| Abstrakt: |
The effect of harvesting seasons, storage period and distillation time were studied on the essential oil composition of Melaleuca leucadendra (L.) growing in India, which were analysed using gas chromatography-flame ionisation detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method. Eighteen constituents were identified in each of the three experiments. The essential oils comprised mainly oxygenated sesquiterpenes(>88%), followed by sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and monoterpenoids. The main constituent reported of essential oils was (E)-nerolidol and ß-caryophyllene. The essential oil content varied from 1.8-1.9%, with maximal in spring and minimal in the rainy season; (E)-Nerolidol (87.2-95.5%) and ß-caryophyllene (0.1-3.5%) were major constituents. The leaves of the Melaleuca genus contain many oil glands, which make them a rich source of essential oil, and therefore, to extract maximum oil, distillation time was optimised for the complete extraction of leaf essential oil of M. leucodendra. Eight distillation time durations were tested in this study: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 hours. Oil content increases with an increase in the distillation time. The best distillation time for maximum extraction of essential oil content was eight hours (1.6 mL) and five hours for higher major component (E)-Nerolidol value (96.1%). Results showed that essential oil extracted from dried leaves stored for one month to twelve months for storage experiments has no adverse effect on yield and quality in terms of its major constituent (=90.0% of (E)- Nerolidol). The essential oil of M. leucadendra (L.) is promising for its marker aroma constituent, (E)-Nerolidol, for food flavour, fragrance, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
