<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Moldavian balm is an annual herbaceous plant and its lemon-scented leaves contain essential oil. However, weeds adversely affect its growth by release of allelochemicals, and/or direct competition for nutrient, moisture, light and space. Current experiment was conducted to evaluate the different weed control methods including preventive approach (soil pasteurization), mechanical methods (one hand weeding, two hand weeding, and successive hand weeding for weed free condition), and chemical control by synthetic herbicides (haloxyfop-R-methyl and trifluralin). Results revealed that stem diameter, quantity of secondary branches, flower-bearing branches and leaves were significantly affected by weed control treatments; the highest lateral growth was obtained by successive mechanical weed control and two hand weeding method, respectively. This trend was also observed in canopy spread and chlorophyll content. Pre-emergence control by trifluralin considerably accelerated the initiation of flowering in Moldavian balm. However, observation of qualitative traits showed that the highest essential oil content and oil yield was obtained when the plants grew in weed free soil which was pasteurized. Considering the recognized essential oils, the most responsive composition was including Geranial, Geranyl acetate, Neral and Geraniol. The lowest amount of Neral was recorded in postemergence control performed by means of haloxyfop-R-methyl herbicide.</p></abstract>

Moldavian balm is an annual herbaceous plant and its lemon-scented leaves contain essential oil. However, weeds adversely affect its growth by release of allelochemicals, and/or direct competition for nutrient, moisture, light and space. Current experiment was conducted to evaluate the different weed control methods including preventive approach (soil pasteurization), mechanical methods (one hand weeding, two hand weeding, and successive hand weeding for weed free condition), and chemical control by synthetic herbicides (haloxyfop-R-methyl and trifluralin). Results revealed that stem diameter, quantity of secondary branches, flower-bearing branches and leaves were significantly affected by weed control treatments; the highest lateral growth was obtained by successive mechanical weed control and two hand weeding method, respectively. This trend was also observed in canopy spread and chlorophyll content. Pre-emergence control by trifluralin considerably accelerated the initiation of flowering in Moldavian balm. However, observation of qualitative traits showed that the highest essential oil content and oil yield was obtained when the plants grew in weed free soil which was pasteurized. Considering the recognized essential oils, the most responsive composition was including Geranial, Geranyl acetate, Neral and Geraniol. The lowest amount of Neral was recorded in postemergence control performed by means of haloxyfop-R-methyl herbicide.

Evaluation of the Impact of Weed Control Methods on Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Moldavian Balm; A Medicinal Plant

Acta Technologica Agriculturae

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Moldavian balm is an annual herbaceous plant and its lemon-scented leaves contain essential oil. However, weeds adversely affect its growth by release of...

Evaluation of the Impact of Weed Control Methods on Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Moldavian Balm; A Medicinal Plant

Published Online: Dec 18, 2016

Page range: 110 - 116

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ata-2016-0022

Keywords
chemical herbicides, essential oil, mechanical control, oil components, soil solarization

© 2016 Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Evaluation of the Impact of Weed Control Methods on Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Moldavian Balm; A Medicinal Plant

Published Online: Dec 18, 2016

Page range: 110 - 116

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/ata-2016-0022

Keywordschemical herbicides, essential oil, mechanical control, oil components, soil solarization

© 2016 Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
chemical herbicides, essential oil, mechanical control, oil components, soil solarization