Nutmeg with yellow arils-potential tree spice with high essential oil content

Abstract

The mace derived from the arils of Myristica fragrans, is red in colour, whereas the present study reports the evaluation of Myristica fragrans with yellow arils. Morphological features of fruits of M. fragrans with yellow arils and that of common red aril variant from cultivated locations in Kerala, South India, were similar. The average mace yield was higher for the yellow arils (2.5 kg plant-1) than the red arils (2.0 kg plant-1). The volatile chemical profiling revealed that the essential oil yield of the yellow mace (19.3% v/w) was more than twofold higher than standard red mace (9.2% v/w). GC-MS analysis showed that the distribution of monoterpenoids, sesquiterpenoids, and phenylpropanoids were similar in both the varieties, except for the percentage distribution. The major constituents of mace of both the red and yellow types were α-pinene, and sabinene followed by elemicin and safrole. Though an exotic species, M. fragrans has been naturalized in south India, and several high-yielding varieties have been reported from the region. The present study highlights nutmeg with yellow arils as a potential spice crop with high oil yield.