Comparative evaluation of chamomile (Matricaria recutita L.) populations from different origin

Abstract

In our research project under cultivation we examined 4 cultivars ('Soroksári 40', 'Lutea , 'Goral', 'Bona') and 28 wild populations of chamomile assuring all of them the same environmental conditions. Plant height, flower-diameter, essential-oil content, and the main terpenoid and flavonoid composition were analysed. The aim of our study was to establish the genetic background of breeding a new cultivar as well as encircle those natural habitats that give chamomile drug with the best quality.
 In the case of plant height populations from the Great Hungarian Plain were lower than plants from Transdanubia and the control cultivars. Between the wild and the standard individuals we found significant differences with relevance to the flower-diameter. With regard to the essential oil content the populations were very heterogeneous even those, which came from the same habitat. Populations form Transdanubia and Nagyiván reached the essential oil level of the cultivars (0.721-0.931 gi100g), and 75% of the examined plants exceeded the minimum requirement of the PhHg VIII.
 According to the essential oil composition our previous statement was confirmed that in the populations of Transdanubia and Northern part of Danube—Tisza Mid Region the main component is bisabolol-oxide A (30-41.2%), while plants native to the territory cast of the river Tisza are mainly characterised by a-bisabolol (32.3-48.4). In some samples the ratio of bisabolol-oxide B was more than 10%. The chamazulene content was higher in the cultivars selected to this component (above 20%), than in the wild populations (varied between 1.22 and 17.2%). Populations originated from the central part of Hortobágy region had extremely high apigenin content (10-13 mg/g), but in the case of chlorogenic acid, hyperoside and quercitrin we did not find any differences affected by the origin.

Biological Activity of Matricaria chamomilla Essential Oils of Various Chemotypes

“…Continued tably (E)-β-farnesene, oxygenated sesquiterpenes prevailed in samples B and F (α-bisabolol oxides A and B, α-bisabolone oxide A) as well as sample E (main compound α-bisabolol). The latter had also notably high concentrations of azulenes (21.8 %) and spiroethers (16.9 %), not only compared to the other samples ( < 10 %) but also other samples from Hungary [15]. As both α-bisabolol [8,16] and chamazulene [17][18][19] proved to possess anti-inflammatory and highly antioxidant properties [14,17,20], this combination is highly preferable for pharmaceutical and cosmetic use.…”

“…Additionally, a variant low in matricin (prochamazulene) was mentioned. This classification has been used by many authors [13,15,26,27], however, Type A and B have been interchanged. Later, Horn et al [28] could identify four chemotypes as follows: Type I dominated by α-bisabolol and matricin, Type IIa by α-bisabolol oxide A and matricin, Type IIb by α-bisabolol oxide B and matricin, and Type III high in α-bisabolone oxide but devoid of α-bisabolol and matricin.…”

“…Considering that a high trans-β-farnesene level might also be ascribed to a premature harvesting or use of stems and leaves, the samples in the current study could be characterised as follows: Sample A (Hungary) is a representative of the α-bisabolol oxide A/ matricin type, and sample E (Hungary) is typical for the α-bisabolol/ matricin type, both of which are commonly found in Hungary [15]. Sample F (North India) can also be attributed to the α-bisabolol oxide A/matricin type (though also rich in α-bisabolol oxide B), which is apparently common for this region [33] as well as the Ganges plains [34].…”

Phenolic Profile by HPLC-PDA-MS of Greek Chamomile Populations and Commercial Varieties and Their Antioxidant Activity

“…Although it is a fast and practical method, aiming to the determination of all apigenin derivatives, it causes degradation of many other components, thus altering considerably the phenolic profile of the extracts [22]. A literature survey showed that most of the quality assessment studies on chamomile focus mainly on the essential oils [23][24][25][26], whereas the majority of HPLC analytical methods limit to the determination of apigenin and apigenin-7-O-glucoside in extracts or decoctions, without measuring the flavonoid/phenol content in the herbal drug, which is nevertheless the raw material. The only exception is the report on the qualitative and quantitative profile of phenolic constituents of several commercial chamomile samples by Avula et al [27].…”

Artificial Chromosome Doubling in Allotetraploid Calendula officinalis

“…Polyploidy has led to an increase in secondary metabolites in medicinal plants in two ways: first, by the increase of biomass in chromosome doubled plants, and second, by the increase in number of gene copies related to the pathways of the secondary metabolites. Examples of higher levels of secondary metabolites after chromosome doubling are the increase of alkaloids in Datura stramonium (Berkov and Philipov, 2002) and Atropa belladonna (Huang et al, 2010), essential oils and chamazoline in Matricaria chamomile (Gosztola et al, 2006), terpenoids and flavonoids in Salvia miltiorrhiza (Gao et al, 1996) and morphine content in Papaver somniferum (Mishra et al, 2010).…”