Evaluating essential oil quantity and quality of Satureja rechingeri Jamzad cultivated in Yazd, Iran

Savory (Satureja) consists of 17 herbaceous annual and perennial species in Iran and Satureja rechingeri Jamzad is one of the endemic species in this country. This research was carried to study oil quantity and quality in S. rechingeri. Seeds of eight accessions, collected from natural habitats, were sown in a greenhouse and the seedlings were planted in the Medicinal Plants Farm, Yazd, Iran. Essential oil was extracted from shadow dried flowering shoots with water distillation method and oil components were identified after determining oil content. Cluster analysis based on oil components classified the accessions into two groups, one of which was rich in carvacrol (SR1, SR2, SR3, SR5, SR7, SR8) and the other was rich in both carvacrol and thymol (SR6 and SR4). Based on the results of this study, SR4 with 5.85% essential oil, 113.9kg/ha oil yield, 64% carvacrol and 12.2% thymol , and SR6 with 4.22% essential oil, 63.8 8kg/ha oil yield, 75% carvacrol and 6.2% thymol are proposed as superior accessions.