Yield and essential oil quality of Indonesian ceylon cinnamon at different age of harvest

Abstract

Ceylon cinnamon is a world-famous cinnamon product produced mainly by Sri Lanka. In Indonesia, the distribution of Ceylon cinnamon is very limited. Fifteen Ceylon cinnamon promising lines in the Research Station at Laing, West Sumatera, have been chosen and observed for their yield and quality components. Plants that are usually harvested at the age of 4-6 years, can grow and develop into new branches, after being harvested. This study was aimed to determine the production capacity and quality of 15 accessions. The first harvest were performed at 6 years age, with bark production capacity 1,800 - 4,350 kg/tree, cinnamaldehyde content 42.23% - 61.24%. The following harvest had been carried out on new grown branches at 3 and 4 year ages, in which the production of bark, leaves, oil content and its quality, were varied for each accession. The yield components and essential oils quality of Ceylon cinnamon cultivated at a medium altitude were influenced by age of plant. Therefore, it is recommended that best harvesting would be 6 years after planting, and 4 years later on after the first pruning. Certain accession had optimum yield of bark and leaves, cinnamaldehyde content >60%, eugenol content >85%, and meets the international standard.