Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava Volume X, Issue no.4 - 2011 100 THE VARIATION OF THE ACID ASCORBIC CONTENT IN CYNOSBATI FRUCTUS INFLUENCED BY STATIONARY FACTORS *Sorina ROPCIUC1, Ion TĂNASE 2 , Iuliana CREŢESCU3, Giancarla VELICEVICI4 1 University “Ştefan cel Mare Suceava” -Romania e-mail: sorinaropciuc@yahoo.com 2 University “Ştefan cel Mare Suceava” -Romania e-mail : ion_ tanase.meteo@yahoo.com 3Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timişoara – Romania e-mail: iuliana.cretescu@gmail.com 4Banat’s University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Timişoara – Romania e-mail: giancarlavely2000@yahoo.com *Corresponding author Received 15 October 2011, accepted 12 November 2011 Abstract: Cynosbati fructus is the false fruit of Rosa canina L. (Rosaceae), also called in Romanian rosehip. Rosehips contain as active ingredients 500-1000% vitamin C, 600-10.000 mg% carotenoids, pectins, dextrins, vitamins B2, E, PP, flavones (rutozyd, hyperozyd), carbohydrates, organic acids (citric, malic), tannins, volatile oil (linalol, geraniol, citronelol, nerol), vanillin, triterpenic saponosids, beta-sitosterol, fat substances (lecitin, glycerides of fat acids in seeds), minerals (potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron). In terms of precipitations and tempreature the specialized literature situates the rosehip in the category of xerophyte species with low humidity requirements and that do not bear the soils with stagnant water. Water requirement is mainly in the spring months before flowering and early August. High atmosphric humidity has a negative influence on the vitamin C content. The measurements made on atmospheric humiduty, including precipitations, air temperature, geographical exposition, relief slope revealed the fact that rosehip grows well even on wet soils, with northern and northwestern exposition, the result consisting in fruit with qn important content of vitamin C. Keywords: humidity, slope exposition, gradient relief, chemical compostion 1. Introduction The area of rosehip includes southern and central Europe, reaching even southern Scandinavia. In our country there is the most widespread of the many species of Rosa, common in all areas, starting from the Black Sea up to altitudes of approx. 1200 m, in shrubberies, forest outskirts, thinned forests, ditches. [1] It grows on eubasic-mezobasic soils, dried to moist (xerophyte-mesophilic), often compact soils. [2] Rosehip fruits are rich in vitamins. The data recorded in the world over time shows the fact that dry rosehip contain ascorbic acid between 0.1% , 0.5% and 1.0%, some varieties even up to 9%. [3-4] Environmental components that perform actions on the growth and fruit composition are considered living conditions because they condition metabolic activities, reducing or increasing precisely the effects of the ecological factors. This would be the case of certain constituents of the physical and geographical environment, such as heat, light, humidity, acidity, depth, texture, soil structure, etc. The area of a certain species is the expression of its adaptation to a certain complex of physical and geographical conditions. [5] The components of the resort – known as „stationary factors” – affect differently the plant life, i.e. directly, the way the light, mailto:sorinaropciuc@yahoo.com mailto:tanase.meteo@yahoo.com mailto:iuliana.cretescu@gmail.com mailto:giancarlavely2000@yahoo.com Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava Volume X, Issue no.4 - 2011 101 the heat, the water and the nutrients act and indirectly, the way the relief, the