Phytochemical properties of essential oil from Artemisia sieberi Besser (Iranian accession) and its antioxidant and antifungal activities.

In this study, the phytochemical profile, the essential oil composition of an Iranian accession of Artemisia sieberi and their antioxidant and antifungal properties were investigated. The amount of essential oil yield was 1.5% (w/v) and twenty two components were identified by GC-MS analysis being camphor (33.64%), 1,8-cineole (25.66%) and chrysanthenone (7.86%) the major compounds. The amount of total polyphenols and flavonoids, total ascorbic acid and carotenoid content of A. sieberi extract were determined, and resulted in 666.26 mg GAE/100g DW, 54.77 mg QUE/100g DW, 153.585 mg/100g DW, and 907.18 mg/100g FW, respectively. Highest antioxidant activity based on DPPH bioassay was recorded in essential oil (84.04%) and extract (89.33%). Furthermore, the essential oil of A. sieberi tested for its antifungal activity, demonstrated to reduce significantly the mycelium growth rate of Botrytis cinerea, that is, no mycelial growth was observed at concentrations 1000 and 1500 µll-1.

Composition, Antifungal, Phytotoxic, and Insecticidal Activities of Thymus kotschyanus Essential Oil.

Essential oils (EOs) are some of the outstanding compounds found in Thymus that can exert antifungal, phytotoxic, and insecticidal activities, which encourage their exploration and potential use for agricultural and food purposes. The essential oils (EO) obtained from Thymus kotschyanus collected in the East Azerbaijan Province (Iran) were characterized using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Thymol was the most important compound (60.48%), although 35 other active compounds were identified in the EO. Significant amounts of carvacrol (3.08%), p-cymene (5.56%), and γ-terpinene (6.67%) were found in the EO. The T. kotschyanus EO was tested against important phytopathogenic fungi (Botrytis cinerea, Aspergillus niger, and Penicillium expansum). The antifungal assay showed that the use of ≥500 ppm of EO resulted in a fungicidal effect against all funguses tested. In a similar way, the use of ≥500 ppm of EO inhibited the germination of all crop weed seeds (Amaranthus retroflexus L. and Panicum miliaceum L.) and their subsequent growth, which demonstrated its herbicidal effect. Finally, the insecticidal capacity of T. kotschyanus EO was also observed against selected insects (Oryzaephilus surinamensis and Sitophilus oryzae). O. surinamensis was more susceptible to the effect of EO (LC50 = 4.78 µL/L air) than S. oryzae (LC50 = 13.20 µL/L air). The obtained results of the present study can provide new safe resources to the development of new products for the food, agriculture, and pharmaceutical industries.

Bioactivity of malva sylvestris L., a medicinal plant from iran.

OBJECTIVES: Malva sylvestris L. (Malvaceae), an annual plant, has been already commonly used as a medicinal plant in Iran. In the present work, we evaluate some bioactivities of the plant extracts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The aired-dried plant flowers and leaves were extracted by soxhlet apparatus with n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol. The antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and phytotoxic of the plant extracts were evaluated using disk diffusion method, MTT, and Lettuce assays, respectively. RESULTS: Both flowers and leaves of M. sylvestris methanol extracts exhibited strong antibacterial effects against Erwinia carotovora, a plant pathogen, with MIC value of 128 and 256 µg/ml, respectively. The flowers extract also showed high antibacterial effects against some human pathogen bacteria strains such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Entrococcus faecalis, with MIC value of 192, 200 and 256 µg/ml, respectively. The plant methanol extracts had relatively high cytotoxic activity against MacCoy cell line. CONCLUSION: We concluded that Malva sylvestris can be candidated as an antiseptic, a chemopreventive or a chemotherapeutic agent.