Cultivarietal comparison of patchouli plants in relation to essential oil production and quality

Abstract

Patchouli, Pogostemon cablin Benth., is an important source of essential oil. On the basis of botanical observations and gas‐chromatographic patterns of oils obtained, the major characteristics of three cultivars were compared. From cultivar I, an oil close to that commercially available was produced with a yield of 1.6% (wt/wt). From cultivar II, a lower yield of an oil having an additional component was obtained. From cultivar III, a relatively high amount of oil was recovered from each plant owing to the bigger canopy it forms. The quality of the oil, however, was judged to be markedly different from that of others. Each cultivar could be identified by its characteristic leaf morphology and trichome density.

Characteristic Components Found in the Essential Oil ofOcimum basilicum L.

“…Leaves and stems were harvested from each cultivar, and steam distilled using a 5 litre vessel according to the previous report. 5 Analyses by GC and GC±MS For analyses of the oil components, a HewlettPackard 5985A GC/GC±MS was used, equipped with a Carbowax-20 M column (50 Â 0X2 mm i.d. ), carrier gas, helium 1 ml/min; injection temperature, 2508C; detector temperature (FID, NPD), 2508C; oven temperature, 60±2308C at a rate of 28C/min.…”

Plant regeneration from patchouli protoplasts encapsulated in alginate beads

“…(Sugimura et al 1990) were selected for the protoplast culture. Regeneration capability was evaluated using calluses induced from leaf explants.…”

“…The essential oil was recovered from the n-heptane layer and analyzed by GC. The conditions for GC were as described earlier (Sugimura et al 1990). …”

“…The essential oil is used widely as a perfumery raw material. In our previous reports (Sugimura et al 1990;Hasegawa et al 1992), patchouli plants were classified into three cultivar-types on the basis of agronomical traits and chemical composition of the essential oil. For cultivar improvement, it is relevant to produce F1 hybrid plants.…”

Transgenic patchouli plants produced by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation

“…is an aromatic crop which yields an essential oil containing various sesquterpenes and hydrocarbons such as; patchouli alcohol (patchoulol), patchoulene, bulnesene, guaiene, caryophyllene, elemene and copaene (Lawrence, 1981;Sugimura et al, 1990;Hasegawa et al, 1992). The essential oil is one of the most important naturally occurring perfumery raw materials because of its characteristic woody fragrance and fixative properties by which the scent is fixed and make it last longer on the skin.…”