Influence of Morphological Variability and Habitat on the Chemical Composition of Essential Oils of an Algerian Endemic Origanum Species (Origanum floribundum Munby)

Abstract

The genus Origanum L. (Lamiaceae) enjoys a socioeconomic interest and constitutes one of the most popular spices. In the literature, the study of this taxon is limited mainly to the chemical composition, antimicrobial, antifungal, and antioxidant activities of the essential oils. In Algeria, few works have been done in this area, including the endemic and rare species: Origanum floribundum Munby. In this study, our contribution highlights the influence of the ecological parameters and of the variation of morphological traits on the chemical composition and the antioxidant activity of the essential oils of six populations. The major oils constituents are carvacrol, γ-terpinene, and p-cymene with carvacrol predominance (31.8 - 60.8%) in over five populations (MS1 - MS4 and MS6). However, the population of Ain Terraeur (MS5) of which individuals present a foliar polymorphism, distinguishes itself by p-cymene predominance (42.6%). This would denote a new chemotype and/or variety which seem well differentiated on the dendrogram of the Ascending Hierarchical Classification (A.H.C) and its foliar morphology. The antioxidant activity of the six samples evaluated by the scavenging activity of free radicals DPPH(•) and ABTS(•+) showed a potent efficiency for the sample with foliar polymorphism population (IC50 = 51.6 ± 0.31 and 12.71 ± 0.37 μg/ml, respectively).

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

“…Recently, many studies have been carried out to re‐evaluate the chemical composition of endemic species of oregano in different countries such as O. compactum , endemic of Maghreb, O. ehrenbergii and O. libanoticum endemic of Lebanon, O. acutidens endemic of Turkey, and O. floribundum endemic of Algeria …”

Chemical composition and insecticidal activity of Origanum floribundum Munby essential oil endemic plant from Algeria

“…The essential oil composition of O. floribundum differs qualitatively and quantitatively in major and minor compounds. This observed variability in yield, diversity in the essential oil chemical composition and chemotypes of the same species is probably related to several factors such as: environmental conditions of collection site (seasonal variation, climatic and soil variation, geographic location), genetically determined properties, stage of vegetative cycle, harvest time, plant part used, extraction method, extraction time, method of essential oil isolation or even the operator conditions of the GC-MS analysis (Azizi et al, 2009;Babushok et al, 2011;Brada et al, 2012;Daoudi-Merbah et al, 2016;Pavela & Sedlák, 2018;Djebir et al, 2019;Agatonovic-Kustrin et al, 2020;Kerbouche et al, 2021).…”