Essential oil content, yield, and components from the herb, leaf, and stem of curly-leafed parsley at three harvest days

Parsley (Petroselium crispum L.) is commonly used for its flavor, desired nutritional contents, and other health benefits. However, since the profile of a recently introduced curly-leafed parsley cultivar in Egypt has not been studied, an experiment was conducted to compare three harvest dates in terms of the weight, essential oil (EO) content and yield, and the concentrations of major components in the whole herb, leaf, and stem parts. The results showed that the highest herb and leaf yields were obtained from the second harvest, but the first harvest gave the highest stem yield. The highest EO content and yield were obtained from the first harvest. The major EO components obtained from the three parts were [beta]-phellandrene, [alpha]-terpinolene, 1,3,8-p-menthatriene, myristicin, and elemicin. The highest concentrations of [alpha]-terpinolene, myristicin, and elemicin were obtained from the whole herb; but the highest [beta]-phellandrene and 1,3,8-p-menthatriene were obtained from the leaf and the stem. The findings revealed that the yield, EO content and yield, and concentration of the major components varied with harvest day and part of the plant. These results can be used to determine when and where to extract EO to maximize the desired content, yield, or component.