Articles
Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) cultivation for oil production on the Swabian Alb in South-West Germany – is it possible?
Article number
1427_27
Pages
199 – 206
Language
English
Abstract
For many regions of Germany, such as Baden-Württemberg, future projections suggest rising temperatures and increased periods of prolonged drought due to climate change.
A crop which is adapted to these conditions is true lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), used primarily for essential oil production, which is typically cultivated in dry, sunny, and elevated regions with calcareous soils.
Therefore, true lavender might be well adapted to the environmental conditions of the Swabian Alb in the southern part of Germany offering new prospects to farmers.
This was confirmed in on-farm trials on three locations on the Swabian Alb with cultivars originating from France and Bulgaria.
In the experiment, planting in early spring led to a higher establishment rate in the first year of cultivation compared to late planting at the end of November.
Differences in plant development between the three locations and the cultivars were documented for the first two years of the trial.
The Bulgarian cultivars ‘Hemus’ and ‘Sevtopolis’ and the French cultivar ‘Rapido’ entered the stage of full flowering one week earlier than the French cultivars ‘Diva’ and ‘Maillette’. The essential oil yields varied depending on location and cultivars.
However, weather conditions and harvest time also seem to have an influence on the oil yield.
The Bulgarian cultivars (‘Hemus’ and ‘Sevtopolis’) achieved the highest oil yields (%) on all three locations ranging from 1.57 to 2.74% for ‘Hemus’ and 1.92 to 2.88% for ‘Sevtopolis’. So far, no assessment of the oil quality can be made.
The distillation residues were examined for their fiber production potential and in first tests, fibers could be obtained from the lavender stems.
The aim for the future is to further improve fiber extraction methods and investigate possible uses of these fibers.
A crop which is adapted to these conditions is true lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), used primarily for essential oil production, which is typically cultivated in dry, sunny, and elevated regions with calcareous soils.
Therefore, true lavender might be well adapted to the environmental conditions of the Swabian Alb in the southern part of Germany offering new prospects to farmers.
This was confirmed in on-farm trials on three locations on the Swabian Alb with cultivars originating from France and Bulgaria.
In the experiment, planting in early spring led to a higher establishment rate in the first year of cultivation compared to late planting at the end of November.
Differences in plant development between the three locations and the cultivars were documented for the first two years of the trial.
The Bulgarian cultivars ‘Hemus’ and ‘Sevtopolis’ and the French cultivar ‘Rapido’ entered the stage of full flowering one week earlier than the French cultivars ‘Diva’ and ‘Maillette’. The essential oil yields varied depending on location and cultivars.
However, weather conditions and harvest time also seem to have an influence on the oil yield.
The Bulgarian cultivars (‘Hemus’ and ‘Sevtopolis’) achieved the highest oil yields (%) on all three locations ranging from 1.57 to 2.74% for ‘Hemus’ and 1.92 to 2.88% for ‘Sevtopolis’. So far, no assessment of the oil quality can be made.
The distillation residues were examined for their fiber production potential and in first tests, fibers could be obtained from the lavender stems.
The aim for the future is to further improve fiber extraction methods and investigate possible uses of these fibers.
Publication
Authors
C.S. Weiler, S. Zikeli
Keywords
Lavandula angustifolia, flower development, essential oil, circular economy, regional production
Online Articles (30)