Headspace and essential oil analysis of apple flowers

Abstract

The headspace, the essential oil, and a pentane extract of domestic apple flowers (Malus silvestris var. Domestica) were analyzed b y GC-FID and GC-FTIR-MS. More than 40 compounds were identified in the samples. The main headspace constituents, in addition to the terpenic compounds limonene, 3-carene, a-pinene, a-humulene, terpinolene, geraniol, linalool, and (2)-and (E)-citral, are benzaldehyde, eugenol, and benzyl alcohol accompanied by the acetates of these and other alcohols. Additional information on the odor characterization of these samples is given.

Nonfruiting Host Tree Volatile Blends: Novel Attractants for the Plum Curculio (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)

“…First, Leskey and Wright (2004b) showed that the presence of host apple trees in close proximity to baited traps results in signiÞcant reductions in plum curculio captures. Benzaldehyde has been identiÞed from apple blossoms (Buchbauer et al 1993), and thus, the degree of competition from natural sources of olfactory stimuli, i.e., host apple trees, will likely be greater if baited traps are deployed within an apple orchard (studies reported here) than if they are deployed outside the orchard (studies by Piñ ero . A second possibility could be related to the physiological state of plum curculios.…”

“…Second, single-component fruit-based attractants may not be very competitive within the context of an orchard, particularly when the attractant itself also is released by developing fruit. For example, although benzaldehyde was identiÞed from plum , it also is produced by apple blossoms (Buchbauer et al 1993). It is likely that volatile release of benzaldehyde and other compounds by host trees contributes to reduction of plum curculio captures in benzaldehydebaited traps when traps are in close proximity to host trees (Leskey and Wright 2004b).…”

Flowers Volatile Profile of a Rare Red Apple Tree from Marche Region (Italy)

“…In their study, Rapparini et al 14 showed that limonene represents the 2.4 of the total malus flower emission, and Flamini et al 1 reported that the petals of Citrus limon emitted very low amounts of this monoterpene 3.1 , mainly due to fertile parts 22.9 and 62.5 for stamens and gynaeceum respectively , which in our case only emit 5.4 and 0.8 of limonene respectively. Other monoterpenes, such as δ 3 -carene and α-terpinolene reported as headspace constituents from living apple flowers by Buckbauer et al 18 and…”

“…domestica 18 . Bengtsson et al 19 reported that benzenoid derivatives were characteristic of flowering branches of Malus domestica.…”

Influence of Host Tree Proximity on Adult Plum Curculio (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) Responses to Monitoring Traps

“…Benzaldehyde, the synthetic attractant used in our study, was identiÞed from both apple blossoms (Buchbauer et al 1993) and immature plum and was found to be attractive to plum curculio under Þeld conditions, especially when combined with the aggregation pheromone grandisoic acid (Piñ ero et al 2001). Given that the principal attractant used in our study, benzaldehyde is a host plant-produced compound, we predicted that plum curculio would discriminate between baited and unbaited traps in the Þeld, but not in the orchard due competition from natural host apple tree odor.…”