User:Castu93/sandbox

Drugs
Agni casti fructus (ripe, dried fruits) is a pharmaceutical drug made out of Vitex agnus-castus. Albania and Morocco are the main export countries. The fruits are wildly collected (wild grafting). There are three other types of drugs of Vitex agnus-castus fruits: Vitex agnus-castus hom. HAB1 (ripe, dried fruits), Agnus castus hom PFX (dried fruits) and Agnus castus hom. HPUS88 (fruits). The smell of ground fruits is aromatic, sage-like whereas the taste is spicy, pepper-like. The drug Vitex agnus-castus hom. HAB1 is a round, up to 5 mm big, red-brown to dark fruit. In the middle it is often yellow. It contains 4 fruit compartments with one seed per compartment. A minimum of 0.4 % of essential oil is required. Viticis folium (dried leaves) is another drug which is produced from Vitex agnus-castus. The whole drug consists of lanceolate leaves with tomentose under and hairless upper sides.

Chemical compounds
Flavonoids (vitexin, casticin), iridoid glycoside (agnuside, aucubin), alkaloids, essential oils, fatty oils, diterpenoids and steroidal hormone precursors have been identified in the chemical analysis of Vitex agnus-castus. They occur in the fruits and in the leaves.

Essential oils
Essential oils have been found in the fruits and in the leaves. The oil of leaves, unripe and ripe fruits differ in compounds. 50 compounds were identified in the oil of unripe fruits, 51 compounds in the oil of ripe fruits and 46 compounds in the oil of the leaves. 1,8-cineole and sabinene are the main monoterpene components and beta-caryophyllene is the major sesquiterpene compound found in the fruits of Vitex agnus-castus. Other important chemical compounds are: limonene, alpha- and beta-pinene, trans-beta-farnesene. There are some slight differences between fruits from white flowering plants and such from violet flowering ones. The oil of fruits of white flowering plants have a higher amount of monoterpene constituents. The content of mono- and sesquiterpene was nearly the same for both oils. The leaves mainly contain 1,8-cineole, trans-beta-farnesene, alpha-pinene, trans-beta-caryophyllene and terpine-4-ol. All essential oils found in Vitex agnus-castus have an antimicrobial effect. Antifungal effects are slightly higher compared to antibacterial effects. Antibacterial activity is higher in oils coming from white flowering plants than from such of violet flowering plants.

Agronomy
…This is mostly a cross-pollinating plant, however self-pollination does also happen now and then.

The controlled cultivation of medicinal plants like vitex agnus-castus gains in increasing importance due to the modern quality standards and safety regulations such as GMP guidelines and GACP. Currently (as of April 2009) only one variety of monks pepper, namely the variety “Agnuzell 440” that is optimized for medicinal use, is registered with CPVO. But the controlled cultivation is economically not satisfactory regarding the yield.

Reproduction
This plant could also be reproduced vegetatively. One possibility is to use 5-8 cm long piece of the ripening wood with buds in July or August and another is to cut a riped wood in November and then let it root in a cold box. Also in vitro reproduction with spike of the shoots or node explants is possible.

Cultivation
... This plant is inter alia a brackish water habitant. Consequently, it is salt tolerant to a certain level. Cold and wet weather results to high yield loss of Monks pepper. The plant grows well on loamy neutral to alkaline soil. The monks pepper fruits from one single tree can be harvested for more than 15 years, that indicate that this can’t be integrated in a usual crop rotation system. Though, it is suggested to have legumes as its previous crop for nitrogen supply for the monks pepper in young stage. Besides, it is suggested to sow dissimilar plants such as monocots as its subsequent crop so that it might be easier to control the monks pepper plant, the dicot. Because the fruits of monks pepper tend to fall constantly and uncontrollably, it is likely that the plant can grow as weed again.

It is said that at a row spacing of 180 cm the overall best yield per hectare can be achieved if the plant spacing is around 70 cm. Here, it is also important to say that the yield quantity is also very dependent on genotype and variety of the plant.

Pinching out the tips of branches has no significant influence on growth, branching and number of shoots. Pruning back the branches in autumn has a positive influence on fruit yield while a re-pruning in spring can induce an increase of vegetative shoot and thus to tremendous fruit yield loss.

Harvest
The flowering and ripening process is not simultaneously. At the other hand it enables to get fresh fruits respectively seeds over a long span of time. Additionally, the riped fruit tend to fall down unpredictably and may get lost. Thus, there is no optimal fixed harvest time. Consequently, unripe fruits need to be harvested, which has no effect on quality, to avoid yield loss. Overall it is said that harvesting the fruits by hand is the most convenient solution.

Diseases and pests
Thysanoptera or widely known Thrips can cause great damage to the growth and the generative development of Vitex agnus castus The insect feeds on Chastetree by sucking up the contents or puncturing them. As well Chastetree is the only known host (especially in Israel) for the bug insect called Hyalesthus obsoletus. This cicada is the vector for Black wood disease of grapevines. Hyalesthus obsoletus prefers V. agnus castus more as a host than the grapevine. In this case Chastetree can be used as a biological control agent by planting it around vineyards to trap the Hyalesthus obsoletus. V. agnus-castus was found not only to be an appropriate food source for the adult vectors, but also a reservoir of Candidatus Phytoplasma solani (bacterial Phytoplasma species), the casual agent of the Black wood disease in grapevines The pathogen-caused leaf spot disease can almost defoliate V. agnus castus. Furthermore soils which are kept too moist leads to root rot.