Devil’s trumpet poisoning: A case report

Datura is a common plant in India that grows abundantly in the wild across the country. The common names of datura plant are Jimson weed, Stinkweed, Devil’s trumpet, Mad apple and Thorn apple etc. It is considered as a deliriant poison. Very few cases of intentional poisoning with Datura are reported in the literature. But accidental poisonings are though rare but not uncommon.Hereby we present a case of 37 years old male, who got poisoned by datura accidentally, following which he developed giddiness and was brought to our hospital. The diagnosis and treatment of the datura poisoning will be discussed.

POTENTIAL OF AQUEOUS OZONE FOR THE IN VITRO STERILIZATION PROCEDURE OF SOLANACEAE

Objective: This research aimed to verify the use of aqueous ozone as an alternative sterilizer for in vitro sterilization procedure. Methods: Three species of Solanaceae were selected based on their trichomes. They are thorn apple (Datura metel L.), eggplant (Solanum melongena), and tomato (Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium). The treatment used four levels of concentrations; K0 (NaOCl – control), K1 (AO 0.1 ppm), and K2 (AO 0.5 ppm), K3 (1 ppm) and it employed three types of leaves, namely, D1 (thorn apple), D2 (eggplant), and D3 (tomato). The data were analyzed by analysis of variance univariate two factors and followed by Duncan’s multiple comparisons test. Results: This assay showed that the effect of ozone was almost immediately against microorganisms, and the optimum ozone concentration depends on the types of the leaf. Both levels of ozone concentration and types of leaves had a significantly different effect (p<0.05), and there is no interaction between aqueous ozone concentration and types of leaves (p>0.05). The level of sterility in K0 is 77, 78%, K1 is 22, 22%, K2 is 44, 44%, and K3 is 100%. Ozone 1 ppm had the highest result, but there is no viable explant because they got damage in their cells. Conclusions: Aqueous ozone showed good potential to inhibit the growth of microorganisms for the in vitro sterilization procedure of Solanaceae.

Effects of Sowing Date on Some Agronomic Characteristics and Alkaloid Content of Datura Stramonium in Semi-Arid Conditions

Alkaloids of diferent plant, including many Solanaceae species, constitute important natural sources for variety of pharmaceutical products. The amounts of various secondary plant products are strongly dependent on the growing conditions and agronomical applications such as planting date, fertilization, irrigation etc. The aim of this was to study the effects of sowing date on some agronomic characteristics and total alkaloid content of thorn apple (Datura stramonium), investigated in the environmental conditions from Dicle University, Agricultural Faculty, Field Crops Department experimental area, during 2010 and 2011 growing years. In the research, plant height, stem diameter, number of branches per plant, number of capsule per plant, capsule width, capsule length, 1000-seed weight, fresh herb yield, herba yield, seed yield and total alkaloid content were examined. At the end of the study, in the trial of thorn apple with sowing dates, according to two years mean, seed yield, fresh herb yield, dry herb yield and total alkaloid yield were changed between 335 kg ha−1 and 704 kg ha−1, 5933 and 20537 kg ha−1, 1613 kg ha−1 and 4800 kg ha−1, and 0.270% and 0.391%, respectively. The effect of sowing date was found significant on the investigated characteristics, when sowing delayed, agronomic characteristics were also decreased. The highest values related with seed yield, fresh and dry herbage of thorn apple were obtained sowing of 01 Apr. Moreover, thorn apple plant showed morphogenetic variation when compared leaf and seed alkaloid contents.