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The ability of producing agarwood resin in Gyrinops walla, which is believed to
be endemic to Sri Lanka, was scientifically discovered in 2012. Awareness made
by this finding increased the willingness of the plantation sector to commercially
cultivate G. walla in suitable areas. Since this species was not commercially
cultivated previously, it is essential to identify the best conditions for growing it
to earn income within a short time period. Therefore the present study
attempted to identify the variation of agarwood resin contents and quality
across a wider climate and geographical coverage of the country. Nine locations
of different elevations and rainfall patterns were selected from the areas where
agarwood is growing naturally. Dark color agarwood resinous tissues formed due
to natural causes were collected from 90 G. walla trees. Resin contents of those
samples were determined by solvent extraction and resin compounds were
analysed by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy. Although the average resin
content varied from 1.95% to 4.92%, it was not significantly different between
the tested locations. A relationship between rainfall and elevation could not be
built with the resin content. However, the results revealed that there are higher
variations within the trees of the same population than that of between
populations. Solvent extracts found to contain a few semi-volatile 2(2-
phenyljchromones and fatty acids. Sesquiterpenes compounds identified from
these samples were classified into six different types; agarofurans, vetispiranes,
cadinanes, selinanes, guaianes and eremophilanes. However, the genetic
differences and growth rates should be studied for arriving further conclusions
