Volume: 42 Issue: 2
Ortho Silicic Acid: A novel solution to combat climatic vagaries for production of quality menthol
Year: 2020, Page: 157-160, Doi: https://doi.org/10.62029/jmaps.v42i2.Sharma
Received: Feb. 5, 2020 Accepted: June 14, 2020 Published: July 1, 2020
Cultivation of essential oil crops is a lucrative and viable option for sustainable agriculture. These essential oils have immense commercial value in medicine, cosmetic, fragrance and flavor industries. Quality and quantity are the two important traits that primarily ascertain the commercial price tags of these oils. Like all other agricultural crops, the physiological and biochemical processes in aromatic plants are also strongly affected by climate and other environmental stresses which in turns, significantly affect the quality and yield of their essential oils. Silicon, an essential mineral nutrient, is gaining immense importance in agriculture due to its manifold beneficial impacts on crops productivity under abiotic and biotic stresses. Ortho Silicic Acid (OSA) is the assimiable form of silicon but the highly reactive nature of OSA often limits its wide applicability. Present study is aimed to assess the impact of stabilized OSA, applied in the form of a proprietary formulation by the name “Silixol”, on quality and quantity of menthol oil under fluctuating climatic conditions. Experiments were conducted on Mentha arvensis grown at farmer’s field at Hapur and Barabanki regions of Uttar Pradesh during March to June for two consecutive years 2017-2019. The formulation was applied twice (35 DAT and 55 DAT) during the crop cycle as a foliar spray @ 2ml per liter of water. Foliar spray of OSA imparted visible morphological changes in crop vigor and canopy cover. The leaf area increased by 15% while branching increased by 19%. The increased canopy had further resulted in significant increment in oil yield (18%) and 11% increment in menthol content in the oil. These observations are very significant and offer a sustainable solution to commercial mentha growers to combat climatic stresses.
Keywords: Mentha arvensis, Menthol, Ortho Silicic Acid (OSA), Silicon
Adams RP. 1995. Identification of essential oil components by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy.Illinoise: Allured Publishing Corporation. P-78-330.
Aliabadi FH, Valadabadi SAR, Daneshian J, Khalvati MA. 2009. Evaluation changing of essential oil of balm (Melissa officinalis L.) under water deficit stress conditions. J Med Plant Res 3: 329–333.
Babalola OO. 2010. Beneficial bacteria of agricultural importance. Biol Lett 32: 1559- 1570.
Bidgoli RD. 2018 Effect of drought stress on morphological characteristics, quantity and quality of essential oil in rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.). Adv Med Pl Res 6: 40-45.
Cakmakci R, Donmez D, Aydyin A, Sahin F. 2005. Growth promotion of plants by plant growthpromoting rhizobacteria under greenhouse and two different field soil conditions. J Soil Biol Biochem 38: 1482-1487.
Crusciol CAC, Soratto RP, Castro GSA, da Costa CH, Neto JF. 2013. Foliar application of stabilized silicic acid on soybean, common bean and peanut. Rvista Ciencia Agronomica 44: 404-410.
Da Silva VF, Moraes JC, Melo BA. 2010. Influence of silicon on the development, productivity and infestation by insect pests on potato crops. Cienc Agrotec Lavras 34: 1465-1469.
Hosseinzadah F, Satei A, Ramezanpour MR. 2011. Effects of mycorrhiza and plant growth promoting rhizobacteria on growth, nutrient uptakeandphysiological characteristics in Calendule officinalis L. Middle East J Sci Res 8: 947-953.
Javaid K, Misgar FA. 2017. Effect of foliar application of ortho silicic acid on leaf and fruit nutrient content of apples cv. “Red Delicious”. Adv Res J Mul discipl Disc 20: 30-32.
Kara N, Baydar H. 2013. Determination of lavender and lavandin cultivars (Lavandula sp.) containing high quality of essential oil in Sparta, Turkey. Turk J Field Crops 18: 58-65.
Mahaian S, Tuteja N. 2005. Cold, salinity and drought stresses: an overview. J Arch Biochem Biophy 444: 139-158.
More SS, Gokhale NB, Shinde SE, Korake GN. 2014. Effect of different sources of silica nutrient content of leaves and fruit at different stages of Alphonso mango (Mangifera indica L.) in lateritic soil. Flora Fauna 20: 27-32.
Rajeshwara BR, Singh K.1988. Production potential of improved genotypes of Japanese mint in Andhra Pradesh. Pafai J 10: 37-39.
Ratnakumar P, Deokate PP, Rane J, Jain N, Kumar V, Berghe D, Minhas PS. 2016. Effect of ortho silicic acid exogenous application on wheat (Tricticum aestivum L.) under drought. J Func Environ Bot 6: 34-42.
Tsai ML, Wun CT, Lin TF, Lin WC, Huang YC. 2013. Chemical composition and biological properties of essential oils of two mint species. Trop J Pharm Res 12: 577-582.
Verma RS, Rahman L, Verma RK, Chauhan A, Yadav AK, Singh A. 2010. Essential oil composition of menthol mint (Mentha arvensis L.) and Peppermint (Mentha piperita L.) cultivars at different stages of plant growth from Kumaon region of Western Himalaya. J Med Arom Pl 1: 13-18.
© CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow-226015
Divya Sharma, Babasaheb Dome, Neeru Jain. 2020. Ortho Silicic Acid: A novel solution to combat climatic vagaries for production of quality menthol. J Med Aromat Plant Sci 42: 157-160.
