Performance Assessment of Japanese Mint Varieties for Growth under Open Field and Vertical A-Frame Structure

Japanese mint (Mentha arvensis L.), is a member of the family Lamiaceae which is a perennial herbaceous aromatic plant but cultivated as an annual for culinary purpose as leafy vegetable and as natural menthol extraction. It is a major source of raw material for flavours and fragrance industry. Urban regions are losing cultivable land every day and it has become extremely difficult to produce fresh vegetables of high quality. By using vertical structures, vertical space can be utilized while increasing the quality of vegetable production. This experiment was conducted at Department of Vegetable Science, Horticultural College & Research Institute, Periyakulam during 2022-2023 to evaluate the performance of nine varieties viz., Kosi (V1), CIM-Kranti (V2), Himalaya (V3), Kalka (V4), MAS-1 (V5), Saksham (V6), Gomti (V7), Seelayampatti local (V8) and Bangalore hybrid (V9) under open field (G1) and vertical A-frame structure (G2) condition. One vertical A-frame structure is used in this study which contain 516 holes for planting. Among the nine varieties, Saksham (V6) showed increase in growth parameters in both conditions. The observations on growth parameters were recorded for plant height(cm), number of leaves, root length(cm), fresh weight of roots(g) and dry weight of roots(g). Saksham variety in vertical A-frame structure yielded maximum plant height (53.05 cm), number of leaves (112.73), root length (39.92 cm), fresh weight of roots (3.204g) and dry weight of roots (0.874g) followed by the variety CIM-Kranti in vertical A-frame structure (48.83cm, 77.61, 37.75cm, 2.582g and 0.648g). As a result, the interactive action of G2V6 showed maximum growth due to the availability of nutrients in the root system and timely application of water and nutrient helped in better plant parameters.