Abstract

Four different parts from Etlingera elatior  (Jack) R. M. Smith plant were subjected to four different post-harvest drying times (6, 24, 48 and 72 h, respectively) to study the effect of post-harvest drying period on its essential oil yield and composition. The essential oils were extracted using the hydrodistillation method for 5 h. The oils were analyzed by capillary GC and GC/MS. The highest yield was obtained from leaves dried for 48 h (0.16% v/w), pseudostems dried for 24 h (0.013% v/w), rhizomes dried for 6 h (0.047% v/w) and inflorescences dried both for 24 and 72 h (0.1% v/w), respectively. Thirty five compounds were identified from essential oils of leaves, 18 from pseudostems, 28 from rhizomes and 20 from inflorescences, of which 42 compounds had not been detected previously. The most prominent compounds identified with the highest percentages were 2-cyclohexen-1-one (93.42%) from leaves dried for 6 h, 2-tridecanone (51.55%) from pseudostems dried for 24 h, 1-dodecanol from rhizomes (63.64%) dried for 48 h and from inflorescences (54.48%) dried for 24 h.

Key words: Etlingera elatior, essential oils, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS), post-harvest drying, Zingiberaceae.