Elsevier

Industrial Crops and Products

Volume 59, August 2014, Pages 125-134
Industrial Crops and Products

Polyphenol composition, antioxidant and bioplaguicide activities of the solid residue from hydrodistillation of Rosmarinus officinalis L.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2014.05.008Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Polyphenols of the solid residue from hydrodistillation of rosemary were tentatively identified.

  • Significant antioxidant and metal chelating activities.

  • Antifeedant activity against assayed insects similar to that of model antifeedants.

  • Limited phytotoxic effects on L. sativa, L. esculentum and L. perenne.

  • Rosemary solid residue is a valuable source of antioxidants and natural crop protectants.

Abstract

Rosemary is one of the most important aromatic plants in terms of commercialization of essential oil. Nevertheless, a large amount of solid residue with a considerable content of bioactive compounds is generated during the hydrodistillation of the essential oil. In this work we have identified the major phenolic compounds present in such residue and evaluated its antioxidant and bioplaguicide activities. Antioxidant activity was determined by several in vitro methods, such as the β-carotene/linoleate model system, reducing power, DPPH radical scavenging, and iron and copper ion chelation. Bioplaguicide activity was investigated by means of the antifeedant effects against Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, Spodoptera littoralis Boisd. and Myzus persicae Sulzer; and the phytotoxic activity against Lactuca sativa L., Lycopersicon esculentum L. and Lolium perenne L. Solid residue extract showed very high antioxidant activities, comparable to an extract from red grape pomace that was used as a natural antioxidant standard. It also showed strong antifeedant activity against L. decemlineata, S. littoralis and M. persicae with effective doses within the range of model antifeedants as well as limited phytotoxic effects on L. sativa, SL. esculentum and L. perenne. These results suggest a potential use of the solid residue from the hydrodistillation of rosemary as source of antioxidants and natural crop protectants.

Introduction

Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) is an aromatic perennial shrub (Lamiaceae) native from the Mediterranean area used in toiletries, cosmetics and medicine, as a flavoring in foods, or as an ornamental plant. Its chemical composition is well known especially regarding its essential oil, which contains 1,8-cineole, α-pinene, β-pinene, limonene, borneol, camphor, camphene and verbenone as the major compounds (Daferera et al., 2000, Jiang et al., 2011, Pintore et al., 2002, Salido et al., 2003). Numerous biological activities of rosemary have been attributed to the essential oil mostly antioxidant and antimicrobial properties with implications in human and animal health and in food preservation (Bozin et al., 2007, Burt, 2004, Miguel, 2010). Essential oil is obtained by distillation of the aerial part of the plant with water and/or steam and represents the bulk of the rosemary trading.

Rosemary is one of the most important aromatic plants in terms of commercialization of essential oil with a world production of both wild and cultivated plants that ranges from 100 to 300 Tm/year (Franz and Novak, 2010, SADC, in press). Countries from the Mediterranean Basin like Spain, Morocco and Tunisia, together with Mexico and United States are the main producers (Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Republic of South Africa, 2009). Nevertheless, the yield of distillation is only between 0.8 and 2.5 g of essential oil per 100 g of dry plant, which generates a considerable amount of solid residue (10–20 × 103 Tm/year) that may result in environmental concerns if is not properly managed (Angioni et al., 2004, Zaouali et al., 2010).

Moreover, solid residue from distillation still contains nonvolatile valuable compounds including rosmarinic acid, carnosol, rosmanol, carnosic acid and flavonoids endowed with antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, diuretic, antithrombotic, antiulcerogenic and antinociceptive properties (Almela et al., 2006, Altinier et al., 2007, Bakırel et al., 2008, Corrêa-Dias et al., 2000, González-Trujano et al., 2007, Haloui et al., 2000, Huang et al., 2005, Klančnik et al., 2009, Navarrete et al., 2011, Parejo et al., 2002, Torras-Claveria et al., 2007, Yamamoto et al., 2005). Such properties make these residues very promising as a source of health-promoting compounds, preservatives in food and feed or anti-aging ingredients in cosmetic products, and simultaneously can provide an additional profit to the crop. Alternatively, solid residues of rosemary can be used to obtain natural crop protectants. This aspect has been largely exploited in the case of the essential oils from rosemary and other aromatic plants, which are effective bioplaguicides and some of them are active ingredients of commercial preparations especially aimed to the organic agriculture (Copping and Duke, 2007, Dayan et al., 2009, Isman, 2000, Isman, 2006, Santana et al., 2012, Waliwitiya et al., 2005). In contrast, investigation of the use of solid residues from oil distillation as natural crop protectants has attracted scarce attention despite the significant presence of polyphenols as well as the determination of certain biological activities in this type of residues suggest that they could be a valuable source of bioplaguicides (Albano et al., 2012, Klančnik et al., 2009, Mata et al., 2007, Perry et al., 2003). Solid residues from oil essential extraction have namely demonstrated toxicity against a bruchid beetle pest of kidney bean, and more recently they have shown higher insect antifeedant effects in comparison with other agricultural by-products (Regnault-Roger and Hamraoui, 1994, Santana-Méridas et al., 2012).

In this work, we have tentatively identified the major phenolic compounds present in the solid residue after hydrodistillation of rosemary and evaluated its antioxidant and bioplaguicide activities. The objective is to test the potential of such residue as source of antioxidant compounds and natural crop protectants in order to broaden the use and overall profitability of this aromatic plant.

Section snippets

Standards and reagents

Gallic acid, Folin–Ciocalteu's phenol reagent, linoleic acid, β-carotene, Tween 20, potassium ferricyanide (III), iron (III) chloride, iron (II) chloride tetrahydrate, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferrozine, pyrocatechol violet (PV) were purchased to Sigma–Aldrich (St. Louis, MO, USA). The phenolic compound standards caffeic acid, genkwanin and apigenin were from Extrasynthese® (Genay, France), and carnosol and carnosic acid from Fluka–Sigma–Aldrich® (St. Louis, MO, USA). All other

Solid residue extraction and total polyphenol content of the extracts

Recovery of the bioactive compounds from the solid residue of R. officinalis was performed by ultrasonic-assisted extraction due to the good compromise between the efficiency of extraction and the saving of solvent and time of this method. In addition, this procedure is considered gentler in comparison with others like Soxhlet because of the low temperature and short time of operation and consequently is more suitable to preserve polyphenols from thermal degradation (Khan et al., 2010, Shirsath

Conclusions

The solid residue from the distillation of R. officinalis was characterized by the presence of carnosol, carnosic acid, cirsimaritin and genkwanin as the major polyphenols, and showed antioxidant activities comparable to red grape pomace and clearly superior to carnosic acid in all the tests assayed. These higher activities of the extract points to an enhancing contribution of the rest of polyphenols and/or non-phenolic compounds also present in the extract as has been previously suggested

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the grants RTA2012-00057-C03-03 (INIA, Spain) and CTQ2012-38219-C03-01 (MICINN, Spain). We are grateful to the European Social Fund and to Fundación Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Albacete for additional financing. We thank to European Science Foundation (ESF) through the COST Action FA1101 (http://www.saffronomics.org) for strengthening the existing networks between the teams involved in this work. Our particular thanks to the team of Prof. Polissiou of the

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