texture and the soil structure act, only changing values and the regime of the ecological factors, functioning as their determinants. They were also called indirect ecological factors or „phisical and geographical conditions”. In order to make the difference between them and the ecological factors, the term „ecological determinants of the resort” was poposed. [6-7] 2. Materials and methods The material of the study is the rosehip fruit is collected from Rosa canina L. in the spontaneous flora, natural dried due to the sensitivity of the ascorbic acid due to light and heat. The fruits are harvested at full ripeness from the shrubs studied over four years (2007-2010) on the route that includes the following resorts: Suceava-Pătrăuţi- Dărmăneşti-Costâna-Părhăuţi-Todireşti- Cajvana-Arbore-Solca-Clit-Marginea- Rădăuţi-Suceviţa-Palma. At each resort we took three research points or three bushes similar in size. The plant material was shred up to the stage of powder and used in determination. For the determination of ascorbic acid content we used the method of titration with iodine solution. We have determined thr morphometric parameters (slope, exposition) by computer processing the altitude terrain models, using the ArcGis program and the Topographic Analyst module. The average values of rainfall and temperature were processed accoring to the information given by the weather station in Suceava. We processed the data using various Exel applications. 3. Results and Discussion Analyzing the ascorbic acid content of rosehip fruit preserved by natural drying we obtained values ranging from 374.12 mg/100g and 663 mg/100g rosehip powder. The analyses show a significant relationship between vitamin C content values on years of study (see figure 1) The relationship betwen the content of vitamin C over the years 2009- 2010 y = 0.6878x + 161.8 R2 = 0.6764 400 450 500 550 600 650 400 500 600 700 vitamin C the year 2009 mg/100g v it am in C t h e y ea r 2 0 1 0 m g /1 0 0 g C2010 Linear (C2010) Figure 1. The relationship between the content of vitamin C over the years 2009-2010 The values of the morphometric parameters have been presented in the following table 1. Table1. The values of the morphometric parameters according to the Topografic Analyst module RESORTS Altitude Exposition Slope m N-S, E-V ° SUCEAVA 344 N 8.7 PĂTRĂUŢI 343 S-E 2.3 ĂRMĂNEŞTI 292 N-E 0.8 COSTÂNA 327 E 2.6 PĂRHĂUŢI 368 S-V 5.2 TODIREŞTI 411 S-E 1 CAJVANA 407 V 0.8 ARBORE 426 S-V 4.5 SOLCA 378 N-E 0.8 CLIT 418 E 3.5 MARGINEA 460 E 1 RĂDĂUŢI 388 N-V 0.1 SUCEVIŢA 550 S-V 0.9 PALMA 1080 S-V 13,4 Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava Volume X, Issue no.4 - 2011 102 Table2. The values of the temperatures and rainfall on months and years of study Monthly and annual average temperatures in Rădăuţi Year Jan Feb Mar Apr Ma y Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual average 2007 3.4 -0.4 5.5 8.7 16.0 18.9 20.9 19.1 13.0 8.0 0.1 -3.4 9.2 2008 -3.4 1.2 4.3 9.1 13.7 18.1 18.4 19.4 12.6 9.0 3.4 0.1 8.8 2009 -3.3 -1.4 1.9 10.1 14.2 17.6 20.3 18.7 14.9 8.2 5.2 -2.3 8.7 2010 -7.6 -3.8 2.5 9.0 14.9 17.7 20.5 20.6 12.8 5.2 7.1 -4.0 7.9 Average 2007-2010 -2.7 -1.1 3.6 9.2 14.7 18.1 20.0 19.5 13.3 7.6 4.0 -2.4 8.6 Monthly and annual average temperatures in Suceava Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual averge 2007 3.6 -0.3 5.9 9.2 16.3 19.9 21.5 19.7 13.6 8.7 0.9 -2.7 9.7 2008 -2.9 1.3 4.9 9.6 13.8 18.3 18.7 20.0 13.0 9.7 3.8 0.6 9.2 2009 -2.5 -1.0 2.3 10.8 14.7 17.7 20.4 18.9 15.7 8.7 5.5 -2.3 9.1 2010 -7.0 -3.5 2.6 9.4 15.1 18.0 21.1 21.4 13.6 5.9 8.0 -3.8 8.4 Average 2007-2010 -2.2 -0.9 3.9 9.8 