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Abstract
The present study was designed to investigate the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of essential oils from Rosmarinus officinalis L. collected from different Tunisian bioclimatic areas belonging to upper semi-arid, middle semi-arid and upper-arid stages. The essential oil yield of rosemary samples was in the range of 1.46-2.17 % and a total of 52 volatile compounds with the predominance of 1,8-cineole (29.11-60.44 %), camphor (5.88-27.95 %), α-pinene (6.76-12.60 %), camphene (1.61-12.87 %) and borneol (2.63-12.61 %). Hierarchical clustering performed on essential oil constituents of all these samples exhibited first distinction of two population groups in accordance to the varietal subdivision (var. typicus and var. troglodytorum). Each cluster divided into other subclusters according to the soil nature. The biplot principal compound analysis showed high interaction between calcarious soil character (high amout of calcium carbonate) and R. officinalis L. chemotype. var. typicus which present a high amount of 1,8-cineole, contrariwise var. troglodytorum where the camphor concurs 1,8-cineole in term of presence, coming with the lowest calcium carbonate bulk. Pearson correlation matrix between essential oil chemical classes and oil’s antioxidant capacity indicated that samples rich in oxygenated sesquiterpenes had an important antioxidant activity.