Main Components of the Essential Oils from Wild Portuguese Thymus mastichina (L.) L. ssp. mastichina in Different Developmental Stages or Under Culture Conditions

Abstract

The aerial parts of wild Thymus mastichina (L.) L. ssp. mastichina were collected during the flowering (May) and vegetative phases (October) at Sesimbra (southwest Portugal). The aerial parts of cultivated plants of T. mastichina maintained in two different substrates, obtained from those plants growing wild at Sesimbra, were collected during the flowering phase (May) at Algarve (southern Portugal). The oils were isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. In the wild plants, it was found that harvesting time had a significant effect on the oil yield, but did not greatly affect the composition. The highest oil yield isolated from the wild plants was found to be at the time of full flowering (2.1%, v/w). The oils were comprised mainly of oxygenated monoterpenes, among which linalool (58.7–69.0%) was the most abundant. In the wild plants, α-pinene, (E)-β-ocimene, γ-cadinene and elemol were the compounds that showed the most important variations, according to the harvesting month. The effect of nutritive elements (NPK) on the yield and on the oil composition was investigated in cultivated plants in two different substrates: a non-fertilized substrate (without N:P:K supply) and a fertilized substrate (with N:P:K, 1:1:1 supply). This study was carried out only in May. In the cultivated plants the highest oil yield (2.7%, v/w) was registered in the plants maintained in the non-fertilized substrate. Although the qualitative composition of the wild and cultivated oil plants was similar, the results showed quantitative variability among the components. The fertilized substrate proved to be the best to obtain a higher concentration of linalool (69.0%), while the non-fertilized substrate provided the lowest percentage (58.7%). The non-fertilized substrate induced a higher accumulation of (E)-β-ocimene, γ-terpinene, sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes than the fertilized substrate, while this latter supported higher p-cymene and linalool content formation. The wild plant oils were found to be richer in α-pinene, camphene, β-pinene, 1,8-cineole and camphor and poorer in p-cymene, γ-terpinene, and in sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated sesquiterpenes, than the cultivated plant oils. Nevertheless, such quantitative differences can be also explained by the different maturity stage of the wild and cultivated plants though both were in the same developmental stage.