Study of the Qualitative and Quantitative Assesment of Essential oil Components of Four Sepecies in Yarrow (Achillea spp.)

Essential oils are volatile compounds that are made as secondary metabolites in medicinal plants. The genus Achillea is one of the most important medicinal plants of the Compositeae family that its essential oil has anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, the essential oil components of four different Yarrow species including (A. wilhelmsii), (A. biebersteinii), (A. setacea) and (A. tenuifolia) were evaluated in west Azarbayjan province. Plant sampling was done in the flowering stage in the spring. The essential oil was extracted from dried plants using Klevenger's for four hours and identification of essential oil components was performed by mass spectrophotometer (GC/MS) gas chromatography apparatus. Essential oil yields varied from 0.52 to 0.82%. In general, 29 components were identified in the essential oil of the studied species with amount of 90.57 to 96.21 percent. The components camphor, camphene, alpha-pinene, alpha-terpineol, beta-pinene were the dominant components in the essential oils of all species. The species of A. wilhelmsii with high levels of camphor (37.4%) and A. biebersteinii due to the high percentage of 1,8-cineol (55.51%) can be used in pharmaceutical, food and perfumery industry and breeding programs.