Effect of Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum Persl) Leaf Flush Color and Maturity Levels on Leaf Oil Content and Quality
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Date
2013
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Uva Wellassa University of Sri Lanka
Abstract
Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum Presl) is a spice obtained from the inner bark of the several
trees from the genus Cinnamomum and family Lauraceae. Cinnamomum verum Presl is the
commercial Cinnamon variety also known as “true cinnamon” or “Ceylon cinnamon” is native
to Sri Lanka. Cinnamon and Sri Lanka synonyms in the world spice trade. The four types of
essential oil obtained from the different parts of the cinnamon tree are, Cinnamon bark oil from
the inner stem bark, Cinnamon leaf oil from the leaves, Cinnamon root oil from the root bark
and Cinnamon seed oil from the seed pericarp. The unique feature where the oil distilled from
these different parts of Cinnamon differ in their chemical composition, gives rise to much
interest in connection with the biosynthesis of the various chemical constituents in the oil. The
distillation of Cinnamon bark oil and leaf oil carried out in Sri Lanka. Cinnamon leaf oil is
yellowish in colour and has a warm, spicy aroma. The viscosity is medium to watery. The main
chemical components are Euginol, Safrol, Cinnamyl acetate and Cinnamldehyde. Over 50%-
80% Euginol can be obtained from leaf oil. There are several factors which affect the Cinnamon
leaf oil content and quality such as season, age of the tree, location, time of harvest etc. Purpose
of this current study was to determine the effect of Cinnamon leaf flush color and maturity
levels on leaf oil content and quality and to determine the different flush colors in Cinnamon
population, different component of leaf oil related to leaf flush color and different component of
leaf oil related to different maturity levels.
Methodology
For the experiment1, Effect of Cinnamon leaf flush color on leaf oil content and quality of 300
Cinnamon plants were observed and 5 different flush colors were identified. Five plants were
selected as replicates in each flush color. Mature leaves of second and third branches from the
main stems were picked and air dried about 5 days. After that they were cut into small pieces.
The volatile oils were isolated by Clevenger arm method. Air dried leaf sample of 50g was
placed in the distillation flask with 250 ml of distilled water and the distillation was continued
for 4 hours. Extracted oil was separated from the water and was collected in small glass bottles
and kept in the fridge until quality extraction. For quality determination of leaf oil 2 replicates
from each flush color was taken. Extracted oil from each flush color and authentic samples
(Euginol, Safrol, Cinnamaldehyde and Cinnamyl acetate) for cinnamon leaf oil was subjected to
Gas Liquid Chromatographic analysis (GLC) to identified four important components named
Euginol, Cinnamaldehyde, Safrol and Cinnamyl acetate. The second experiment, effect of
cinnamon leaf maturity levels on leaf oil content and quality was carried out according to the
same procedure described above. But the planting material was “SRI GAMUNU” variety
established in the research station.
Results and Discussion
The data was collected by conducting 4 months research at Cinnamon Research Station.
Established Cinnamon varieties with different flush colors were taken to this research. Five (5)
different flush colors were identified and leaf oil content was calculated. Dark red, Red,
Brownish red, Brownish yellow red and light green were the 5 different flush colors. The colors
were identified using Muncell color chart.
Effect of Cinnamon flush color on leaf oil content and quality
According to the data analysis (Figure 1), dark red flush color contain highest amount of leaf oil
that is around 3g of leaf oil per 50g of leaf. Brownish yellow red and light green flush color
contains equal amount of leaf oil that is 2.8g of leaf oil content per 50g of leaves. Lowest
amount of leaf oil was extracted from Brownish red color flush. According to the statistical
analysis, results shows that there was a significant difference of the leaf flush color on leaf oil
content. The results showed that the intensity of the red color increased with the increase of the
leaf oil content and it emphasized that there was an indirect relationship between red color
pigments and the leaf oil content also.
Description
Keywords
Agriculture, Export Agriculture, Crop Production, Crop Production Technology, Cinnamon Industry, Spices