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Reducing methyl eugenol content in Rosa damascena Mill rose oil by changing the traditional rose flower harvesting practices

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Abstract

Methyl eugenol (ME) is a naturally occurring carcinogenic compound found in a number of essential oils including rose oil distilled from Rosa damascena Mill flowers. In the current study, we evaluate the effect of flower harvesting practices on the ME content in the produced rose oil. The obtained results show nearly twice reduction in ME content in the rose oil distilled from petals of full-blown flowers. At the same time, GC/MS analysis of rose oils distilled from stages 3 and 4 rose flower buds (flower buds prior opening of petals) showed more than 5 times ME reduction and preservation of the relative content of the major rose oil compounds. Moreover, the comparative study of rose flower yield and rose oil content of rose buds and full-blown flowers showed that harvesting of rose flower buds results in above three times increase in the formed flower buds from the studied rose plants and more than twice increase in the rose flower and rose oil yields for the same rose plantation areas. The overall results from this study allow us to propose a change in the traditional full-blown rose flower harvesting to harvesting of rose flower buds at stages 3 and 4 during the entire flowering period.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Rumiana Velcheva (ABI) and Ivaila Dincheva (ABI) for the excellent technical assistance and the National Science Fund at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Science, Bulgaria, for supporting the presented research via project no. DO02-105.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. AgroBioInstitute, 8 Dragan Tsankov blvd, 1164, Sofia, Bulgaria

    Krasimir Rusanov, Mila Rusanova & Ivan Atanassov

  2. Institute of Roses, Essential and Medical Cultures, 49 Osvobozhdenie blvd, 6100, Kazanlak, Bulgaria

    Natasha Kovacheva

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  1. Krasimir Rusanov
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  2. Natasha Kovacheva
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  3. Mila Rusanova
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  4. Ivan Atanassov
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Correspondence to Krasimir Rusanov.

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Rusanov, K., Kovacheva, N., Rusanova, M. et al. Reducing methyl eugenol content in Rosa damascena Mill rose oil by changing the traditional rose flower harvesting practices. Eur Food Res Technol 234, 921–926 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-012-1703-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00217-012-1703-1

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