Planta Medica International Open 2017; 4(S 01): S1-S202
DOI: 10.1055/s-0037-1608554
Poster Session
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Polyacrylamide and radiation-derived oligosaccharides induced regulation of physiological processes and essential oil production in Vetiveria zizanioides L. Nash

MMA Khan
1   Department of Botany, Faculty of Life Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
,
M Uddin
2   Botany Section, Women's College, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

Publication Date:
24 October 2017 (online)

 

Vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides L. Nash), a quintessential medicinal and aromatic plant (MAP), stockpiles its essential oil (EO) in the roots which serves as the well head of the key natural inputs to the proliferating cosmeceutical, pharmaceutical and perfumery industries. Radiation-processed marine polysaccharides (Figure) when exogenously applied, act as plant growth elicitors, regulating various biological activities. Polyacrylamide (PAM), on the other hand, is a remarkable soil conditioner known to accentuate root biomass. Therefore, a study was performed using pot experiment to find out the efficacy of the best screened combinations of PAM and irradiated sodium alginate (ISA) and irradiated chitosan (ICH) on various growth and physiological markers including EO production in vetiver. The structural characterization of the radiation-derived oligomers was done using complementary techniques like, GPC, SEM, FT-IR and UV-vis spectroscopy to develop an understanding of structure-property relationship. Of the various applied treatments, 120 mg kg-1 PAM + 120 mg L-1 ICH proved best for most of the parameters studied. It exceeded the net photosynthetic rate and chlorophyll fluorescence by 29.5% and 27.8%, respectively over the control. Consequently, endogenous NO generation promoted the formation and elongation of roots in dose dependent manner. The linear increase in NO generation and nitrate reductase (NR) activity suggested that NR, rather than nitric oxide synthase (NOS), might be involved in oligomers induced root development and hence EO increase in the plant. The said treatment excelled the control in content and per plant yield of EO by 29.9% and 67.9% and that of khusimol by 60.9% and 170.4%, respectively. In a nut-shell, combined application of these oligomers along with PAM was found more effective compared to their individual applications, thus, serving as an eco-friendly and economical way to improve and utilize the full potential of medicinal herbs like vetiver.

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Fig. 1