Effect of ages on yield and quality of essential oil of betel leaf (Piper betle L.): Antioxidant activity, GC-MS and SEM analysis

Abstract

In the present study, essential oil was extracted from the different ages (15, 30, 45 and 60 days) of betel leaves and evaluated their yield and quality of the essential oil. The effect of ages on percentage yield, chemical composition, morphological and physical properties, as well as antioxidant activity of essential oil was assessed and compared. The essential oil yield content of various ages of betel leaves, such as 15, 30, 45 and 60 days, is found to be 0.65%, 0.60%, 0.50% and 0.45%, respectively. Despite this, chemical compositions of extracted essential oil from various ages were analyzed by GC-MS analysis, and it was found that a total number of 55–65 volatile bioactive compounds are present, accounting for 97.78–98.88% of the extracted essential oil composition. The major bioactive compounds found in the all-ages of betel leaf essential oil are indanol (13.51–24.70%), elemene (4.36–10.84%) and eugenol (41.14%). Furthermore, 60 days old betel leaves essential oil exhibited higher antioxidant activity (87.01%) as compared to the 15 days younger betel leaves (84.05%). Moreover, SEM analysis was used to conduct a morphological investigation to examine the extraction mechanism of different stages of betel leaves. Therefore, obtained bioactive compounds from different ages of betel leaf essential oil can be used for various biological activities, food and pharmaceutical industries. In light of the findings, it is recommended that early-stage or younger leaves release higher essential oil while older leaves possess excellent antioxidant activity.