4 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Vegetative Propagation of Nepeta cataria and the Inhibitory Effects of Its Essential Oil on the Adventitious Rooting of Cultivated Lamiaceae Species
Recommended from our members
Microscopy for Quality Assessment of Bilberry Fruit (Vaccinium myrtillus L.)
Bilberry is a traditional plant from which the berries have been eaten as a fresh fruit, made into jam, and included in some baked products for centuries. More recently, bilberries have become a popular dietary supplement and are among the best-selling fruit in the US market. Adulteration of bilberries in the marketplace, however, can occur due to misidentification or mixing with other species during harvesting and processing. Intentional adulteration also occurs through the purposeful addition of foreign materials to increase the apparent quality or reduce the cost of the final product. Quality control is thus a critical aspect in the use of the species as a medicinally active plant. Chromatographic techniques, such as TLC, GC, and HPLC, are useful for chemical profiling and verification of the presence of medicinally active constituents, but are quite limited in their ability to detect non-chemical contaminants, such as dirt, insects, and molds and other adulterants, such as wood, sand, and plant materials. The current study investigated and compared the use of botanical microscopy and chemical analysis for identifying adulterants in bilberry fruit. The experimental results demonstrated that chemical analysis was insufficient, while microscopy readily detected contaminating materials in bilberry fruit
Recommended from our members
Chemodiversity in spp.: A literature review on comparative germplasm studies with focus on iridoids and other terpenes
Investigation of Volatile Iridoid Terpenes in <i>Nepeta cataria</i> L. (Catnip) Genotypes
Catnip (Nepeta cataria L.) is of scientific interest largely due to the production of nepetalactones, volatile iridoid terpenes with strong arthropod repellent activity. However, the plant can also produce other bioactive volatile iridoids, such as nepetalic acid (NA), nepetalactam (NT) and dihydronepetalactone (DHNL) that have not been studied extensively. Germplasm studies on plants that can produce such compounds are scarce. The present study evaluated the chemical diversity of catnip genotypes with a focus on NA, NT and DHNL. A total of 34 genotypes were harvested at different times over two years. The ethanolic extract of the plants was screened for iridoids by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. CR9 × CR3 genotype had the highest value for biomass yield, while cultivar CR9 had the highest value for accumulated NA. Genotype UK.2 had the highest value for accumulated NT yield and CR5 had the highest value for accumulated DHNL. Overall, patented cultivars and elite selections performed better than other less studied genotypes. Harvest time influenced the accumulation of secondary metabolites differentially for the genotypes. This is the first germplasm study with a focus on these iridoid compounds, yet more studies are necessary as genotype characterization is essential for breeding and standardization of products for industry