ISHS Acta Horticulturae 576: International Conference on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. Possibilities and Limitations of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Production in the 21st Century
BY-PRODUCTS OF VEGETABLE CELERY (APIUM GRAVEOLENS L. VAR. DULCE) AS POTENTIAL SOURCE OF FLAVOURS |
| Authors: | L.F. D'Antuono, R. Neri, A. Moretti |
| Keywords: | essential oil, fertilisation, nitrogen, phtalides, recycling, vegetable wastes |
| Abstract:
Celery trimming results in high amount of wastes, which elimination affects the costs of the finished product. The possible alternative uses of these by-products as sources of essential oil were investigated. The green celery cultivar `Darklet` was grown at nitrogen doses ranging from 0 to 300 kg/ha in fall cycle. Total and waste biomass increased as a result of nitrogen, whereas waste essential oil content decreased, in both cases with quadratic-type responses. As a result, essential oil production from wastes attained its maximum of about 6.9 kg ha-1 at 60 or 180 kg/ha nitrogen. At the higher nitrogen doses, the content of limonene and other monoterpenes decreased to very low values, whereas that of sedanolide and phtalides raised to above 75 %. The production of essential oil from wastes was not quantitatively competitive to that reported in literature from celery seed crops. However, oil composition can be quite different, with a higher amount of the compounds responsible for typical celery flavour, in the oil obtained from the vegetative parts, with respects to seeds. Economic considerations may therefore determine the profitability of volatile oil extraction from celery by-products. | |
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