The essential oil content and chemical composition are genetic characteristics and can be influenced by the environment and the developmental stage or age of the plant. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the influence of the plant age on production and quality of essential oil of peppermint. The experiment was conducted in Ilhéus, BA from May to December 2009. The treatments consisted of harvesting the plant at six ages (60, 90, 120, 150, 180 and 210 days after transplantation) using completely randomized design with four replications. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation in a Clevenger modified apparatus. The identification of chemical constituents was performed by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The highest content of essential oil (1%) was obtained at 120 days while the highest content the majority compounds α-fenchol (49.92%) and cis-myrtanol (30.03%) reached its highest value at 120 and 150 days after transplanting, respectively.
Mentha x piperita var. citrate (Ehrh.) Briq.; peppermint; medicinal plant; α-fenchol; cis-myrtanol
