Iranian spearmint varieties differ wildly in oil yield and chromosome number
Abbaszadeh B, Azimi R, Zandi Esfahan E, Valizadeh N, Agamirzaoglu M
Medicinal Plants
If you grow spearmint in your garden, the specific variety you chose matters far more than you might think: plants with extra chromosome sets can produce over twice the aromatic oil of a standard plant, meaning your mojitos, teas, and homemade extracts could be dramatically more fragrant depending on which accession you source.
Scientists collected spearmint plants from eight different regions of Iran and grew them side by side to see how much they differed. The plants varied enormously: some produced more than double the fragrant essential oil of others, and their leaf harvests ranged from about 1,500 to 3,500 kilograms per hectare. When researchers looked at the plants' chromosomes, they found a surprise: most had the standard two sets, but one region's plants had three sets and another had four, which means there's a lot of untapped potential for breeding spearmint that's even more productive or aromatic.
Key Findings
Essential oil yield ranged from 21.3 to 54.8 kg per hectare across accessions, a 2.6-fold difference between the lowest (Guilan) and highest (Qom) performers.
Dry flowering shoot yield varied from 1,537 to 3,453 kg per hectare, a difference of nearly 2 tons per hectare among accessions.
Cytogenetic analysis revealed three ploidy levels: six accessions were diploid (2n=24), one triploid (3n=36, Guilan), and one tetraploid (4n=48, Kerman), indicating significant genetic diversity available for breeding programs.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Researchers compared eight wild-collected spearmint varieties from across Iran, finding dramatic differences in leaf yield, essential oil production, and chromosome count. The best-performing accession produced more than twice the essential oil per hectare compared to the worst, and chromosome analysis revealed that some plants are diploid, triploid, or tetraploid, opening real possibilities for breeding higher-yielding or more potent varieties.
Abstract Preview
Original paper
Integrated evaluation of morphophysiological, phytochemical, and cytogenetic diversity in eight Iranian spearmint (Mentha spicata L.) accessions.
Spearmint (Mentha spicata) is a substantial plant widely used in the food, pharmaceutical, traditional medicine, cosmetic, and personal care industries, and it is also commonly consumed fresh as pa...
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