The favorable impacts of cardamom on related complications of diabetes: A comprehensive literature systematic review.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Complementary and alternative medicine plays an increasing role in preventing, and regulatory, complications associated with diabetes. There are plenty of polyphenolic compounds found in Elettaria cardamomum (Cardamom) such as luteolin, limonene, pelargonidin, caffeic acid, kaempferol, gallic acid, and quercetin which can be used in many metabolic diseases. METHOD: The objective of this systematic review was to appraise evidence from clinical and in vivo studies on the effects of cardamom on inflammation, blood glucose, oxidative stress and dyslipidemia of diabetes mellitus. According to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statements, the present study was carried out. Studies were conducted by searching databases such as EMBASE, Scopus, PubMed, Google Scholar, web of sciences, and Cochrane Library from the commencement until April 2022. RESULTS: All available human and animal studies examining the effects of cardamom on diabetes were published in the form of English articles. Finally, only 14 of the 241 articles met the criteria for analysis. Of the 14 articles, 8 were in vivo studies, and 6 were clinical trial studies. Most studies have indicated the beneficial effects of cardamom on insulin resistance, oxidative stress and inflammation. Cardamom also improved dyslipidemia, but had no substantial effect on weight loss. CONCLUSION: According to most studies, cardamom supplementation enhanced antioxidant enzyme production and activity in diabetes mellitus and decreased oxidative stress and inflammatory factors. Despite this, the exact mechanism of the disease needs to be identified through more clinical trials.

Integrated plant nutrient system - with special emphasis on mineral nutriton and biofertilizers for Black pepper and cardamom - A review.

Integrated Plant Nutrition System (IPNS) as a concept and farm management strategy embraces and transcends from single season crop fertilization efforts to planning and management of plant nutrients in crop rotations and farming systems on a long-term basis for enhanced productivity, profitability and sustainability. It is estimated that about two-thirds of the required increase in crop production in developing countries will have to come from yield increases from lands already under cultivation. IPNS enhances soil productivity through a balanced use of soil nutrients, chemical fertilizers, combined with organic sources of plant nutrients, including bio-inoculants and nutrient transfer through agro-forestry systems and has adaptation to farming systems in both irrigated and rainfed agriculture. Horticultural crops, mainly plantation crops, management practices include application of fertilizers and pesticides which become inevitable due to the depletion of soil organic matter and incidence of pests and diseases. The extensive use of chemical fertilizers in these crops deteriorated soil health that in turn affected the productivity. To revitalize soil health and to enhance productivity, it is inexorable to enrich the soil using microorganisms. The lacunae observed here is the lack of exploitation of indigenous microbes having the potential to fix atmospheric nitrogen (N) and to solubilize Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). The concept of biofertilizer application appears to be technically simple and financially feasible, but the task of developing biofertilizers with efficient strains in appropriate combinations in a consortia mode is not easier. More than developing consortia, a suitable delivery system to discharge the microbial inoculants warranted much effort. This review focuses on the integrated plant nutrition system incorporating biofertilizer with special emphasis on developing and formulating biofertilizer consortium.

Performance of an age series of Alnus-cardamom plantations in the Sikkim Himalaya: nutrient dynamics.

Nutrient cycling, nutrient use efficiency and nitrogen fixation in an age series of Alnus-cardamom plantations were studied in the eastern Himalaya. The impact of stand age (5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 years) on the nutrient dynamics of mixtures of N2-fixing (Alnus nepalensis) and non-N2-fixing (large cardamom) plants was assessed. Foliar nutrient concentrations of Alnus decreased with advancing age groups of plantations and showed an inverse relationship with stand age. Annual N fixation increased from the 5-year-old stand (52 kg ha(-1)), peaking in the 15-year-old stand (155 kg ha(-1)) and then decreased with increasing plantation age. Nitrogen and phosphorus uptake was lowest in the 40-year-old stand, and highest in the 15- and 5-year-old stand, respectively. Nutrient storage in understorey cardamom was very high: up to 31 % N and 59 % P of the stand total in the 15-year-old stand. Nutrient use efficiency was higher (with faster turnover times) in younger stands and decreased (with slower turnover times) in older plantations. Nitrogen retranslocation showed a strong positive relationship with stand age, while that of P was inversely related to stand age. Nutrient standing stock, uptake and return were also highest in the 15-year-old stand. Nitrogen and P cycling in Alnus-cardamom plantations was functionally balanced. Nutrient cycling and dynamics indicated that Alnus-cardamom plantations performed sustainably up to 15-20 years. The management practice should be altered to incorporate replantation after this age.

1,1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical-scavenging active compounds from greater cardamom (Amomum subulatum Roxb.).

Constituents of the fruits of greater cardamom (Amomum subulatum) were fractionated into three fractions, the dichloromethane extract, and the ethyl acetate-soluble and water-soluble fractions of the 70% aqueous acetone extract. The ethyl acetate-soluble fraction showed a high radical-scavenging activity against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH). Four compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate-soluble fraction, and their structures were ascribed to protocatechualdehyde (1), protocatechuic acid (2), 1,7-bis(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)hepta-4E,6E-dien-3-one (3) and 2,3,7-trihydroxy-5-(3,4-dihydroxy-E-styryl)-6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-5H-benzocycloheptene (4) on the basis of spectroscopic evidence. This is the first isolation of these compounds from greater cardamom. In particular, 4 was a new type of cyclic diarylheptanoid. DPPH radical-scavenging activity of these compounds was measured by colorimetric analysis. Compounds 1 and 3 showed stronger activity than such natural antioxidants as alpha-tocopherol and L-ascorbic acid. Compounds 2 and 4 were comparable to alpha-tocopherol and L-ascorbic acid.