15.0 18.5 20.4 20.0 14.0 8.3 4.6 -2.1 9.1 Monthly and annual precipitations in Rădăuţi Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual amount 2007 10.8 31.3 51.1 28.8 83.8 61.9 85.8 102.0 71.8 92.8 56.7 32.2 709.0 2008 13.6 23.7 18.0 121.8 84.0 73.6 271.8 93.0 72.4 51.8 8.6 28.9 861.2 2009 31.3 17.5 23.8 18.0 90.4 114.1 73.4 33.8 8.4 82.4 19.8 40.6 553.5 2010 28.5 39.5 27.9 38.4 138.2 282.4 129.4 47.8 91.2 42.8 17.3 31.1 914.5 Average amount 2007-2010 21.1 28.0 30.2 51.8 99.1 133.0 140.1 69.2 61.0 67.5 25.6 33.2 759.6 Monthly and annual precipitations in Suceava Year Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Annual amount 2007 10.1 45.2 41.8 32.9 53.9 30.7 105.8 135.1 67.3 87.0 43.4 34.3 687.5 2008 5.7 23.9 15.9 135.2 91.5 99.2 297.8 72.3 60.4 43.4 8.0 29.9 883.2 2009 45.3 18.9 29.2 8.4 82.2 154.8 120.8 23.7 20.1 62.9 18.7 37.1 622.1 2010 31.4 35.5 28.5 32.0 152.7 226.5 112.1 72.3 64.3 43.1 38.0 33.1 869.5 Average amount 2007-2010 23.1 30.9 28.9 52.1 95.1 127.8 159.1 75.9 53.0 59.1 27.0 33.6 765.6 Food and Environment Safety - Journal of Faculty of Food Engineering, Ştefan cel Mare University - Suceava Volume X, Issue no.4 - 2011 103 15,9 16,1 15,2 16,0 470,5 338,1 716,6 434,1 15,0 15,3 15,6 15,9 16,2 16,5 2007 2008 2009 2010 Temperatura aerului oC 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750 Precipitatii (mm) Vitamin C content mg/100g Temperatura S1 Suceava S2 Pătrăuţi S3 Lunca Sucevei S4 Costâna S5 Părhăuţi S6 Todireşti S7 Cajvana S8 Arbore S9 Solca S10 Clit S11 Marginea S12 Rădăuţi S13 Suceviţa S14 Palma Precipitaţii Figure2. The correlation between the air temperatures, precipitations and the quantity of vitamin C The graphic analysis highlights the large amount of vitamin C in Marginea in 2008, when there is recorded the highest value of rainfall and low temperatures. Also by comparison with data obtained from the topographic analysis it shows that the resort Marginea doessn’t have slopes with southern orientation, as it is found in the specialized literature as a species with preference for sunny slopes. 4. Conclusions From the obtained data we found out that rosehip has a good development on moist soils as well, with eastern and south- western exposition, shaded, with very good productivity and valuable chemical composition. It developes itself pretty well in any type of soil, however it has a preference for fine-grained soils. In the future there can be developed a tool to assess the indicators based on topographic, soil variables, and correlate them with the chemical composition of the species. Based on the output there could be derived the indicators of the variability of the species Rosa Canina L. The vitamin C content correlates significantly iin 2 years time, a fact that is represented in the analysis of the correlation in figure 1. 5. References 1.BOJOR O., ALEXAN M. Herbs from A to Z, Ulpia Traian Publishing 2.BRUNETON J. (1993) Pharmacognosie, Phytochimie, Plantes médicinales, Lavoisier Tec&Doc, Paris, 36 3. PRODAN I., BUIA AL (1964) – Romanias illustrated small flora – Agrosylvicultural Publishing House, Bucharest 4.VADOVA, V.A. PLINER, V.A- Accumulation of vitamina C and P in wild rose hips. Try vessoyuz Nauch Issledovatel vitamin Inst. 119-21 5. ARSENESCU-POPA ADINA, MLADIN PAULINA, POPESCU H – (2007) Biometric and pharmaceutical fitochemistry data in the croped fruit of Cynosbati fructus,The Medical Craiova, 2007, in press 6. V. STĂNESCU, (1979) – Dendrology, Bucharest, Didactic and Pedagogic Publishing 7. V. STĂNESCU, A. NEGRUŢIU, GH. VĂCARU (1971). – The Guide for Practical Works in Dendrology, Politechnical Institute Braşov