Tolerance of peppermint to tiafenacil applied postharvest

Abstract

AbstractTrials were conducted in two experimental runs at the Purdue University Horticulture Greenhouses, West Lafayette, IN, to determine ‘Redefined Murray Mitcham’ peppermint tolerance to tiafenacil. Established peppermint in 20-cm-diameter polyethylene pots was subjected to a simulated harvest by removing aboveground biomass at the substrate surface; then, tiafenacil was applied at 0, 25, 50, 100, and 200 g ai ha−1. Visible crop injury, height, and aboveground dry biomass data were subjected to regression analysis to generate predictive models. At 2 wk after treatment (WAT), peppermint injury increased from 63% to 86% and from 25% to 76% in Experimental Run 1 and 2, respectively, as tiafenacil rate increased from 25 to 200 g ha−1. At 4 WAT, injury increased from 0% to 63% and from 4% to 37% in Experimental Run 1 and 2, respectively, as tiafenacil rate increased from 25 to 200 g ha−1. By 7 WAT (both experimental runs), injury increased from 0% to 17% as tiafenacil rate increased from 25 to 200 g ha−1. At 4 WAT, height decreased from 23.0 to 8.6 cm and from 17.6 to 10.3 cm in Experimental Run 1 and 2, respectively, as tiafenacil rate increased from 0 to 200 g ha−1. At 7 WAT, height decreased from 28.1 to 21.4 cm as tiafenacil rate increased from 0 to 200 g ha−1. Aboveground dry weight of the nontreated check was 20.3 g pot−1 and decreased from 19.3 to 7.0 g pot−1 as tiafenacil rate increased from 25 to 200 g ha−1. Despite acute necrosis, injury from tiafenacil at lower rates was not persistent. The proposed 1X rate of tiafenacil for peppermint, 25 g ha−1, resulted in ≤4% injury 4 and 7 WAT and in only a 3% reduction in plant height and a 4.7% reduction in aboveground dry weight compared to the nontreated check.