Effects of harvest time and processing methods on oregano essential oil and its main component components
HE Liwei
YAO Shan
HAN Rui
LIU Xudongyu
LIANG Jianping
XIA Zhi
WANG Xiuping
Abstract：The study aimed to investigate the effects of different harvest time and processing methods on oregano essential oil and its main component contents.The experiment was used Dabieshan Oregano No.2 as the research object to carry out the study on the variation of the essential oil content on an annual basis.Seven different cutting times and six processing methods were selected within one day during the full bloom period to determine the content of oregano essential oil and its main components(carvacrol and thymol).The results showed that harvesting Dabieshan Oregano No.2 from late June to late July yielded the highest oregano essential oil content(P＜0.05).The content of oregano essential oil was higher when mowing at 9:00 and 17:00,while the lowest content was obtained when mowing at 13:00.The average values of carvacrol and muscimol content were 12.20％and 29.49％respectively when mowing in the morning(7:00～11:00),and 6.40％and 39.96％respectively when mowing in the afternoon(13:00～19:00).The highest content of dried oregano essential oil and carvacrol and muscimol were obtained from the direct extraction of fresh grass.Compared with the direct extraction of fresh grass,the content of oregano essential oil obtained from shade-drying,sun-drying,and oven-drying at 40,50,and 60℃ decreased by 2.06％,11.34％,15.46％,18.56％,and 26.80％,respectively.The interaction of mowing time and processing method had a significant effect(P＜0.05)on the content of carvacrol in oregano essential oil,with the highest content of carvacrol extracted directly from fresh grass at 11:00,the highest content of muscimol in shade-dried treatment at 17:00,and the highest total amount of carvacrol and muscimol extracted directly from fresh grass at 15:00.The study shows that the optimal mowing windows are 7:00～11:00 and 15:00～19:00 during the full bloom period of Dabieshan Oregano No.2.The mowing time and processing methods have certain differences in their effects on the content of oregano essential oil and its main components.
Keywords：harvest timeprocessing methodoregano essential oilcarvacrolthymol
Publication Date：2025-08-16
Online Publishing Date：2025-10-14(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 97-102 )