Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• lamia vojodimehrabani ¹
• Rana Valizadeh Kamran ²
• mohammad bagher hassanpouraghdam ³

¹ Assistant Professor, Department of Agronomy and Plant Breeding, Faculty of Agriculture , Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

² Assistant Professor, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran

³ Associate Professor, Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran

Abstract

Abstract
Background and Objectives
Mineral nutrition and post-harvest handling are the major factors affecting secondary metabolites content and composition of plants. Berberis integerrima is one of the most important medicinal plants listed in all pharmacopeias. The bark, fruits and roots of this plant are commonly being used by traditional and modern medicine disciplines. They are well documented for their anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, and antimicrobial activities with berberine as the main active constituent. Also, the shrub has ornamental uses in the landscape and the fruit is used as a food additive. In addition, anthocyanin of the fruit is useful as a natural coloring agent in food industries. There are few studies on the agronomic demands and post-harvest handling of this plant. The experiment was conducted to assay the effects of nano-zinc foliar application and postharvest plant drying temperature on some phytochemical traits of this highly valuable plant.
 
Materials and Methods
The treatments were applied to assay the phytochemicals content variations in roots, fruits and aerial parts of the plant (2 years old) by two separate experiments as factorial based on RBCD. In the first experiment, the effects of nano-zinc foliar spray on the yield, anthocyanin content, Zinc content and TSS at the different mentioned organs were studied. In the second experiment, the effects of diverse post drying temperatures (25, 50 and 75⁰C) on total phenolics content, flanonoids content, hydrolysable tannin and berberin content in Berberis integerrima were assayed.
 
Results
Zn content, TSS content and anthocyanins were affected by the independent effects of foliar spray and plant part. Plant dry weight was impacted by the organ type. Phenolics, flavonoids and alkaloids contents were affected by the interactional effects of the foliar spray , the organ type, and the drying temperature. The highest figure for the contents of alkaloids (30 mg g^-1DW_t) and flavonoids (26.9 mg g^-1DW_t) were from the root × foliar spray by 6 mgL^-1 Nano-Zinc at 25⁰C drying regime. The maximum amount of total phenolics was attained by the aerial parts × foliar spray by 6 mgL^-1 Nano-Zinc at 25⁰C and fruits × 3 and 6 mgL^-1 foliar spray at 25⁰C. For hydrolysable tannins (1.9%), the root and the aerial parts × 25⁰C showed the largest figure.
Discussion
The overall results revealed the positive effects of nano-zinc foliar application on the studied gross secondary metabolites content in Berberis integerrima. The post-harvest drying temperature influenced the metabolites content as well, and the optimized temperature in the experiments was 25⁰C.

Keywords

• Alkaloids
• Berberis integerrima
• Hydrolysable tannin
• Total phenolics content

Main Subjects

• H: Post Harvest Physiology
• H: Plant Physiology
• H: Pomology