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- Essential oils of Rosmarinus officinalis L., effect of harvesting dates, growing media and fertilizersPublication . Miguel, Maria Graça; Guerrero, Carlos; Rodrigues, H.; Brito, J.; Duarte, F.; Venancio, F.; Tavares, R.The effects of the harvesting date, growing media and fertilizers on the yield and chemical composition of the essential oils of Rosmarinus officinalis L. maintained in pots were evaluated. The highest oil yield was always obtained in June, being superior or equal to 1 %. Myrcene was the major component present in the essential oils with concentrations always exceeding 20 %, independent on the factors studied. 1,8-Cineole (8.0-12.2 %), a-pinene (8.8-16.5 %) and, in some instances, camphor (4.4-14.1 %) could be also detected in considerable amounts, however never exceeding the myrcene percentages. The amounts of camphor (4.4-8.5 %) were always inferior to the 1,8-cineole levels (8.8-11.8 %) in the local sandy soil regardless the fertilization used. Generally, the lowest levels of myrcene and verbenone were observed during January and April while the highest amounts of 1,8-cineole was observed in April or June. The yield and the chemical composition of the rosemary oils seemed to be more sensitive to the temperature, photoperiod and collection period than to the growing media material or to the fertilization used.
- Main components of the essential oils from wild Portuguese Thymus mastichina (L.) L. ssp mastichina in different developmental stages or under culture conditionsPublication . Miguel, Maria Graça; Guerrero, Carlos; Rodrigues, H.; Brito, J. C.; Duarte, F.; Venancio, F.; Tavares, R.The aerial parts of wild Thymus mastichina (L.) L. ssp. mastichina were collected during the flowering (May) and vegetative phases (October) at Sesimbra (southwest Portugal). The aerial parts of cultivated plants of T. mastichina maintained in two different substrates, obtained from those plants growing wild at Sesimbra, were collected during the flowering phase (May) at Algarve (southern Portugal). The oils were isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. in the wild plants, it was found that harvesting time had a significant effect on the oil yield, but did not greatly affect the composition. The highest oil yield isolated from the wild plants was found to be at the time of full flowering (2.1%, v/w). The oils were comprised mainly of oxygenated monoterpenes, among which linalool (58.7-69.0%) was the most abundant. in the wild plants, alpha-pinene, (E)-beta-ocimene, gamma-cadinene and elemol were the compounds that showed the most important variations, according to the harvesting month. The effect of nutritive elements (NPK) on the yield and on the oil composition was investigated in cultivated plants in two different substrates: a non-fertilized substrate (without N:P:K supply) and a fertilized substrate (with N:P:K, 1:1:1 supply). This study was carried out only in May. in the cultivated plants the highest oil yield (2.7%, v/w) was registered in the plants maintained in the non-fertilized substrate. Although the qualitative composition of the wild and cultivated oil plants was similar, the results showed quantitative variability among the components. The fertilized substrate proved to be the best to obtain a higher concentration of linalool (69.0%), while the non-fertilized substrate provided the lowest percentage (58.7%). The non-fertilized substrate induced a higher accumulation of (E)-beta-ocimelle, gamma-terpinene, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes than the fertilized substrate, while this latter supported higher p-cymene and linalool content formation. The wild plant oils were found to be richer in alpha-pinene, camphene, beta-pinene, 1,8-cineole and camphor and poorer in p-cymene, gamma-terpinene, and in sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes, than the cultivated plant oils. Nevertheless, such quantitative differences can be also explained by the different maturity stage of the wild and cultivated plants though both were in the same developmental stage.
- Essential oils of Portuguese Thymus mastichina (L.) L. subsp mastichina grown on different substrates and harvested on different datesPublication . Miguel, Maria Graça; Guerrero, Carlos; Rodrigues, H.; Brito, J.; Duarte, F.; Venancio, F.; Tavares, R.The effects of harvesting date and different substrates on the yield and chemical composition of the essential oils of Portuguese Thymus mastichina (L.) L. subsp. mastichina were compared with samples grown in pots. The best oil yields were obtained in June (3.2, 3.6 and 4.9% in the local sandy soil, in non-fertilized peat, and in fertilized peat, respectively). The essential oils were dominated by 1,8-cineole, the highest concentration of which was detected in June (58.6%) in samples kept in non-fertilized peat, and the lowest values were from plants growing in fertilized peat during April and June (45.1%). The remaining samples always reached the highest percentages in October (around 54% in both oil samples), although the concentration profile over time was similar in every sample. Concerning the monoterpene hydrocarbons, a-pinene, camphene, sabinene and P-pinene were the most significant components. While the amounts of alpha-pinene tended to decrease from April to June, for P-pinene such tendency was observed from October to January, independently of the growing material used. Amounts of camphene, being similar to those of alpha-pinene, decreased successively from October to April. Elemol and intermedeol were the most representative sesquiterpene components, although the concentrations never exceeded 2.2% and 1.3%, respectively. The results obtained in this work suggest that the harvesting dates of Portuguese T mastichina influence oil yields and their chemical compositions much more than the different growing media used, although a higher oil yield was obtained with the fertilized growing material.