Salinity is one of the major factors limiting agricultural productivity in arid and semi‐arid regions. Saline areas around the world are increasing and sources of fresh water are decreasing. The increasing importance of the use of brackish water to supplement regular irrigation has demonstrated a need for finding new potential plants with tolerance to irrigation with saline water which can be used in industrial agriculture. The aim of this study was to determine whether irrigation with brackish water of Crambe Abyssinica, a plant commonly used for industrial oil production and for ornamental purposes and with high economical value, especially in Central Asia and the Aral Sea region, is feasible. One more goal was to study how it influences growth and development, seed and oil yield and some physiological parameters such as photosynthesis, transpiration, chlorophyll content, osmotic potential and accumulation of fresh and dry weight. The effects of three salinity levels, 3, 6 and 9 dS m−1, were investigated in a greenhouse experiment during two consecutive years. Results of this study showed that growth of Crambe abyssinica in arid zones and irrigation with mild saline water up to EC 6 dS m−1, mostly common in these areas is feasible, suggesting tolerance to moderate salinity levels and feasibility of its culture in areas of the Aral Sea with adequate salinity levels. Consequently, in spite of the fact that biomass and seed yield were significantly decreased in plants irrigated with brackish water, Crambe abyssinica might be cultivated as an alternate source of green biomass and for industrial vegetable oil under conditions not suitable for conventional plant production.
and A. I. GlushenkovaDescurainia sophia L. (Cruciferae) is widely used in folk medicine. The decoction of the aerial part is used in Middle Asia for throat diseases and as an antipyretic for measles and smallpox. In Tibetan medicine, the roots are used for St. Anthony's fire and anthrax. The tincture is used as a diuretic, antihelmintic, and hemostatic for internal hemorrhages. In veterinary medicine, the decoction of roots is used for helmintoses and diarrhea in horses and cattle [1,2].We studied seeds of D. sophia collected in Tashkent district in May 2002. Seeds were ground in an electric grinder and extracted exhaustively with benzine (70-80°C) for extraction to afford a yellowish-brown oil in 22% yield. Total lipids were separated by preparative TLC on silica-gel plates using benzine:diethylether (4:1). The contents of individual fractions were estimated gravimetrically. Table 1 lists the results for benzine separation of the extract of D. sophia seeds.Lipids from seeds contained epoxyacylglycerides according to reaction with picric acid. Their content was 6.4% of the lipid mass. Oxygenated compounds are typically found in seed oil from Cruciferae plants.Total lipids and acyl-containing compounds in them were hydrolyzed by KOH. Fatty acids (FA) were methylated by diazomethane [3] and identified as methyl esters by GC ( Table 2). The lipids contained up to 16 FA. The main acids in total lipids and triglycerides (TAG) were linolenic (18:3), linoleic (18:2), arachic (20:0), and eruchic (22:1). The content of these acids and oleic (18:1) in free fatty acids (FFA) were almost identical from 14.2 to 15.9%; of palmitic (16:0), 12.0%. This is two times greater than in the total acids.The FA composition of seeds from plants studied by us differed little with respect to the content of unsaturated C 18 acids from that reported in a review on screening of seed oils from Cruciferae plants [4]. The difference in flora from Uzbekistan consists of a content of 16:0 and 22:1 acids that is elevated several times.
A total of 84 species of the plant genus Silene (Caryophyllaceae) are indigenous to Central Asia [1]. We studied previously ecdysteroids from the aerial part of three species of Silene [2][3][4]. Lipids extracted by CHCl 3 during isolation of the ecdysteroids were studied in order to utilize more of the raw material.Ecdysteroids were isolated by soaking the ground air-dried aerial part of the plants in MeOH at room temperature for 1 d. Then, the extract was filtered. The MeOH was distilled in a rotary evaporator. The solid was dissolved in water and treated with CHCl 3 . The ecdysteroids remained in the aqueous layer. The CHCl 3 part of the extract was not used.We isolated the lipids from it using column chromatography over silica gel and solvent system hexane:Et 2 O (1:1). This isolated neutral lipids (NL). Their composition was determined using TLC and hexane:Et 2 O (4:1 and 1:1). The principal components of the NL were triglycerides, free fatty acids, and free sterols. Fatty acids were isolated from NL after their alkaline hydrolysis and were analyzed by GC as the methyl esters on a Chrom 5 instrument with a flame-ionization detector using a metallic column (2.5 m) packed with Chromaton N-AW with Reoplex-400 (15%). Table 1 presents the fatty-acid composition.It can be seen that the qualitative fatty-acid compositions of NL from the aerial parts of the aforementioned species of Silene were identical and consisted of 15 acids. Their quantitative compositions differed. This was evident in the content of the principal acids, the saturated one of which was palmitic acid (16:0); the unsaturated ones, two essential fatty acids Z-6 (18:2) and Z-3 (18:3). Palmitic acid dominated the NL in plants 2 and 3; the sum of linoleic and linolenic acids, in S. viridiflora.Next the antibacterial activity of these CHCl 3 extracts was determined by the disk diffusion test [5]. For this, they were dissolved in DMSO. Microorganisms were grown in agar dishes at 30°C overnight in Mueller-Hinton medium (Oxoid). The suspension (100 PL) contained 10 8 CFU/mL. Sterile filter disks (5-mm diameter) were soaked with extract solution (20 PL, 5 mg/mL) and placed on the surface of the innoculated Petri dishes. The dishes were incubated at 37°C for 24 h. The antibacterial activity was estimated by measuring the inhibition zone formed around the disks. We used five disks in each Petri dish. Each test was performed in triplicate.The test cultures of microorganisms were the following: Klebsiella pneumoniae 40602; Micrococcus luteus obtained from the Microbiology Faculty, Manchester University, GB; Pseudomonas aeruginosa NCTC6749; Enterococcus faecalis NCTC775; Proteus rettgeri NCIMB9570 obtained from the National Collection of Great Britain (NCTC); bacterial strains P. agglomerans T26, B. cereus T80, and Staphylococcus saprophyticus T415 obtained from the Biology Faculty, National University of Uzbekistan.Antimicrobial activity was found by testing against several bacterial cultures. The CHCl 3 extract of S. brachuica inhibited growth of three Gram-...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.