THE EFFECT OF ENZYME-ASSISTED MACERATION ON BIOACTIVITY, QUALITY AND YIELD OF ESSENTIAL OIL FROM WASTE CARROT (DAUCUS CAROTA) SEEDS KRZYSZTOF B. S ´ MIGIELSKI 1,5 , MALGORZATA MAJEWSKA 1 , ALINA KUNICKA-STYCZYN ´ SKA 2 , MIROSLAWA SZCZE ˛ SNA-ANTCZAK 3 , RADOSLAW GRUSKA 4 and LUKASZ STAN ´ CZYK 3 Institutes of 1 Food Chemistry, 2 Fermentation Technology and Microbiology, 3 Technical Biochemistry and 4 Chemical Technology of Food, Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Science, Lodz University of Technology, Lodz, Poland 5 Corresponding author. TEL: +48-42-631-34-19; FAX: +48-42-636-28-60; EMAIL: krzysztof.smigielski@p.lodz.pl Received for Publication April 13, 2013 Accepted for Publication March 28, 2014 10.1111/jfq.12092 ABSTRACT The effect of an enzyme preparation derived from the nonpathogenic filamentous fungus Mucor circinelloides on the bioactivity, quality and yield of essential oil from waste carrot seeds (Daucus carota) was investigated. The Taguchi method was applied to determine the levels of input factors ensuring the greatest efficiency of hydrodistillation (pH 4.9–5.0; 4.0 g enzyme preparation/100 g of seeds; time – 6.0 h). Under these conditions, the oil yield increased by approximately 30%. The main constituent compounds of the oil are: carotol (34.6%), sabinene (8.0%), alpha-pinene (6.4%) and daucol (4.3%). Essential oil obtained from enzyme- pretreated carrot seeds has the same antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida sp., Aspergillus niger and Penicillium expansum as that from the control sample. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The proposed innovative method of preparation of plant material prior to hydrodistillation leads to an increase in essential oil extraction efficiency by about 30%, and thus enables better exploitation of the potential of the plant. The pro- posed method may be implemented on an industrial scale, thanks to tools of com- putational statistics that allow one to determine the optimum technological parameters of the process. Developed in this way, the technology is environmen- tally friendly and provides significant economic benefits. INTRODUCTION Daucus carota is a plant in the family Apiaceae native to Europe, Asia, Africa and Macaronesia (Maxia et al. 2009). All of its parts contain essential oil, but its highest concen- tration is found in the seeds. Carrot seed essential oil is used mainly in the food indus- try as a flavoring for soups, concentrates, grape wine and nonalcoholic beverages, and also in the cosmetic and fra- grance industry as a fixative (Saad et al. 1995; Surburg and Panten 2006). It has fungicidal and antibacterial properties (Batt et al. 1983; Dwivedi et al. 1991; Kilibarda et al. 1996; Giraud-Robert 2005; Staniszewska et al. 2005), and it has also been proved to be a hypotensive agent and a cardiac and central nervous system depressant (Saad et al. 1995). Carrot seed essential oil has a moderate protective anticon- vulsant effect in strychnine and metrazol poisoning (Saad et al. 1995) and is used for medical purposes as a diuretic and stomachic (Özcan and Chalchat 2007). Furthermore, it is claimed that carrot seed essential oil is a hepatocellular regenerator, a general tonic and stimulant, and a cicatrizant, and that it lowers high cholesterol levels (Giraud-Robert 2005). It is also an important source of sesquiterpene alco- hols, including daucol and carotol, the latter being a potent fungicide with efficiency comparable to that of commercial agents such as Funaben T (Jasicka-Misiak et al. 2004). Moreover, thanks to its three chiral centers and simple isolation techniques, carotol is a potential substrate for Journal of Food Quality ISSN 1745-4557 219 Journal of Food Quality 37 (2014) 219–228 © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.