FEASIBILITY OF A CHAMOMILE OIL AND DRIED FLOWER INDUSTRY IN TASMANIA

Tasmania’s temperate climate and the existence of an established essential oil industry provide a potential economic opportunity for a local industry to produce chamomile for both dried flowers and essential oil.
Three varieties of chamomile, ‘Bona’, ‘New Bona’ and ‘Bodegold’ were tested for yield and quality under Tasmanian conditions and an investigation was made of the optimum planting and harvest dates for each.
The available production infrastructure was examined for its suitability for chamomile production.
There were some difficulties with establishment of the crop due to the tiny seed size but these were largely overcome.
Early planting was found to be preferable allowing the production of a large vegetative plant prior to flower initiation.
Several harvests where achieved from the same crop.
Of the varieties tested both ‘Bona’ and ‘New Bona’ were suitable for commercial production both for dry flowers and for oil in Tasmania.
The semi-commercial ‘Bona’ crop produced dried flowers suitable for the dried flower market.
The flowers were steam-distilled at atmospheric pressure but produced very low oil yields on a commercial scale.
Pre-drying of the material should improve oil yield but introduces another cost.
Refinement of the currently available production infrastructure is necessary for the establishment of a viable blue chamomile essential oil industry in Tasmania.

I International Symposium on Chamomile Research, Development and Production

L. Falzari, R. Menary, V. Dragar

‘Bona’, ‘Bodegold’, ‘New Bona’, time of harvest, time of sowing, yield

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2007.749.5