Planta Med 2014; 80 - P2B103
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1394980

Essential oils of fennel seeds progeny from wild populations collected in Portugal

A Spranger Mota 1, S Pombal 1, A Gomes 1, L Silva 1, V Lopes 2
  • 1Materiais Fibrosos e Tecnologias Ambientais, Departamento de Química, Universidade da Beira Interior, Rua Marquês d'Ávila e Bolama, 6201 – 001, Covilhã, Portugal
  • 2Banco Português de Germoplasma Vegetal, INIAV, I.P., Quinta de S. José, S. Pedro de Merelim, 4700 – 859, Braga, Portugal

Foeniculum vulgare Mill. is a biennial or perennial plant belonging to the Apiaceae family and is native to the Mediterranean area, but came to be naturalized elsewhere. F. vulgare is used in folk medicine, being useful in the treatment of various problems, especially those of the digestive system. It is also recommended for diabetes, bronchitis and chronic coughs, treatment of kidney stones and it is considered as having diuretic properties. It is a species with several applications in the food industry and it is also used in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products. F. vulgare has two major subspecies: piperitum and capillaceum with bitter and sweet essential oils. The vulgare subspecies is characterized by having as main compounds two phenylpropanoids: estragole and anethole and one oxygen-containing monoterpene: fenchone. The relative concentration of these compounds may vary according to the collection point, extraction method of and part of the plant under study. The aim of this study was to analyze the chemical composition of the essential oils of fennel seeds harvested from twenty cultivated wild populations, collected in Portugal. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation using a Clevenger-type apparatus, with a yield between 0.49 and 2.94% (w/v). The essential oils were then analyzed by GC-MS. The major components of the oils were identified as being anethole (7.9 – 78.5%), estragole (1.8 – 66.0%) and fenchone (12.0 – 37.0%). This analysis allowed the comparison with existing chemotypes proposed in a previous study, being possible to conclude the existence of eight populations from chemotype anethole, five populations from chemotype fenchone and four populations from chemotype estragole. It was also obtained three more populations that it was not possible to include in these chemotypes.

Keywords: Chemical composition, phenylpropenes, monoterpene, oil yield

References:

[1] Bernáth, J. et al. (1996)J. Essent. Oil Res 8: 247 – 253.