Calotropis procera is a medicinal weed of family Asclepiadaceae. This study was carried out to explore the biochemical profile of C. procera flowers collected from Southern Punjab region of Pakistan. Methanolic flower extract of C. procera was subjected to GC-MS analysis. There were 30 compounds identified in this extract. The predominant compound was γ-sitosterol with 15.39% peak area. Other abundantly occurring compounds included stigmasterol (9.22%), 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)-, methyl ester (9.01%), campesterol (8.63%), α-amyrin acetate (8.25%), β-amyrin (8.09%), hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester (7.91%), 11-octadecenoic acid, methyl ester (6.15%), and 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (5.66%). Moderately abundant compounds included nonacos-1-ene (2.83%), methyl stearate (1.57%), pentacosane (1.44%), phytol (1.33%), heptacos-1-ene (1.20%), heneicosane (1.19%), and 1-hexacosene (1.09%). The remaining less abundant compounds were present with peak areas less than 1%. Literature survey showed that the major compounds identified in the flower extract of C. procera possess various bioactivities including antidiabetic, anticancer, antihyperglycemic, antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-inflamatory.

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.), a medicinal plant of family Cannabaceae, growing wildly in most of the rainfed areas of Punjab, Pakistan. In this study, phytochemical profile of methanolic extract of root was assessed through GC-MS analysis and various biologically active compounds were identified through literature survey. There were 14 compounds in the root extract. The most abundant compounds were γ-sitosterol (27.08%) and 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (Z,Z)-, methyl ester (24.09%) and hexadecanoic acid, methyl ester (21.81%). Other identified compounds were methyl stearate (5.51%), stigmasterol (5.12%), campesterol (4.19%), phenol, 2,2'-methylenebis[6-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-4-methyl-(2.52%), 11-octadecenoic acid, methyl ester (2.10%), squalene (1.89%), β-amyrin (1.88%), eicosanoic acid, methyl ester (0.85%), tetracosanoic acid, methyl ester (0.88%), dronabinol (1.02%) and 2-methoxy-4-vinylphenol (0.96%). Most of the identified compounds possess one or more biological activities viz. antitumor, antifungal, antibacterial, antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, and/or analgesic.

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Celosia argentea var. cristata is an edible plant mainly cultivated as an ornament for its spectacular flowering and is highly appreciated by horticulturists for its originality, unique appearance of flower and better vase life. Utilisation of plant growth regulator [salicylic acid (SA)] and mineral nutrition [zinc (Zn)] is a sustainable approach to ameliorate crop health and yield. A field experiment was performed on a randomised complete block design with 12 treatments in 36 blocks to investigate the effectiveness of the combined application of SA (50 ppm and 100 ppm) and Zn (ZnSO4: 0.5 ppm, 1.5 ppm and 2.5 ppm) as well as when each one is applied separately on vegetative, reproductive, physiochemical attributes in C. argentea var. cristata. Results analysed through Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) test, biplot and heat map indicated a significantly greater improvement up to 2.5 folds in the growth attributes when plants received foliar application of 100 ppm of SA combined with 2.5 ppm of Zn as compared to control group. All treatments modified the physiobiochemical responses of plants by lowering catalase (CAT) activity significantly, and enhancing photosynthetic pigments, total protein content and peroxidase (POX) and polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activities as compared to the control group. It was concluded that foliar application of SA (100 ppm) + Zn (2.5 ppm) at pre-flowering stage could be applied to obtain better growth and flower quality in cockscomb.