Compositional variability in essential oils of twelve wormwood (Artemisia absinthium L.) accessions grown in the same environment

ABSTRACT

One hundred and twenty individuals from twelve accessions of Artemisia absinthium grown in experimental plots were harvested during the vegetative period in order to evaluate volatile compositions. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by the GCMS method. Evaluating the components higher than 1% of GC area, a total of sixty-nine compounds were identified, among them thirty monoterpenes and thirty-nine sequiterpenes. Major components of the oils were α-thujone (0–51.7%), β-thujone (0–89.8%), cis-epoxyocimene (0– 75.7%), trans-sabinyl acetate (0–94.5%), sabinene (0–33.8%), β-myrcene (0–68.4%), linalool 15 (0–52.1%), ect. Based on main compounds we defined different chemotypes. The components (Z)-iso-citral, selin-11-en-4-α-ol, (Z)- and (E)-nuciferol isobutyrate characterise new chemotypes of wormwood as they have never been mentioned before in its EO. A connection between chemotype and habitat can not be justified in most cases. Natural populations of the accessions may have similar heterogeneity to those purchased on market.

KEYWORDS:

• Artemisia absinthium L.
• chemotype
• volatiles
• intraspecific variability
• thujone
• ocimene

Acknowledgments

Thank to the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship and Higher Education Institutional Excellence Program for supporting our work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Higher Education Institutional Excellence Program (1783-3/2018/FEKUTSTRAT) awarded by the Ministry of Human Capacities within the framework of plant breeding and plant protection researches of Szent István University.