Abstract
The purpose of the present work was to evaluate the vegetative growth of Mentha piperita L. cultivated under different water availability, as well its influence in content, chemical composition and in vitro antioxidant activity of its essential oil. Plants were propagated by mother plants microcutting and scions were transplanted to 5 L pots with soil and cattle manure. Afterward, were kept at field capacity for 30 days and under treatment for 40 days. It was treated with different levels of water deficit treatments: (T1): 100 of field capacity (FC); (T2): 80 of FC; (T3): 60 of FC; (T4) 40 of FC with 5 blocks. Vegetative growth was evaluated by dry matter contents of all part of plants and by root/aerial rate. The essential oil of the leaves was extracted by hydrodistillation, analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS and in vitro antioxidant potential was evaluated. A significant decrease in the dry matter of leaves and stems accompanied with a decrease in the roots dry matter was observed with an increase in the water stress. Quantitative chemical differences were observed in the chemical composition of the essential oil, according water availability. Total antioxidant activity showed a gradual increase as water stress progressed.
Highlights
Mentha piperita is a sterile hybrid of Mentha x spicata and Mentha x aquatic belonging to the family Lamiaceae
The highest leaf dry matter (LDM) and stem (SDM) production was obtained at the maximum moisture level, it did not present significant statistical differences in relation to 60% and 80% field capacity treatments
An increase of up to 60% in the R/S ratio was observed plants of Bupleurum chinense DC under water deficit compared to treatment control (Zhu et al, 2009b)
Summary
Mentha piperita (peppermint) is a sterile hybrid of Mentha x spicata and Mentha x aquatic belonging to the family Lamiaceae. It is a source of valuable essential oil used to give the mint flavor to various products, fragrances and pharmaceuticals (Lawrence, 2006). Plants exposed to water deficit tend to increase concentrations of secondary metabolites. These variations are reported in several studies, such as Melissa officinalis (Meira et al, 2013), Ocimum basilicum L. These variations are reported in several studies, such as Melissa officinalis (Meira et al, 2013), Ocimum basilicum L. (Radácsi et al, 2010), and Mentha piperita (Rahimi et al, 2018) under conditions of low water availability showed higher essential oil content
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