Importance of Soil fertility
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Family : Apiaceae/ Umbelliferae
English name : Dill, Garden Dill, Anet
Indian name : Sowa, Soya (Hindi, Bengali, Punjabi and Urdu); Surva (Gujarati), Sabasige (Kannada), Soi (Kashmiri), Surva, Shepu (Marathi), Satapushpi (Sanskrit), Sathakuppi Sompa (Tamil), Sabasige (Telugu)
Species : Anethum graveolens L.; A. sowa Roxb
Distribution : Iran, Egypt, Abyssinia, Russia, Africa, Asia, USA, Hungary, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Asia Minor, England
Uses : Seasoning soups, salads, Processed meats, Sauces, Pickles, Condiment
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Dill belongs to the family Umbelliferae. It comes under the genera Anethum, in which there are two species under cultivation, namely, The European dill, A.graueolens L. and another closely related Indian dill, A. sowa Roxb. ex Flem.
The composition of the seeds of the two types of dill are given below
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Composition
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Indian dill
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Moisture
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4.5-7.5%
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Volatile oil
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1.5-4.0%
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Mineral matter
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5.89-11.54
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Acid insoluble ash
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0.55-2.71
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Extraneous matter
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3.16-12.93
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Composition
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European dill
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Moisture
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6.6%
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Fat
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17.9%
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Crude fibre
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20.7%
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Carbohydrates
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35.7%
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Mineral matter
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6.0%
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Calcium
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1.6%
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Phosphorus
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0.21%
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Iron
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0.012%
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Sodium
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0.01%
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Potassium
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1.1%
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Vitamin-B1
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0.42
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Vitamin B2
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0.28
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Niacin
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21.8
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Vitamin-C
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12.0
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Vitamin-A
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175 IU/100 g
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Calorific value
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435 calories/100 g
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The entire dill plant is aromatic, but most of the volatile oil is in the seed (fruit). The herb and fruit oils possess different flavour constituents. The principle constituents of the herb oil is phellandrene and that of the seed oil is carvone. It is said that the quality of fruits present in harvested material and their state of ripeness determines the oil content of the crop and its flavour. The herb oil is a colourless to brownish-yellow mobile liquid, while the seed oil is light yellow to pale yellow in colour, becoming dark on storage. In addition to phellanderene, the herb oil contains: pinene, 13-pinene, 3-carene, terpinene, limonene, a-terpinene, cymene, terpinolene, undecane, cis-3-hexanyl acetate, cis-3-hexanol, trans-2-hexanol, terpinene-4-ol, terpineol, carvone, thymol, carvacrol, myriciticin and apiole. And the seed oil in addition to carvone, contains: apiole, carveol, caryophyllene, dihydro-carveol, dihydrocarvone, dillapiole, D-limonene, D-phelliandrene, eugenol, iso¬engenol, L-pinene 1-terpinene and myristicin.
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The oil content of the fresh herbage varies from 0.60 to 2.84%. The oil content in the leaves rises progressively from the rosette stage (0.6%) to the commencement of flowering (1.5%) upto the mass flowering (1.7%); thereafter it declines. It is 1.2% at the milky ripening of fruits, 0.65% at mid-ripe fruits and 0.4%, when the fruits grow to maturity on the plant. The flowers at the bud stage contain 0.8% oil rising steeply to 4.8% at the mass-flowering stage.
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Dill leaves are used for seasoning soups, salads, processed meats, sauces and particularly pickles. The seed is employed as a condiment in India and is also used as a carminative, aromatic stimulant and diuretic in Ayurvedic and Unani medicines. The emulsion of the seed oil in water is an important constituent of gripewater, useful in flatulence, colic pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and hiccups.
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The European dill seed oil is preferred in Pharmacy over the seed of the Indian dill or `sowa' due to the presence of a large percentage of dillopiole varying from 15.6 to 39.6% and a lower percentage of carvone in the sowa seed oil. Dillopiole is a toxic substance, not found in European dill seed oil. The dried residue left after the distillation of essential oil from seeds of A. graveolens contains fat-16.8% and protein-15.1%. This may be used as cattle feed.
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