The Determination of Essential and Fatty Oil Yields and Components of Ferula (Ferula gummosa Boiss.) Fruits

Ferula gummosa Boiss essential oil is used in the cosmetics and perfumery industry in the world and it is an economically important member of the Apiaceae family. The present study was conducted to determine the essential and fixed oil yield and quality of Ferula fruits collected from natural flora in Mashadardehal region located in the northern part of Kashan province of Iran. The essential oil content of Ferula fruits were analyzed in Neo-Clavenger apparatus and fixed oil content was analyzed in NMR with 3 replications. Oil’s constituents were analyzed with GC-MS and GC-FID devices; respectively. The essential oil content of Ferula fruits was 5.62±0.24 and fixed oil content in fruit pulp after distillation was 14.146 ± 0.97%. The main components of the essential oil were found to be β-pinene (64.87%), Δ-3-carene (7.29%), α-pinene (4.60%) and β-myrcene (2.26%). The main components in fixed oil consisted of 13.0% saturated, 55.6% monounsaturated, 31.0% double unsaturated and 0.3% polyunsaturated fatty acids. The major components of fixed oil were petrocelinic (34.959%), linoleic (30.788%) and oleic acids (12.565%). Based on the results of the study it could be recommended that Ferula fruits could be used as a source for β-pinene and as sources for petrocelinic and linoleic acids due to their high fixed unsaturated oils. Therefore; F. gummosa fruits have the potential to be used for both edible oil and pharmaceutical-cosmetic oil source for the industry.