Study of the changes in the chemical composition of Bulgarian dill essential oils

Abstract

Abstract The chemical composition and therefore the quality of essential oils can vary depending on several factors like the time of harvest, the location of the crop, the part of the plant, the geographical and climatic conditions as well as the production method. The aim of this work is to study the change in the composition of the Bulgarian dill essential oils of known origin during the different harvest years and its storage. Plant parts of dill (Anethum graveolens L.) from the region of village Gavrailovo, Bulgaria were investigated. Significant qualitative and quantitative differences in the chemical composition of the studied oils and the data in the literature were detected. It has been established that the essential oils from the herb and the fruits of the dill in the region of village Gavrailovo contains significant amounts of methyl chavicol (32,90 – 62,96 %) which is the reason to be considered as a new methyl chavicol chemotype.