Volume: 47 Issue: 4
Postharvest drying effect on quantity and quality of essential oil of the Black Tea-tree (Melaleuca bracteata F. Muell.)
Year: 2025, Page: 195-200, Doi: https://doi.org/10.62029/jmaps.v47i4.kholiya
Received: Nov. 19, 2025 Accepted: March 20, 2026 Published: Aug. 6, 2026
Melaleuca bracteata F. Muell. (Family Myrtaceae) commonly known as black tea tree or river tea tree is a source of industrially important essential oil which contains methyl eugenol, (E)-methyl cinnamate, linalool and eugenol, like therapeutically active compounds. The present communication phytochemically analyzes the effect of the postharvest shade drying on the essential oil of M. bracteata cultivated in the foothills of Uttarakhand, providing all the agroclimatic conditions. The postharvest shade drying experiment was conducted for a period of 10 days. Overall, 11 compounds comprising 94.0 to 97.0% of the total composition were identified, mainly with dominance of phenylpropanoids (83.5–93.3%) followed by sesquiterpenoids (0.8–4.5%) and monoterpenoids (0.9–4.0%). GC and GC-MS analysis confirm methyl eugenol as the major compound constituting 80.4% of the total oil composition. The results of the post-harvest drying experiment showed qualitative and quantitative compositional variations with methyl eugenol (81.8–88.4%) as major constituent. Results indicated the potential utilization of the essential oil of dried leaves of M. bracteata as a natural source of methyl eugenol.
Keywords: Black tea tree, Drying, Essential oil, Melaleuca bracteata, Methyl eugenol
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Kholiya, S., Chauhan, A., Pandey, P., Venkatesha, K. T., Upadhyay, R. K., & Padalia, R. C. (2025). Postharvest drying effect on quantity and quality of essential oil of the Black Tea-tree (Melaleuca bracteata F. Muell.). Journal of Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Sciences, 47(4), 195–200. https://doi.org/10.62029/jmaps.v47i4.kholiya
