Abstract:

Aim of study: The aim of this study is to evaluate intraspecific variations of Pinus pinea needle essential oils obtained from five locations in Turkey Area of study: The chemical composition of needle essential oil of Pinus pinea from five locations in Turkey was investigated and compared in order to determine differences among the regions (west; Armutlu and Kozak: east; Coruh, Maras Kapıcam and Onsen. Material and methods: Each sample set containing fresh needles (700-800 g), were distillated with 3 L of water for 2 h by means of hydro distillation. Analyses were carried out in the GC-MS instrument to identify and quantitate the compounds in the EOs. Main results: The results showed needle essential oil (EO) was dominated by monoterpene hydrocarbons (69.00- 84.90%), sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (4.10-8.80 %) and diterpenes (1.02-1.57%). As expected, the essential oil composed mainly of limonene (52.70-76.10%), β-phellandrene (3.19-7.20 %), α-terpineol (1.46-9.88 %) β-caryophellene (1.55-3.26 %) and germacrene D (0.67-2.43%). Similar to Italy and Algeria, the EOs from Turkey had limonene content greater than fifty percent, this percentage was lower in EOs from Greece and Tunisia. Highlights: Cluster analysis ensured the separation of three groups where the first group was the eastern stands Coruh and Kahramanmaras Kapıcam with higher amount of limonene and lower amount of β-caryophyllene. The other group western stands Armutlu and Kozak were exhibiting lower amounts of limonene and a higher amount of α-terpineol.