Novel Solventless Extraction Technique to Preserve Cannabinoid and Terpenoid Profiles of Fresh Cannabis Inflorescence

Despite its use by humans for thousands of years, the technology of cannabis usage and extraction is still evolving. Given that the primary pharmacological compounds of interest are cannabinoid and terpenoids found in greatest abundance in capitate glandular trichomes of unfertilized female inflorescences, it is surprising that older techniques of hashish making have received less technological advancement. The purpose of this study was to employ organically grown cannabis and to isolate pure trichomes from freshly picked flowers via exposure to vapor from solid CO2, commonly known as “dry ice”, followed by their isolation via sifting through a 150 µ screens while maintaining the cold chain. Biochemical analysis was undertaken on fresh flower, frozen-sifted flower by-products, treated trichomes (Kryo-Kief™), dried flower, dried sifted flower by-product and dried kief. The dry ice process successfully concentrated cannabinoid content as high as 60.7%, with corresponding concentration and preservation of monoterpenoids encountered in fresh flower that are usually lost during the conventional cannabis drying and curing process. The resulting dried sifted flower by-product after dry ice processing remains a usable commodity. This approach may be of interest to pharmaceutical companies and supplement producers pursuing cannabis-based medicine development with an eye toward full synergy of ingredients harnessing the entourage effect.

Impact of Phosphorus on Cannabis sativa Reproduction, Cannabinoids, and Terpenes

Many abiotic factors, such as mineral nutrients—including phosphorus (P)—fertility, can impact the yield and growth of Cannabis sativa. Given the economic portion of C. sativa is the inflorescence, the restriction of P fertility could impact floral development and quality could be detrimental. This study sought to track the impacts of varying P concentrations (3.75, 7.50, 11.25, 15.0, 22.50, and 30.0 mg·L−1) utilizing a modified Hoagland’s solution. This experiment examined plant height, diameter, leaf tissue mineral nutrient concentrations, and final fresh flower bud weight as well as floral quality metrics, such as cannabinoids and terpenes. The results demonstrated that during different life stages (vegetative, pre-flowering, flowering), P concentrations impact C. sativa growth and development and yield. Regarding the cannabinoid pools, results varied for the individual cannabinoid types. For the acid pools, increasing fertility concentrations above 11.25 mg·L−1 P did not result in any increase in cannabinoid concentrations. These results indicate that, if a crop is being produced under greenhouse conditions, specifically for cannabinoid production, an excessive P supply did not result in higher cannabinoid production. However, plants grown with a higher rate of P fertility (30.0 mg·L−1) had greater plant width and may result in more buds per plant.

Quantitative Phytochemicals Determination of the Extracts from the Flowers of Alstonia scholaris and their Anti-Lipoxygenase Activities

Alstonia scholaris (L.) R. Br. (Apocynaceae) is a plant with various pharmacological activities, especially anti-inflammatory activity. There were rare reports about the phytochemicals of its flowers. This study aimed to determine the chemical constituents of the extracts from A. scholaris flowers along with screening for their anti-lipoxygenase activities. The fresh flowers (40 kg) of A. scholaris were dried at 45 ◦C and powdered (4 kg, 10% yield of fresh flower). The powder of dry flowers (4 kg) were extracted with 95% ethanol by using ultrasonic assistance to obtain ethanolic crude extract (ASF-EtOH) 201 g (5% yield of dry flower). The ASF-EtOH (100 g) was further subjected to liquid-liquid partition to obtain dichloromethane layer (ASF-DCM), ethyl acetate layer (ASF-EtOAc) and water layer (ASF-Water) around 26.4 g (26.4% yield), 9.3 g (9.3% yield) and 46.6 g (46.6% yield), respectively. All of the extracts were quantified for their chemical compositions by using colorimetric methods. Then their anti-lipoxygenase activities were evaluated by using linoleic acid as a substrate and lipoxygenase as an enzyme. The results indicated that one gram of ASF-EtOH, ASF-DCM, ASF-EtOAc and ASF-Water contained total alkaloids, cardiac glycosides, flavonoids and triterpenoids in the range of 1.25-5.15 mg berberine chloride equivalent, 4.47-36.64 mg digoxin equivalent, 37.87-40.16 mg rutin equivalent and 110.88-359.32 mg ursolic acid equivalent, respectively. The inhibitory effects towards lipoxygenase enzyme of ASF-EtOH, ASF-DCM, ASF-EtOAc (0.2 mg/ml) were 73.7, 89.9 and 67.4 %, respectively, which were higher than that of diclofenac sodium, an anti-inflammatory drug, at the same concentration. While ASF-Water (1 mg/ml) inhibited lipoxygenase activity around 19.4%. These results exhibited potential of the flowers of A. scholaris to provide plenty of secondary metabolites with potent anti-lipoxygenase activity. Therefore, the flowers of A. scholaris is a good material for further purification and discovery of anti-lipoxygenase agent.

