Essential oil profiles of major populations Zingiber officinale Rose. utilized in Malaysia for traditional medicine

Zingiberaceae is one of the largest ginger families of the plant kingdom and are often regarded as an important herbaceous species. Domestic gingers, Zingiber officinale Rose., of three major populations from China, Keningau and Bentong were analysed for their essential oil composition. A total of 80 volatile organicconstituents from the essential oil were detected using Gas Chromatography- Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) and its volatiles hydrocarbons were determined to containhydrocarbon monoterpene (7.14%-10.87%), oxygenated monoterpene (38.29%-39.29%), hydrocarbon sesquiterpene (19.56%-30.75%), oxygenated sesquiterpene (13.39%-15.79%) and oxygenated diterpene (2.25%-2.27%).Volatile hydrocarbon gemial (28.00%) was present as a major metabolite in the essential oil of Z. officinale from Keningau while neral (25.20%-28.33%) was detected as a majormetabolite in essential oils of specimens from Bentong and China. Nine common volatile compounds (geraniol acetate, borneol, α terpineol, β-linalool, p-cymen-8-ol, α curcumene, caryophyllene oxide, nerolidol and a-elemol) were also found to be consistent in all the specimens studied.