En. Ali Mohamad Zayak
Horticulture Department, General Commission for Scientific Agricultural Research (GCSAR)
Faculty of Agriculture, Damascus University
Abstract:
Chamomile is one of the most important medicinal plants and it is widely used in Syria and around the world, nevertheless there are no information about the species of the Anthemis genus that grow in Syria. Ecological, genetic and chemical study of ten species of Anthemis have been conducted, and the efficiency of the extracts of three Anthemis species was investigated on four pathogenic fungi.
The study took place between 2013- 2016. Middle and coastal regions in Syria, which are composed of the provinces of Homs, Hama, Tartous and Latakia, were selected because they form a vast area of Syria in addition to environmental variation and diversity across it, which represent almost all the regions of the distribution of Anthemis species in Syria. The studied species grow in different climatic zones which range from arid to wet, these species differ in the density of their spread and distribution. Species such as Anthemis scariosa, A. palestina and A.cotula grow well in the middle region and A. austriaca in the coastal region. Species that were endangered due to various reasons were A. hausskenchtii, A.pauciloba , A. lyonnetioides. The essential oil was distilled in laboratory of National commission for biotechnology and the essential oil was analyzed using GC-MS in the laboratory of faculty of science – University of Damascus. Results showed that A. palestina flowers yield (0.01- 0.12 %) of essential oil and the main compounds: Terpinen-4-ol (2.8 -8.20%), Fragranol (4.96 – 26.5%), Spathulenol (2.5 -7.9%) and Caryophyllene oxide (2.14 -7.9%)1 The yield of essential oil of A. scariosa flowers (0.05- 0.13 %) and the main compounds: Terpinen-4-ol (5.21 -18.76 %), α-Pinene (1.06 –16.47%), Spathulenol (2 -8.21%) and α-Terpinen (0.46 -4.90%)1 The yield of essential of A.cotula flowers (0.12- 0.16 %) and the main compounds: α-Bisabolol (69.08 -72.53 %), Chamazulene (2.3 – 6.94%), β-Farnesen (1.3 -3.8%) and the A. austriaca (0.07 -0.08%) and the main compounds: Linalool oxide (7.85- 8.63%), Caryophyllene oxide (3 – 10.4%), Caryophyllenyl alcohol (0.55- 3.25%), Spathulenol (1.82- 7.15%). Study of essential oil showed that the quantity and quality of the essential oil are significantly affected by humidity. The genetic study was conducted using Inter simple sequence repeat (ISSR) and using 13 primers, the study was conducted in the laboratory of the Atomic Energy Commission. Results showed that the studied species were divided into two-clusters. First cluster included two groups; first group consisted of Anthemis cotula with agenetic distance of 0.39. Group 2 consisted of A. lyonnetioide, A.pseudocotula, with agenetic distance 0.15. Cluster 2 included two group; first group consisted of A. wettsteiniana, with agenetic distance of 0.40, while group2 consisted of 6 species, these species were divided into two sub-groups.
First sub-group consisted of A. pauciloba, A. hyalina, A. palestina, and the second sub-group consisted of A. scariosa, A. austrica, A. hausskenchtii
The genetic variation was studied in A. scariosa, A. austriaca, A. palestina, A. cotula.
The results showed that the genetic variation was low for every species. Field observations for A. scariosa, A. palestina showed that there are two achenes for every species. A. scariosa has two achenes, black and brown. The plants with brown achenes were the most widespread, and A. palestina had two achenes, white and pink. The plants with white achenes were the most widespread. Studying these plants showed that they were similar in the quantity and quality of essential oil. This result was confirmed by the genetic study. The efficiency of the extracts of Anthemis palestina,
A. scariosa, A. austrica flowers were evaluated on four pathogenic fungi: Fusarium semitectum, F. solani, F.oxysporum and Rhizoctonia sp. This study was conducted at the Research and studies of biological control center- faculty of Agriculture. Results showed that no inhibition effect of aqueous extracts, also the results showed that the inhibition percentage of methanol extract surpassed the inhibition percentage of ethyl alcohol for most of the tested fungi and concentrations. Extracts of Anthemis palestina had inhibitory effect on Rhizoctonia sp, the percentage of inhibition was 90 % for methyl and ethyl alcohol at concentration of 180 mg.ml-1. Extracts of A. scariosa had inhibitory effect on, F.oxysporum, percentage of inhibition was 60.04 % at 180 mg.ml-1 for methyl alcohol, but for ethyl alcohol 49.62%. Extracts of A. austriaca had inhibitory effect on, F. semitectum, percentage of inhibition was 57.30 % at 180 mg.ml-1 for methyl alcohol, but for ethyl alcohol it was 51.23%.