Essential oil of monkey-pepper (Piper aduncum L.) cultivated under different light environments

Abstract

The monkey-pepper (Piper aduncum L.) is an herbaceous species and essential oil producer, with biological activities such as insecticidal, antimicrobial, larvacidal and others. The cultivation of the plant is still incipient, being necessary to know the influence of some factors, among them, the light. Thus, the effects of different lighting conditions on the production and profile of the constituents of essential oils from leaves and roots of Piper aduncum L. were evaluated. Plants grown for 150 days in five light conditions: 100%, 70% and 50% of natural irradiance and nets of blue and red colors, also blocking 50% of natural light irradiance. The essential oils obtained by hydrodistillation from leaves and roots and analyzed by GC/MS. Roots showed higher amount of essential oil (0.11% w/w), which had no influence on light conditions. On leaves the biggest oil content was observed in 50% brightness (0.085% w/w). The essential oil of leaves was characterized by a high content of sesquiterpenes and roots of phenylpropanoids. The leaves are rich in E-nerolidol, linalol (14.28–16.65%); α-humulene (8.45–10.62%); cis-cadin-4-en-7-ol (7.48–12.24%) and caryophyllene (7.93–12.24%). While the root is rich in apiol (16.27–29.51%). Most major compounds increased in the environment rich in blue light. The variation in the production and essential oil constituents of P. aduncum L. depends on the light conditions and can is related to phenotypic and genetic factors. Therefore control of the light environment in growing conditions makes it necessary for obtaining raw material quality.