Quantity and quality of secondary metabolites in lavender plant under the influence of ecological factors

Abstract

Secondary metabolites have great pharmaceutical value in medicine. This study evaluates the effect of alti-tude on the amount and variety of secondary metabolites in lavender plant from two sites located in Mazandaran prov-ince. Sampling was performed in a randomized design with three replications. After the plants were dried, essential oil was extracted by distillation. Isolation and identification of constituents of the oil were performed by gas chromato-graphy and gas chromatography connected to mass spectroscopy. The results of this research led to the identification of 22 (99.96% of the total constituents) and 24 (97.01% of the total constituents) constituents in Baladeh and Behshahr sa-mples, respectively. Characteristics constituents included Andoyorneol (22.36%), 1, 8 cineole (20.7%), camphor (8.69%), α-Cadinol (7.60%), Caryophyllene oxide (5.09%) and Propanol (18.4%) in Behshahr population samples and Borneol (26.78%), 1, 8 cineole (20.19%), camphor (9.59%), α-Cadinol (5.80%), caryophyllene oxide (4.99%) and pr-opanol (3.41%) in Baladeh population samples. The differences in the output and combination of the essential oils in-dicated that the environmental as well as genetic factors can affect the production and amounts of the chemical comp-ounds in medical plants. Therefore, medicinal plants should be cultured in proper areas based on the aim of cultivation and the desired type of active materials.

Keywords

• essential oil
• chemical compound
• gas chromatography
• active materials