Chemotyping and genotyping of industrially important Kewda Pandanus fascicularis L for elite selection and quality control

Abstract

newline Pandanus fascicularis, commonly known as Kewda, is an economically important aromatic plant belonging to the family Pandanaceae. The plant possesses great demand for the essential oil present in its male flowers. The oil has a characteristic aroma mainly due to the presence of phenyl ethyl methyl ether (PEME). Owing to its exquisite aroma, Kewda oil has great demand in pharmaceutical as well as in flavour and fragrance industry. Kewda flower distillation industry in Ganjam district (Odisha) accounts for nearly 90% of the production of commercially important Kewda perfumes in the country and 50% of that of the world. The cost of Kewda essential oil is approximately 2.5 to 4 lakhs per litre, Kewda attar is 0.2 lakh per litre and Kewda water is Rs 300 per litre. The increasing demand for Kewda oil, attar and water have necessitated ecoregion based chemical profiling to select elite germplasm with high quality and quantity of essential oil. Further, Kewda oil blends with several types of perfumes, thus necessitating development of chromatographic fingerprints for qualit