Increase of Chamazulene and α-Bisabolol Contents of the Essential Oil of German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.) Using Salicylic Acid Treatments under Normal and Heat Stress Conditions

Abstract

The chamazulene and α-(−)-bisabolol contents and quality of the chamomile oil are affected by genetic background and environmental conditions. Salicylic acid (SA), as a signaling molecule, plays a significant role in the plant physiological processes. The aim of this study was to evaluate the chemical profile, quantity, and improve the essential oil quality as a consequence of the increase of chamazulene and α-(−)-bisabol using salicylic acid under normal and heat stress conditions by the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. The factorial experiments were carried out during the 2011–2012 hot season using a randomized complete block design with three replications. The factors include four salicylic acid concentrations (0 (control), 10, 25 and 100 mg·L−1), and three chamomile cultivars (Bushehr, Bona, Bodegold) were sown on two different planting dates under field conditions. Fourteen compounds were identified from the extracted oil of the samples treated with salicylic acid under normal and heat stress conditions. The major identified oil compositions from chamomile cultivars treated with salicylic acid were chamazulene, α-(−)-bisabolol, bisabolone oxide, β-farnesene, en-yn-dicycloether, and bisabolol oxide A and B. Analysis of variance showed that the simple effects (environmental conditions, cultivar and salicylic acid) and their interaction were significant on all identified compounds, but the environmental conditions had no significant effect on bisabolol oxide A. The greatest amount of chamazulene obtained was 6.66% at the concentration of 10 mg·L−1 SA for the Bona cultivar under heat stress conditions, whereas the highest α-(−)-bisabolol amount attained was 3.41% at the concentration of 100 mg·L−1 SA for the Bona cultivar under normal conditions. The results demonstrated that the application of exogenous salicylic acid increases the quantity and essential oil quality as a consequence of the increase of chamazulene and α-(−)-bisabolol under normal and heat stress conditions.

Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Essential Oils from Populations of Baccharis dracunculifolia DC. in Southern Brazil

“…(E)-nerolidol, on the other hand, showed positive correlation with temperature, suggesting that it may play some role on alleviation of heat stress on B. dracunculifolia. Similarly, heat stressed chamomile plants were reported to produce higher amounts of nerolidol [62]. Another possibility is the fact that higher temperatures, up to 30 °C, increase herbivory [63], and nerolidol, as a well studied inducible herbivoredefense mechanism [64], may be accumulated in response to such environmental conditions.…”

A Comprehensive Review on Biology, Genetic Improvement, Agro and Process Technology of German Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla L.)

“…The chemical composition of German chamomile varies from place to place, depending on soil, the specific environment and different genotypic backgrounds over the locations [ 15 ]. Some of the earlier studies on the secondary metabolites of German chamomile reported more than 120 compounds [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Among these active compounds, terpenoids (28 types) and flavonoids (36 types) are considered to be the important components classes.…”

Chamomile as a potential remedy for obesity and metabolic syndrome

“…2) ). The content of different compounds in the plant depends on genetic, ontogenetic and environmental factors (Raal et al, 2012[ 106 ]; Ghasemi et al, 2016[ 43 ]). Dried chamomile flowers contain up to 2 % of essential oils (McKay and Blumberg, 2006[ 88 ]), up to 50 % of phenolic substances (Haghi et al, 2014[ 50 ]), and 10-26 % of minerals among which K, Ca, Mg are present in the highest concentrations (McKay and Blumberg, 2006[ 88 ]).…”

“…Sequiterpenes include mainly azulenes (1-15 %) with chamazulene being the most abundant, α-bisabolol and its oxides (up to 78 %), and trans-β-farnesene (12-28 %) (Kazemi, 2015[ 60 ]; Stanojevic et al, 2016[ 125 ]). Flowers also contain non-violate proazulenes (sesquiterpene lactones) like matricin (0.03-0.20 %) and matricarin, that can be partially converted during steam distillation into violate chamazulene of blue color (Capuzzo et al, 2014[ 15 ]; European Medicines Agency, 2015[ 29 ]; Ghasemi et al, 2016[ 43 ]). Bisabolol, a monocyclic sequiterpene alcohol, and bisabol oxides A-D are main constituents providing the aroma of essential oils (Sharifi-Rad et al, 2018[ 119 ]).…”