Abstract

ARANGO-BEDOYA, Oscar; HURTADO-BENAVIDES, Andrés Mauricio  and  TORO-SUAREZ, Inés. Effect of origin, harvest time and leaves age on the yield and thymol content of essential oils from Lippia origanoides H.B.K.. Acta Agron. [online]. 2012, vol.61, n.3, pp.207-213. ISSN 0120-2812.

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the effect of the origin (4 localities), the plant's leaves age (young and mature) and the season (rainy and dry season) on the essential oil's (EOs) yield and thymol content of Lippia origanoides growing wild in the Alto Patía region (south-west of Colombia). The extractions were performed through microwave-assisted hydrodistillation technique (MWHD) and the EOs were analyzed by gas chromatography. Yields of EOs varied between 2.5 and 3.3% and were obtained where the origin factor showed statistical differences (P< 0.05) over the yielding. Taking into account the thymol content, differences related to the season were observed. The highest thymol content in the EOs were obtained in the dry season. The major compounds identified in the EOs were thymol (50.8 - 81.6%), r-cymene (7.5 - 19.5%) and g-terpinene (2.3 - 7.4%).

Keywords : Essential oil; Lippia origanoides; MWHD; thymol; wild oregano.

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