Genetic Diversity of Butterfly Pea [Clitoria ternatea] from Indonesia Based on Flower and Yield Component Traits in Two Land Conditions

<p>Genetic diversity among the butterfly pea genotypes is important information to support breeding program of this underutilized crop. The important characters to be targeted in the breeding program of this crop included yield and yield components of flowers that are strongly affected by the environment and have not been previously reported. This study aimed to determine the genetic diversity of butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea L.) from Indonesia tested in two land conditions, namely dryland and former paddy fields, based on flower character and yield component traits. The results showed that butterfly pea accessions were divided into two main clusters with dissimilarity coefficient of 0.01–3.99 indicating wide genetic diversity across accessions. The Mantel correlation showed that the genetic distance among accessions studied were not significantly correlated (r = 0.044, P = 0.8709). Based on principal component analysis (PCA), the eigenvalue ranged from 1.69 to 3.34 with a cumulative contribution of 72.64%. The traits that influenced genetic diversity in this study were flower length, weight of one fresh flower, total weight of pods, and weight of 100 seeds. The results of this study should be useful to support future butterfly pea breeding program.</p>

The effects of plant spacing on yield and quality of butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea L.) cultivated in organic-oriented farming system on grey soil

Clitoria ternatea L. is a plant species that can be used in food and pharmaceutical industry. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different plant spacing on the productivity and quality of butterfly pea grown on grey soil in Thu Duc, Ho Chi Minh City. Six treatments correspond to plant spacing of 80 x 15 cm, 80 x 20 cm, 80 x 25 cm, 80 x 30 cm, 80 x 35 cm and 80 x 40 cm. The results showed that the highest flower amount (296.8 flowers/plant) was obtained with butterfly pea planted at the spacing of 80 x 15 cm, commercial flower weight (7.86 g/100 flowers), theoretical yield of fresh flower (1,779.0 kg/1,000 m2, actual yield of fresh flower (841.9 kg/1,000 m2), theoretical yield of commercial flower (194.6 kg/1,000 m2 and actual yield of commercial flower (89.0 kg/1,000 m2. Nevertheless, plant spacings did not affect the dry matter ratio, anthocyanin and tannin content in the commercial butterfly flowers

KORELASI DAN ANALISIS LINTASAN BEBERAPA KARAKTER PENTING KOLEKSI PLASMA NUTFAH PIRETRUM (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium Trev.) DI KEBUN PERCOBAAN GUNUNG PUTRI

