Morphological Characteristics and Oil Contents of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) Accessions from Different Regions of Pakistan

Fifty accessions of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.) were collected from different parts of Pakistan and grown in the field to evaluate their morphological and essential oil compositions. All parameters were recorded from sowing to harvesting and essential oils isolated by hydrodistillation were analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrophotometry (GC-MS). The accessions with more height (120-129 cm), MP00164, MP00183, MP00280, MP00293, MP00307, MP00526, MP00557, MP00769, MP0001061 and MP00483 were found to have higher oil contents and a large number of umbels mainly due to a considerable presence of secondary inflorescence. The same accessions were also characterized by more biomass and a higher percentage of umbels. The morphological characters showed positive relationship among the number of umbels per plant, the plant weight, umbel weight and oil contents. The essential oils evidenced five main chemical groups characterized by a-phellandrene, limonene, trans-anethole, methylchavicol and pinene while fifteen minor chemical groups were also detected. The accessions MP 00240, MP 00329 and MP 01084 showed higher level of methylchavicol (38 %) with lower amount of fenchone were regarded as sweeter genotypes possessed potential for utilization in food items. The highest level of trans-anethole (58.04 %) was noted in MP00526 that was considered suitable for extraction of ansi tasting compound. The a-phellandrene (46.20 %) was found as a dominant compound in MP00318, indicating the accession as a particular source for it. The chemical differences observed in oil composition can mainly be attributed to the genetic factors depicting good magnitude of genetic diversity in the available fennel germplasm of Pakistan.