Plant Science Research, Vol. 39, 2017

Effect of climatic and physical factors on yield and quality of essential oil of Pandanus odorifer (Forssk.) Kuntze

Pandanus odorifer (Forssk.) Kuntze., commonly known as Kewda, is one of the major  bioresources of Ganjam district, Odisha used in small scale perfumery industry for aromatic  compound extracted from the male inflorescences. In order to establish the effect of climatic  and physical factors on perfume yield and quality, oil samples of Kewda flowers collected from  the coastline of Ganjam, Odisha, India were analyzed. Gas chromatography (GC) analysis  revealed the presence of Phenyl ethyl methyl ether or PEME (75-85%) and Terpinen-4-ol (4-  10%) as major constituents of Kewda oil. The climatic factors were found to significantly  influence the yield and quality of Kewda oil. The yield percentage of major constituents was  found to be low in summer, followed by rainy season and winter season. The physical factors  like quality of flowers, time of plucking and process of distillation also had major effect on the  yield and quality of the oil.