A Simple Procedure for Comparative GC-MS Analysis of Lavender (Lavandula Angustifolia Mill.) Flower Volatile Composition.

Abstract

The efficient lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) breeding for essential oil production requires routine and accurate comparison the flower volatile composition of larger number individual plants from genetic resource pools and segregating populations. Here we describe the performance testing of a simple procedure for comparative GC-MS analysis of flower volatile composition of individual lavender plants. It involves collection of fixed number flowers at selected stage of development and direct solvent extraction and GC-MS analysis of the extracts. The summarized data on relative standard deviations for the analyzed compound abundancies determined from three replica analysis of individual plants from Bulgarian lavender varieties are presented. Further application of this comparative GC-MS analysis procedure demonstrates significant changes in the accumulation of certain volatiles during flower development. The comparative analysis also showed no significant daytime variation of the flower volatile composition and minor variations after testing the same plants within five consecutive days. The possibilities for routine applications of the tested procedure for comparative GC-MS analysis of flower volatiles in larger number of plants from lavender segregating populations or genetic resources collections are discussed.