Some quality and essential oil classifications of Turkish aniseed (Pimpinella anisum L.)

ABSTRACT For industries that use aniseed as a raw material, essential oil content and aroma composition are critical factors. Anise fruits were collected from 15 locations to determine these criteria. The essential oil procured by hydrodistillation was analysed by gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC – MS). The locations were divided into five classes according to the cluster analysis of essential oil components. The most important components that made up the classes were estragole (2.33%), trans–anethole (93.90%), cis-anethole (0.21%), carvone (0.097%), p-anisaldehyde (0.651%), longifolene (1.35%), carvacrol (0.06%) and α-himachalane (0.12%). The rate of essential oil varied between 0.33-3.01% in the locations. Trans–anethole is the main component of the essential oil, while their rates changed according to the populations (90.8–96.6%). Location has a significant (p ≤ 0.05) effect on the essential oil, fruit width, fruit length and a thousand fruit weight; furthermore, it is positively related.