Effect of planting density and sowing date on the essential oil content and composition of lemon verbena ( Lippia citriodora )

摘要

Lemon verbena leaves are used as the plant for injection, aromatic, digestive and antispasmodic properties.Lemon verbena leaves has a mild sedative and reputation for relieving abdominal discomfort. In order toexamine the influence of planting density and sowing date on the essential oil Neral, Geranial and Limonene inLippia citriodora, an experiment was performed in Rasht experimental farm, Gilan province, 2011. Theexperiment was done as a factorial on the basis of randomized complete blocks design in three replications.Density treatments at three levels: 2, 4, 6 plants /m2 and sowing treatment of March 24th, April 8th and April24th. The chemical composition was analyzed by Gas chromatography (GC) and Gas chromatography/massspectrometry (GC/MS). 37 compounds were identified in the Essential oil of Lippia citriodora. The mostimportant compounds in plant lemon verbena were, Neral, Geranial and Limonene. Regarding the obtainedresults, planting density and sowing date treatments had a significant effect on the rate of essential oil and thehighest amounts of Neral, Geranial and Limonene were measured as 23.25, 33.68 and 5.84 in the 4 plant/m2and planting on March 24th.