Seasonal variation of the essential oil from leaves of Salvia fruticosa plants cultivated in the botanical garden of University of Patras
Giannis Anastassopoulos1, Peggy Leontaritou2, Vassilis Papasotiropoulos3, Gregorios Iatrou2, Fotini N. Lamari1
1Department of Pharmacy, 2Department of Biology, University of Patras, 26504 Patras, 3Department of Agricultural Technology, TEI of Western Greece, 27200 Amaliada.
Salvia is the largest genus of the Lamiaceae family and includes about 900 species widespread throughout the world. They are considered of high importance because of their uses in medicine, culinary, cosmetics, food industry, and insecticide repellents. S. fruticosa (Greek sage) is abundant in the central and eastern Mediterranean region, from Sicilia to Crete. In our country, its largest populations are found mostly in the south, western and central Greece.
The purpose of this study was the seasonal analysis of the essential oil from S. fruticosa clones which have been collected from two different natural populations (perfectures of Messinia and Achaia) and cultivated in the botanical garden of University of Patras (n=5 for each population). Essential oils were collected with steam distillation in a Clevenger apparatus for 2 h on April, July and December and their analysis was performed with GC-MS.
Statistically significant differences in the essential oil yield were observed within the year; the average oil yield was 1,69, 1,08, and 2,38 ml/100g dry leaves in winter, spring and summer, respectively. The major components identified, were alpha-pinene, camphene, beta-pinene, myrcene, eucalyptole, camphor, caryophyllene and manool. The amount of those components was approximately 80% of the total composition of E.O.
In July, certain ingredients, i.e. alpha-pinene, camphene, eucalyptole, camphor, were significantly different (p<0.05) among the two populations. In both populations, the levels of some components, mainly alpha-pinene were higher in summer, while in spring, caryophyllene and its oxygenated derivatives were significantly elevated (p<0.05) compared to the other seasons.
In conclusion, we observed population- and seasonal-variation in the chemical profile of essential oils of the clones studied. This work contributes to delineating the metabolic mechanisms underlying the synthesis of essential oils and to identifying the parameters critical for isolating high quality Salvia fruticosa essential oil.