Caraway essential oil composition and morphology: The role of location and genotype

Caraway (Carum carvi) is used as a vegetable; more commonly, the fruits are used to flavour foods or as a preservative. Quality is a key issue; however, little is known about the respective influences of type of material and location and the interaction of these factors on essential oil composition. In this study, wild populations and commercial cultivars from the Nordic germplasm collection were examined. Plants were grown in two locations (Iceland and Sweden) and essential oil composition and phenotypic characteristics identified. Carvone and limonene were the two major compounds detected at levels around 14 and 70% of total peak area, respectively. Also p-cymene, trans-β-ocimene, α-Terpinolene and myrcene each were detected at levels above or around 2%. In total, 47 compounds were detected of which 40 were identified. The effects of material type and location were established, where location had a greater impact than genotype. In 15 out of the 35 compounds detected at levels below 2%, significant location-dependent differences were detected. For morphological traits, genotype had a more significant effect than location.