<p>ABSTRAK</p><p>Menganalisis banyak karakter sebagai variabel bebas secaraserempak, dalam analisis lintasan, sering ditemukan kurangnya informasimengenai pengaruh (hubungan) yang diharapkan, di samping adanya efekmultikolinieritas. Kendala seperti ini dapat dikurangi melalui teknikanalisis secara bertahap dan seleksi variabel bebas dengan metodestepwise. Penelitian yang bertujuan untuk mengetahui karakter-karakterpenting 83 klon tanaman piretrum dilakukan di KP. Gunung Putri, Cianjur,pada ketinggian tempat 1.400 m dpl dan jenis tanah Andosol, mulaiJanuari sampai Desember 2007. Penelitian dilakukan dengan caramengamati secara langsung 83 klon koleksi plasma nutfah piretrum di KP.Gunung Putri yang ditanam pada Januari 2007 dengan jarak tanam 30 cmx 40 cm. Contoh tanaman sebanyak 5 tanaman tiap klon ditentukan secaraacak sederhana, sehingga seluruhnya berjumlah 415 contoh. Analisislintasan dilakukan secara bertahap disesuaikan dengan siklusperkembangan tanaman, dan kemudian dilakukan konfirmasi modeldengan metode SEM (structural equation modelling). Variabel bebasdiseleksi dengan menggunakan metode stepwise. Hasil penelitianmenunjukkan bahwa : (1) terdapat tiga karakter penting untuk seleksitanaman piretrum pada stadia dini yaitu : karakter jumlah anak daun/phn,jumlah anakan/phn, dan tinggi tanaman, sedangkan untuk seleksi padastadia lanjut dapat dilakukan terhadap karakter panjang bunga pita, dan (2)untuk tujuan hasil bunga segar yang tinggi, seleksi positif sebaiknyadilakukan terhadap karakter jumlah anak daun/phn dan jumlahanakan/phn, sedangkan seleksi negatif sebaiknya dilakukan terhadapkarakter tinggi pohon dan panjang bunga pita.</p><p>Kata kunci : Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium Trev., korelasi, analisislintasan, SEM.</p><p>ABSTRACT</p><p>Correlation and path analysis of several important characters ofPyrethrum (Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium Trev.) germplasmcollection in Gunung Putri Experimental StationIn path analysis simultaneously analyzing many characters asindependent variable often causes misinformation about expected effect(relation). Effect of multicollinearity often occurs. These constraints canbe decreased by using step by step path analysis and selection ofindependent variable with stepwise method of direct observation. Theexperiment was conducted on the pyrethrum population planted at KP.Gunung Putri, Cianjur, about 1400 m above sea level and Andosol of soiltype from January until December 2007. The research aimed toinvestigate several important characters of 83 clones of pyrethrumgermplasm collection planted in January 2007 with 30 cm x 40 cmplanting distance. The simple random sampling of 5 plants per clone(totally 415 samples), step by step path analysis based on plant growingcycle, confirmed model analyzed by Structure Equation Modelling (SEM),and selection of independent variable with stepwise method were used inthis study. Result showed that: (1) there are three important characters tobe used in selection program of pyrethrum at early stage i.e.: number ofleaflets/plant, number of tillers/plant, and height of plant. Length ofcorolla is important character for selection at late stage, and (2) for highyield of fresh flower, positive selection was made on number ofleaflets/plant and number of tillers/plant, and negative selection was doneon plant height and length of corolla.</p><p>Key words : Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium Trev., correlation, pathanalysis, SEM</p>

Analysis of Volatile Organic Compounds from the Aerial Parts of Medicinal Plant, Galium verum

The Galium verum herb, (Rubiaceae family) is well represented in the spontaneous Romanian flora. She is one of the most used plants in traditional medicine. Our research aimed to investigate the chemical volatile profile in fresh, dried and essential oil of Gallium verum using SPME and hydrodistillation techniques, followed by GC-MS analysis. Characterization of volatile compounds composition by SPME �GC-MS technique presented din this paper is the first study on fresh and dried of Galium verum plant to our knowledge. Galium verum fresh flower floral bouquet is given by monoterpenes (73,5%), sesquiterpenes (10,16%), esters (10,26%) and others(5.87%). The floral bouquet of Gallium verum dried flower, contains mainly: aldehydes (35.48%) monoterpenes (35.48%), alcohols (11.96%), sesquiterpenes, (3.71%), esters (3.14%) and others (10.11%). Sixty components were identified in the galium essential oil.