Essential oil components of cultivated and wild accessions of Satureja sahendica Bornm

Satureja sahendica Bornm. is an endemic aromatic species in Iran. It is used very extensively in folk medicine of southern parts of Iran. In this study, chemical composition of cultivated S. sahendica was investigated for the first time. Three accessions of S. sahendica collected from natural sites in Qazvin province and cultivated in research farm of Qazvin Research Station in 2005. An experiment was undertaken to determine the oil production of S. sahendica in complete randomized block design with three replications. Accessions consisted of Arochan, Abgarm and Shenein. Aerial parts of wild and cultivated plants harvested at flowering stage in 2007. Essential oils of dried aerial parts were distilled with water for 3 hours. Statistical analysis showed significant difference between cultivated and wild plants of accessions. In natural site, Shenien had the highest essential oil content (3.3%) and then Abgarm (3.0%) and Arochan with 2.21% was the least. In cultivated plants accessions had not similar trend in different harvests. Abgarm samples at first and second cuttings and Arochan samples in third cutting showed the highest essential oil contents. There was high difference between cultivated and wild accessions of Shenien. Thymol was 35 to 36% at cultivated and wild samples, while among cultivated plants, Abgarm sample in third cutting showed the highest amount of thymol (49.6%). Second cutting of Arochan sample and first harvest of Shenien sample had 38.8 and 38.1 % thymol respectively. Carvacrol in wild plants was nearly 1% and was higher than cultivated plants.