Combined effect of soil applied iron and sulfur fertilisers on monoterpene content and antioxidant activity of Satureja hortensis L. Extract

Chemical-composition/antioxidant-activity of satureja hortensis l. extract is influenced by many factors including nutrient elements. a factorial completely randomized design greenhouse experiment was conducted to study the effect of three levels of soil-applied iron,fe (0,8 and 16mg kg-1 soil as ethylene-di-amine-die-hydroxyl-acetic-acid,fe-eddha) and three levels of sulfur,s (0,50 and 100mg kg-1 soil as elemental-s) on monoterpene production and antioxidant activity of satureja hortensis l. the maximum (377.75 mg/l) and minimum (720.406 mg/l) antioxidant activity were obtained with 8mg fe+100mg s treatment and control,respectively. the main oil constituents in control were γ-terpinene(67%),α-terpinene(11%),myrcene (4%),α-thujene (4%),p-cymene (4%),α-pinene (3%) and carvacrol (2%). the maximum content of α-thujene,α-pinene,myrcene and α-terpinene was obtained with 8mg fe+50mg s application whereas the control was suitable for obtaining γ-terpinene. carvacrol was mainly produced with addition of 16mg fe+100mg s. furthermore,the α-thujene,α-pinene,myrcene and α-terpinene contents increased with application of 8mg fe+50mg s. the α-terpinene,myrcene,α-thujene and α-pinene increased by 13,27,21 and 43% compared to control,respectively when 8mg fe+50mg s was applied. the entire component of monoterpenoid fraction with the major constituent of γ-terpinene,α-terpinene,myrcene,α-thujene,p-cymene,α-pinene and carvacrol that constitutes 99.9% of essential oil showed a same trend whereas identified sesquiterpenes and sesquiterpenoid components were relatively low (0.1%). the low molecular weight of γ-terpinene decreased as 8mg fe+50mg s was applied. in general,it could be concluded that application of 8mg fe+50mg s kg-1 was the most suitable treatment for obtaining higher amounts of α-terpinene,myrcene,α-thujene and α-pinene whereas addition of 16mg fe+100mg s kg-1 was preferable for obtaining carvacrol. copyright © 2015. universiti putra malaysia press.