Autores UPV
Soriano Soto María Desamparados,
Molina Donate María Josefa,
García-España Soriano Laura,
Sanz Berzosa Isidora
Abstract
The influence of soil type and climate in R. officinalis essential oil yield and composition was analyzed in wild populations growing on limestone and sandstone in a climatic/altitudinal gradient.
Differences among populations were identified by measuring the oil yield obtained by hydro-distillation and the relative abundance of the major compounds obtained through GC/MS techniques. These results were compared with those obtained from the Fourier-transformed infrared spectra (FT-IR) of the leaves, as were the differences in the mean absorbance and the relative abundance of peaks corresponding to the functional groups of the major identified compounds.
Differences among populations in both yield and composition were observed with the two characterization techniques. Yield and composition of Rosemary plants growing at higher altitudes differed from those of plants growing at lower altitudes and drier climatic conditions.
The mean absorbance of the IR spectra of plants growing on sandstones was lower than that of plants growing on limestone, which agreed with the lower yield obtained by hydro-distillation for plants growing on sandstones. For these last, the IR spectra of plants growing at higher altitudes differed in the intensity of peaks at 3000 cm-1 (eucalyptol) and 1600 cm-1 (eucalyptol and camphor). For soils developed on limestone, the IR spectra of plant populations growing at high and medium altitudes differed from those at low altitudes in the intensity of peaks at 3000 cm-1 due to the abundance of aliphatic C, and in the intensity of peaks at 1600 cm-1characteristic of the aromatic groups of the major compounds.
