1,721,045 research outputs found
A mathematical approach for estimating light absorption by a crop from continuous radiation measurements and restricted absorption data
No full textEffect of harvest time and low water availability during balsamic period on Salvia officinalis L. biomass development, ecophysiological traits and essential oil yield and composition
No full textSage (Salvia officinalis L.) is cultivated in many countries due to the medicinal and industrial importance of its essential oil (EO). The yield and quality of the crops to be included in the medicinal plant supply chain should be constant, but often this is not the case since they are both influenced by environmental variability and crop management. We therefore studied the influence of water availability and harvest time, during the balsamic period, on a sage crop cultivated at an experimental field site in the Molise Region (South-central Italy), evaluating the main agronomic and ecophysiological traits in terms of plant biomass production and photosynthetic performance. The yield and composition of the essential oils, extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and CG/MS, were also evaluated. The well-watered crops harvested 42 days after beginning of flowering, exhibited higher dry biomass yield than rainfed plants as well as higher values of relative water content, photosynthesis and leaf CO2 conductance. Instead, at the same time (after 42 days) the EO content was higher in rainfed plants then in well-watered ones, in which it remained constant throughout all the harvesting period. All the EOs were rich in bioactive compounds such as α-thujone, β-thujone, camphor and borneol, but only in well-watered plants the content was constant throughout all the harvesting periods. In fact, the EO of rainfed plants analyzed over the harvest time was mainly rich at the beginning in camphor and borneol, whereas in the middle in α-thujone. Our study demonstrates that the crop performance is greatly influenced by the water availability during the balsamic period. The results of this study provide new knowledge to produce sage oil of adequate quality for the different uses
Correlation among environmental factors, chemical composition and antioxidative properties of essential oil and extracts of chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) collected in Molise (South-central Italy)
No full textGerman chamomile is found growing wild in many countries, but the amount of drug required due to its both medicinal and industrial importance is produced also by large-scale cultivation. Environment variability always affects the crop yield; for reproducible drug quality, appropriate knowledge of the influence of environmental conditions seems to be necessary. We studied the effect of environment on crop yield and on the chemical composition of the essential oils of different chamomile samples, which were cultivated at thirteen experimental sites in South-central Italy (Molise) in different growing environments. GC/MS analysis of the essential oils revealed the presence of cis-tonghaosu, spathulenol, a-bisabolol oxide B and b-bisabolol oxide A as main compounds in all the samples but their percentages in each plant were greatly different. Antioxidant activities of the essential oils and methanol extracts were also evaluated by DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing ability (FRAP) assay, along with the phenolic and flavonoid contents of the polar extracts. Our study demonstrates that the crop performance was greatly influenced by the pedo-climatic conditions, and particularly altitude and fertility of the environment and the crop management increased chamomile crop yield. The results of this study provide new knowledge to produce chamomile flowers of adequate qualit
Variation of Malva sylvestris essential oil yield, chemical composition and biological activity in response to different environments across Southern Italy
No full textMallow grows wild in many countries, and the amount of drug required as functional food or even pharmafood, due to its both medicinal and industrial importance, is produced almost entirely from wild harvest. We studied the effect of environment on crop yield, biological activity and composition of the essential oils of different mallow samples. GC–MS analysis of the essential oils revealed the presence of phenolics and fatty acids that were the main compounds in all the samples. Antioxidant activities of the essential oils were evaluated by DPPH radical-scavenging activity and FRAP assay. Antimicrobial activity was determined by using the broth dilution method. Samples were also evaluated for their anti-inflammatory properties verifying their inhibitory effects on nitric oxide production in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. All essential oils inhibited NO production in cell supernatants in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, antiproliferative activity was assessed on three human cancer cell lines: cells MCF-7 and SKBr3, and cells C32. Our study demonstrates that the crop performance was greatly influenced by the pedo-climatic conditions, and particularly fertility of the environment and the crop management that increased also mallow crop yield. The results of this study provide new knowledge to produce adequate quality of mallow oil
Bioactivities of Lavandula angustifolia essential oil against the stored grain pest Sitophilus granarius.
