Chemical composition and bioactivity of Boswellia serrata Roxb. essential oil in relation to geographical variation

AbstractOleo–gum–resin of Boswellia serrata Roxb. (Burseraceae) was collected from Shivpuri forest situated in northwestern district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The commercial samples were purchased from Mandsaur and Neemuch districts (the major herbal markets of Madhya Pradesh) for comparative study of their essential oils. The average essential oil contents in the commercial Neemuch samples (11.1%) were much better as compared to the wild collection from Shivpuri (6.1%) as well as commercial collection from Mandsaur (6.9%). The commercial samples contained higher percentage of monoterpene hydrocarbons (81.9–88.1%) including α-thujene (61.4–69.8%) as the major compound. The wild habitat contained higher percentage of oxygenated monoterpenoids/benzenoids (15.7%) and sesquiterpenes (19.2%) including α-terpineol (7.8%), terpinyl isobutyrate (5.1%), and eudesmol (11.5%). Further, the antimicrobial activities of these collections showed remarkable variation among the essential oils. On the other hand, wild habi...