## 3 Results and Discussion
### Impact of Cultivar and Cut on Aroma Profile  
In Genovese basil for \"pesto\" production, aroma is undoubtedly the critical quality attribute for taste determination [63]. The unmistakable intense aroma of Genovese basil, without mint flavor, is characterized by wide variability in the composition of essential oils, of which monoterenes and phenylpropanoids are the major constituents [34]. SPME-GC/MS analysis of the volatiles of all tested basil cultivars identified 40 molecules, among which six were above 2% (Table 3). The most abundant compound was lalool, followed by eucalypt, trans-\(\alpha\)-bergamotene, eugenol, 1-octen-3-ol, and \(\beta\)-cis-ocimene. The interaction between the factors under investigation showed significant changes in the aroma profile, except for linalool. The eucalypt content recorded a substantial decrease of 34.4% in Eleonora in response to the cut. Similarly, \(\beta\)-cis-ocimene showed the same trend in Italiano Classico (\(-24.1\%\)) and Eleonora (\(-51.6\%\)), while in Aroma 2 it was unchanged. On the contrary, in Eleonora, eugenol, and trans-\(\alpha\)-bergamotene increased in the second harvest by 75% and 48.2%, respectively, whereas the highest value of 1-octen-3-ol was achieved in the first harvest. However, in comparison with Aroma 2 and Italiano Classico, the aroma profile of Eleonora was characterized by a reduced linalool content. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Source of Volume** & **Calfico.Add** & **Classico.Add** & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Romomanstic.Add**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**\(p\)-Connance.Add**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Periodic Acid**} & \multicolumn{6}{c}{**Total Phenomide.Add**} \\ \hline Cullinear (C) & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & & &  
Regarding the average cut impact, linalool increased in the second harvest by 25.8%. The aroma profile results are in accordance with similar research findings, where linalool predominated while estragole was absent; the latter compound is neither appreciated by consumers nor by the food industry [11; 34]. It is worth noting that linalool, other than its role in enhancing oil quality, also has a well-documented anxiolytic and anti-depressive properties, which can be exploited as a supplementary therapeutic to alleviate the symptoms of these diseases that afflict a large part of the population [64]. However, each volatile compound's biosynthesis showed significant variation among the sampled cultivars, highlighting how genetic variables impact the aroma profile [65]. Interestingly, eugenol content showed a robust cultivar-dependent response, with the maximum value recorded in Italiano Classico (6.68%), which was also characterized by the highest total phenolic acids' build-up. Indeed, eugenol is a phenylpropanoloid that, like other phenolic acids, shares the same metabolic pathway [66] (Figure 4). Moreover, several studies pointed to eugenol as the key volatile compound with antioxidant activity in basil [67; 68]. Our findings revealed a high impact of the cut on the expression of the oxygenated monoterpenes (Table 3), thus supporting that the biosynthesis of these specialized metabolites depends on genetic and stress-related factors [69]. In our study, linalool increased in response to the cut, in agreement with several authors [29; 36] compared with the other oxygenated monoterpenes, which showed an opposite trend. Although linalool, eucalypt, and \(\beta\)-cis-ocimene share the same precursor (GPP, geranyl pyrophosphate), it is still unclear how both environmental and cut factors may affect gene expression of linalool synthase (LIS) enzyme activity, 1,8-cineole synthase, and \(\beta\)-cis-ocimene synthase that respectively catalyze the conversion of GPP to linalool, eucalypt, and \(\beta\)-cis-ocimene [70]. In aromatic herbs such as basil, the genotype \(\times\) environment interaction mostly affects the biosynthesis of specialized metabolites and volatile oils concentration [71], in part confirming our results.