[01] Hussein A. H. Said Al Ahl, Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, National Research Centre, 33 El Bohouth St. (former El Tahrir St.), Dokki, Giza, Egypt. [02] Atef M. Z. Sarhan, Department of Ornamental Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. [03] Abou Dahab M. Abou Dahab, Department of Ornamental Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. [04] El-Shahat N. Abou Zeid, Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, National Research Centre, 33 El Bohouth St. (former El Tahrir St.), Dokki, Giza, Egypt. [05] Mohamed S. Ali, Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, National Research Centre, 33 El Bohouth St. (former El Tahrir St.), Dokki, Giza, Egypt. [06] Nabila Y. Naguib, Department of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, National Research Centre, 33 El Bohouth St. (former El Tahrir St.), Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

A field experiment was carried out to study the effect of harvest stage on essential oil and its constituents of dill plants at three stages of development. Essential oil percentage from fresh herb was the lowest (0.08%) in the vegetative stage and increased to (1.10%) in the flowering stage. Maximum essential oil percentages (3.20%) were achieved from dill plants in the seeds.The major components of the essential oil were α-phellandrene (46.33%), limonene (13.72%), -phellanrene (11.7149%) and p-cymene (17.88%) in the vegetative stage; while, three main compounds were identified such as p-cymene (33.42%), carvone (13.10%) and dill ether (19.63%) of volatile oil distilled from fresh herb in the flowering stage. The maincompounds of the dill fruits essential oil in seeds were carvone (62.48%), dill apiole (19.51%) and limonene (14. 61%) in fruiting stage.

