EN

Abstract

Present study has been carried out to estimate the impact of geographical distribution on the yield and chemical constitute of three Eucalyptus verities viz E. cinerea F. Muell. ex Benth., E. astringens Maiden and E. sideroxylon A.Cunn. ex Schauer-. These species were collected from six arboreta of Tunisia in January 2008. The essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation method and estimated the essential oil yield which varies from 1.5±0.1% to 4.0±0.2%. Results of the study revealed that yield of essential oil are not only depends on the Eucalyptus species but also depends on the origin of harvest. E. sideroxylon A. Cunn. exWoolls, cultivated in jbel abderrahman arboreta and E. cinerea F. Muell. ex Benth. from choucha (sejnanae) arboreta provided the lowest and the highest percentage of essential oil amongst all the studied provenances, respectively. GC (RI) and GC/MS analysis showed the presence of 163 components, representing 98.8 to 99.5% of the total oil. The contents of the different samples varied according to the species and the origin of harvest. The main components of the Eucalyptus essential oil were 1,8-cineole (39.1±0.0 – 79.4±0.0%), followed by α-pinene (2.1±0.0- 30.0±0.0), trans-pinocaveol