Chemical composition of myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) berries essential oils as observed in a collection of genotypes.

Myrtle (Myrtus communis L.) is a shrub spontaneously growing in the Mediterranean
area. The leaf and fruit content of essential oils and phenolic compounds justify the wide use of
the plant as medicinal and aromatic. Because of overexploitation of wild plants, a domestication
process is in progress in different regions and the influence of the genotype variability on the
chemical composition of fruit essential oils may be useful to breeding programs. Consequently,
the analysis performed on a selected group of candidate clones growing in the same field collection
in Sardinia is the object of this report. Forty-seven selections provided fully ripe fruits for essential
oil extraction by hydrodistillation and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis.
Only five candidate clones showed white fruits. The highest yield of essential oil was observed
in the LAC31 genotype with 0.55 gkg1, while the samples BOS1, MON5, RUM4, RUM10, V4
and V8 showed values above 0.20 gkg1 and most of the genotypes under 0.10 gkg1. Geranyl
acetate was the compound with the highest relative abundance. The second compound for relative
abundance was the 1,8-cineole. Other compounds with high relative abundance were a-terpinyl
acetate, methyleugenol, linalool, a-terpineol, b-caryophyllene, a-humulene, Trans-caryophyllene
oxide, and humulene epoxide II.