Zingiber zerumbet (L.) Roscoe ex Smith:A potential source of zerumbone rich essential oil Raina Archana P.1,*, Misra R.C.2 1Division of Germplasm Evaluation, ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, New Delhi-110012, India 2ICAR-National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Exploration Base Centre, Cuttack-753006, Odisha, India *Corresponding author e-mail: aprraina@yahoo.co.in
Online Published on 14 April, 2022. Abstract Zingiber zerumbet (L.) Smith (Family Zingiberaceae), popularly known as “shampoo ginger” is a rhizomatous aromatic perennial plant traditionally used in foods, beverages as well as in herbal medicines. The species is widely distributed throughout Southeast Asia, mainly India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. Rhizomes of Z. zerumbet have been widely used due to its exceptional biomedical application for treating inflammations, rheumatism, sprains, colic pain and various other ailments. In the present study, essential oil isolated from Z. zerumbet rhizomes grown in Eastern India was analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. A total of seventeen aromatic compounds were identified representing 99.96% of the essential oil composition. The main oil constituents were zerumbone (70.60%), α-humulene (5.65%), humulene epoxide I (5.22%) and humulene epoxide II (5.71%), camphor (1.90%), camphene (3.47%), and cayophyllene oxide (2.52%). Methanolic extracts of Z. zerumbet rhizome was found to be rich in total phenols (6.50 ± 0.01 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g DM), total flavonoids (22.57 ± 0.08 mg quercetin (QE)/g DM) and having high antioxidant activity of 69.34 ± 5.65%. Our studies suggested that Z. zerumbet from Eastern India having high oil and zerumbone content can be used as potential natural source of zerumbone which has high pharmaceutical value. Top Keywords Shampoo ginger, Essential oil, Zerumbone, Anticancer properties, Antioxidant, Antimicrobial, Immunomodulator. Top |