Study of Yield, Quality and Fungicidal Properties of Nagarmotha Oil

The essential oils of nagarmotha rhizomes collected from wild sources in two Indian states viz. Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) and Madhya Pradesh (M.P.) have been compared for yield, various physico-chemical properties such as appearance, colour, odour, specific gravity, refractive index, optical rotation, acid value, ester value, alcohols etc., chemical composition and antifungal activity against phyto-pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani Kuhn. Considerable variations have been found in all the studied parameters. Essential oil yield was recorded as 0.15% in U.P. nagarmotha rhizomes and 0.21% in M.P. nagarmotha rhizomes. The content of cyprene, a major constituent of both the oils was found 30.6% in U.P. oil and 19.84% in M.P. oil. A total of 24 constituents constituting 80.98% of the total oil volume were identified in the U.P. oil, while in M.P. oil, a total of 27 constituents comprising 79.35% of total oil volume were identified. The antifungal activity of steam distilled oil, hexane extract of fresh rhizomes and distilled (exhausted) rhizomes was tested positive. The ED₅₀ of steam distilled oil of U.P. and M.P. was recorded as 512 and 517 μg ml⁻¹, respectively, while fresh rhizomes from U.P. and M.P. showed the highest fungitoxicity with ED₅₀ of 448 and 478 μg ml⁻¹, respectively. The oil obtained from distilled (exhausted) rhizomes showed least activity with ED₅₀ of 1007 μg ml⁻¹ in case of U.P. oil and 1032 μg ml⁻¹ in case of M.P. oil.