Structure: Activity and Emerging Applications of Spices and Herbs

Herbs and spices are plant parts (herbs from leaves and spices from other parts) that are conventionally used in their fresh or dried state for flavouring, natural condiments, preservatives and for medicinal purposes. Worldwide, most spices are classified on the basis of taste, season of growth, economic importance, growth habit and plant part used. Black pepper, chilies, small cardamom, ginger and turmeric are some of the widely used spices while common herbs include thyme, basil and bay leaves. These herbs are basically classified according to usage, active constituents and period of life. Secondary metabolites such as Eugenol, thymol, limonene, cuminaldehyde, curcumin, piperine, quercetin, luteolin in these plant parts have been found to be responsible for anticancer, antimicrobial, antiviral, antidiabetic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and hypocholesterolemic effects. Their application in water fortification, milk and cheese processing, production of beauty products and pesticides among others could not be underestimated. Finally, adulteration, toxicity and allergic reactions are some of the identified limitations and challenges often encountered in the use of herbs and spices.

Incidence of two caterpillar species (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) and injuries caused by them in sweet basil grown in Seropédica County, RJ

Ocimum basilicum L. (Lamiaceae) is one of the most popular herbs in the world, given its aromatic, medicinal and insecticidal properties. Its leaves are rich in essential oils, as well as the plant part with the highest economic value in this species. The aims of the current study are to identify the causative agent of injuries observed in sweet basil plants grown in Seropédica County, RJ (Brazil), as well as to feature both their feeding behavior and injuries caused by them. The herein investigated injuries were caused in sweet basil stems and leaves by caterpillars, which were collected with the leaves and grown in laboratory until they reached the adult stage. Two lepidopteran species belonging to family Crambidae were identified, namely: Hyalorista opalizalis (Guenée, 1854) and Pyrausta phoenicealis (Hübner, 1818); approximately 73% of adult individuals obtained in laboratory belonged to the first species. Caterpillars belonging to both species have caused similar injuries to O. basilicum plants. Injuries were featured by the sectioning of stems whose leaves were bundled with silk threads and formed a shelter, where caterpillars ate the leaf limb in. The current study also recorded O. basilicum plants used as hosts by P. phoenicealis insects, for the first time.

Estimasi Karbon Tersimpan pada Nekromassa Tumbuhan di Rawa Lebak Kecamatan Martapura, Kalimantan Selatan

South Kalimantan is one of carbon contributor with an area of swamp with ± 1,140,207 ha area of swamp land. The potential area for changed to be an agricultural land is ± 763,207 ha, and the remain used for pool when the rainy season is come. The highest C reserve is in biomass (mass of living-plant part) and necromass (mass of dead-plant part) at the top soil, microbe, and soil-organic matter. Based on description above, the problem is how much stored-carbon in necromass of plant at martapura lowland swamp, because the largest carbon storage found in necromass of plant. The purpose of this study was to estimate the stored carbon contained in necromass of vegetation in lowland swamp. This research has been done in Martapura from April to July 2009. Sampling is done at 4 location include Tungkaran village, Keramat Baru village, Sungai Rangas village and Sungai Tabuk village. Each sampling location divided into 2 stations in one sampling. Analysis of stored-carbon in necromass of plant is using Walkey and Black Method. The result showed that average ranges of carbon stored in plant necromass are 490,95 – 1744,66 gm-2.

Keanekaragaman Jenis Tumbuhan Obat yang Dimanfaatkan oleh Pengobat Tradisional (Battra) Suku Dayak Mahap dan Suku Melayu di Desa Tembesuk Kabupaten Sekadau

The Malays and the Dayak are the dominant tribes in West Kalimantan. Different tribes have different species of plants or the way they use medicinal plants. This study aims to analyze the type, processing method, and the use method of medicinal plants by traditional healers (Battra) from the Malay and Dayak Mahap tribes in Tembesuk village, Sekadau Regency. This study used a survey method, and the selection of respondents (Batrra) was carried out by purposive sampling technique. In Tembesuk Village, 8 Battra consist of 5 Malays and 3 Dayak Mahap people. The results showed that 80 species of plants were used by Batrra in Tembesuk village. Sixty species are distributed in the Malay tribe traditional healers, while the Dayak Mahap tribe traditional healers use 35 species. The plant part with the highest uses are leaves (60% of the Malays and 64.44% of the Dayak Mahap). The most common processing method is boiled (41.54% of the Malays and 41.18% of the Dayak Mahap), the way of use is drunk (35.82% of the Malays, and 41.18% Dayak Mahap). Most of the plants are wild (66.67% Malay and 58.33% Dayak Mahap), and the plant family with extensive use is Zingiberaceae (six plants in Malay and five in Dayak Mahap).

The Effect of Boiling Time on Polyphenol Compounds and Antioxidant Activity of Ciplukan (Physalis Angulata .L)

This study aimed to determine the effect of boiling time on polyphenol compounds and antioxidant activity ciplukan (leaves, stems, fruit, roots and mixture of each plant part). This research used Randomized Block Design (RBD) with five groups (leaves, stems, fruit, roots, and mixture of each part of the plant ) and three treatments (10, 20 and 30 minutes). The analysis for the experiment were the antioxidant activity of each part of the plant by using various incubation time, the antioxidant activity and total polyphenol for each treatment. The results showed that the duration of boiling had a significant effect on total polyphenols but no significant effect on antioxidant activity. The highest total polyphenols were obtained on leaves with 30 min boiling duration (1210.5 mg GAE / g), and the highest antioxidant activity was also obtained on leaves with 30 min boiling time (88.32%).

Optimization of harvest and extraction factors by full factorial design for the improved yield of C-glucosyl xanthone mangiferin from Swertia chirata

Swertia chirata Buch.-Ham. ex C.B. Clarke is an important medicinal plant used in various herbal formulations as it shows significant biological activities such as hepatoprotective, hypoglycemic, anti-inflammatory, antimalarial, antioxidant and anti-parkinson. C-glucosyl xanthone glycoside (mangiferin) is known as bio-marker compound of genus Swertia L. Development of efficient extraction methods of C-glucosyl xanthone mangiferin from Swertia chirata was attempted by optimizing the pre-harvest, post-harvest and extraction techniques by full factorial design. Firstly, a full factorial design was implemented to evaluate the single and interactive effects of pre-harvest (growth stage and plant part), post-harvest (drying condition and storage periods) followed by selection of best extraction technique such as heat reflux extraction (HRE), microwave assisted extraction (MAE) and ultrasound assistant extraction (UAE) at different solvent types on mangiferin yield. HPTLC and HPLC techniques were used for the determination of mangiferin content in extracts generated from different plant samples. In addition, anti-oxidant and anti-diabetic properties were determined by using DPPH assay and percentage inhibition of α‑amylase enzyme. Substantial variation of mangiferin yield, ranged from 1.46 to 4.86% was observed, depending on the growth stage, plant part, drying condition, storage periods and extraction method. Results showed that drying of the leaves of Swertia chirata in the shade harvested at budding stage and stored for not more than 1 month was recommended for obtaining a higher mangiferin yield. Among different extraction techniques, MAE and UAE in 50% aqueous ethanol solvent were found to be efficient and cost-effective with better yield of mangiferin (4.82% and 4.86%, respectively) as compared to HRE (4.14%). Highest DPPH activity and percentage inhibition of α‑amylase was observed in the aqueous ethanol extract of S. chirata leaves harvested at bud-stage of plant followed by flowering stage. The study shows that optimization of various factors by full factorial design was found to be an effective procedure to improve mangiferin yield from Swertia chirata and can be used for extraction of mangiferin.