This research was conducted to study the effect of UV-B rays and gamma rays on the disinfection of plants harvested from the field and also to study the antimicrobial activity of Satureja mutica essential oil in the form of 3 separate experiments. In the first experiment, harvested plants were treated with UV-B for 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 hours. In the second experiment, samples were exposed to gamma radiation at 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10 kGy. In the third experiment, the antimicrobial effect of the essential oil of fresh S. mutica on Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas fluorescens and Staphylococcus aureus was investigated. The effect of UV-B radiation on Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, and total molds and yeasts showed that the highest inhibition of microbial activity was achieved with UV-B rays for 10 hours. The antimicrobial effect of gamma rays on Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella and all molds and yeasts was significant at the 1% level. The microbial activity of Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, Salmonella, and total molds and yeasts was determined to be 2.24%, 1.83%, 0.79%, and 10.8%, respectively, at 10 kGy gamma irradiation as the optimal condition. The effect of essential oil concentration on the percentage of microbial contamination showed that the highest inhibition of growth of the studied bacteria was observed in the pure essential oil treatment, so that the activity of Escherichia coli was reduced by 41.3%, Pseudomonas fluorescens by 16.7% and Staphylococcus aureus by 42.3%. The results showed that the use of UV-B radiation was not effective for disinfecting plants. The use of gamma radiation of 7.5 kGy and more was very successful in controlling microbial agents, and the use of Satureja mutica essential oil in controlling microbial agents had promising results.

Evaluation of performance was carried out in Satureja mutica Fisch & C.A, Mey and S.isophylla Rech, f. under dry farming using a 3 replicated randomized complete block design in Damavand, Iran. Significant differences were observed between the species for studied traits including plant dry weight, essence yield, canopy diameter, plant height, branch number and leaf length, with higher amounts for S.mutica. Also, accessions of S.mutica showed significant differences for essence yield, leaf width, leaf length, plant height and number of branches. Mean comparison indicated the highest essence content (3.86%) for one of the studied accession mu1Kh, the highest branch number for accession mu2Kh and the highest plant height and leaf length for accession mu3Gl. Also, significant positive correlations were observed between the traits, such as plant dry weight, with plant canopy diameter and branch number. Three components were resulted from principal components analysis, showing 95% of the total variation in which plant dry weight, essence content and plant canopy diameter were important, while in the second component leaf dimensions and in the third component, number of branches determined the most variation. According to cluster analysis, the accessions were classified into three groups. S. isophylla was located in a separate group. Also, accessions mu1Kh and mu2Kh of S.mutica were located in one group and accessions mu2Gl, mu3Gl and mu1Mz in another group. As a conclusion, mu1Kh of S. mutica could be proposed for cultivation under dry farming conditions in Damavand.

Today over than 22000 strains of Salmonella were investigated. Species of medicine resistance were presented due to consuming of Antibiotic in Animals. Genus of Satureja with the Persian name of “Marzeh” consists of 15 species in Iran, 9 of them (S. bachtiarica, S. edmondi, S. sahendica, S. kallarica, S. rechingeri, S. intermedia, S. isophylla, S. atropatana, S. khuzistanica) are endemic. In this research anti-microbial effect and chemical composition of the essential oils of these plants were investigated. The aerial parts of S. bachtiarica, S. edmondi and S. mutica were collected at full flowering stage from habitats in Yazd, Khorassan and Kermanshah provinces, respectively. The plant materials were hydro-distilled in order to obtain their essential oils. The oils were analyzed by capillary GC and GC/MS. The results showed the oil yields of S. bachtiarica, S. edmondi and S. mutica were %2.15, %2.31 and %1/0, respectively. Carvacrol (%66.5) and p-cymene (%15.2) were characterized in the oil of S. bachtiarica samples. In the oil of S. Mutica, carvacrol (%30.9); thymol (%26.5), gamma-terpinene (%14.9) and p-cymene (%10.3) were the main constituents. In the oil of S. edmondi p-cymene (%61.1), gamma-terpinene (%9.6) and thymol (%5.0) were the main constituents. For study of anti-microbial effect of the oil samples, the oils was diluted by DMSO at %2.5 and %5 and tested against two kinds of Salmonella paratyphi (A and B) by disk diffusion method. The results of three replicate showed, the oil by concentration of %2.5 and %5 inhibited the growth of Salmonella paratyphi A at 8 & 11mm (S. bachtiarica), 8 & 10 mm (S. mutica) and 7 & 11 mm (S. edmondi) and inhibited the growth of Salmonella paratyphi B at (9 & 11)mm, (8 & 12)mm and (6 & 12)mm respectively. The results showed the high anti-microbial effect of these oils. It seems the presence of thymol, carvacrol, P-cymene and gamma-terpinene in these oils caused the strong anti microbial effect of them.

