Abstract
Given the importance of the genus Artemisia as a source of valuable natural products, the rare plant Artemisia pedemontana subspecies assoana, endemic to the Iberian Peninsula, has been experimentally cultivated in the greenhouse and aeroponically, to produce biomass for essential oil (EO) extraction. The chemical composition of the EOs was analyzed, and their plant protection (insects: Spodoptera littoralis, Rhopalosiphum padi, and Myzus persicae; plants: Lactuca sativa and Lolium perenne; fungi: Aspergillus niger; and nematode: Meloidogyne javanica) and antiparasitic (Trypanosoma cruzi, Phytomonas davidi, and antiplasmodial by the ferriprotoporphyrin biocrystallization inhibition test) properties were studied, in addition to the hydrolate by-product. The EOs showed a 1,8-cineole and camphor profile, with quantitative and qualitative chemical differences between the cultivation methods. These oils had moderate insect antifeedant, antifungal, and phytotoxic effects; were trypanocidel; and exhibited moderate phytomonacidal effects, while the hydrolate showed a strong nematicidal activity. Both EOs were similarly antifeedant; the EO from the greenhouse plants (flowering stage) was more biocidal (antifungal, nematicidal, and phytotoxic) than the EO from the aeroponic plants (growing stage), which was more antiparasitic. The major components of the oils (1,8-cineole and camphor), or their 1:1 combination, did not explain any of these effects. We can conclude that these EOs have potential applications as insect antifeedants, and as antifungal or antiparasitic agents, depending on the cultivation method, and that the hydrolate byproduct is a potent nematicidal.
Highlights
The genus Artemisia (Asteraceae family) has been widely studied from a phytochemical point of view
Two cultivation methods were used for the biomass production of A. pedemontana subsp
The major essential oil (EO) components tested (1,8-cineole and camphor) did not show significant antifeedant effects alone or in a 1:1 mixture. These results indicate that the insect antifeedant activity could be modulated by the minor compounds of the EO
Summary
The genus Artemisia (Asteraceae family) has been widely studied from a phytochemical point of view. Some species have been poorly studied, mostly because of their lack of abundance or distribution [14]. One of such species is Artemisia pedemontana (Bent), a whitish-lanate perennial aromatic shrub with a circummediterranean disjunct distribution [15]. Grows in disturbed grazed land in a continental climate at 900–2000 m [16]. This plant subspecies has been subjected to a few phytochemical studies. There is one report on the essential oil composition of wild A. pedemontana subsp. Assoana from two populations [17]. Two sesquiterpene lactones have been identified from organic extracts of its aerial parts [18], while the roots yielded flavones, coumarins, diacetylenic spiroketal enolethers, and n-akyl p-coumarates [19]
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