Evaluation of climatic factors on the yield and chemical composition of the essential oil of <i>Myrocarpus frondosus</i>

<div><p>The species <i>Myrocarpus frondosus</i> is native to southern Brazil, and it is known as cabreúva. It is a large tree, and its wood is used as a reservoir for distilled spirits, especially <i>Cachaça</i>. In this pioneering work, the essential oil was extracted monthly from the leaves of <i>M. frondosus</i>, for a period of 1 year. The essential oil was extracted by using hydrodistillation and the determination of the chemical composition of essential oil was performed by using the chromatographic techniques GC-FID and GC–MS. Thirty-three compounds were identified in the essential oil and bicyclogermacrene was the major compound. Through multivariate analysis, it was determined that β-caryophyllene, limonene and terpinen-4-ol were directly proportional to climatic factors. The yield of the oil was directly proportional to temperature and radiation.</p>