Skip Navigation



eCAM Advance Access published online on October 17, 2005
eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/neh131
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
2/4/549    most recent
neh131v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Azaizeh, H.
Right arrow Articles by Bomzon, A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Azaizeh, H.
Right arrow Articles by Bomzon, A.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author (2005). Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
Received March 24, 2005
Accepted September 26, 2005

Original Article

Fertilization-Induced Changes in Growth Parameters and Antioxidant Activity of Medicinal Plants Used in Traditional Arab Medicine

Hassan Azaizeh 1*, Predrag Ljubuncic 2, Irina Portnaya 3, Omar Said 1, Uri Cogan 3, and Arieh Bomzon 2

1 The Galilee Society R&D Center (Associated with Haifa University), PO Box 437, Shefa-Amr 20200, Israel
2 Department of Pharmacology, Bruce and Ruth Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion-ITT, Haifa, Israel
3 Faculty of Food and Biotechnology, Technion-ITT, Haifa, Israel

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Hassan Azaizeh, E-mail: hazaizeh{at}yahoo.com; hazaizi@gal-soc.org


  Abstract

In response to increased popularity and greater demand for medicinal plants, a number of conservation groups are recommending that wild medicinal plants be brought into cultivation systems. We collected four medicinal herbs Cichorium pumilum, Eryngium creticum, Pistacia palaestina and Teucrium polium used in traditional Arab medicine for greenhouse cultivation to assess the effects of different fertilization regimes on their growth and antioxidant activity. Wild seedlings were collected and fertilized with either 100% Hoagland solution, 50% Hoagland solution, 20% Hoagland solution or irrigated with tap water. Plant height was measured and the number of green leaves and branches counted weekly. Thereafter, the aboveground parts of plants were harvested for preparing a water-soluble powder extracts of which antioxidant activity was measured by their ability to suppress the oxidation of {beta}-carotene. Of the fertilization regimes, we found either 20 or 50% Hoagland solution produced the most consistent response of the plant growth parameters. All powders prepared from the four wild growing plants inhibited oxidation of {beta}-carotene. Increasing the amount of fertilizer caused a significant concentration-dependent increase in antioxidant activity of the cultivated T. polium compared with the wild type. In contrast, increasing the amount of fertilizer caused a significant concentration-dependent reduction in the antioxidant activity of powders prepared from the cultivated E. creticum when compared with wild plants. Our results showed that cultivation success should not rely solely on parameters of growth but should incorporate assessment related to indices of therapeutic potential.

Keywords: antioxidant activity; medicinal plants; plant conservation; plant cultivation.
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Evid Based Complement Alternat MedHome page
R. A. A. Mothana, S. A. A. Abdo, S. Hasson, F. M. N. Althawab, S. A. Z. Alaghbari, and U. Lindequist
Antimicrobial, Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities and Phytochemical Screening of Some Yemeni Medicinal Plants
Evid. Based Complement. Altern. Med., January 28, 2008; (2008) nen004v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Evid Based Complement Alternat MedHome page
R. Shin, M. Suzuki, T. Mizutani, and N. Susa
Improvement of Experimentally Induced Hepatic and Renal Disorders in Rats using Lactic Acid Bacteria-fermented Soybean Extract (BiofermenticsTM)
Evid. Based Complement. Altern. Med., October 27, 2007; (2007) nem126v1.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Evid Based Complement Alternat MedHome page
A. Ranjbar, S. Khorami, M. Safarabadi, A. Shahmoradi, A. A. Malekirad, K. Vakilian, A. Mandegary, and M. Abdollahi
Antioxidant Activity of Iranian Echium amoenum Fisch & C.A. Mey Flower Decoction in Humans: A cross-sectional Before/After Clinical Trial
Evid. Based Complement. Altern. Med., December 1, 2006; 3(4): 469 - 473.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Evid Based Complement Alternat MedHome page
B. Saad, H. Azaizeh, G. Abu-Hijleh, and O. Said
Safety of Traditional Arab Herbal Medicine
Evid. Based Complement. Altern. Med., December 1, 2006; 3(4): 433 - 439.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Evid Based Complement Alternat MedHome page
P. Ljubuncic, S. Dakwar, I. Portnaya, U. Cogan, H. Azaizeh, and A. Bomzon
Aqueous Extracts of Teucrium polium Possess Remarkable Antioxidant Activity In Vitro
Evid. Based Complement. Altern. Med., September 1, 2006; 3(3): 329 - 338.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Evid Based Complement Alternat MedHome page
H. Azaizeh, B. Saad, K. Khalil, and O. Said
The State of the Art of Traditional Arab Herbal Medicine in the Eastern Region of the Mediterranean: A Review
Evid. Based Complement. Altern. Med., June 1, 2006; 3(2): 229 - 235.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.