The Effect of Forchlorfenuron on Bulblet Formation, Antioxidant Characteristics and Phytochemicals Compounds of Persian Shallot (Allium hirtifolium)

علوم باغبانی

Article 1, Volume 31, Issue 3, September 2017, Pages 565-576   

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: 10.22067/jhorts4.v31i3.56997

Authors

Nasrin Farhadi; Saeideh Alizadeh Salteh^*

Tabriz University

Abstract

Introduction: Allium hirtifolium commonly known as Persian shallot is an important wild medicinal plant from Alliaceae family. Persian shallot commonly known as mooseer in Iran is a perennial diploid plant that is native to Iran and grows as a wild plant throughout in the Zagross Mountains range, western and southwestern Iran. It is a bulbous herb and usually consists of a single main bulb or rarely two bulbs. Each bulb has a weight of about 8-15 times of a garlic clove. The bulbs of mooseer has been widely used as a traditional herb and spice plant, added to a variety of foods such as salads, pickles, yogurt and different sauces. Conventionally, Persian shallot propagates through bulbs and seeds but these two methods are not commercially efficient due to low growth rate of bulbs and deep dormancy, low viability and germination rate of seeds. In addition, the natural habitat of this plant is under increasing pressure as a result of excessive incorrect harvest that caused to damage the plant density in Iran rangelands. So, improving the efficiency of A. hirtifolium propagation is necessary. A number of positive effects on the growth and productivity of some plants through cytokinin application have been registered by earlier research. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of pretreatment and foliar application of forchlorfenuron as a safe cytokinin on improving the bulb production, phytochemical compounds and antioxidant attributes of Persian shallot.
Materials and Methods: This experiment was done at research green house of Tabriz University in 2015-2016. For pretreated of Persian shallot bulbs, they were soaked in 0, 50 and 10 mg l-1 forchlorfenuron solutions for 24 h. Then they were cultured in pots contained perlite and vermicompost with 3:1 ratio. Foliar application was applied 2, 4 and 6 weeks after culture with 0, 50, 100 and 150 mg l-1 concentrations of forchlorfenuron. At the end of growth season the number of leaves, number of bublets, fresh and dry weight of bulblet were recorded. The phytochemical compound (protein, phenol and allicin), antioxidant enzymes (catalase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidases and superoxide dismutase) and antioxidant activity of bulbs were assayed with spectrophotometry methods.
Results and Discussion: Foliar applications of plant growth regulators such as cytokinins in agriculture crops are reported to be useful in controlling multiple physiological processes, including flower initiation, shoot elongation, bulb production, fruit set and as well as affected the quality characters of products. In this study despite the bulblets number that did not influence by treatments, pretreatment and foliar application of forchlorfenuron significantly increased the leaves number, fresh and dry weight of bulbs in comparison with control plants. The highest leaves number (4.49 per plant) was obtained from pretreatments. The highest fresh weight (91.77 g) was recorded at 5 and 10 mg l-1 pretreatment and 100 mg l-1 (91.63 g) foliar application. The interaction effect of treatments on dry weight was significant and the highest dry weight (19.75 g) was recorded at 10 mg l-1 pretreatment with 100 and 150 mg l-1 foliar application. Allicin content did not show significant variation between treatments and in average was 0.859 mg g-1 FW. Total phenol content significantly influenced by treatments and the highest phenol content (1.585 mg GAE g-1 FW) was recorded at 5 mg l-1 pretreatment with 100 mg l-1 foliar application. The antioxidant enzymes included catalase, peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase that showed significant increasing under forchlorfenuron treatments. Due to significant effects of forchlorfenuron on antioxidant compounds and enzymes of Persian shallot bulbs, the assay of antioxidant activity also showed a significant increasing in treated bulbs. The maximum percent of antioxidant activity (74.522) was obtained from 100 mg l-1 foliar application. Exogenous application of cytokinins plays an effective role by protecting the fluidity and integrity of plant cell membranes. They properly mediate enzymatic (SOD, APX, and CAT) and non-enzymatic machinery with the result of preventing cell membrane damage by oxidative stress.
Conclusions: Considerable improvement in biochemical and antioxidant attributes of Persian shallot was recorded with pretreatment and foliar application of forchlorfenuron. The present data support the potential uses of the forchlorfenuron for improving the production of weighty bulbs with the high antioxidants attributes in Allium hirtifolium. Pretreated and foliar application at 5 mg l-1 and 100 mg l-1 concentrations of forchlorfenuron, respectively showed the best results and is recommendable for A. hirtifolim production.

