Changes in Lime Essential Oils and Their Constituents Due to Environmental Variations at Agrarian Locations

Abstract

Lime essential oil (EO) is rich in different biological properties as an antiseptic and antimicrobial. Agrarian locations (ALs) in Egypt are characterized by different environmental characteristics that affect the content and composition of lime EO and thus its biological properties. Leaves, flowers, and peels of lime were collected from trees cultivated in three ALs, namely, north, central, and Upper Egypt. EO was separated by a hydro-distillation (HD) method; then analyzed using a Gas chromatography (GC) and Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis. The maximum contents of leaf (0.5 % and 1.3 ml/ 250g), flower (0.2 % and 0.5 ml/ 250g) and peel (0.3 % and 1.3 ml/ 250g) EOs were obtained from the samples collected from Upper Egypt. The major component of leaf and peel EOs were limonene. Dimethyl anthranilate was the main compound of flower EO. Oxygenated monoterpenes (OM) was the main group in leaf and flower EOs, while a monoterpene hydrocarbon (MH) was the main group of peel EO. The maximum values of limonene from leaf EO (40.3 %) and limonene from peel EO (36.5 %), dimethyl anthranilate (22.3 %), OM from flower EO (66.1 %), and MH (59.8 %) were obtained from the samples collected from Upper Egypt AL. The greatest amount of OM from leaf EO (55.9 %) has resulted from the samples collected from the central AL. It may be concluded that this study avail as a reference for choosing the adequate AL to extract the EO according to the compositions of interest.