There are 10 species of juniper ( Juniperus L., Cupressaceae) in the European flora, six of which ( J. communis, J. oxycedrus, J. pygmaea, J. sabina, J. sibirica, and J. excelsa ) are found in the Flora of Bulgaria. Of these, J. excelsa is monoecious and the other five species are dioecious. The objective of this study was to compare the essential oil (EO) composition, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and insecticidal activities of the male (M) and female (F) plants from the five dioecious species. A secondary objective was to compare extraction methods; Clevenger vs semi-commercial steam distillation on the EO yield, profile, and bioactivity of the juniper species. The concentration of α-pinene, β-caryophyllene, δ-cadinene, and δ-cadinol was different between the oils of M and F plants within all five species. Male and F plants of J. pygmaea , J. sabina , and J. sibirica had significantly different concentrations of sabinene within the respective species. In some cases, the EO of M and F plants had different antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. The extraction method, Clevenger vs semi-commercial steam distillation was also significant on the antioxidant capacity of the EOs within most juniper species. Overall, the EO obtained from the semi-commercial extraction was more consistent within a species with respect to antioxidant capacity compared with the oils obtained using the Clevenger-type extraction. However, the oils obtained via Clevenger extraction showed greater antioxidant capacity within a species compared with those from semi-commercial extraction. In two separate experiments, seven of the juniper oils ( J. communis -F, J. communis -M, J. oxycedrus -M, J. pygmaea -F, J. pygmaea -M, J. sibirica -F, and J. sibirica -M) were tested for repellent and insecticidal activities against Rhopalosiphum padi (bird cherry-oat aphid) и Sitobion avenae (English grain aphid). All of the tested oils had significant repellent and insecticidal activities against the two aphid species at concentrations of the EO in the solution at 1%, 2.5%, and 5%. The results suggest that when reporting EO composition, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and insecticidal activity of juniper EO, the sex of the tree and the extraction method needs to be indicated along with the species. The results may benefit industry utilizing juniper leaf oil for new product development.
Peppermint (Mentha × piperita L.) and spearmints ('Scotch' spearmint, M. × gracilis Sole, and 'Native' spearmint, Mentha spicata L.) are widely grown essential oil crops in more northern latitudes; however, there is limited information on how harvest time and drying influence peppermint and spearmint yield, oil composition, and bioactivity, when grown south of the 41st parallel. In this 2-year study, the effects of harvest time and drying on the yield, oil composition, and bioactivity of peppermint ('Black Mitcham' and 'B90-9'), 'Scotch' spearmint, and 'Native' spearmint were evaluated. Peppermint oil from the dried material had higher menthol and eucalyptol concentrations. Menthone in both peppermint cultivars decreased from harvest 1 (late June) to harvest 5 (late August) or 6 (early September), whereas menthol increased. (−)-Carvone in spearmints accumulated early, before flowering, allowing for early harvest. Oil yields from the dried spearmint biomass reached the maximum at harvest 3 (mid-July). The essential oil compositions of the four mint genotypes were similar to that of 11 commercially available oils, suggesting that these genotypes can be grown in the hot, humid environment of the southeastern United States. The antioxidant activities (ORACoil values) of the essential oils were 4372, 1713, 1107, and 471 μmol of TE L−1 for 'Scotch' spearmint, 'Native' spearmint, peppermint, and Japanese cornmint (Mentha canadensis), respectively. The oils of the four mint genotypes did not affect ruminal fermentation in vivo, and did not exhibit antimicrobial, antileishmanial, or antimalarial activity at levels that would warrant bioassay-directed fractionation in a drug-discovery screening program. Specifically, the oils did not show greater than 50% growth inhibition against Leishmania donovani, Plasmodium falciparum clones D6 and W2, Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Cryptococcus neoformans, Mycobacterium intracellulare, or Aspergillus fumigates at 50 μg mL−1.
Garden sage ( Salvia officinalis L.) is a medicinal, culinary, ornamental, and essential oil plant with a wide range of ecological adaptation. Garden sage essential oil traditionally is extracted by steam distillation from the above-ground biomass and has widespread applications as an aromatic agent in the food and pharmaceutical industries as well as in perfumery and cosmetics. The hypothesis of this study was that the steam distillation time (DT) may significantly affect essential oil yield and composition of garden sage and, therefore, DT could be used as a tool to obtain oil with different composition. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate the effect of various steam DTs (1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160 minutes) on garden sage oil yield and composition. Most of the oil in the garden sage dry herbage was extracted in 10-minute DT; extending DT up to 160 minutes did not significantly increase oil yields. Overall, 39 oil constituents were identified in the garden sage essential oil. Fourteen oil constituents with the highest concentration in the oil were selected for statistical analyses. Monoterpenes represented the major percentage (58.2% to 84.1%) of oil composition followed by sesquiterpenes (4.0% to 16.1%) and diterpenes (0.3% to 7.6%). Overall, the monoterpene hydrocarbons (α-pinene, camphene, β-pinene, myrcene, and limonene) were eluted early in the steam distillation process, which resulted in their high concentration in the oil at 5- to 10-minute DT and relatively low concentrations in the oil obtained at 160-minute DT. In general, the concentration of sesquiterpenes (β-caryophyllene, α-humulene, and verdifloral) increased with increasing duration of the DT and reached their respective maximum concentrations in the oil at 160-minute DT. The relative concentrations of major constituents, camphor and cis-thujone, in the oil obtained at 2.5-minute DT were higher than in the oils obtained at longer DT. Therefore, if oil with high concentrations of camphor and cis-thujone is desirable, garden sage dried biomass ought to be steam distilled for 2.5 to 5 minutes and the oil collected. If oil with a high concentration of monoterpene hydrocarbons and a high concentration of oxygenated monoterpenes is desirable, then garden sage should be distilled for 20 minutes. If oil with a high concentration of the diterpene manool is desirable, then garden sage should be steam-distilled for 80 minutes. If oil with a high concentration of sesquiterpenes is desirable, then garden sage should be steam-distilled for 160 minutes. The duration of steam distillation can be used as an economical method to obtain garden sage oil with a different chemical composition. The regression models developed in this study can be used to predict garden sage oil yield and composition distilled for various amounts of time and to compare literature reports in which different durations of DT were used.
