Ultraviolet-B induced modifications in growth, physiology, essential oil content and composition of a medicinal herbal plant Psoralea corylifolia
2022
Pandey, A. | Agrawal, M. | Agrawal, S.B.
Psoralea corylifolia (bakuchi) is a traditional, medicinally important herbal plant of the family Fabaceae. In particular, seeds are vital in treating skin diseases, such as leprosy, psoriasis, and leukoderma. Global climate change and the threat of stratospheric ozone depletion are already marked, so unveiling the implications of UV-B radiation on medicinal plants is imperative. In this backdrop, the present study aimed to assess the effect of elevated UV-B (eUV-B; ambient + 7.2 kJ m⁻² d⁻¹) on the content and composition of essential oils and how other factors such as growth, anatomy and photosynthetic adaptations were involved in this. Plant growth and physiological parameters were lower under eUV-B treatment than in the control (except carotenoid and water use efficiency). Due to eUV-B exposure, the number of racemes, flowers and seeds reduced significantly compared to their numbers in the control. The essential oil content of seeds increased by 46.4% under the eUV-B treatment compared with that in the control. The GC–MS analysis of essential oil revealed that monoterpenes decreased, whereas meroterpene and sesquiterpenes increased under eUV-B treatment as compared to control. Caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide and bakuchiol (which possesses anti-cancerous and anti-inflammatory activities) were identified as major metabolites and increased under eUV-B as compared to control. The study emphasizes that under eUV-B exposure, a reduction in growth and physiology of P. corylifolia was accompanied by an increase in essential oil content, antioxidant capacity and content of medicinally important compounds.
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