Yield and Quality Parameters of Thymus x citriodorus (Pers.) Schreb. (synonym T. fragrantissimus, T. serpyllum citratus and T. serpyllum citriodorum) Cultivated under Ankara Ecological Conditions

Lemon thyme (Thymus x citriodorus (Pers.) Schreb) is widely grown as ornamental aims in Turkey and has no natural distrubition. It's a hybrid of Thymus vulgaris L. and Thymus pulegioides L. Compared with other Thyme species, Thymus citriodorus has a herbaceous oblique structure and rhizome formation. By means of this research, T. citriodorus was firstly cultivated in a field experiment and its yield and quality parameters recorded in semiarid conditions. Field trials were conducted in the Central Research Institute for Field Crops, Ankara, at complete randomized block design with four replications during the years of 2009 and 2010. Total yield of green herb, drug herb and drug leaf were 3769–4707kg/da, 1193–1475kg/da and 742.3–844.2kg/da, respectively. The average content and total yield of essential oil were detected 1.430–1.308% and 16.93–19.42 L/da. In comparison to other lemon odor sources such as Melissa officinalis L. (0.01–0.03%) and Cymbopogon citratus [DC] Staph. (0.2–0.5%), its essential oil content (1.3–1.4%) was found rather satisfactory. Though most Thymus species are thymol containing, the main component of Thymus citriodorus essential oil was determined as ‘geraniol’ with lesser amount of lemon scented citral (geranial + neral) (from twenty-one constituents).

Keywords: Thymus x citriodorus, essential oil, geraniol, citral