The Effect of Mechanical Wounding on the Composition of Essential Oil from Ocimum Minimum L. Leaves

Dimitrios Zabaras,S Grant Wyllie

doi:10.3390/60100079

Abstract

The effect of mechanical damage on the composition of the essential oil obtained from eugenol-rich Ocimum minimum leaves was determined over 48 hours. Changes in the levels of five oil-constituents were detected in the first post-wounding day but only one of those components (camphor) exhibited the same behaviour the day after. The levels of eugenol (-4.8%) and linalool (+2.5%) were affected the most by the wounding process. Principal component analysis (PCA) showed the post-wounding response to be independent from the pre-wounding levels of the particular compounds expressing the response and from the overall leaf oil-composition.

Highlights

The phenomenon of induced defense and its implications has been well documented in several commercially important crops such as corn [1,2], cotton [3,4,5], cabbage [6] and potato [7]
This communication reports the changes, over a two day period, in the composition of the essential oil obtained from the leaves of eugenol-rich (>50%) O. minimum caused by mechanical damage
The statistical analysis of the essential oil composition obtained from O. minimum leaves highlighted a group of five compounds that changed their contribution to the essential oil as a result of mechanical wounding over the two-day period

Summary

Introduction

The phenomenon of induced defense and its implications has been well documented in several commercially important crops such as corn [1,2], cotton [3,4,5], cabbage [6] and potato [7]. This communication reports the changes, over a two day period, in the composition of the essential oil obtained from the leaves of eugenol-rich (>50%) O. minimum caused by mechanical damage. The statistical analysis of the essential oil composition obtained from O. minimum leaves highlighted a group of five compounds that changed their contribution to the essential oil as a result of mechanical wounding over the two-day period.

Results

Conclusion