The genus Cinnamomum

Table 2.11 Bark and leaf oil constituents of elite cinnamon lines
Botany and Crop Improvement of Cinnamon and Cassia 67
Lines Bark oil Leaf oil Bark
oleoresin
% CA% Eg % Eg% CA %
SL 53 2.8 68.0 6.5 3.0 75.0 15.0 10.0
SL 63 (Navashree) 2.7 73.0 6.0 2.8 62.0 15.0 8.0
SL 65 1.0 NA* NA 2.8 NA NA 9.0
IN 189 (Nithyashree) 2.7 58 5.0 3.0 78.0 14.0 10.0
IN 203 2.9 NA NA 1.7 NA NA 9.0
Source: Krishnamoorthy et al., 1996.
Notes
CA – Cinnamaldehyde; Eg – Eugenol; * not analysed.
(Tables 2.10, 2.11). Four of the lines were poor in establishment and subsequently
discarded. SL 63 and IN 189 were finally selected based on regeneration capacity, fresh
bark yield, dry bark yield, leaf oil, percentage eugenol in leaf oil and cinnamaldehyde
in bark oil, etc. (Krishnamoorthy et al., 1996). These lines, named as Navashree (SL 63)
and Nithyashree (IN 189), were released for cultivation and are being popularised in
India. The yield and quality characteristics of these selections are given in Tables 2.10
and 2.11.
Haldankar et al. (1994) screened 300 seedlings of cinnamon collected from
IISR, Calicut, for isolating promising genotypes and four promising selections from
these were further tested in field trials for yield and quality characteristics. One selection,
B-iv, exhibited the highest yield of fresh and dried bark (289.7 g and 84.5 g,
respectively), bark oil (3.2%) with a good percentage of cinnamaldehyde (70.2%). Leaf
oil content was 2.28%, having 75.5% eugenol. This was released as Konkan Tej for the
Konkan region in Maharashtra areas of India.
Pugalendhi et al. (1997) reported a cinnamon selection named YCD-1 from open
pollinated seedlings. This selection is reported to be suitable for cultivation in the hill
regions of Tamil Nadu at an altitude of 500–1000 m above msl. Its yield potential is
360 kg/ha dry bark, with a yearly regeneration capacity of 19.2 harvestable shoots.
The bark recovery is 35.0% and the volatile oil contents of bark and leaves is 2.8 and
3%, respectively. At the Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneshwar, a population of
2500 plants (seed-propagated progenies) were analysed for quality characteristics
and 20 selected elite plants were propagated vegetatively and field evaluated. The oil
content in six-year old plants of these selections ranged from 0.2% to 1.2% (mean
0.78%), while in seven-year old plants the range was 0.60–1.4% (mean 0.90%). Leaf
eugenol ranged from 73.63% to 92.19% (sixth year) and 90.8–95.7% (seventh year).
Based on the evaluation results, RRL (B) C-6 was selected as the most promising
(having 94% eugenol in leaf oil and 83% cinnamic aldehyde in the bark oil). This line
was released for commercial cultivation (Paul et al., 1996; Paul and Sahoo, 1993;
Sahoo et al., 2000).
Joy et al. (1998) evaluated 234 accessions of cinnamon maintained at the Aromatic
and Medicinal Plants Research Station, Odakkali, based on growth, yield and quality
parameters. They identified three superior accessions (ODC-130, ODC-10 and