Phytochemical Profiling, Seasonal Variation, and Chemometric Characterization of Essential Oils from Selected Aromatic Plants of Sidhi District

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze the phytochemical composition of essential oils of six aromatic plants (Ocimum canum, Syzygium nervosum, Vitex negundo, Murraya koenigii, Annona squamosa and Cyperus scariosus) of Sidhi district, Madhya Pradesh, India and their seasonal variations along with chemometric relationships. Physicochemical evaluations, GC–MS, GC–FID, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA) were used for essential oils hydrodistilled and physiochemically evaluated. The range in essential oil yield was significantly different among species ranging from 4.3 to 13.8 mL kg-1, highest yield was obtained from Murraya koenigii. Analysis of seasonal production showed that the highest production was in the summer, and the lowest in the monsoon season. The GC–MS and GC–FID analyses revealed various volatile compounds of which linalool, eugenol, eucalyptol, β-caryophyllene, germacrene and patchoulol were significant marker compounds. The phytochemical class distribution revealed that Ocimum canum and Murraya koenigii were the higher monoterpene rich plants, Cyperus scariosus was the highest sesquiterpene rich plant, and Syzygium nervosum was the richest in phenolics. The chemometric analyses were able to clearly differentiate the species based on their chemical composition, and accounted for 77.55% of the total variance in PCA. The results are useful for baseline data on chemotaxonomic classification, quality assessment, conservation and utilization of aromatic plant resources of the Vindhyan region in industries.