Agriculture is an important economic sector for Ecuador, sustained by food crops like maize, potatoes, and vegetables cultivated in the highlands while cash crops such as coffee, bananas, cacao, and palm oil are grown on the coastal plains. But, Ecuador is also a country under the influence of several natural hazards due to its geographical location, atmospheric dynamics, and geological characteristics. One of the main risks to food security is the presence of a large number of active volcanoes scattered all over the country with the most representative enemy, the falling volcanic ash. The bibliography in general highlights the potential toxicity of volcanic ash from a human health perspective, but it also negatively influences plant development at the seed’s germination, as well as low crop pollination, damaged fruits, reduced leaf respiration depending on the type of crop, the developmental stage, the ash layer, and the climate. The mineral composition of the volcanic ash can also be beneficial for the soil by increasing fertility but at the same time with contrasting effects on plants due to the influence on soil characteristics such as pH, soil aeration, and biodiversity, which can detrimentally affect some crops.

Soil nutrients influence all stages (reproduction, growth, and development) of a plant species’ life, and it is known that the deficit and/or toxicity of one or more nutrients has negative effects on the production of crops of commercial interest. Ecuador represents one of the “mega-diverse” countries in the world, with an agricultural sector of great importance, due to its contribution to the country’s economy. This review provides a panoramic view of soil nutrients from different climatic regions of Ecuador and revises the importance of knowledge about the possible influence of nutrients from the soil on the plant metabolism able to influence the crop resistance against pathogens or to enrich the biological characteristics of these crops.

Human society is currently facing a growing demand for forest resources, which causes overexploitation and endangers biodiversity. In this regard, it is important to be aware that 10% of trees across the world are used in traditional and modern medicine. South America has the greatest diversity, with 40% of tree species in the world. The aim of our review consists of the assessment of the state of the art of micropropagation through somatic embryogenesis of representative medicinal trees in South America and of targeting the tree species that should be prioritized for conservation plans. From a total of 23,631 tree species from Central and South America, 31 are extinct, 7047 are threatened, and 1434 are possibly threatened. In this sense, in order to conserve them, various strategies are applied both in situ and ex situ. The application of in vitro multiplication protocols represents effective ways both in conservation and in the sustainable use of resources in order to obtain secondary metabolites of interest. Somatic embryogenesis is a well-known method in woody multiplication. According to the VOSviewer analyses, very few studies were available concerning aspects of somatic embryogenesis in medicinal trees. From the 10 representative species selected in our study, somatic embryogenesis protocols were established for 3 species, only for conservation purpose, not for secondary metabolites production. The development of protocols focused on obtaining secondary metabolites of medicinal trees will allow for the obtainment of valuable plant material as a non-invasive alternative.

The present study aims to provide information about the antioxidant capacity and secondary metabolites from different plant parts of two species that are grown in Ecuador: Chionanthus pubescens (the Ecuadorian national tree), and Chionanthus virginicus (the fringe tree—endemic to the United States of America and adapted to Ecuador’s physiographical and ecological conditions). These two species have still not been investigated for these characteristics. A comparative estimation of the antioxidant activities between the leaf, fruit, and inflorescence extracts was performed. In the quest for new medicines, the extracts were analyzed for phenolic, anthocyanin, and flavonoid content. A slight difference was observed between C. pubescens and C. virginicus flowers, the highest antioxidant activity being found in the C. pubescens leaf (DPPH IC₅₀ = 62.8866 mg/mL, ABTS IC₅₀ = 55.852 mg/mL, and FRAP IC₅₀ = 2.8466 g/mL). Our results showed correlations between antioxidant activity, total phenolic content, and flavonoids. This study confirmed that the C. pubescens leaves and fruits from the Andean region of Ecuador represent a good source of antioxidants, especially due to the presence of a high content of phenolic compounds (homovanillic acid, 3,4 dimethoxyphenylacetic acid, vanillic acid, gallic acid, etc.) as determined by the HPLC-DAD method.