The present work was carried out with the objective of evaluating the effect of the culture medium in the content and chemical composition of the essential oil of Melissa officinalis, evaluating three concentrations of the MS culture medium. The experiment was performed in a completely randomized design, with 7 repetitions, where each repetition was represented by 20 g of fresh biomass. Oil extraction was accomplished using a Clevenger modified device for 1 hour and 30 minutes, and the chemical analysis was accomplished by gas chromatography. It was observed that the content and chemical composition of the essential oil of M. officinalis was influenced by the concentration of MS medium. The plants grown in the MS medium and MS/4 presented higher content of essential oil, and the major components of these plants were geraniol (25.23 and 16.21%, respectively) and nerol (24.5 and 20.53%, respectively). The major component present in the oil of melissa plants cultivated in MS/2 was neryl acetate (18.69%).
Melissa officinalis; medicinal plant; essential oil; tissue culture
