Valeriana jatamansi Jones and Hedychium spicatum Ham-ex-Smith are important medicinal herbs of the Himalayan region, which are highly demanded by pharmaceutical industries. Climatic variability especially increasing temperature and water deficit affects the growth and productivity of these species. In addition, increased temperature and water deficit may trigger the biosynthesis of medicinally important bioactive metabolites, which influence the quality of raw plant material and finished products. Therefore, V. jatamansi and H. spicatum plants were undertaken and subjected to different levels of drought (no irrigation), heat (35 °C), and combined stresses for investigating their physiological and metabolic responses. Both the treatments (individually and in combination) reduced relative water content, photosynthesis, carboxylation efficiency, chlorophyll content, while increased intracellular CO₂, malondialdehyde and H₂O₂ content in both the species. Transpiration and stomatal conductance increased under heat and reduced under drought stress as compared to control. Water use efficiency was found to be increased under drought, while reduced under heat stress. Protein, proline, carotenoid content and antioxidant enzymes activities (superoxide dismutase, peroxidise, catalase) initially increased and thereafter decreased during late stages of stress. Exposure of plants to combined stress was more detrimental than individual stress. In V. jatamansi, exposure to drought stress significantly (p < 0.05) increased valerenic acid content in all plant parts (1.0–6.9 fold) with maximum increase after 20 days of exposure, while under heat stress, valerenic acid content increased (1.0–1.2 fold) in belowground part of V. jatamansi, and decreased (1.1–1.3 fold) in aerial part as compared to control. In H. spicatum, exposure of individual heat stress for 25–30 days and combined stress for 5–15 days significantly (p < 0.05) increased linalool content to 6.2–6.5 fold and 8.3–19.6 fold, respectively, as compared to control. Higher accumulation of bioactive compounds after exposure to mild stress provides encouraging prospects for enhancing pharmaceutical properties of these Himalayan herbs.

Valeriana jatamansi Jones 和Hedychium spicatum Ham-ex-Smith 是喜马拉雅地区重要的药材，医药行业需求量很大。气候变化，尤其是温度升高和缺水影响这些物种的生长和生产力。此外，温度升高和水分亏缺可能引发药用重要生物活性代谢物的生物合成，从而影响植物原料和成品的质量。因此，V. jatamansi和H. spicatum对植物进行了研究，并经受了不同程度的干旱（无灌溉）、高温（35°C）和综合胁迫，以研究它们的生理和代谢反应。两种处理（单独和组合）都降低了相对水含量、光合作用、羧化效率、叶绿素含量，同时增加了细胞内 CO ₂、丙二醛和 H ₂ O ₂两个物种的含量。与对照相比，蒸腾和气孔导度在高温下增加，在干旱胁迫下减少。发现水分利用效率在干旱下增加，而在热应激下降低。蛋白质、脯氨酸、类胡萝卜素含量和抗氧化酶活性（超氧化物歧化酶、过氧化物酶、过氧化氢酶）最初增加，然后在压力后期降低。植物暴露于联合胁迫比个体胁迫更有害。在V. jatamansi中，显着暴露于干旱胁迫 ( p < 0.05) 所有植物部位的缬草酸含量增加（1.0-6.9 倍），暴露 20 天后增幅最大，而在热应激下，V. jatamansi 地下部分的缬草酸含量增加（1.0-1.2 倍），和与对照相比，地上部分减少（1.1-1.3 倍）。在H. spicatum 中，与对照相比，暴露于 25-30 天的个体热应激和 5-15 天的联合应激显着 ( p  < 0.05) 使芳樟醇含量分别增加至 6.2-6.5 倍和 8.3-19.6 倍。暴露于轻度压力后，生物活性化合物的更高积累为增强这些喜马拉雅草药的药用特性提供了令人鼓舞的前景。