Essential oil variation of Achillea filipendulina populations in farm condition

ABSTRACT

Achillea filipendulina is a native aromatic plant with antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. This research aimed to determine and compare the essential oil content and composition of different populations of this plant in farm condition. Seeds provided by the Natural Resources Gene Bank of Iran were sown in a field experiment over two years. Essential oils from the aerial parts of all populations, at full flowering stage, were obtained by hydro-distillation and analysed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The oil yields ranged from 0.13% to 1.20%. Twenty-six compounds were identified with 1,8-cineole (2.0–73.5%), santolina alcohol (14.2–35%) and borneol (0.6–20.4%) as major components. Cluster analysis divided all accessions into two clusters. The main compounds in cluster 1 (two populations) were santolina alcohol, borneol, cis-chrysanthenyl acetate, bornyl acetate and α-pinene. The oils in Cluster 2 contained borneol, cis-chrysanthenyl acetate and high amount of 1,8-cineole (22.6–73.5%) as main components.

KEYWORDS:

• Achillea filipendulina Lam
• essential oil
• 1,8-cineole
• santolina alcohol
• borneol

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to appreciate Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands for providing this opportunity. We are also grateful to the Iranian Natural Resources Gene Bank staff for seed collection and plant cultivation in the field.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).