Morphological, Cytological, and Chemotypic Variation of Essential Oils in Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels

Abstract

Syzygium cumini, is a medicinally important plant and exhibits a wide range of cytomorphological diversity. The present attempt was made to study the detailed meiotic course in five different populations from North India. The meiotic analysis depicts the presence of three cytotypes with 2n = 22, 44, and 66. These cytotypes were further subjected to the chemical analysis of the content and composition of leaf essential oil by GC-MS. All three-leaf samples (SLS-1, SLS-2, and SLS-3) collected from the same study area (Patiala, Punjab) were reported to be different in the content and composition of their essential oil components. The extraction yields of oils from leaves were 0.37 % (SLS-1), 0.42 % (SLS-2), and 0.39 % (SLS-3), respectively. The essential oil constituents identified were 38, 39, and 39 out of total 40 constituents for each oil sample representing 99.08 %, 99.52 %, and 99.39 % of the compositions, respectively. The major constituents of leaf essential oil of sample SLS-1 were: Iso-dihydrocarveol (14.61 %); (Z)-β-ocimene (12.02 %). From sample SLS-2 were (Z)-β-ocimene (19.45 %); α-pinene (14.80 %). From the sample, SLS-3 was: (Z)-β-ocimene (13.75 %); α-pinene (9.08 %), respectively. The present study identifies the best cytotype which can be preferably cultivated commercially for their use in the preparation of medicines and other formulations.