Rocky Mountain juniper ( Juniperus scopulorum Sarg.) is an evergreen dioecious tree (produces male and female plants). The pleasant aroma and the medicinal value of this species are the result of the essential oil. The hypothesis of this study was that the essential oil content and composition may be different in male and in female trees and also may be affected with seasonal changes throughout the year. The objective was to evaluate year-round variations in essential oil composition of Rocky Mountain juniper within single male and female trees. The concentration of essential oil in fresh leaves varied from 0.335% to 0.799%, and at most sampling points, the oil content in the biomass of the male tree was greater than that in the biomass of the female tree. There was a trend toward increased essential oil content in male juniper in 220 to 342 days after the first sampling (DAFS), compared with the one in 35 to 184 DAFS. The concentrations of the oil constituents alpha-pinene, alpha-terpinene, gamma-terpinene, terpinolene, pregeijerene B, elemol, beta-eudesmol/alpha-eudesmol, and 8-alpha-acetoxyelemol were greater in the oil of the female tree than in the oil of the male tree. Conversely, the concentrations of alpha thujene, sabinene, myrcene, limonene, and delta-cadinene were greater in the oil of the male tree than in the oil of the female tree. However, the concentration gradient trends for both female and male trees were similar for myrcene and sabinene, for alpha-terpinene and terpinolene, for pereijerene B and elemol, and for beta-eudesmol/alpha-eudesmol and 8-alpha-acetoxyelemol. Overall, lower concentrations in the oils at 101 to 132 or 163 DAFS were found for myrcene and alpha-pinene sabinene, whereas the concentrations of gamma-terpinene, elemol (female tree), beta-eudesmol/alpha-eudesmol (female tree), and 8-alpha-acetoxyelemol (female tree) were greater during this period. This study demonstrated that the content and composition of the essential oil from Rocky Mountain juniper are subject to seasonal changes and also depend on the sex of the tree.
Response to irradiance of leaf net photosynthetic rates (P N) of four carrot cultivars: Cascade, Caro Choice (CC), Oranza, and Red Core Chantenay (RCC) were examined in a controlled environment. Gas exchange measurements were conducted at photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) from 100 to 1 000 μmol m-2 s-1 at 20 °C and 350 μmol (CO2) mol-1(air). The values of P N were fitted to a rectangular hyperbolic nonlinear regression model. P N for all cultivars increased similarly with increasing PAR but Cascade and Oranza generally had higher P N than CC. None of the cultivars reached saturation at 1 000 μmol m-2 s-1. The predicted P N at saturation (P Nmax) for Cascade, CC, Oranza, and RCC were 19.78, 16.40, 19.79, and 18.11 μmol (CO2) m-2 s-1, respectively. The compensation irradiance (I c) occurred at 54 μmol m-2 s-1 for Cascade, 36 μmol m-2 s-1 for CC, 45 μmol m-2 s-1 for Oranza, and 25 μmol m-2 s-1 for RCC. The quantum yield among the cultivars ranged between 0.057-0.033 mol(CO2) mol-1(PAR) and did not differ. Dark respiration varied from 2.66 μmol m-2 s-1 for Cascade to 0.85 μmol m-2 s-1 for RCC. As P N increased with PAR, intercellular CO2 decreased in a non-linear manner. Increasing PAR increased stomatal conductance and transpiration rate to a peak between 600 and 800 μmol m-2 s-1 followed by a steep decline resulting in sharp increases in water use efficiency.
Background and Objective: Understanding egg quality traits of indigenous chicken ecotypes under farmersʼ management conditions is very important for designing and implementing environment friendly and community based holistic genetic and performance improvement strategies.This study was conducted to compare three ecotypes (lowland, midland and highland) in Tigray, Ethiopia in terms of their external and internal egg quality traits and to determine relationships among these traits.Materials and Methods: From each ecotype, 50 fresh eggs were used to measure external egg quality traits (egg weight, shell weight, shell ratio, egg length, egg width and egg shape index) and internal egg quality traits (albumen weight, albumen ratio, yolk weight, yolk ratio, albumen height, yolk height, yolk to albumen ratio, Haugh unit and yolk color).One-way ANOVA was used to compare the ecotypes and correlation analysis was used to determine relationships among the traits.Results: Three ecotypes were significantly different on all traits except shell ratio and yolk color.In all other external traits, highland ecotype had higher mean values than midland and lowland had the lowest mean values.Highland also had higher mean values in the internal traits other than albumen ratio whereas lowland had higher mean values than both highland and midland ecotypes.The strength of the significant correlations among the external traits, among internal traits and between external and internal traits varied with ecotype.Conclusion: The differences in the quality of local chicken eggs from the three ecotypes suggest that there is a need for customized genetic and performance improvement strategies.
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