A study on geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L′Herit ex Aiton) cultivars’ productivity and economics as intervening by diverse climatic conditions of the western peninsular region of India

Abstract

The essential oil of geranium (Pelargonium graveolens L′Herit ex Aiton) has multifarious properties and is one of the industrially important aromatic crop. Since the productivity, content, and composition of essential oil of geranium is well recognized that geranium depends on both external and internal variabilities, which include suitable cultivars, climate, and seasonal changes, knowledge of the different agro-climatic conditions is necessary for the production of quality essential oil. Hence, the current investigation was carried out to study the variation in the yield productivity and essential oil composition of the two selected geranium cultivars, CIMAP Bio-G-171 (C1) existing cultivar and the newly released cultivar CIM-Bharat (C2). The study was conducted during the year 2020–2022 in a tropical region of five different districts/locations [Satara district (L1), Ratnagiri district (L2), Bhandara district (L3), Jalgaon district (L4) and Ahmednagar district (L5)] of Maharashtra, India. The results findings revealed that the productivity of geranium cultivars was influenced by different locations in Maharashtra. From the mean data of locations, fresh biomass yield was ranging 47.62–27.47 (ton ha−1). From the mean data of the cultivar, C2 showed a maximum (56.45 kg ha−1) essential oil yield over the presently dominant cultivar C1 (47.55 kg ha−1), however C:G ratio of cultivar C2 was higher than C1 in all locations. According to the average economic data from each location, L3 had the maximum gross return (10,270 US$ ha−1 or 8.036 × 105 INR ha−1), total net profit (7356 US$ ha−1 or 5.756 × 105 INR ha−1), and B:C ratio (2.52), while it was followed by L2 and lowest was achieved in L5.