Statistical analyses on the essential oil of italian coriander (coriandrum sativum L.) fruits of different ages and origins

Thirty-one samples of Coriandrum sativum L. fruits, of different origin, year of cultivation (harvest) and crop management systems were subjected to volatile component analysis by combining Head Space Solid Phase Microextraction (HS-SPME) with GC/MS. In order to determine the importance of the major sources of volatile variability, some statistical analyses, including Cluster Analysis (CA) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA), were performed on the obtained data. The compounds, which gave the main contribution to the partition and classification of the original data, were α-pinene, p-cymene, γ-terpinene and linalool. The age of the fruits, which ranged from 1–16 years, seemed to generate rather identifiable effects such as a decreasing trend on α- and γ-terpinene, terpinolene and linalool, and an increase in p-cymene. The same components also seemed to vary depending upon the geographic location of the cultivation. No statistically relevant differences were detected between the biological and conventional cropping management techniques. © 2002, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.