Chemical Composition of Leaf Essential Oil of Wild and Domestic Genotypes of Murraya paniculata L.

The plant Murraya paniculata L. (locally known as Kamini) collected from two different locations of Uttarakhand were subjected to hydrodistillation for the isolation of essential oils which yielded about 0.6 % oil in both the collections. The essential oils of both the collections were studied for their chemical composition and antifungal activity against two phytopathogenic fungi such as Rhizoctonia solani and Sclerotium rolfsii. The GC-FID analysis revealed the presence of over 10 compounds in each essential oil of which over 11-14 constituents have been identified which contribute 86.99 % and 76.25 % of the total oil respectively. Both the collections were dominated by sesquiterpenoids. Essential oil of Murraya paniculata (wild variety) was rich in oxygenated sesquiterpenoids mainly dominated by trans-verbenol (26.25 %) while essential oil of Murraya paniculata (domestic variety) was rich in sesquiterpene hydrocarbons being dominated by germacrene B (41.91 %) besides other minor constituents. The essential oil of Murraya paniculata (wild variety) showed significant antifungal activity, hence can be used as antifungal agent against the tested fungi after its proper clinical trials while domestic verity has non-significant antifungal activity. This was may be due to the presence of oxygenated sesquiterpenoids.