TEOR DE ÓLEO ESSENCIAL DE PITANGA. EM FUNÇÃO DE TRATAMENTOS PÓS-COLHEITA

Abstract

The Brazilian Cherry (Eugenia uniflora L.) is a native species of Brazil species native to the southern of Brazil. The aerial part of the plant (leaves and fruits) contains essential oil high in sesquiterpenes, which is used in the cosmetics industry and popular medicine. Although it has great potential, information regarding the distillation of its essential oil is scarce. The objective of this study was to evaluate the post-harvest treatments of the aerial part in order to improve the extraction of essential oil. The samples were collected from terminal branches of the same access of Eugenia uniflora L. belonging to the collection of aromatic and medicinal plants of the Center of Horticulture of the Agronomical Institute of Campinas, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, from May to June, 2005. The experiment was conducted in completely randomized blocks and a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial designs, with 3 replications, the factors being: two parts of the plant (leaves and branches), two methods of sample preparation (leaves and branches, whole or triturated) and two forms of the sample (fresh and frozen), totalizing eight treatments. The leaves were distilled in a modified Clevenger distiller for 3 hours. The frozen parts were kept for 7 days at -10oC before distillation. The highest concentration of essential oil is occurs in the leaves of Brazilian Cherry, with the twigs of the plant containing a small amount.. The freezing of the leaves reduced the oil yield as compared to that by others treatments, and the trituration of the vegetal material raised the extracted amount of oil.