The Effect of Habitat Altitude on Quantity and Constituents of Root Sap Essential Oil in Ferula foetida L.

Ferula foetida (Apiaceae) is a medicinal plant whose oleo-gum-resin is useful in medicine. In order to investigate the effect of habitat altitude on quantity and constituents of root essential oil of F. foetida, we selected six samples of ۷-year-old roots of F. foetida, which were collected from ۶ ecotypes located in Razavi Khorasan province (Dergaz, Kalat, Bajestan, Sabzevar, Neishabur, and Kashmar), Iran in April ۲۰۱۳. we extracted E.oils of ۶ root samples using the hydro-distillation method and analyzed by capillary gas chromatography and mass spectrometric detections. Result showed that average weight of E.oil of F. foetida root for Bajestan, Kashmar, Sabzevar, Nishabour, Dargaz, and Kalat samples obtained ۰.۲۷%, ۰.۱۳%, ۰.۳۰%, ۰.۰۸%, ۰.۲۰%, and ۰.۱۵%, respectively. Also, there was a negative correlation between altitude of the ecotypes and the weight of the E.oils of root sap. GC–MS for F. foetida root E.oils showed that there are ۲۴ compounds in the Bajestan sample and ۲۷ compounds in Kashmar and Nishabour samples. Z-propenyl-sec-butyl disulfide, e-Propenyl-sec-butyl disulfide, and α-humulene were common in all samples. Also, ۳ to ۵ compounds found in the root E.oils of some F. foetida ecotypes, which were not in all samples. Sesquiterpenes and monoterpenes had the most abundant and esters and thioethers had the least numerous in F. foetida sap E.oils. Other results showed that the amount of E.oils in F. foetida root decreases with the increase of the altitude of its habitat, but this factor did not show a clear trend on the number of chemical compounds of F. foetida root E.oil.

Keywords:

Ferula foetida , Altitude , E.oil , GC–MS