Abstract
Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) project that is being conducted at the National Oilseed Processing Research Institute (NOPRI) aims at exploiting the genetic diversity and associated phenotypic variation in the investigated basil germplasm and evaluating key factors such as variety, plant ontogeny and plant parts that affect yield, chemical constituents, aroma and flavor of essential oils. This paper discussed the variability inessential oils content and chemical constituents of the aerial plant parts of the basil. An open-air pot experiment was carried out using three accessions provided by Agricultural Research Corporation-Genetic Resources Unit, Sudan. The essential oils were hydro distilled from the aerial parts, flowers, leaves, stems, using Clevenger apparatus. The chemical constituents of the essential oils were determined by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). As the hydro distillation yielded no oil from the stem, we present only the results for leaves and flowers. The results revealed that the essential oil content varied with a range of 0.29% to 0.33% for flowers and 0.32% to 0.48% for leaves. As usual, the content of essential oils was higher in leaves than in flowers. The Silate-Egyptian accession had the lowest essential oil content obtained from leaves and flowers. However, South Darfur accession from Sudan had the highest oil content but did not significantly differ from Kennana accession. Several oil components were identified based upon comparison of their mass spectral data with those of reference compounds published in literature or stored in a computer library. The combined GC-MS analysis showed that methyl eugenol was the major constituent of the essential oil of Kennana accession. While the major constituent of essential oil of South-Darfur and Silate-Egyptian accessions were germacrene and linalool, respectively.
Highlights
Recognizing the potential value of traditional medicine for the expansion of health service, the World HealthAssembly (WHA) passed a number of resolutions in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1987, and 1988 to draw attention to the potential reserve constituted by traditional practitioners [1]
World Health Organization estimates that 80% of the population in Africa relies on traditional medicines, mostly plant drugs, for their primary health care necessities [2]
The results revealed that the essential oils content varied with a range of 0.29% to 0.33%
Summary
Recognizing the potential value of traditional medicine for the expansion of health service, the World HealthAssembly (WHA) passed a number of resolutions in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1987, and 1988 to draw attention to the potential reserve constituted by traditional practitioners [1]. Recognizing the potential value of traditional medicine for the expansion of health service, the World Health. World Health Organization estimates that 80% of the population in Africa relies on traditional medicines, mostly plant drugs, for their primary health care necessities [2]. L. (sweet basil) is a perennial, herbaceous aromatic and medicinal plant that widely cultivated in many parts of the world. Manytypes of basil have different aroma because the herb has a number of different essential oils that come together in different proportions for various varieties. Essential oils are highly viscous organic liquids which are extracted from leaves, stems, flowers, roots, herbs, brushes, and trees through distillation [6]. A great differentiation in morphological characters of plants, and in the content and chemical constituents of essential oil of sweet basil was detected [7]. Essential oils are widely used in perfumes, cosmetics, cleaning products and for flavoring of foods and drinks [15]-[17]
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