Evaluation of Narcissus tazetta L. under different habitats

Narcissus tazetta belongs to the family Amaryllidaceae. In Egypt, it is commercially grown outdoors for cut flowers and essential oil extraction that used in perfume industry. In this work, the bulbs were cultivated in three different localities under different habitats representing the loamy soil, the new reclaimed sandy soil and the sandy soil; which were differentiated by their soil and water analysis.

Evaluation of the cultivated plant samples from each locality; including essential oil content and the total alkaloids; was done. The loamy soil showed to be the most suitable habitat for the cultivation of the plant. Investigation of the essential oil revealed that the highest oil content was recorded in the plants grown in the loamy soil (0.13%). The plants cultivated at sandy soil gave the lowest yield of the oil (0.10%). GC/MS of the essential oil for all samples showed that the main constituents of the oil are the same, but only differ in their percentages. The maximum terpenoid percentage (65.1%) was determined in the plants cultivated in the loamy soil followed by sandy soil samples (52%), and then new reclaimed sandy soil samples (47.65%). The main constituents were α-pinene, limonine, linelool, methyl and ethyl cinnamate in all samples.The total alkaloids were extracted from the collected leaves and bulbs of the cultivated samples. The highest alkaloid percent was found in the loamy soil leave samples (0.28%) while the lowest one was found at the sandy soil samples (0.12). Also, the average of the total alkaloidal content of the collected bulbs showed the same tendency as the leaves. The highest percent was found in the loamy soil samples (0.13%) followed by the new reclaimed sandy soil samples (0.11%) and the lowest percent was found in the bulb samples collected from sandy soil (0.07).

TLC-densitometric analysis indicated that the main spot of alkaloids might be identified as narcessine. Also, in vitro propagation by tissue culture technique was successful from callus formation from meristematic tips.

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