Essential Oil Composition of Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) at Various Plantation Ages and Growth Stages in the Mediterranean Region

Abstract

demand for its essential oil continues to grow on a global scale. The fact remains that harvesting at the right time of growth is critical to maximizing the rate of active ingredients found in the plant. Thus, in the current study, L. angustifolia plants were collected at various growth stages (pre-flowering, mid-flowering, and post-flowering) from Adana, Turkey in order to determine the most suitable harvest time for the highest amount of essential oils and its important compounds. The highest flower essential oil content (7.50 mL 100 g-1) was obtained at mid-flowering of the third year of plantation. The major compounds for L. angustifolia were linalyl acetate (25.63-31.63%), linalool (16.33-24.79%), nerol (8.83-13.43%), beta-farnesene (3.67-5.70%), β-cis-ocimene (1.76-8.14%), respectively. The obtained data have been inquired by principal components analysis (PCA), allowing differentiation of plantation ages and growth stages. Compared to the plantation ages, essential oil content and linalool content increased significantly in the third year of cultivation. As a result, the most suitable harvest time may be considered as mid-flowering in terms of essential oil content and in terms of high linalyl acetate and linalool content.