Volatile compounds in Norway spruce (Picea abies) significantly vary with season

Schoss, Katja (author), Kočevar Glavač, Nina (author), Kreft, Samo (author)

Norway spruce (Picea abies) is one of the most important commercial conifer species naturally distributed in Europe. In this paper, the composition and abundance of essential oil and hydrosol from the needles and branches of P. abies were investigated with an additional evaluation of changes related to different times of the year, annual shoots and branches, and differences in composition under different microenvironments. Essential oils and hydrosols obtained via hydrodistillation were analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS), where 246 compounds in essential oil and 53 in hydrosols were identified. The relative amounts of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and diterpenes in essential oil changed significantly during the year, with the highest peak of monoterpenes observed in April (72%), the highest abundance of sesquiterpenes observed in August (21%), and the highest abundance of diterpenes observed in June (27%). The individual compound with the highest variation was manool, with variation from 1.5% (April) to 18.7% (June). Our results also indicate that the essential oil with the lowest allergenic potential (lowest quantity of limonene and linalool) was obtained in late spring or summer. Location had no significant influence on composition, while the method of collection for distillation (whole branch or annual shoots) had a minor influence on the composition. All nine main compounds identified in the hydrosol samples were oxygenated monoterpenes. The composition of P. abies hydrosol was also significantly affected by season. The method of preparing the branches for distillation did not affect the composition of P. abies hydrosol, while the location had a minor effect on composition.

• Language: English
• Keywords: essential oil, hydrosol, chemical investigation, Picea abies, GC-MS
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FFA - Faculty of Pharmacy
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2023
• Number of pages: Str. 1-22
• Numbering: iss. 1, ǂart. ǂ188, Vol. 12
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-143706
• UDC: 547.913:581.132:582.47
• ISSN on article: 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants12010188
• COBISS.SI-ID: 136899075
• Publication date in RUL: 10.01.2023

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Plants
• Shortened title: Plants
• Publisher: MDPI
• ISSN: 2223-7747
• COBISS.SI-ID: 523345433

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: eterično olje smrečic, hidrosol, kemične preiskave, Picea abies, smreka, GC-MS

Projects

• Funder: Other - Other funder or multiple funders
• Funding programme: Loški potok