Mitra Hasanabadi - Department of agronomy and plant breeding, collage of Abouraihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Mohsen Ebrahimi - Department of agronomy and plant breeding, collage of Abouraihan, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.
Mohammad Reza pirmoradi - Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Rafsanjan, Iran

Background and objectives: Ferula assa-foetida (asafoetida) is a native Iranian species which grows in different regions of the country. The plant is well known in Iranian traditional medicine as well as folk medicine for treatment of diseases.Several studies with different purposes have been carried out on the essential oil of the species. In the present study essential oil components from six different F. assa-foetida accessions, were reported.Methods:The six accessions were collected from different parts of Iran, including Fars, Isfahan, Kerman, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Sistan and Baluchestan and South Khorasan provinces. The gas chromatography mass-spectroscopy (GC/MS) was used to detect the essential oil components.Results:A total of thirty compounds were identified across all the six accessions. The main components in the plants were Cis propenyl sec disulfide (32%), -Pinene (18%), -Pinene (8%) and ocimene (5%). Safashahr (16.75%) and Yasuj (3.8%) accessions had the highest and lowest amounts disulfide compounds of the essential oil, respectively.Conclusion: In the present study for first time we reported the variation in essential components in F. assa-foetida from different parts of Iran. The main component in the essential oil was disulfide.

essential oil, Ferula assa-foetida, GC/MS, oleo-gum resin