Keywords

allicin; Antioxidant enzymes; Bulblet; Pretreatment; Cytokinin; Foliar application

References

1- Abdullakasim S., Kaewsongsang K., Anusornpornpong P., and Saradhuldhat P. 2015. Effects of pre-harvested N-(2-chloro-4-pyridinyl)-N’-phenylurea (CPPU) spraying on the improvement of flower quality of Dendrobium Sonia ‘Earsakul’, Journal of Applied Horticulture, 17(2): 140-144.

2- Aebi H. 1983. Catalase. p. 273-277. In: Bergmeyer H. (ed.) Methods of enzymatic analysis 3. Verlag Chemie, Weinheim, Germany.

3- Asadian G., Jalili H., Faramarzi J. and Babakhanlo P. 2001. Cultivation and domestication of mooseer (Allium hirtifolium) in Hamadan. Natural Resources Research Center of Hamadan. 15 p. (in Persian)

4- Asili A., Behravan J., Naghavi M.R. and Asili J. 2010. Genetic diversity of Persian shallot (Allium hirtifolium) ecotypes based on morphological traits, allicin content and RAPD markers, Open Access Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, 1(1): 1-6.

5- Aslam M., Sultana B., Anwar F. and Munir H. 2016. Foliar spray of selected plant growth regulators affected the biochemical and antioxidant attributes of spinach in a field experiment, Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry, 40: 136-145.

6- Boyhan G.E., Randle WM., Purvis A.C., Lewis P.M., Torrance R.L., Curry D.E. and Linton D.O. 2001. Evaluation of growth stimulants on short-day onions, Hort Technology, 11(1): 38-42

7- Bradford M.M. 1976. A rapid and sensitive method for the quantification of microgram quantities of protein utilizing the principle of protein-dye binding, Analytical Biochemistry, 72: 248-54.

8- Brand-Williams W., Cuvelier M.E. and Berset C. 1995. Use of a free radical method to evaluate antioxidant activity, Lebenson Wiss Technology, 28: 25-30.

9- Chance B. and Maehly A.C. 1955. Assay of catalases and peroxidases. p. 764-775. In: Collowick S.P. and Kapplan N.O. (eds). Methods in enzymology. Academic Press, New York.

10- Ebrahimi R., Zamani Z. and Kashi A. 2008. Genetic diversity evaluation of wild Persian shallot (Allium hirtifolium Boiss.) using morphological and RAPD Markers, Scientia Horticulturae, 119: 345-351.

11- Ebrahimi R., Hassandokht M.R., Zamani Z., Kashi1 A., Roldan-Ruiz I. and Van Bockstaele E. 2014. Seed morphogenesis and effect of pretreatments on seed germination of Persian Shallot (Allium hirtifolium Boiss.), an endangered medicinal plant, Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology, 55(1): 19-26.

12- Ebrahimi R., Zamani Z., Kashi A. and Jabbari A. 2009. Comparison of fatty acids, mineral elements of 17 Iranian shallot landraces (Allium hirtifolium Boiss.), Iranian Journal of Food Science and Technology, 5(1): 61-68. (in Persian with English abstract)

13- Fathi G. and Esmaeilpor B. 2000. Plant growth regulators: Principal and application. 2th edition, Jahad Daneshgahi Press of Mashhad. 288 p. (in Persian)

14- Franssen J.M. and Vosken P.G.M. 1997. Competition between sprout and daughter bulbs for carbohydrates in tulip as affected by mother bulb size and cytokines, Acta Horticulture, 430: 63-71.

15- Ghahremani-Majd H. and Dashti F. 2013. Genetic diversity of Persian shallot (Allium hirtifolium Boiss.) populations based on morphological traits and RAPD markers, Plant Systematics and Evolution, DOI 10.1007/s00606-013-0940-5.

