the nutrient content of leaf, yield, and physicochemical properties of barberry fruit. The experimental design was a randomized complete block as factorial with three replications. In the current research, urea with three levels (0, 1 and 2%), boric acid, iron sulfate, zinc sulfate and copper sulfate, each with three levels (0, 1500 and 2500 mg/L), and all of the fertilizers have been sprayed on barberry before full bloom at the rate of 3 L/tree. Concentrations of nitrogen, boron, iron and zinc in treated leaves of the trees were significantly higher than the untreated trees. Asignificant increase in yield was found by the application of 1% and 2% urea and foliar spraying all of the fertilizers together with all concentrations compared to the control. Also, the fruit weight was significantly enhanced using 1% and 2% urea, foliar spraying of all the fertilizers together (urea 2% + other fertilizers each 2500 mg/L) and iron sulfate 2500 mg/L compared to control. Foliar spraying of fertilizers (urea 2% + other fertilizers each 2500 mg/L) brought about the highest fruit weight (0.38 g). Urea, boric acid and foliar spraying of all the fertilizers with different concentrations significantly increased pH, total anthocyanin and total soluble solids and significantly decreased total acids in comparison with the control. It can be concluded that foliar application of urea with concentrations of 1% and 2% increased the content of leaf nitrogen, yield, TSS, total anthocyanin, and pH of barberry fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulicaria gnaphalodes (Vent.) Boiss. is a medicinal plant perennial and herbaceous belong to Asteraceae family which grows in some parts of Iran. In order to investigate the effect of two sowing dates (May 3 and 23) and nitrogen rates (0, 80, 160, and 240 kg N/ha) on morphological traits, yield and yield components and essential oil yield of P. gnaphalodes aerial parts, a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete block design with three replications was carried out in research field of Birjand branch, Islamic Azad University, Birjand, Iran in 2018. The results of analysis of variance showed that the simple and interaction effects of sowing date and nitrogen rate significantly affected plant height, number of main branch, number of capitols per plant, seed yield, dry weight and percentage of essential oil produced by the aerial parts at 1% level. In addition, the number of secondary branches, canopy diameter, number of seed per capitols and 1000-seed weight were affected by the nitrogen content at 1% level. The effect of sowing date on the number of main branches and canopy diameter was significant at the 1% level and on 1000-seed weight was significant at 5% level. Means comparison of simple effect of sowing date showed that plant height, number of main branches per plant, number of secondary branches per plant, canopy diameter, number of capitols per plant, 1000-seed weight, seed yield, and dry weight of the aerial parts had a significant superiority in the sowing date of May 3 compared to May 23, by 15.7, 19, 12.1, 10, 51.4, 15.8, 88.3 and 33.1%, respectively. Increasing the application of nitrogen to 240 kg N/ha also significantly increased the mentioned traits by 24, 41.2, 17.6, 29.3, 82.6, 115.3, 36.2, and 187.3%, respectively compared to 0 kg N/ha (control). Means comparison of interaction effect between sowing date and nitrogen rate showed that the maximum plant height (68.50 cm), number of main branches per plant (17 branches per plant), number of capitols per plant (170), seed yield (322.87 kg/ha) and dry weight of the aerial parts (1808.52 kg/ha) were obtained in the treatment of the sowing date of May 3 with application of 240 kg N/ha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Berberis integerrima L. belongs to the Berberidaceae family and is one of the small fruits with many medicinal properties, which is considered among the horticultural products with high plant diversity and favorable genetic reserves. This research aimed to study barberry's phenological, morpho-physiological, and biochemical attributes in five different habitats in Kerman province, Iran (Bam, Jiroft, Anbarabad, Raber, and Baft) during 2019-2020. The results of the phenological traits showed that the Jiroft and Anbarabad habitats have the maximum number of days until the end of vegetative growth, the number of days from activation of buds to the beginning of fruit formation, the number of days until the physiological maturity of the fruit, the number of days from activation of buds to fruit coloring, and the lowest number of days until flowering. The mean comparison showed that in terms of yield, the investigated habitats from the highest production to the lowest included Anbarabad> Baft> Bam> Rabar> Jiroft. The highest average traits of panicle length (43.38 cm), number of fruits per panicle (26.6), 1000-fruit weight (141.9 g), 1000-seedless fruit weight (128.4 g), seed length (1.16 mm), seed diameter (0.97 mm), fruit length and diameter (19.03 and 5.41 mm), yield (16.69 kg per stem), and the number of thorns 10 cm (13.5 pieces) was observed in Anbarabad habitat. The yield was negatively and significantly correlated with fruit length, titratable acidity, anthocyanin, DPPH, and phenol. Interestingly, soil nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium had a positive effect on increasing the barberry yield. On the other hand, increasing the longitude, latitude, and altitude decreases yield. Anbarabad and Jiroft habitats had the highest and lowest averages of pH, titratable acidity, total soluble solids, chlorophyll, and carotenoid content, respectively. Generally, the results of this study indicate a high genetic diversity in phenological, morphological, chemical, and physiological aspects in different habitats. Moreover, the results showed that Anbarabad was significantly superior in phenological, morphological, yield, and phytochemical traits compared to other ecotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]