Yield and Composition of Ocinum' Basilicum L. and Ocimum Sanctum
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I IORTSC1ENCI: 43(3):737-741. 2008. Trevisan et al.,-2006). Basil essential oil has been traditionally, extracted from whole aboveground herbage (stems, leaves, and Yield and Composition of Ocinum flowers) using steam distillation (Topalov, 1962; Trevisan et al., 2006). The optimal basilicum L. and Ocimum sanctum L. harvesting stage for essential oil production is at flowering, when the oil content and pre- Grown at Four Locations ferred composition are the highest (Topalov, 1962; Zheljazkov, 1998). Various basil spe- Vaitcho D. Zheljazkov"5 cies and cultivars provide essential oil with Mississippi State University, North Mississippi Research and Extension different compositions and aroma. The che- Center, 5421 Highway 145 South, Verona, MS 38879 motaxonomical range of sweet basil is very wide. For example, in a study on 270 sweet Charles L. Cantrell basil accessions, the major constituents were Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, found to be (—)-linalool (up to 71%), methyl chavicol, or citral and I ,8-cineole, (—)- U.S. Department of Agriculture, P.O. Box 8048, University, MS 38677 camphor, thymol. methyl cinnamate, euge- William B. Evans nol, methyleugenol, methyl isoeugenol, and elemicin (Kruger et al., 2002). According to Truck Crops Experiment Station, P.O. Box 231, Ctystal Springs, MS 39059 Marotti et al. (1996), the European basil type M. Wayne Ebelhar3 has (—)-linalool and methyl chavicol as the major oil constituents. The Reunion basils, Delta Research and Extension Center, P.O. Box 197, Stoneville, MS 38776 another chemotype, have methyl chavicol as Christine Coker a major constituent, whereas tropical chemo- types of basil have methyl cinnamate as the Coastal Research and Extension Center, 1815 Popps Road, Biloxi, MS 39532 major constituent. Another basil chemotype grown in North Africa, Russia, Eastern Europe, and parts of Asia has eugenol as Additional index words, sweet basil, holy basil, essential oil content, essential oil composition the major constituent (Marotti et al., 1996). Abstract. Sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) and holy basil (Oci,num sanctum L.) are the Crop producers are always looking for most widely grown basil species in the world either for the fresh market or for essential high-value specialty crops, and some pro- oil production. Both species are considered to be promising essential oil crops in the ducers expressed interest in basil as an southeastern United States; however, research on oil production and composition of these essential oil crop in Mississippi. However, species in Mississippi and the southeastern United States is lacking. The objective of this research on basil productivity, the essential study was to evaluate biomass productivity, oil content, and oil composition of sweet basil oil content and composition in Mississippi (Ocimum basilicum L.) cvs. German and Mesten and holy basil (Ocimwn sanctum L.) cv. and in the southeastern United States is Local grown at four locations in Mississippi. Overall, the three basil cultivars grew well; lacking. The objective of this study was to the fresh herbage and essential oil yields at three of the locations were high and com- evaluate productivity, oil content, and com- parable to basil yields reported in the literature. Essential oil content in air-dry herbage position of sweet and holy basils grown at and the essential oil yields were as follows: 0.07% to 0.50% and 0.7 to 11.0 kgha in four locations in Mississippi. sweet basil cv. Mesten, 0.2% to 0.5% and 1.4 to 13.0 kg-ha in sweet basil c y. German, and 0.08% to 0.40% and 0.6 to 5.3 kg-ha in holy basil cv. Local, respectively. The main constituent of sweet basil cultivars was (—)-linalool with other constituents being (—)- Materials and Methods camphor, a-humulene, eucalyptol, eugenol, (—)-bornyl acetate, methyl chavicol, (—)- trans-carvophyllene, a-trans-bergamotene, and cadinol. The main constituents of holy Plant ,nateria/s and growing conditions. basil were methyl chavicol, eugenol, and eucalyptol with other constituents being a- A replicated field experiment (a randomized humulene, humulene-epoxide 11, (—)-trans-caryophyllene, a-trans-bergamotene, and y- complete block design with four replications) cadinene. Our results suggest sweet and holy basils have a potential as new essential oil was conducted in the 2006 cropping season crops for Mississippi and possibly the southeastern United States and can provide oil at four locations in Mississippi: Beaumont, yields and composition typical for the respective species. Crystal Springs, Stoneville, and Verona, located in the four main geographic areas of Mississippi (Fig. I). The test material was cv. German and cv. Mesten of sweet basil (0. basilicum L.) and cv. Local of holy basil Received for publication 4 Jan. 2008. Accepted for There are more than 150 basil species (0. sanctum L.). All