The study of Morphological, Phytochemical and Antioxidant Capacity of Greek marjoram (Origanum vulgare spp. hirtum) Cultivated in the North of Tehran

Greek marjoram (Origanum vulgare L. spp. hirtum) is a well-known aromatic plant belongs to the Lamiaceae family which is widely used in pharmaceutical, food, and cosmetic industries. Due to the economic importance of the plant, in the present study, morphological, phytochemical and antioxidant capacity of the plant were evaluated through the introducing of the plant to the climate of northern Tehran. According to the results, the mean plant height, leaf length, leaf width and pedicle length were 55, 2.5, 1.75 and 0.3 cm, respectively. Also, the average measured traits for plant fresh weight were 350 g, plant dry weight was 138.33 g and the ratio of plant fresh weight to dry weight was 2.53%. The yield of the plant in second year was 2899.8 kg/ha. The essential oil content of the plant at full flowering stage was 1.5%. Carvacrol (71.0 %), γ-terpinene (12.7 %) and ρ-cymene (6.9%) were the major compounds of the plant oil. The content of total phenol, total flavonoids and rosmarinic acid at full flowering stage were 29.34 mg GAE/g DW, 21.42 mg QE/g DW and 13.37 mg /g DW, respectively. The antioxidant activity of Greek marjoram extract showed the IC50 index of 99.11 μg/ml.