Evaluation of Promising Accessions of Indian Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) for Cultivation Under Temperate Climatic Conditions

Abstract

Survey and collection was done during the year 2005 and 2006 to collect accessions and domesticate at experimental farm at Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Research Centre, Purara. A field experiment was conducted during 2005–2009 to evaluate the 18 accessions of Indian Oregano (Origanum vulgare L.) collected from western Himalaya region of Uttarakhand. All the accessions collected were screened for herb yield and essential oil yield. The highest herb yield was recorded in ‘OV7’ (926.40 gm) followed by ‘OV4’ and ‘OV9’ with 671.40 and 635.00 gm, respectively. The essential oil yield was found to be highest in accession ‘OV7’ (1.83 ml). The ‘OV4’ accession dominated by thymol as the major compound yielded 1.40 ml followed by ‘OV9’ with carvacrol as major compound yielding 1.26 ml. The result of the experiment evaluated accession ‘OV7’ for high herb and essential oil yield. While accessions ‘OV4’ and ‘OV9’ can be domesticated as high thymol and carvacrol rich lines.

Key words:

• Origanum
• temperate region
• herb
• essential oil yield