Full text linkImprovement medicinal plants production in Molise: climatic characteristics and cultivation strategy can affect on growth, yield and the ecophysiology
No full textAlcune colture erbacee possono variare le rese quali-quantitative in risposta a particolari condizioni ambientali e alla tecnica colturale. Per ogni essenza vegetale deve essere individuato, quindi, un ambiente di coltivazione e delle tecniche colturali adatte a valorizzare la resa e la qualità dell’essenza prodotta. L’innovativo obiettivo di tale studio è: quantificare gli effetti della tecnica agronomica e dell’ambiente pedo-climatico sull’accrescimento, l’ecofisiologia e la resa quali-quantitativa di diverse specie officinali. La sperimentazione è avvenuta su cinque essenze vegetali: elicriso, lavanda, melissa, rosmarino e salvia. La coltivazione è stata effettuata in diversi ambienti molisani caratterizzati da un clima tipico dell’areale costiero, collinare e pedomontano. Le tecniche colturali adottate in tutti i campi sono state le seguenti: aratura, preparazione del letto di trapianto, trapianto, concimazione pre-semina (50 unità per ettaro di azoto, 90 di fosforo e 50 di potassio), concimazione in copertura (50 unità per ettaro di azoto), scerbature, sarchiatura ed irrigazione. A fine ciclo colturale e nel periodo balsamico sono stati misurati parametri agronomici (resa in cimette e fiori, accumulo di sostanza secca ecc), parametri eco-fisiologici (fotosintesi, conduttanza stomatica ecc) parametri biochimici (attività della Rubisco ecc). Sulle stesse foglie su cui sono state effettuate le misure eco fisiologiche, sono stati misurati i principali costituenti dell’olio essenziale mediate GC-MS. I risultati evidenziano un influenza positiva dell’irrigazione e della regimazione delle acque in eccesso sulla resa delle specie oggetto di studio. La tecnica colturale, soprattutto negli ambienti più marginali ha dato i risultati migliori, dimostrando che semplici investimenti in termini di accorgimenti colturali, come la sarchiatura e la scerbatura, possono incrementare le rese stimolando l’efficienza fotosintetica. Interessanti sono stati i risultati ottenuti in ambienti difficili del basso Molise, a testimonianza di una elevata adattabilità, delle specie studiate, in tutti gli ambienti molisani provati. Dal punto di vista qualitativo i siti migliori per il contenuto in terpeni per unità di sostanza secca, sono quelli presenti in alta collina, dove le condizioni ambientali stimolano il metabolismo secondario. Lo studio, inoltre, ha evidenziato che è possibile modulare la presenza o meno e la quantità di molecole caratteristiche variando la tecnica colturale e/o l’ambiente di coltivazione in maniera opportuna. In futuro sarà possibile pianificare la qualità di un olio essenziale semplicemente scegliendo un ambiente adatto e una strategia agronomica adatta.The environmental and the crop production strategy can influence the yield of production and mostly the quality of the economically important organic compounds.
These study was interested to examine how some officinal plant can grow, and produce characteristic organic compounds in response to the environment and to the production crop strategy.
The screening was conducted on five officinal plants typically of the Molise : Helicrisum, lavender, common balm, rosemary and common sage. Three different natural environments were chosen for the cultivation on the territories of Molise region: marine climate, hill climate and mountain climate. The production crop strategy was planned using normal agronomic techniques: the tillage, bed preparation, transplanting, planting, fertilizing pre-sowing (50 units per acre of nitrogen, 90 phosphorous and 50 potassium) fertilizer (50 units nitrogen per hectare), weeding and irrigation.
To evaluate the growing, the physiology and the oil production, during the balsamic period, agronomical (leaf area, dry matter etc), physiological ( photosynthesys, stomata conductance etc), biochemical ( Rubisco activity etc) parameters were assayed on the same samples. In the same time was monitored also the quality of the essential oil production by GC-MS.
The results showed that good agronomic practice as continuously weeding and water regulation improved the crop yield stimulating the photosynthetic activity. The plant species monitorated were showed a great adaptability mostly in marine climate region. The more productive region for the yield and quality of essential oil was the hill climate, where the climate environmental can stimulate the secondary plant metabolism. The most important result evidences that the agronomical practice can regulate the physiological dynamic and can modulate the amount and the presence of the constituent characteristic of each essential oil; in future will be possible to plan the quality of an essential oil simply choosing an appropriate enviroment and a suitable agronomical strategy.Dottorato di ricerca in Difesa e qualità delle produzioni agro-alimentari e forestali (XXIV ciclo
Nutrienti in sistemi animali e vegetali: metabolismo degradativo di derivati vitaminici in mitocondri animali; effetto di stress salino su sintesi e captazione di nutrienti in sistemi vegetali
No full textDottorato di ricerca in biochimica e fisiologia della nutrizione. 9. ciclo. A.a. 1993-96Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - P.za Cavalleggeri, 1, Florence / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal
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