DETERMINATION OF YIELD AND ESSENTIAL OIL COMPOSITION OF DIFFERENT LEMON BALM (Melissa officinalis L.) GENOTYPES

This study was conducted in 2015 and 2016 in Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Faculty of Agriculture, Field Crops Department experimental field. The aim of this study was to determine the performance of yield and quality of lemon balm ( Melissa officinalis L.) populations obtained from the natural vegetations of different provinces of Turkey at ecological conditions of Eskisehir. The study was designed in the Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. As plant materials, eleven populations gathered from Tokat-2 (Geyraz), Burdur, Bilecik, Ankara, Malatya, USA, Bursa, Germany, Tokat-1 (Erbaa), Tokat-3 (Resadiye) and Kutahya were used in the study. In the study, plant height, fresh herb yield, dry herb yield, dry leaf yield, essential oil content and essential oil yield values of genotypes were determined. The determined values varied between 34.22-55.38 cm, 17.66-29.18 t ha -1 , 3.75-7.23 t ha -1 , 2.46-4.53 t ha -1 , 0.06-0.24% and 2.88-17.14 l ha -1 , respectively. GC/MS analyzes in lemon balm samples revealed that geranial, neral, β-caryophyllene and caryophyllene oxide were the main components in all of the samples.