Morphologic and Essential oil Profiles of Three Species from Asteraceae

In this study we aimed to evaluate the morphological traits and essential oil compositions of three members of Astreraceae ( Helichrysum plicatum subsp. plicatum DC., Tanacetum vulgare L., Anthemis cretica L. subsp. albida (Boiss.) Grierson) growing wild in the semi-arid areas of Cankiri province, Turkey. Some morphological characters were reported for the first time. Essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation, and their components were identified using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Forty eight compounds were detected for Helichrysum plicatum subsp. plicatum DC., 39 for Tanacetum vulgare L., and 15 for Anthemis cretica L. subsp. albida (Boiss.) Grierson. Although these species belong to the same family, the essential oil profiles revealed significant alterations. The dominant compounds in Helichrysum plicatum subsp. plicatum DC. were sesquiterpenes, whereas monoterpenes were the most abundant compounds in Tanacetum vulgare L. and Anthemis cretica L. subsp. albida (Boiss.) Grierson. The results indicated that the three species use different morphological and chemical processes for broad and specific adaptation.

Metabolomics of endemic six Astragalus species by combined NMR and GC-MS analysis

INTRODUCTION

Astragalus anthylloides, A. dipsaceus, A. karamasicus, A. lycius, A. sigmoideus and A. xylobasis var. angustus are an endemic and generally grow in the Irano-Turanian phytogeographic region of Turkey. Astragalus species contain saponins, polysaccharides, and phenolics, while the toxic compounds include imidazoline alkaloids, nitro toxins, and selenium derivatives.

OBJECTIVES

To apply a combined metabolomic fingerprinting approach by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) of endemic six Astragalus species extract.

METHODOLOGY

The whole plant collected in Turkey of six endemic Astragalus subsp. were dried and then extracted with hexane, chloroform, ethylacetate, n-butanol and methanol solvents, respectively. The hexane extracts were analyzed by GC-MS. Carbon-13 (¹³ C)-NMR analyzes of all extracts were performed. In both analyses, a biomarker was obtained.

RESULTS

The hexane extracts were determined as palmitic acid, arachidic acid, behenic acid, and linolenic acid as the main components. As a result of ¹³ C-NMR analyzes, in hexane, chloroform, and ethylacetate the extracts detected were palmitic acid, arachidic acid, behenic acid, and linolenic acid. d-Pinitol was obtained using ¹³ C-NMR analyzes with n-butanol and methanol extracts.

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated that d-pinitol is a biomarker for the endemic six Astragalus subsp.

Land degradation assessment by geo-spatially modeling different soil erodibility equations in a semi-arid catchment

Land degradation by soil erosion is one of the most serious problems and environmental issues in many ecosystems of arid and semi-arid regions. Especially, the disturbed areas have greater soil detachability and transportability capacity. Evaluation of land degradation in terms of soil erodibility, by using geostatistical modeling, is vital to protect and reclaim susceptible areas. Soil erodibility, described as the ability of soils to resist erosion, can be measured either directly under natural or simulated rainfall conditions, or indirectly estimated by empirical regression models. This study compares three empirical equations used to determine the soil erodibility factor of revised universal soil loss equation prediction technology based on their geospatial performances in the semi-arid catchment of the Saraykoy II Irrigation Dam located in Cankiri, Turkey. A total of 311 geo-referenced soil samples were collected with irregular intervals from the top soil layer (0-10 cm). Geostatistical analysis was performed with the point values of each equation to determine its spatial pattern. Results showed that equations that used soil organic matter in combination with the soil particle size better agreed with the variations in land use and topography of the catchment than the one using only the particle size distribution. It is recommended that the equations which dynamically integrate soil intrinsic properties with land use, topography, and its influences on the local microclimates, could be successfully used to geospatially determine sites highly susceptible to water erosion, and therefore, to select the agricultural and bio-engineering control measures needed.

Evaluation of soil properties and flora under afforestation and natural forest in semi-arid climate of central Anatolia

Arid and semi-add climates and antropojen effects have caused rapid deterioration of the natural resources in the watershed. The main objectives of the study were to determine the correlation between soil properties and flora and to examine some soil properties and floristic composition under natural forest and afforestration. The topographical, geological and stand viewing maps of the watershed belong to 1955 and 2006 years were eximaned in the study. According to this study the 14.5% rate of black pine forest in 1955 increased to 35.8% in 2006. Degraded forest, degraded black pine and agricultural area decreased respectively to 5.7, 1.8 and 15.8% in 51 years. The richest families in the research area were Asteraceae, Fabaceae, Lamiaceae, Poaceae, Brassicaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Boraginaceae, Apiaceae and Rosaceae. The rate of the richest families was 71.75% in the total species, the remaining 22 families were scattered to 28.25% in proportion of species.