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. 2021 Jul 31;10(8):1784.
doi: 10.3390/foods10081784.

Comparison of Nutritional Compositions and Essential Oil Profiles of Different Parts of a Dill and Two Fennel Cultivars

Yuanpeng Hao  1   2 , Jiamu Kang  3 , Xiaoqi Guo  1   2 , Rui Yang  1   2 , Yuliang Chen  4 , Jingyi Li  1 , Lei Shi  1
Affiliations

Comparison of Nutritional Compositions and Essential Oil Profiles of Different Parts of a Dill and Two Fennel Cultivars

Yuanpeng Hao et al. Foods. .

Abstract

Fennel and dill are widely used as food additives owing to their various biological activities, such as antioxidants, antimicrobials, food-preservatives, and seasoning capacities. Herein, the nutritional composition and essential oil (EO) chemical profiles of fruits, umbels, stalks, and roots from one dill and two fennel cultivars were evaluated. The fruits had the highest content of crude protein (≥15%), crude fat (≥8%), and phosphorus (≥0.5%), and exhibited the highest total energy (≥20 MJ/kg) and EO yield (≥2%). Moreover, estragole (86.56% in Fdf), anethole (71.17% in Fhf), fenchone (16.74% in Fhf), limonene (50.19% in Agf), and carvone (42.41% in Agf) were the main components of the EOs generated from the fruits. The chemical profiles of EOs in the roots were significantly different from those of the aerial parts of the fennel and dill; thus, the roots and aerial parts could be distinguished based on myristicin (Variable Importance in Projection (VIP) = 1.90399) and apiol (VIP = 1.85922). The EO components of the aerial parts varied remarkably, and the chemical markers for differentiating these three cultivars were anethole (VIP = 1.36571), estragole (VIP = 1.30292), and carvone (VIP = 1.11947). Overall, our results provide a noteworthy chemical basis for further development of fennel and dill, especially as food additives.

Keywords: Apiaceae plants; efficient utilization; food additives; multivariate analysis; plant parts.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Representative images of different parts of one dill and two fennel cultivars. (A–C) Foeniculum vulgare “Dwarf” fruit (Fdf); (D) F. vulgare “Dwarf” umbel (Fdu); (E) F. vulgare “Dwarf” stalk (Fds); (F) F. vulgare “Dwarf” root (Fdr); (G–I) F. vulgare “High” fruit (Fdf); (J) F. vulgare “High” umbel (Fhu); (K) F. vulgare “High” stalk (Fhs); (L) F. vulgare “High” root (Fhr); (M–O) Anethum graveolens fruit (Agf); (P) A. graveolens umbel (Agu); (Q) A. graveolens stalk (Ags); (R) A. graveolens root (Agr).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Nutritional composition (A–G) and total energy (H) of fruits, umbels, stalks, and roots from three Apiaceae species. Acid detergent fiber (ADF) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF); Foeniculum vulgare “Dwarf” (Fd), F. vulgare “High” (Fh), Anethum graveolens (Ag). Different letters indicate significant differences (p < 0.05).
Figure 3
Figure 3
The evaluation of EO yields of all samples. Different letters indicate significant differences (p < 0.05).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Heatmap (A) and Spearman rank correlation plot (B) based on EO chemical profiling. (* p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001).
Figure 5
Figure 5
UpSet plot (A) and Venn diagram (B) based on the amounts of chemical components in EOs.
Figure 6
Figure 6
PCA map (A,B), dendrogram (C), score plots (D), and VIP values (E) from OPLS-DA analysis based on the chemical profiles of roots and aerial parts. Score plots (F) and VIP values (G) from OPLS-DA analysis based on the chemical profiles of three species (except for the roots).
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