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Advances in Environmental Biology, 4(1): 10-13, 2010ISSN 1995-0756© 2010, American-Eurasian Network for Scientific Information

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Effect of Water Stress on Some Seed Characteristics of Isabgol (Plantago Ovata Forsk)in Zanjan (IRAN)

1M. Mohebbi and 2A. Maleki

1Education Complex of Agricultural Applied Science and Technology of Zanj an, Iran.2Agricultural and Natural Resources Research Centre of Zanjan, Iran.

M. Mohebbi and A. Maleki: Effect of Water Stress on Some Seed Characteristics of Isabgol (PlantagoOvata Forsk) in Zanjan (IRAN): Adv. Environ. Biol., 4(1): 10-13, 2010

ABSTRACT

Isabgol (Plantago ovata Forsk) is an annual plant belonging to Plantaginaceae family, cultivated as amedicinal plant in recent decades. It's seed and husks are medicinal parts that contain active substances ofMucilage, a large quantities of Albuminous matter, Aucubin glycoside (C13H19O8H2O) and Plantiose sugar.Medicinal plants have active substances that their biosynthesis is controlled genetically and strongly is affectedby environmental factors. In this research effect of irrigation intervals in 3, 5, 7 and 10 day levels on 1000seed weight and seed swelling factor (mucilage) were studied and the statistical design was a sub-samplerandomized complete block design with three replicans. This study was conducted in the research field ofagriculture faculty of zanjan university and according to the resultant data, irrigation interval of 7 day showedthe best result for 1000 seed weight (P < 0.05) and seed swelling factor (P < 0.01).

Key words: Plantago ovata Forsk, Mucilage, Seed swelling factor, 1000 Seed weight, Water Stress

Introduction

Isabgol ( Plantago ovata Forsk ) is a 10-45 cmshort-stemmed annual plant belonging toPlantaginaceae family which it is known by differentnames [18,9,16,10,1]. Out of about 200 species ofgenus Plantago , only two, namely P.ovata and P.psyllium have been extensively used for theproduction of seed, seed husk and mucilage (activesubstance) which are used in pharmacy and otherindustries such as pulp and paper production, loom,military and petroleum extraction [24,7]. Isabgol'sleaves are born alternately on the stem and theircount per plant varies between 40-86. They are strapshaped recurved, linear with 6-25 cm long and 0.31.9cm broad. Spikes are cylindrical or ovoid andmeasure 0.6-5.6 cm and flowers are arranged on thespike, in four spiral rows [31]. Sepals are four, free,concave, glabrous and elliptic and petals are four,glabrous, reflexed and white in color. The ovary is

bilocular with single ovule per locule and theplacentation is axile. The capsule is ovate orellipsoid, dehiscing along the ring of abscission tissuewhich is developed around the capsule [23,6]. Isabgolseeds are cymbiform, translucent and concavo-convaxin shape and they are pinkish-gray, brown or pinkish-white with a brown streak in color [14]. Isabgol isgrown in warm temperate zones between 26-3 6 ON, latitude, its species are indigenous to theMediterranean regions and west Asia extensively upto west Pakistan [21].

Isabgol has been in medicine since ancient times,but it has only been cultivated as a medicinal plantin recent decades [12,33,14,22]. Its seeds containactive substance as mucilage, large quantities ofalbominous matter, fatty oil, the pharmacologicalinactive glucoside, namely Aucubin (C13H19O8H2O)and a plantiose sugar [6]. Isabgol seed husk has theproperty of absorbing and retaining water whichaccounts for its utility in stopping diarrhea. It is also

Corresponding AuthorM. Mohebbi, Education Complex of Agricultural Applied Science and Technology of Zanj an,Iran.E-mail: m.mohebby@gmail.com

11Adv. Environ. Biol., 4(1): 10-13, 2010

a diuretic, alleviates kidney and blader complaints,gonorrhea, arthritis and hemorrhoids [19,2]. Thehusks are consumed alone or mixed with differentchemicals such as powdered anhydrous dextrose,sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, etc. [32]. In general,plants known as medicinal are rich in secondarymetabolites (active substances) and have potential asdrugs. The biosynthesis of the secondary metabolitesis controlled genetically and affected strongly byenvironmental factors [34,27], of which water is oneof the important environmental factor in the fields ofmedicinal plants that has major effect on growth anddevelopment and also has somewhat positive effecton their active substances [3,4,20]. Water deficit ( inlow quantities ), however, is a limiting factor in theproduction of many field crops [17,25] and it causessome morphological, physiological and biochemicalchanges including leaf area reduction, leaf senescenceand reduction in cell development, stomatal closure[17,30] and photosynthetic limitation [15].

