Contents of essential oil, valerenic acids and extractives in different parts of the rootstock of medicinal valerian (Valeriana officinalis L. s.l.)

Characterization of essential oil distribution in the root cross-section of Valeriana officinalis L. s.l. by using histological imaging techniques

“…Chemical-analytical data does not exist for the currently studied plant tissue, but genetically identical plant material has been investigated analytically by Penzkofer et al [ 19 ]. We tried to compare and re-estimate the results of both studies.…”

“…The comparison of the four clones gives only limited information for the relationship between oil droplet occurrence and oil content, due to the low number of clones, the limited genetic variability among clones and the environmental and year’s effect, which all potentially influence the essential oil content [ 46 , 47 ]. Even Penzkofer et al [ 19 ] could only detect trends in this regard, but identified clone CE2 as the one with the highest essential oil content. This did not coincide with our essential oil mapping data.…”

“…Rooted plantlets were cultivated for 2 years in the field of the experimental station Baumannshof of the Bavarian State Research Center for Agriculture (48°42′N /11°32′E, 360 m MSL). A detailed description of the plant material, the cloning by in vitro propagation and the cultivation conditions are described in Penzkofer et al [ 19 ], where the same plant material was used.…”

“…This behavior is explainable, because with increasing root diameter, the root surface area decreases in relation to the root volume (calculated as cylinder). (ii) After careful hand-harvesting and hand-processing, high essential oil contents were achieved [ 19 ]. Due to careful handling, the surface was not damaged and the essential oil, close to the root surface, still present.…”

Proceedings of the 5th annual symposium of the German Society for Paleo Nutrition held in 2017

“…Due to genetic determination and environmental influences on the synthesis of secondary plant metabolites, detailed investigations are necessary to understand how the quality of MAP´s can be improved by breeding and cultivation methods. In ongoing research with medicinal used valerian (Valeriana officinalis L.) a better understanding of essential oil formation and DNA identification of this plant was achieved [13,14]. In a further study with German chamomile, an organ-specific expression of five terpene synthase enzymes that are involved in sesqui-terpene biosynthesis could be identified [15].…”