Essential Oil of Pataqueira (Conobea scoparioides Benth.): From Natural Occurrence and Produced by Hydroponics

Abstract

Conobea scoparioides (Scrophulariaceae) is a herbaceous species known as "pataqueira" occurring in wet areas of the Brazilian Amazon. The essential oil of "pataqueira" had a pleasant aroma and the main constituents analyzed by GC and GC-MS were methylthymol (40.0%), thymol (38.5%) and α-phellandrene (12.9%), comprising about 90% of the total oil. The economical exploitation of the plant has not been consolidated because it is an aquatic species with unfavorable cultivation during the dry season. In summertime, the plant vanishes from the wet areas and their seeds germinate again at the beginning of the rainy season. Based on this environmental condition, the plant was subjected to the NFT (nutrient film technique) hydroponic cultivation system, showing excellent adaptation. The species doubled in size after the first two months of cultivation reaching 30cm and in four months it was growing to 85cm, providing 4kg/m2 of fresh biomass and oil yield of 3.2%. It was estimated that 1000m2 of hydroponic cultivation of C. scoparioides can produce 128kg of oil in four months, or about 380kg of oil per year in three annual crops.