Effect of different salinity levels on essential oil content and composition of Dracocephalum moldavica.

In order to study the effect of salinity on quantity and quality of essential oil of moldavian balm, a pot experiment was carried out in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments and 4 replications in controlled environment of green house. The treatments were different levels of salinity including 0, 10, 25, 40 and 50 mM applied by NaCl. Clevenger method was used to extract the essential oils from the foliage of the treated plants. Results indicated that by increment in salinity levels, essential oil content increased but did not have a significant effect. The highest essential oil content (0.32%) was extracted from 50 mM of salinity treatment. Essential oil components were analyzed and identified by GC and GC/MS machines. The results indicated that in different levels of salinity stress, different components were produced by Dracocephalum moldavica . The major constituents of D. moldavica oil were identified as: geranyl acetate, geraniol, geranial, neral, methyl citronellate and neryl acetate. The highest amount of the main essential oil components were geranyl acetate (44.5%) in 10 mM NaCl and geraniol in control treatments. For both geranial and neral, the highest amount was observed in 25 mM NaCl treatment.