Volatile profiling of forty-two white turmeric (Curcuma zedoaria Rosc.) accessions revealed its drug yielding potential with quality constituents

White turmeric (Curcuma zedoaria) of the family Zingiberaceae is a medicinal plant used in Ayurveda to treat various ailments. Despite having immense therapeutic properties, identification of elite accessions with high oil yield and quality constituents remains an issue. So, in this study forty-two accessions of C. zedoaria have been collected from Eastern India (Odisha and West Bengal) and their essential oil (EO) yield was studied. Their yield varied from 0.2% - 0.82% (v/w on fresh weight basis). Seventy-seven constituents were identified by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis with area percentage varying from 90.97-99.92%. The predominant constituents found in majority of accessions were Curzerenone followed by 1,8-cineole, curzerene, germacrene-B, germacrone, curdione, γ-eudesmol acetate in C. zedoaria essential oil. In this study, Cz42 was identified as the elite accession with high oil yield (0.82 ± 0.06%) and quality constituents that could be used commercially for cultivation and development of potential drug molecules.