Background: One of the essential problems of using medicinal plants which are mostly collected from the wild is their fungus and microbial infections. Nowadays, exposing the plants to Gamma radiation apparently removes the problem. But, as the plants contain outstanding amount of chemical substances, the exposition can lead to a change in the composition of the plants chemicals and therefore a change in their medicinal effects. Making poisonous, carcinogen or stimulant substances in the plants could be examples of this change.Objective: The aim of this research was evaluating effect of Gamma radiation on chemical composition of ten medicinal plants essential oils; Mentha, Coriandrum, Foeniculum, Zingiber, Cuminum, Bunium, Melissa, Thymus and Zataria.Methods: Essential oil of the species before and after Gamma radiation were obtained over Clevenger apparatus, analyzed using GC and GC/MS and identified based on RT, KI and authentic references. Results: Results showed that within ten species, the Coriander oil was affected with the 10 & 25 KG of Gamma radiation and changed to the another components.Conclusion: These results of experiment can alert the world, to the threatening consequences of using Gamma radiation concerning human health.

Objective Medicinal plants have long been recognized as a rich source of essential oils and have been cultivated for a variety of uses since ancient times. White savory (Satureja mutica fisch & CA mey) is one of the medicinal plants belonging to the mint family with high content of carvacrol in its essential oil. A large body of literature has suggested that abiotic stresses, especially drought stress, could considerably boost the production of essential oils in plants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of drought stress on the expression of genes affecting the biosynthesis of the main component of white savory essential oil carvacrol. Materials and methods For this goal, a number of 20 pot-planted seedlings of white savory at the 6-8 leaf stage were subjected in a greenhouse to two conditions of control and drought stress (10 pots for each condition) with irrigation regimes of 100% and 30% of field capacity, respectively. In order to ensure the implementation of stress on plants and to determine the appropriate time for sampling, leaf proline and relative water content of plants were measured. Results The results of both proline and relative water content tests revealed a significant statistical difference between the control and stress conditions in white savory at 30% of field capacity. The KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) database was used to obtain information on carvacrol biosynthesis pathway. The three key genes geranyl diphosphate synthase (gpps), terpene synthase (tps), and limonene hydroxylase (lh) were chosen for gene expression analysis. Due to the lack of genomic information on white savory, the sequence information of the genes in the closest genera within the family mint was used to design primers. The result of melting curve analysis from the real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay confirmed the accuracy of the primer design. The raw qPCR data normalized to the housekeeping gene Actin, then differential expression analysis was preformed using the delta delta Ct method. qPCR result showed that expression of the genes gpps, tps, and lh were increased in stressed plants proximately 20, 18, 50 times, compared to those in control, respectively. Conclusions The conclusion that must be drawn from the data available is that water stress leads to the process of plant response to stress and changes the expression of genes involved in the biosynthesis pathway of the active substance carvacrol.

The genus Satureja L. (Lamiaceae) contains 16 species which are distributed all over Iran and 10 of which are endemics. Investigation on essential oils content and composition of five accessions of S. mutica Fisch. a native species in Iran, have been subject to our research. The seeds of five accessions of S. mutica were collected from their natural habitats in Khorasan (2 accessions), Mazandaran and Gilan (2 accessions) provinces in this study. The seeds were planted inside the green house, and then the seedlings were transplanted into the field in Grizeh-Sanandaj research station in 2010 and 2011. An experiment was undertaken to determine the oil production of S. mutica in complete randomized block design with three replications. The aerial parts of each accession were collected in full flowering stages in three consecutive years. The essential oils were obtained by hydro-distillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The oil yields were increased for 5 accessions in the second year. The main constituents of the essential oils during three consecutive years were thymol (51. 7 and 3. 5%), p-cymene (39. 0 and 9. 8%), γ-terpinene (23. 2 and 10. 0%) and carvacrol (49. 7 and 3. 6%). Although the main components of all the oils were similar, but there were some differences between the percentages of major components and also minor constituents. It is remarkable that the most important phenolic compound, thymol, was decreased in the oils in the second year for most accessions.