Effect of gricultural conditions and associated Fungi on the Ammi Majus Coumarins

The following thesis is divided into four main parts.- The first part is concerned with the develop— ment of a new reliable method for the quantitative estimation of some of the important Ammi majus coumarins, i.e. xanthotoxin, imperatorin and bergapten. The study led to the establishrnent of a new accurate reliable method which depended mainly on the chromatographic separation of the coumarins on silica gel G plates, followed by the quantitative fluorernetric analysis of the separated components.- The second part of the thesis deals with a study of the effect of foliar fertilization and soil texture on the production of the active constituents by Amrni majus plants.Three types of soil were compared concerning the production of Ammi majus cournarins. It was found that clay loam was the most productive soil followed by sandy loam while calcareous soil was found to be the less productive one. Fertilization with the foliar fertilizer ‘ Fuli-fertile” (produced by Murphy) either by spraying or by soil dressing led to a pronounced increase in the production of the active principles. The in-crease was proportional to the increase of theconcentration of used fertilizer up to 0.1%.In the third part of thesis the effect of Amrni majus associated fungi on its coumarins and vice versa was studied. The Arnmi majus fruits associated fungi were isolated and identified. The effect of some of these fungi on xanthotoxin, imperatorin and bergapten was studied. from this study, it was realized that most of these fungi have strong destructive activities on the Ammi majus coumarins. The most effective fungus was found to be Aspergillus niger. The antifungal activity of xanthotoxin, imperatorin and bergapten was also studied. All of these compounds acted as strong fungicides for most of the tested fungi. Aspergillus niger was found to be the most tolerant fungus tested while xanthotoxin showed the most potent fungicidal activity.In this part, the effect of storage of Arnrni majus inoculated fruits was also studied. After five months storage of inoculated Arrnii majus fruits, the xanthotoxin content DROPped down to 80% less than the control as an effect of inoculation with Aspergillus niger spores. The DROP in imperatorin content lied between 13 and 76% less than normal while it lied between 12 and 72% in case of bergapten.