Characteristic quality analysis for biologically induced agarwood columns in Aquilaria sinensis

Abstract

Current artificial agarwood-inducing techniques yield low quality and quantities of agarwood. On account of unclear agarwood formation mechanism there's still no high-efficiency agarwood inducing method globally spread. In this study, a complete agarwood column was taken out of the live tree trunk at 6 months post-treatment by a novel agarwood-inducing method (Agar-Bit) in cultivated Aquilaria sinensis trees, and was first divided into 8 parts (A1-4, B1-4) involving agarwood layer (A part) and brown inner layer (B part) according to its color and length for analysis. These eight parts were analyzed microscope observation, 6 chromones' contents and characteristic chromatograms by HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography), GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometer) with to determine chemical changes. Other quality characteristics, TLC (thin-layer chromatography) and alcohol soluble extraction content, were also determined. Our results showed that resin changed with A to B part and microstructure changed with length. Six chromones in the eight parts varied with layers. Result of characteristic chromatograms showed that both A and B parts contained six characteristic peaks. Volatile component distributed mainly in A part, but important chromones were also detected in B parts. Results from TLC and alcohol soluble extraction content also showed that B part contained characteristic compounds of agarwood. In addition, some compounds in the essential oil detected by GC-MS in A part produced by Agar-Bit were similar to that found in natural agarwood, compounds in B parts were similar to BC agarwood, as were the results for the TLC and alcohol soluble extraction content. In conclusion, the chemical distribution obtained here from Agar-Bit could provide some clues to optimize high production and high efficiency stimulating method for whole tree full of resin in Aquilaria sinensis and to reveal the subtle agarwood formation mechanism throughout a whole trunk.

Keywords: Agarwood; Aquilaria sinensis; Biological agarwood induction; GC-MS; HPLC.