Essential oil characteristics of wild Sicilian oregano populations in relation to environmental conditions

Abstract

A study was carried out on the essential oil ofOriganum vulgaressp. hirtum(Link) Ietswaart taken from thirteen\ud wild populations found in different parts of Sicily, Italy. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship that exists between essentials oil extracted from Sicilian wild populations ofO. vulgaressp.hirtum(Link) Ietswaart and various weather/climate and topographic factors in order to provide more information on aspects that influence the production potential of this species. The essential oils from the samples were extracted by hydrodistillation and analyzed by a combination of gas chromatography–flame ionization detector (GC–FID) and GC–mass spectrometry (GC–MS); seventy-one components were fully identified, however, three main components were characteristic of the examined samples accounting for a significant amount of all oils: thymol (24.0–54.4%),γ-terpinene (9.8–30.5%) and p-cymene (5.2–18.7%). Analyses highlighted a different qualitative and quantitative essential oil composition compared with other wild populations in the Mediterranean area and in relation to the different weather/climate and topographic characteristics of the collection sites. These differences are probably due to a mixture of genetic and environmental factors, which influence secondary metabolite biosynthesis: the basis of essential oils

New Tricks for Old Guys: Recent Developments in the Chemistry, Biochemistry, Applications and Exploitation of Selected Species from the Lamiaceae Family

“…It was widely studied by Tuttolomondo and coworkers and by Mancini et al . reporting a prevalent thymol chemotype for Italian populations, ( Figure ) and by Damjanović‐Vratnica et al . for populations from Montenegro showing instead a carvacrol chemotype.…”

Influence of Environmental Factors on Essential Oil Variability in Origanum compactum Benth. Growing Wild in Morocco

“…Influence of environmental factors on the chemical composition of EOs is well‐known for plants belonging to Lamiaceae family. In fact, some studies in the phenol rich species have shown that the variation of their EO composition is attributed to ecological factors . For example, Karousou et al., showed that high carvacrol content in two species ( Coridothymus capitatus and Satureja thymbra ) is associated to dry zones, whereas a high thymol content is related to more wet climate or highland formations.…”

Agronomical evaluation of Sicilian biotypes ofLavandula stoechasL. spp.stoechasand analysis of the essential oils

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