There are reports which indicates resistance ofsome medicinal plants specially Isabgol to waterstress [28], however, psyllium has been reported tobe more susceptible to water stress [8]. Results ofresearches conducted in India showed that Isabgol isirrigated 4-5 times during the growth period [11,13].Nadjafi [26], however, pointed out that provision ofadequate water improved yield of Isabgol. So, inmany cases a moderate water stress could enhancethe content of active substances in medicinal plants,otherwise, extremely water stress in growth anddevelopment and finally on active substances [15,5].This study was aimed at discovering the effect ofsome environmental factors, such as water stress andadequate water, which could be used for Isabgolcultivation to increase the quantity of and improvethe quality of Isabgol productivity as well as toclarify the relationship between measuredcharacteristics.

Materials and Methods

This study was conducted in the research field ofagricultural college of zanjan university (36 O 40 ' Nlatitude, 48 O 26 ' altitude, 1634 m sea level )located in northwest of Iran. The research fieldclimatic conditions are semi-arid and moderately coldwith 270 mm annual precipitation. The mean annuallowest and highest temperatures are 4 O C and 20 OC, respectively. The soil characteristics of researchlocation are as: 18% sand, 42% clay and 40% silt.The Isabgol seeds were grown in a siltycaly soil witha good drainage. The statistical design used was asub-sample randomized complete block design withthree replicates of each treatment. The irrigationintervals were evaluated in four levels as 3, 5, 7 and10 days on 1000 seed weight and seed swellingfactor. Seeds were sown in sub-plots in rows 30 cmapart and spaced 5 cm apart and the first irrigationwas steadily done for all sub-plots at one time whichit was considered as a basement for doing irrigationtreatment. Then irrigation intervals were done on thegrown plants at growth interims. Seeds (from eachsub-plots) are separately harvested, cleaned and then1000 seed weight and seed swelling factor weremeasured in the lab. Analyses of data werecalculated by MSTATC software (calculations ofanalysis of variance and statistical mean comparisonswere according to Duncan's Multiple Range Test )and the graphs were drawn by Excel.

Results and Disscusion

Analysis of variance results ( Table 1 ) showedthat the irrigation interval had significant effects on1000 seed weight (P < 0.05) and seed swelling factor(P < 0.01). The mean comparisons of the above-mentioned characters are given in Table 2.

Table 1: Analysis of variance for two growth characters of Plantago ovata ForskSource of df Mean Squares ( MS )Variance --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1000 seed weight ( gr ) Seed swelling factor ( ml )Block 2 0.05 0.090Irrigation treatment 3 0.192 * 5.933**

Experimental error 6 0.40 0.1Sampling error 24 0.40 1.465*, ** : significant at 0.05 and 0.01 probability levels, respectively

Table 2: The comparison means of 1000 seed weight and seed swelling factor of Plantago ovata Forsk from different irrigation intervalsIrrigation intervals ( days ) 1000 seed weight ( gr ) Seed swelling factor ( ml )3 5.94b 12.67b

5 6.02b 13.28b

7 6.237a 14.61a

10 5.978b 13.40b

- Means followed by the same letter symbols in each column ( according to Duncan's Multiple Range Test ) are not significantly differentfrom each other

Plants known as medicinal are rich in secondarymetabolites and have potential as drugs. Thebiosynthesis of the medicinal plants is under genetic

control and environmental factors play an importantrole [34,27]. Environmental factors such ascultivation practices ( including sowing dates,

12Adv. Environ. Biol., 4(1): 10-13, 2010

fertilizer levels and irrigation ( water supply )) havemarked effects on plant growth and the production ofsecondary metabolites [34,29,26]. In this study,irrigation interval of 7 day showed conspicuous effecton seed characteristics examined on Plantago ovataForsk (such as 1000 weight and seed swelling factoras active substance) and this treatment showedsignificant effect among other treatments (Figures 1and 2).

On the other hand according to this, whateverirrigation interval was longer (up to 10 day), itwould have had a positive effect on active substance

content (seed swelling) [3] but due to existence ofpositive relation between yield and seed activesubstance [24,27], yield rate has decreased, becauseof negative effects of water stress and drought(irrigation interval of 10 day) on the production offlower and seed, and this resulted as a negativeeffect on active substance content (seed swellingfactor) that these data are in agreement with thosereported by Bannayan et al. [5].

Fig. 1: Effect of Irrigation Intervals on 1000 Seed Weight of Plantago ovata Forsk

Fig. 2: Effect of Irrigation Intervals on Seed Swelling of Plantago ovata Forsk

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