Bulgaria is known for its essential oils and medicinal plants, which occupy increasing parts in the agricultural areas. In recent years, the boom in lavender production has made our country the ...largest producer of lavender oil in the world. This intensified the scientific work with it and led to the creation of new lavender varieties and lines that are used in production. All research and tests on an industrial scale go through the laboratory distillation of small amounts of plant material to determine the quantity and quality of essential oil. In laboratory practice, micro-apparatus for water distillation is widely used, which does not reflect the real results for the yield and quality of the product. This necessitated the creation of a new laboratory device for determining the content of essential oil in raw materials with labile (rich in esters) oil by the application of steam distillation. The design of this apparatus mirrors industrial installations, thus the results it produces accurately simulate those of industrial production. Tests with herbal raw materials, like Lavandula angustifolia Mill., Salva sclarea L. and Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G. Don showed that the model is effective and applicable. The oils obtained by the new apparatus retained an ester content of 40.2%, 75.0% and 4.8%, respectively; these figures represent a significant improvement over previous methods.
In recent years, the use of essential oils (EOs) derived from aromatic plants as low-risk insecticides has increased considerably owing to their popularity with organic growers and environmentally ...conscious consumers. EOs are easily produced by steam distillation of plant material and contain many volatile, low-molecular-weight terpenes and phenolics. The major plant families from which EOs are extracted include Myrtaceae, Lauraceae, Lamiaceae, and Asteraceae. EOs have repellent, insecticidal, and growth-reducing effects on a variety of insects. They have been used effectively to control preharvest and postharvest phytophagous insects and as insect repellents for biting flies and for home and garden insects. The compounds exert their activities on insects through neurotoxic effects involving several mechanisms, notably through GABA, octopamine synapses, and the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. With a few exceptions, their mammalian toxicity is low and environmental persistence is short. Registration has been the main bottleneck in putting new products on the market, but more EOs have been approved for use in the United States than elsewhere owing to reduced-risk processes for these materials.
Bioactivity and Toxicological Actions of Carvacrol Suntres, Zacharias E; Coccimiglio, John; Alipour, Misagh
Critical reviews in food science and nutrition,
2015, Letnik:
55, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Carvacrol is a monoterpenic phenol produced by an abundant number of aromatic plants, including thyme and oregano. Presently, carvacrol is used in low concentrations as a food flavoring ingredient ...and preservative, as well as a fragrance ingredient in cosmetic formulations. In recent years, considerable research has been undertaken in an effort to establish the biological actions of carvacrol for its potential use in clinical applications. Results from in vitro and in vivo studies show that carvacrol possess a variety of biological and pharmacological properties including antioxidant, antibacterial, antifungal, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, spasmolytic, and vasorelaxant. The focus of this review is to evaluate the existing knowledge regarding the biological, pharmacological, and toxicological effects of carvacrol.
Endophytism is the phenomenon of mutualistic association of a plant with a microorganism wherein the microbe lives within the tissues of the plant without causing any symptoms of disease. In addition ...to being a treasured biological resource, endophytes play diverse indispensable functions in nature for plant growth, development, stress tolerance, and adaptation. Our understanding of endophytism and its ecological aspects are overtly limited, and we have only recently started to appreciate its essence. Endophytes may impact plant biology through the production of diverse chemical entities including, but not limited to, plant growth hormones and by modulating the gene expression of defense and other secondary metabolic pathways of the host. Studies have shown differential recruitment of endophytes in endophytic populations of plants growing in the same locations, indicating host specificity and that endophytes evolve in a coordinated fashion with the host plants. Endophytic technology can be employed for the efficient production of agricultural and economically important plants and plant products. The rational application of endophytes to manipulate the microbiota, intimately associated with plants, can help in enhancement of production of agricultural produce, increased production of key metabolites in medicinal and aromatic plants, as well as adaption to new bio-geographic regions through tolerance to various biotic and abiotic conditions. However, the potential of endophytic biology can be judiciously harnessed only when we obtain insight into the molecular mechanism of this unique mutualistic relationship. In this paper, we present a discussion on endophytes, endophytism, their significance, and diverse functions in nature as unraveled by the latest research to understand this universal natural phenomenon.
This paper summarizes the current knowledge regarding the possible modes of action and nutritional factors involved in the use of essential oils （EOs） for swine and poultry. EOs have recently ...attracted increased interest as feed additives to be fed to swine and poultry, possibly replacing the use of antibiotic growth promoters which have been prohibited in the European Union since 2006. In general, EOs enhance the production of digestive secretions and nutrient absorption, reduce pathogenic stress in the gut, exert antioxidant properties and reinforce the animal＇s immune status, which help to explain the enhanced performance observed in swine and poultry. However, the mechanisms involved in causing this growth promotion are far from being elucidated, since data on the complex gut ecosystem, gut function, in vivo oxidative status and immune system are still lacking. In addition, limited information is available regarding the interaction between EOs and feed ingredients or other feed additives （especially pro- or prebiotics and organic acids）. This knowledge may help feed formulators to better utilize EOs when they formulate diets for poultry and swine.
