Authors : Durmus Alpaslan Kaya, Mehmet Arslan, Memet Inan and Sammas Baskaya
Abstract: Diurnal variations in fresh and dry herbage for preparing essential oil of Thymbra spicata were studied. Plants were harvested hourly starting at 6 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. Fresh and dry herbage essential oil was extracted by hydrodistillation for 3 h and analyzed by GC-MS. The results indicated that essential oil content changed according to the hour of the day. Increases of essential oil content were determined in the early morning and late afternoon harvests. But, the increases were not statistically significant. Carvacrol, γ-terpinen and cymol were the dominant essential oil components of both fresh and dry herbage of T. spicata. Small variations in essential oil composition of fresh and dry herbage of T. spicata were detected among harvesting hours. The best hour of harvest to obtain the essential oils with the highest active ingredients of T. spicata are the cooler hours of the day.
Durmus Alpaslan Kaya, Mehmet Arslan, Memet Inan and Sammas Baskaya, 2013. Diurnal Changes on Content and Composition of Thymbra Spicata L. Essential Oil. Research Journal of Biological Sciences, 8: 6-10.