Production of Biomass and Essential Oil in Plants of Lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus (Dc) Stapf) in Different Ages

Abstract

With the objective of evaluating the influence of the age on the biomass production and of essential oil in plants of lemongrass an experiment was installed, in Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil, with experimental design in blocks at random and three repetitions. In the evaluations, the pattern leaf harvest time was at 9 a.m., and their cut made at 20cm height from the soil. The collected material was immediately conducted to the Laboratory, for weighting of green matter, determination of the percentage of dry matter and extraction of the essential oil for the method of dragging to steam. The lemongrass plants used in the research were clones originated from a single mother-plant, that was successively propagated in the area. The treatments consisted of the biomass determination and yield of essential oil of picked plants at 60, 67, 74, 81, 88, 95, 102, 109 and 116 days after. The planting was made only in the initial periods of cultivation, using manual watering can, until the seedlings take roots; the weeds control were manually made with hoe, when necessary. The soil was not fertilized neither corrected. There was gradual linear increase of dry matter from lemon grass along the evaluated period. The total time of the experiment (116 days after planting) corresponded to the period that the leaves are usually cut, aiming the commercial extraction of essential oil. A gradual decrease in the essential oil yield was verified as the age of the plants increased. However, the yield of the oil from the leaves in this interval of time was overcome by the increase of the dry matter of the plants, therefore it was verified the individual linear increase in the oil production.