Aromatic plants produce organic compounds that may be involved in the defense of plants against phytopathogenic insects, bacteria, fungi, and viruses. One of these compounds, called carvacrol, which ...is found in high concentrations in essential oils such as oregano, has been reported to exhibit numerous bioactivities in cells and animals. This integrated overview surveys and interprets our present knowledge of the chemistry and analysis of carvacrol and its beneficial bioactivities. These activities include its antioxidative properties in food (e.g., lard, sunflower oil) and in vivo and the inhibition of foodborne and human antibiotic-susceptible and antibiotic-resistant pathogenic bacteria, viruses, pathogenic fungi and parasites, and insects in vitro and in human foods (e.g., apple juice, eggs, leafy greens, meat and poultry products, milk, oysters) and food animal feeds and wastes. Also covered are inhibitions of microbial and fungal toxin production and the anti-inflammatory, analgesic, antiarthritic, antiallergic, anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, cardioprotective, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, and neuroprotective properties of carvacrol as well as metabolic, synergistic, and mechanistic aspects. Areas for future research are also suggested. The collated information and suggested research might contribute to a better understanding of agronomical, biosynthetic, chemical, physiological, and cellular mechanisms of the described health-promoting effects of carvacrol, and facilitate and guide further studies needed to optimize the use of carvacrol as a multifunctional food in pure and encapsulated forms, in edible antimicrobial films, and in combination with plant-derived and medical antibiotics to help prevent or treat animal and human diseases.
The present study describes the volatile profile and antimicrobial activity of
Thymus vulgaris (thymol chemotype),
Thymus zygis subsp.
gracilis (thymol and two linalool chemotypes) and
Thymus ...hyemalis Lange (thymol, thymol/linalool and carvacrol chemotypes) essential oils extracted from seven plants cultivated in Murcia (Spain). Antimicrobial activities of the oils were evaluated for control of growth and survival of 10 pathogenic microorganisms.
Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis allowed for the identification of between 42 and 51 compounds as main volatile constituents of each essential oil analyzed. Results presented here may suggest that the essential oils from
T. hyemalis (thymol) followed by
T. hyemalis (carvacrol),
T. zygis (thymol) and
T. vulgaris possesses antimicrobial properties, and are a potential source of antimicrobial ingredients for the food industry.
Background.
The cultivars of
Achillea millefolium
L.: ‘Eney’ and ‘Millennium’ (Research Institute of Agriculture of Crimea), and ‘Vasyurinsky’ (North-Caucasian Branch of VILAR), were the objects of ...the ecological testing in 2018–2020 in Moscow Province.
Methods.
A nursery was established with planting material of vegetative origin. Phenological and morphometric parameters, indicators of raw matter productivity, and crop structure components were assessed in the phase of mass flowering.
Results.
For cv. ‘Vasyurinsky’, the start of growing and subsequent phenological phases occurred 14–25 days earlier than for ‘Eney’ and ‘Millennium’ whose growing season was 15–20 days longer. The plant height varied from 72 to 106 cm for cv. ‘Vasyurinsky’, 43 to 56 cm for ‘Eney’, and 38 to 42 cm for ‘Millenium’. The yield of fresh green biomass reached 8.8–10.3 t/ha for the Crimean cultivars, and 18.2 t/ha for ‘Vasyurinsky’. The latter exceeded cvs. ‘Eney’ and ‘Millenium’ in the yield of green biomass and air-dry matter (1.7–2.9 and 1.5–2.6 times, respectively). Essential oil content in ‘Eney’ was 4.74% of the absolute dry weight, being 1.6–3.5 times higher than in ‘Millenium’ (2.99%) and ‘Vasyurinsky’ (1.35%). Chamazulene content in the essential oil of the Crimean cultivars was 10–12 times higher, and the content of caryophyllene and germacrene D 2.5–3.1 times higher than in the essential oil of cv. ‘Vasyurinsky’.
Conclusion.
All the studied cultivars of
A. millefolium
can be recommended for commercial cultivation in Moscow Province.
Plant parasitic nematodes are the most destructive group of plant pathogens worldwide and their control is extremely challenging. Plant Essential oils (EOs) and their constituents have a great ...potential in nematode control since they can be developed for use as nematicides themselves or can serve as model compounds for the development of derivatives with enhanced activity. This study reviews the plant EOs evaluated as potential nematicides and their toxic effects against pinewood nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus) and root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.). Additionally, the nematicidal activity to M. javanica of several EOs from Spanish aromatic plants and their components is described.
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