ENVIRONMENT EFFECT ON DIVERSITY IN QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF ESSENTIAL OIL OF DIFFERENT WILD POPULATIONS OF KERMAN THYME

Thymus (thyme) is one of the most important genera with regard to the number of species within the family Lamiaceae. Kerman thyme (Thymus carmanicus Jalas) is an endemic Iranian species, intensively utilized because of its wide ranging medicinal and culinary properties. Aerial parts of T. carmanicus collected from various altitudes including 2000-2500, 2500-3000, and 3000-3500 m above sea level in Zagros Mountains, Kerman province, South Iran. The yellow oil yields ranged between 0.80 to 1.10% (v/w) for populations collected from various elevations and for the populations collected from various regions ranged between 0.55-1.61% (v/w). GC-MS analyses revealed compounds, constituting 92.2-99.9% of total essential oils. The major constituents of essential oils were carvacrol (47.6-57.9%), thymol (8.3-19.0%), square-terpinene (7.3-7.9%) and p-cymene (4.4-7.6%), that monoterpenes, especially oxygenated monoterpenes was the main constituent group in essential oil from the aerial parts of T. carmanicus. The results of current study indicated that increasing elevation decreased thymol content in essential oils of the wild populations of T. carmanicus.