COMPARATIVE METABOLOME PROFILING OF POPULAR BETEL LEAF (PIPER BETLE L.) LANDRACES OF WEST BENGAL

Abstract

Betel-leaf creeper is a prominent horticultural cash crop of West Bengal with a sizeable contribution towards the agro-economy of the state. Farmers propagate several elite cultivars of betel-leaf for extraction of high quality essential oil. The study focused on the comparative analysis of popular landraces on account of essential oil content (volume/fresh-weight) and its putative metabolome profile. The ‘Sagar Meetha’ genotype (0.24%) produced maximum oil followed by ‘Kakdwip Meetha’ (0.21%), ‘Kali Bangla’ (0.18%) and ‘Sada Bangla’ (0.14%) respectively from fresh leaves. The GC-MS/FID analysis of the leaf oil revealed thirty-four compounds with chavicol, chavibetol, methyl chavicol and β-caryophyllene as the major volatiles. The methyl chavicol (estragole) fraction was higher in ‘Meetha’ types than ‘Bangla’ producing the sweet fragrance. The absence of β-Bourbonene in Sagar Meetha, presence of (Z)-β-ocimene (0.1%) and leaf alcohol (0.1%) in Kalibangla ecotypes were identified as major discriminants. The eugenol content was low in coastal cultivars. The PCA identified two Principal components for regulating 80% of the variation of cultivars and HCA analysis confirmed genetic fidelity of the selected landraces. The information could be useful for the suitable utilization of the betel-leaf landraces for extraction of known and novel chemical constituents in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.