Phenological Assessment for Agronomic Suitability of Some Agastache Species Based on Standardized BBCH Scale

Rodica Vârban,Ioana Crișan,Dan Vârban,Andreea Ona,Andrei Stoie

doi:10.3390/agronomy11112280

Abstract

Increasing interest in medicinal plants encourages the growers to consider extending their range of cultivated species. Acclimatization and adaptation of species introduced for cultivation in new areas remain a challenge of modern agriculture. One of the first steps for optimizing the cultivation technology is determining the plant phenology in the local conditions. Therefore, the aim of this research was to provide a standardized phenology scale for Agastache sp. and to apply it in assessing the suitability for cultivation in a local environment of some valuable Agastache species: Agastache scrophulariifolia, Agastache rugosa, Agastache mexicana, Agastache foeniculum and Agastache rugosa ‘After Eight’. During the vegetation period, nine growth stages were identified: germination/emergence, leaf development, formation of side shoots, stem elongation, inflorescence emergence, flowering, fruit development, fruit maturity, senescence and beginning of resting. Observations conducted over two years revealed that the vegetation period increased from 168.8 ± 3.51 days in the first year to 199.0 ± 1.82 days in the second year. In both vegetation periods, the flowering phenophase predominated, but the abundance of precipitations shortened the flowering duration in the second year. The duration of phenophases was highly influenced by growing degree days. Phenological assessment based on a standardized scale can be a useful tool for evaluating cultivation potential and the planning of technological resources.

Highlights

Increasing interest in medicinal plants encourages the growers to consider extending their range of cultivated species
Based on the observation of the four Agastache species studied, we identified a succession of nine principal growth stages in the conditions of Cluj-Napoca Romania, as part of the growth period
Concerns regardingregarding the implications of predicted trends on medicinal plants have plants have been expressed in recent literature and based on such reports onethat can been expressed in recent literature [42,43,44,45] and based on such reports one can infer infer that cultivation might be a more sustainable way of obtaining them than harvesting cultivation might be a more sustainable way of obtaining them than harvesting from wild from as wild flora,ecosystems as natural ecosystems become more susceptible to theofreduction of biodiflora, natural become more susceptible to the reduction biodiversity and versity and cascading impacts

Summary

Introduction

Increasing interest in medicinal plants encourages the growers to consider extending their range of cultivated species. The largest share on the global market of botanicals belongs to herbal medicines (48%) followed by supplements and functional foods (35%) and the cosmetics sector (17%) [2]. In this context, there is an opportunity for the cultivation of medicinal plants. In order to maximize the market potential and to remain competitive, growers have to consider extending their range of cultivated species and prospecting for the potential of promising genotypes new to their area. Oils in all organs and these are valuable for the cosmetic and perfume industry, for the food industry as culinary herbs, and for the production of pharmaceuticals and pesticides [6]

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Conclusion