| dc.description | Plants are key sources to obtain drugs and related medical compounds. In the species Catharanthus roseus L.G. Don, ordinarily known as vinca, contains significant amounts of the alkaloid ajmalicine, which is used as an anti-hypertension drug. The aim of this research was to verify the effect of macro-nutrient deficiencies and boron over ajmalicine bioproduction in vinca roots. The experiment was performed in random blocks with eight treatments: complete, nitrogen deficient (-N), phosphorus deficient (-P), potassium deficient (-K), calcium deficient (-Ca), magnesium deficient (- Mg), sulfur deficient (-S) and boron deficient (-B), with four replicates. Seedlings were initially watered once a day with a complete solution and after 55 days after germination the treatments were started. Plants were collected 135 days after germination and evaluated in relation to root's dry matter, concentration of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, B and ajmalicine. Concentration of N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S and B within the root's dry matter of the vinca plants in deficient treatments were respectively of 62, 61, 93, 52, 70, 61 and 44% lower when compared with complete treatment. Potassium deficiency resulted in ajmalicine increment of 19% within roots, while deficiencies in N, P, Mg and S reduced ajmalicine concentration in 55, 33, 22 and 26% respectively when compared with complete treatment. Deficiencies in Ca and B had no significant effect in ajmalicine concentration within the plant roots. Within plants with the complete treatment, nutrient contents of ajmalicine from the roots’ dry matter were respectively of 18,5 g kg−1 N, 1,46 g kg−1 P, 13,5 g kg−1 K, 4,47 g kg−1 Ca, 1,43 g kg−1 Mg, 1,53 g kg−1 S, 61 mg kg−1 B and 1,28 mg g−1 of vitexin. © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. | |
