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Article

Essential oil and volatile emissions of basil (Ocimum basilicum) leaves exposed to NaCl or Na2SO4 salinity

TARCHOUNE Imen, BAATOUR Olfa, HARRATHI Jamel, CLONI Pier Luigi, LACHAAL Mokhtar, FLAMINI Guido, OUERGHI-ABIDI Zeineb, 2016

Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 176, 5, 748-755, Avril 2016

Résumé

The volatile compounds emitted by living leaves of basil (Ocimum basilicum L. cv. Genovese) plants under saline conditions were investigated by means of headspace–solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Furthermore, the composition of the essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of the leaves was studied. Plants were grown for 15 d without salt or with an equimolar concentration of Na⁺ in the form of Na₂SO₄ (25 mM) and NaCl (50 mM), after which the growth, the essential oil, and the volatile constituents of the leaves were determined. Fifty-four components were identified belonging to different chemical classes. Under control conditions, the essential oil was rich in linalool (45.9%), 1,8-cineole (16.7%), eugenol (10.3%), trans-α-bergamotene, and epi-α-cadinol (4.9%). The main volatiles detected in the headspace of leaves of untreated basil plants were linalool (29.8%), followed by 1,8-cineole (19.2%), trans-α-bergamotene (10.0%), and eugenol (7.0%). Under s