Essential oil profile of six spontaneous hybrids from male sterile Salvia officinalis L.

Abstract

Herbal medicines and beverages have started to take an essential place in our daily lives. S. officinalis is one of the most used herbal tea species in the sage family. Secondary metabolites, especially essential oils, plays an important role in its biological properties. S. officinalis essential oil is mostly rich in camphor and thujone, which of these compounds could be toxicological. In the present study, six spontaneous hybrid plants and their parents were analyzed for their essential oil contents. Male sterile S. officinalis were used as maternal plant, S. fruticosa and S. aramiensis were probable paternals where they were cultivated nearby. Grown plants were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Essential oil compounds were used to identify their relation to each other. The main components of S. officinalis were thujone (40.97%), 1,8-cineole (24.65%) and camphor (19.37%). 1,8-cineole content of hybrid genotypes were varied between 35.13-64.92%. Camphor level of hybrids were varied in lower levels as between 2.92-26.35% while thujone content were very low compared to the maternal S. officinalis as 0.95-6.83%.