16- Ghodrati Azadi H., Mahmood Ghaffari S., Riazi G.H., Ahmadian S. and Vahedi F. 2008. Antiproliferative activity of chloroformic extract of Persian Shallot, Allium hirtifolium, on tumor cell lines, Cytotechnology, 56: 179-185.

17- Giannopolitis C. and Ries S. 1977. Superoxide dismutase. I. Occurrence in higher plants, Plant Physiology, 59: 309-314.

18- Hazrati S., Tahmasebi Sarvestani Z., Beyraghdar A., Mojab F. and Hosseini S.J. 2011. Effect of benzyladenine foliar sprays on offsets production and root growth of Aloe Barbadensis Miller, Nature and Science, 9(3): 100-104.

19- Humphery T. 2005. Evaluation of the new active forchlorfenuron in the product Sitofex 10 EC plant growth regulator. Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority. pp. 1-30.

20- Khaligi A., Hojati Y., Babalar M. and Naderi R. 2006. Investigation of nutrient solution, cytokinin and soil structure effects on quantity and quality characters as well as bulbs number of Darvin tulip hybrid Eplederon variety, Pazhuhesh va Sazandegi in Horticulture and Agronomy, 73: 58-64. (in Persian)

21- Kim J.G., Takami Y., Mizugami T., Beppu K., Fukuda T. and Kataoka I. 2006. CPPU application on size and quality of hardy kiwifruit, Scientia Horticulturae, 110: 219-222.

22- Miron T., Shin I., Feigenblat G., Weiner L., Mirelman D., Wilchek M. and Rabinkov A. 2002. A spectrophotometric assay for allicin, alliin, and alliinase (alliin lyase) with a chromogenic thiol: Reaction of 4-mercaptopyridine with thiosulfinates, Analytical Biochemistry, 307: 76-83.

23- Nakano Y. and Asada K. 1981. Hydrogen peroxide is scavenged by ascorbate-specific peroxidase in spinach chloroplasts, Plant Cell Physiology, 22: 867-280.

24- Omidbaigi R. 2009. Production and processing of medicinal plant. 5th Edition. Astan Ghods Razavi Press, 397 p. (In Persian)

25- Patil H.G., Ravindran C., Jayachandran K.S. and Jaganath S. 2006. Influence of CPPU, TDZ and GA3 on the post-harvest quality of grape (Vitis vinifera L.) cultivares 'Anab-e-shahi' and 'Dilkush', Acta Horticulturae, 727: 489-494.

26- Pogroszewska E., Laskowska H. and Durlak W. 2007. The effect of gibberellic acid and benzyladenine on the yield of (Allium karataviense Regel.) ‘ivory queen’, Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Hortorum Cultus, 6(1): 15-19.

27- Rabinkov A., Zhu X.Z., Grafi G., Galili G. and Mirelman D. 1994. Alliin lyase (Allinase) from garlic (Allium sativum), Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology, 48: 149-71.

28- Ricci A., Incerti M., Rolli E., Vicini P., Morini G., Comini M. and Branca A. 2006. Diheteroarylurea derivatives as adventitious rooting adjuvants in mung bean shoots and M26 apple rootstock, Plant Growth Regulation, 50(2): 201-209.

29- Saniewski M. and Kawa L. 1992. Hormonal control of growth and development of tulips, Acta Horticulturae, 325: 43-540.

30- Saruhan V., Kusvuran A. and Babat S. 2011. The effect of different humic acid fertilization on yield and yield components performances of common millet (Panicum miliaceum L.), Scientific Research and Essays, 6: 663-669.

31- Shilpashree H.P. and Ravishankar R. 2009. In vitro plant regeneration and accumulation of flavonoids in Hypericum mysorense, International Journal of Integrative Biology, 8: 43-49.

32- Slinkard K. and Singleton V.L. 1977. Total phenol analyses: Automation and comparison with manual methods, American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, 28: 49-55.

33- Stopari G. and Maksimovi I. 2008. The effect of cytokinins on the concentration of hydroxyl radicals and the intensity of lipid peroxidation in nitrogen deficient wheat, Cereal Research Communications, 36: 601-609.

34- Yumian X., Linfang S., Le C. and Yiping X. 2013. Effect of three plant growth regulators on the bulblets development of lycoris radiate, Journal of Nuclear Agricultural Science, 27(9): 1409-1415.