seedling production was publication 5 Mar. 2008. belonging to the genus Ocimuni (Javanmardi initiated in March in one greenhouse at This research was funded by ARS Specific Coop. et a1, 2002). The tvo most widely gion" Verönáusing certified seeds frôni the Rë- Agreement 58-6402-4-026 with CRIS MIS- 172050 species for essential oil production are holy search Institute for Roses and Medicinal (research grant Medicinal Herbs Research in Mis- sissippi awarded to Dr. Zheljazkov). - basil (Oci,num sanctum L.) and sweet basil Plants in Kazanluk, Bulgaria. Basil seedlings Contribution of the Mississippi Agricultural and (Ociinuni basilicum L.). Basil oil is used for, were initiated in48-cell plastic trays filled Forestry Expt. Station journal article no. i- I 1224. flavor and fragrance in the food, pharmaceu- with Metro-mix 300 growth medium (The We thank Mr. Thomas Horgan, Mrs. Marie Rogers, tical, cosmetic, and aromatherapy industries. Scotts Co., Marysville, OH) sown by hand Mr. Davis R. Clark, Mr. Mike Fly, and Mr. Peter The essential oil possesses antimicrobial and thinned after emergence to one plant per I ludson for their help in the field and laboratory and (Bozin et al., 2006; Elayyar et al., 2001; cell. Basil seedlings grew for 6 weeks under Amber Callahan for her help with quantitative data Kristinsson et al., 2005; Suppakul et al., natural light with a day temperature of 22 to analysis. 2003) and insecticidal (Asian et al., 2004; 25 0c and night temperature of 18 °C. Plants Assistant Research Professor. Bowers arid Nishida, 1980) activity. In addi-were irrigated once every 24 h and fertilized Research Chemist. Research Professor. tion, basil extract and essential oil have been weekly with 1.8 g of 20-20-20 N—P205—K20 Associate Research Professor. shown to possess antioxidant activity (Gulcin dissolved in 300 mL of water during the To whom reprint, requests should be addressed; et al., 2007; Juntachote and Berghofer, 2005; greenhouse seedling production period. All e-mail [email protected] Kelm et al., 2000: Politeo et al., 2007; basil plants were transplanted into the field in HORTSCIENCE VOL. 43(3) JUNE 2008 737 May 2006 in previously prepared black subsurface drip irrigation tape on a weekly two to three harvests; however, in that case, plastic-covered raised beds. basis; fertilizers were supplied through the it must be cut relatively high so some leaves Before land preparation, soil samples drip tape weekly to supply a total of 120, 80, and secondary branches remain intact. Basil were taken and were extracted for phyto- and 100 kgha ofN, P206, and K20 over the cutting at 10 cm above soil surface (which is available nutrients using the Lancaster soil growing season. There are only two common typical for field production systems where test method (Cox, 2001) (Table I). Land weeds in the area that can grow through the basil is cut with machinery and distilled for preparation in early spring included disking plastic yellownutsedge (Cvperus esculen- essential oil) does not allow for regrowth. several times and the formation of raised beds tus) and purple nutsedge (C. rotundus)—and Hence, the data in this study reflect a single using a press-pan-type bed shaper. The bed these were removed several times by hand- harvest. The essential oil from all air-dried shaper machine also covered the beds with weeding. In general, sweet basil reached basil samples was extracted using a modified black plastic mulch and placed a drip-tape beginning of flowering 2 to 3 d earlier than Clevenger collector apparatus (Fumis et al., irrigation tube under the plastic. The system holy basil. Both species set up many flowers 1989). A sample size of 150 g of air-dry above- of black plastic mulch combined with drip and have a much extended flowering stage, ground material (stems, leaves, and flowers irrigation was selected to provide uniform which allowed for a harvest at the same time. from six plants from the middle of every plot) weed control, improved water relations, Also, although the shape of inflorescences and a distillation time of 120 min were used. metered fertility, and cleaner harvested crop and individual leaves are different between Essential oil sample preparation and than a bare ground system would have. Also, the species, both species have similar overall compositional gas chromatograph y-mass the black plastic reduced cultivation adjacent plant shape. spectrometry analysis. The essential oil from to plants. The resulting beds were 15 cm high All basil plants were harvested by hand in each treatment was weighed, and the oil and 75 cm wide across the top. Basil seed- full bloom (7 weeks after transplanting) by content was calculated as the weight (g) of lings were transplanted in two rows on each cutting at 10 cm aboveground, the fresh and oil per weight (g) of dried basil herbage. bed, in an offset pattern, with 30 cm in-row air-dry weights were recorded, and the plants Essential oil samples were prepared using a and between-row spacing.