| Abstrakt: |
The genus Ferulago includes multi-purpose plants with valuable pharmaceutical, industrial, and soil protective functions which are native to Iran and recently have been classified as endangered plants. Ferulago subvelutina Rech.F. is an endemic species to Iran and there is little information about its ecological, physiological, and morphological characteristics. Due to the importance of this species, the present study was conducted to investigate the mentioned characteristics and evaluate the antioxidant activity of three ecotypes in the natural distribution areas (including Izman-e Olya, Izman-e Sofla, and Darkesh) in North Khorasan province, Iran. Investigation of the plant growth stages (Izman-e Sofla ecotype) showed that its vegetative growth began with increasing temperature in the second decade of April. Full flowering begins in the second decade of July and continues until the first decade of August with decreasing rainfall and increasing temperature. In the third decade of July, the plants produce seeds and the seed dispersal begins in the third decade of August. It grows in altitude ranged 1360-1137 m above sea level, and it grows in soil with a pH of 7.7-7.81, organic carbon of 0.31-1.73%, loamy to sandy loamy texture, with average annual temperature of 13.6°C and annual rainfall 354.56 mm. Study of morphological traits showed that ecotype 3 (Darkesh) had higher values of plant height (48.80 cm), crown large and small diameter (98.60 and 93.40 cm), number of leaves per plant (4.67 pcs), and leaf length and width (58.1 and 52.5 cm), than that for other ecotypes (Izman-e Olya and Izman-e Sofla). The studied ecotypes had lower antioxidant activity than ascorbic acid as a control (13.97 μg ml-1), of which ecotype 2 (Izman-e Sofla) with an IC50 level of 566.72 μg ml-1 is noticeable due to its antioxidant activity compared to other ecotypes. Therefore, due to the importance of medicinal-rangeland species of F. subvelutina, the results of the current study could be effective in maintaining plant survival, breeding, and domestication, and also because of the high antioxidant activity of this species, could be used in the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
