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A study was conducted in eighteen sheep divided into three groups of six animals each and fed on a diet comprising finger millet (Eleusine coracana) straw and concentrate in 50:50. Animals in the c...

Volatile compounds emitted by plants are important for understanding their ecological interactions. The volatile emission profile of a plant or plant part can be analysed by sampling the headspace air—an enclosed volume of air surrounding the plant or plant part. Polymeric or carbon-based adsorbents are often used to capture headspace volatiles, which are subsequently eluted using appropriate organic solvents. However, any adsorbent or solvent may have differential affinities for various volatile compounds. Five different adsorbents and two solvents were tested for sampling the floral headspace volatiles of Murraya paniculata (L.) Jack. These flowers emit scent volatiles of at least four biochemical classes and attract a diverse range of pollinators. Based upon the results, carbon-based absorbents were inferred to have higher affinities for high molecular weight, non-polar aliphatic volatiles. Commercially manufactured polymeric absorbent of Porapak Q series (ethylvinylbenzene-divinylbenzene) had higher affinities for terpenoid and slightly polar aliphatic compounds, whereas Tenax TA (2,6-diphenyl-p-phenylene oxide) granules captured aromatic ring-based volatiles more efficiently. Between the two organic solvents, hexane showed significantly higher and lower affinities for aliphatic and aromatic ring-based volatiles, respectively, than dichloromethane. There were, however, some compounds of intermediate polarities and molecular weights which proved to be exceptional to these broadly defined categories. Moreover, often the qualitative diversity of the volatile profile captured was compromised for the quantitative efficiency of capturing volatiles by any given absorbent–solvent combination. It was concluded that the system of capturing of the volatile profile of a plant species should be standardized according to the biochemical nature of its volatilome.