Anethum graveolens L., Essential Oil, Chemical Composition, Harvest Stage

[01] Babri, R.A., Khokhar, I., Mahmood, Z. and S. Mahmud (2012).Chemical composition and insecticidal activity of the essential oil of Anethum graveolens L. Sci. Int., (Lahore), 24(4): 453-455. [02] Bailer, J., Aichinger, T., Hackl, G., de Hueber, K. and M. Dachler (2001). Essential oil content and composition in commercially available dill cultivars in comparison to caraway. Ind. Crops Products, 14: 229–239. [03] Baydar, H., Sagdic, O., Ozkan, G. and T. Karadogan (2004). Antibacterial activity and composition of essential oils from Origanum, Thymbra and Satureja species with commercial importance in Turkey. Food Control, 15:169-172. [04] Court, W.A., Roy, R.C. and R. Pocs (1993). Effect of harvest date on the yield and quality of the essential oil of peppermint. Can J Plant Sci., 73:8l5-824. [05] Delaquis, P. J., Stanich, K., Girard, B. and G. Mazza (2002). Antimicrobial activity of individual and mixed fractions of dill, cilantro, coriander and eucalyptus essential oil. Int. J. Food Microbiol., 74: 101–109. [06] Embong, M. B., Hadziyev, D. and S. Molnar (1977). Essential oils from spices grown in Alberta, dill seed oil (Anethum graveolens L. (Umbelliferae)). Can. Inst. Food Sci. Technol. J., 10: 208 214. [07] Filho, J.L.S.C., Blank, A.F., Alves, P.B., Ehlert, P.A.D., Melo, A.S. andS.C.H. Cavalcanti (2006). Influence of the harvesting time, temperature and drying period on basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) essential oil. Brazilian Journal of Pharmacognosy, 16(1):24-30. [08] Frank, J. R., Baron, J. J. and R. T. Guest (1987). Pesticides for use in herbs, spices and medicinal plants. Herb Spice Medicinal Plant Dig., 5: 1–12. [09] Gil, A., De La Fuente, E. B., Lenardis, A. E., Pereira, M. L., Suarez, S. A., Arnaldo, B., Van Baren, C., Di Leo, L. P. and C. M. Ghersa (2002). Coriander essential oil composition from two genotypes grown in different environmental conditions. J. Agric. Food chem., 50: 2870–2877. [10] Green, R.J. (1985). Peppermint and spearmint production in the Midwest. The Herb. Spice and Medicinal Plant Digest., 3(l):l-7. [11] Guenther, G. (1961). The essential oils V.III. Robert E.D. Nastrand Comp. Inc. New York. [12] Jirovetz, A., L, Buchbauer, G., Stoyanova, A.S., Georgiev, E.V. and S.T. Damianova (2003). Composition, quality control and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of long time stored dill (Anethum graveolens L.) seeds from Bulgaria. J. Agric. Food Chem., 18: 3854-3857. [13] Kapoor, R., Giri, B. and K. G. Mukerji (2002). Glomus macrocarpum: a potential bioinoculant to improve essential oil quality and concentration in Dill (Anethum graveolens L.) and Carum (Trachyspermum ammi (Linn.) Sprague). World J. Microbiol Biotechnol., 18: 459–463. [14] Kothari, S. K., Singh, J. P. and K. Singh (1989). Chemical weed control in Bulgarian coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) Trop. Pest Mgt., 35: 2–5. [15] Kruger, H. and K.Hammer (1996). A new chemotype of Anethum graveolens L. J. Essen. Oil Res., 8: 205–206. [16] Leopold, J., Buchbauer, G., Stoyanova, A. S., Gergiev,E. V. and S. T. Damianova (2003). Composition, quality control, and antimicrobial activity of the essential oil of long-time stored dill (Anethum graveolens L.) seeds from Bulgaria. J. Agric.Food Chem., 51:3854-3857. [17] Mahran, G.H., Kadry, H.A., Thabet, C.K., El-Olemy, M.M., Al-Azizi, M.M., Schiff, P.L. and L.K.N. Wong (1992). GC/MS analysis of volatile oil of fruits of Anethum graveolens. Int. J. of Pharmacognosy, 30 (2) 139-144. [18] Miguel, M.G., Guerrero, C., Rodrigues, H., Brito, J.C., Duarte, F. andF. Venâncio (2004). Main Components of the Essential Oils from Wild Portuguese Thymus mastichina (L.) L. ssp. mastichina in Different Developmental Stages or Under Culture Conditions. Journal of Essential Oil Research, 16:111-114. [19] Murray, M.J., Marble, P., Lincoln, D. and F.W. Hefendehl (1988). Peppermint oil quality differences and the reasons for them. Flavors and Fragrances: Proceeding of the 10th International Congress of Essential oils, Fragrances and Flavors, Washington, DC, U.S.A., 189-208. [20] Rangappa, M, Bhardwaj, H. L., Showhda, M. and A. A. Hamama (1997). Cilantro response to nitrogen fertilizer rates. SAS Institute, Inc. 2000. SAS version 8. SAS Institute Inc., Cary,NC. J. Herbs Spices Medicinal Plants, 5: 63–68. [21] Said- Al Ahl H.A.H. (2005). Physiological studies on growth, yield and volatile oil of dill (Anethum graveolens L.). Ph. D. Thesis, Fac. Agric. Cairo Uni. Egypt. [22] Said-Al Ahl, H. A. H. and E. A. Omer (2009). Effect of spraying with zinc and / or iron on growth and chemical composition of coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) harvested at three stages of development. Journal of Medicinal Food Plants, 1(2): 30-46. [23] Said-Al Ahl, H. A.H., Sabra, A.S., El Gendy, A.G., Aziz, E.E. and K. G. Tkachenko (2015). Changes in content and chemical composition of Dracocephalum moldavica L. essential oil at different harvest dates. Journal of Medicinal Plants Studies, 3(2): 61-64. [24] Said-Al Ahl, H.A.H., Sarhan, A.M.Z., Abou Dahab, M.A., Abou-Zeid, E.N., Ali, M.S. and N.Y. Naguib (2010). Effected of nitrogen and/or biofertilizer on the essential oil of dill at the flowering stage. Journal of Medicinal Food Plants, 2(2): 21-26. [25] Santos, P. A. G., Figueiredo, A. C., Lourenco, P. M. L., Barroso, J. G., Pedro, L. G., Oliveira, M. M., Schripsema, J., Deans, S. G. and J. J. C. Scheffer (2002). Hairy root cultures of Anethum graveolens (dill): establishment, growth, time-course study of their essential oil and its comparison with parent plant oils. Biotechnol. Lett. 24: 1031–1036. SAS Institute, Inc. 2000. SAS version 8. SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC. [26] Singh, G., Maurya, S., Lampasona, M.P.D. and C. Catlan (2005). Chemical constituents, antimicrobial investigations, and antioxidative potentials of Anethum graveolens L. essential oil and acetone extract: Part 52. Journal of food science, 70 (4):208 - 215. [27] Wall, D. A. and G. H. Friesen (1986). The effect of herbicides and weeds on the yields and composition of dill (Anethum graveolens L.) oil. Crop Prot., 5: 137–142. [28] Weiss, E.A. (2002).Spice Crops. CABI Publishing, 10E 40th street, Suite 3203, New York, NY 10016 U.S.A. [29] Zheljazkov, V. and I. Zhalnov(1995). Effect of herbicides on yields and quality of Coriandrum sativum L. J. Essen. Oil. Res., 7: 633–639.