Determination of Morphological and Quality Characteristics of Naturally Growing Thymus kotschyanus Boiss. & Hohen. var. kotschyanus Populations Around of Van/Türkiye.

In this study, morphological and quality characteristics (nutritional value, EO ratio and content, TPC, TFC, and TAA) of 12 different naturally growing populations (T1 to T12) of Thymus kotschyanus var. kotschyanus were investigated. In the case of macro and micro nutrients, all the populations have a rich ingredient, and for heavy metal content, all population results are within limits. The percentage of essential oils in the population varied between 0.43% to 4.66% (v/w). Thymol was the most abundant compound in the whole population and the percentage of thymol ranged from 4.07% to 81.15%. In the study, eight populations had more than 50% thymol content and the maximum percentage was recorded from the T1 population (81.15%). The total phenolic compound ranged from 152.81 to 195.23 mg GAE/g of dry extract and total flavonoid content ranged from 145.24 to 382.74 mg QE/100 g. Total antioxidant activity varies between 78.43 and 228.55 µmol TE/g and the highest value was obtained from population T7. PCA analysis was carried out to determine the morphological and quality parameters of the populations. Four populations were superior to others for morphological analysis and two populations were superior to others for quality analysis. According to the result of the study, the T10 population has higher yield and quality compared to other populations.