International Journal of Botany Studies

Authors
Mohd Idrees, Abid Ali Ansari, M Naeem, Tariq Aftab, M Masroor A Khan

Abstract
Menthol, obtained from essential oil of Japanese mint is used in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Polysaccharides extracted from seaweeds showed effective biological activities in the degraded form. In the present study, the growth-enhancing character of radiation-processed sodium alginate (RPSA) was studied on biosynthesis and quality of essential oil production in commercially significant cash crop Japanese Mint. Under field conditions, two experiments were carried out in two successive years, to study the effect of radiation-processed sodium alginate on the overall performance of the crop. Sampling was done with maintaining uniform break of 15 days at 120, 135 and 150 days after sowing (DAS). Most of the parameters studied were found significantly affected by various concentrations of RPSA treatment. However, a non-significant trend was found for specific gravity and refractive index of mentha oil extracted from RPSA-treated plants. Treatments of RPSA had no effect on menthol content at 120 DAS, while it was proved effective to increase overall production of menthol over the control plants.