Essential oil chemistry of some Mangifera Indica varieties from Kenya

Smelling a delightful aroma can be a very pleasurable experience with potential salutary benefits. The natural aroma of the mango plant varieties is different, implying that the chemical compositions of the components are likely to be different. In this study we focused on the analysis and identification of volatile aroma components of the leaves of six mango varieties; Ngowe, Apple, Keit, Boribo, Tommy, Atkins and Van Dyke grown in Kenya in the same agro ecological area. The hydro-distilled oil from the leaves of these mango varieties were analyzed by gas chromatograph fitted with a flame ionization detector and coupled to a mass spectrometer. It was found that the chemical profile of all the six varieties were qualitatively and quantitatively different. The oils were rich in monoterpenes (46.98%), sesquiterpene (38.17%) with minor quantities of their analogues (10.67%) Trace amounts of nonterpenoid hydrocarbons and oxygenated hydrocarbons accounting for (4.19%) were also identified. The major components of the different leaf oil varieties varied both qualitatively and quantitatively with δ-3Carene being the most dominant compound in Keit (19.4%), Tommy Atkins (29.2%) and Van Dyke (17.9%). Seven compounds namely; -pinene, camphene, β-pinene, -copaene, β-Elemene, Gurjunene and -Humulene were present in significant but varying amounts (0.3-21.9%) in all the six varieties, with β-pinene being the most dominant in Boribo (21.9%). These results differ qualitatively and quantitatively with similar reported essential oil chemical compositions of the same mango varieties from other countries. This suggests that variations in climate and soils can influence the chemical composition of mango cultivars. The variations in the essential oil compositions of the mango varieties could account for the differences in the natural aroma of the mango varieties.