Evaluation morphological diversity and essential oil content of Thymus transcaspicus Klokov. in Iran

Thymus transcaspicus Klokov is a member of the genus Thymus. It is native to Iran with limited distribution in the Northeast. Thymus is a traditional medicinal plant which is also used as a spice and aromatic plant in different industries. In this investigation, genetic diversity of some Thymus transcaspicus populations were evaluated by using morphological traits and essential oil content. In the first trial, in order to determine diversity of this species for using in future breeding programs and also medicinal purposes, 25 genotypes related to five populations were evaluated using 32 quantitative and qualitative parameters. In based on cluster analysis, five populations separated into three groups. The most similar populations were between Hiqu and Pakotal, while most dissimilar populations were among Hiqu and Reiin . In the second experiment, oil content and composition of T. transcaspicus was determined. In general, 34 components were identified comprising 97.32% of total components in the oils. Thymol (35.71%), ρCymene (19.14%), Carvacrol (9.22%), Borneol (8.23%), 1,8 cineol (3.83%) were the dominant compounds of essential oil. Yield percentage of essential oil was 1.2% (v/m) of plant dry matter.