Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Essential Oil, Nutritional and Phytochemical Composition of Ajwain Seeds (Trachyspermum ammi. L.)

AbstractAjwain has many important medicinal properties. In the present study, chemical composition of essential oil of two types of ajwain seeds (small and bold) has been determined with GC-MS analysis. Thymol (72.03, 71.80 %) is found to be the major constituent followed by γ-terpinene (13.53 %) and ρ- cymene (14.16 %) in small and bold seeds respectively. Nutritional composition study estimated % age of nutrients viz. protein (15.01, 12.81), ash (12.28, 6.26), moisture (30.9, 6.67), fats (6.1, 13.05), fibre (21.5, 25.3) and carbohydrate (31.21, 35.91) for small and bold seeds respectively. Specific mineral composition analysis showed highest per cent of nitrogen (4.53, 4.5) as compared to phosphorus (0.13, 0.126) and potassium (1.03, 1.09) whereas Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn were detected in ppm concentrations. Various phytochemicals viz alkaloids, saponins, steroids, tannins, coumarins, flavonoids, phytosterols, phenols, chalcones and glycosides were identified in different solvent extracts in both types of ajwain.