INTRODUCTION
Patchouli (Pogostemon patchouli Pellet.), a member

of Lamiaceae, is the source of commercial patchouli oil. It
is native to the Philippines and is now cultivated on a
commercial scale in Indonesia, Malaysia, China, Brazil and
India. Among these countries, Indonesia leads, with oil
production of 600 tonnes, accounting for 80% of world
production (Jadhav et al, 2002).

Oil of patchouli is obtained by steam distillation of
shade-dried herbage. The oil has a strong fixative property
and is known to improve tenacity. The oil has mainly a woody
note. It is generally blended with other essential oils, and is
used in beverages, candy making and meat products.
Blended with sandalwood oil, it gives one of the finest attars,
widely used for scenting soaps, perfumes, body lotions, after-
shave lotions, detergents, cosmetics, tobacco and incense
sticks (Angadi and Vasantha Kumar, 1995).

In view of the market potential of patchouli, a study
was undertaken to widen the knowledge base on use of
plant growth regulators (PGRs) on patchouli cultivation.
PGRs are considered as the new generation agrochemicals
after fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The role of PGRs
in modifying canopy structure and optimizing yield attributes
has proven by earlier researchers. Patchouli, being an
aromatic crop, contains essential oil in its leaves and stem.
It is possible to increase both herbage and oil yield by

Effect of pinching and growth regulators on growth, herbage yield, essential oil content
and oil yield of patchouli (Pogostemon patchouli Pellet.)

Honnappa Asangi and M. Vasundhara1
University of Horticultural Sciences, Bagalkot

KRCCH, Arabhavi - 591218,  India
E-mail: asangipma@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
An experiment was conducted to study the effect of growth regulators on plant growth, herbage yield, essential oil

content and oil yield in patchouli (Pogostemon patchouli Pellet.) variety Cim-shreshta, at University of Agricultural
Sciences (UAS), GKVK, Bangalore, during 2011-12. Results indicated that fresh and shade-dried herbage and essential
oil yield was influenced significantly by growth regulators. It is concluded that pinching at 45 days after transplanting,
followed by foliar application of benzyl adenine (300ppm), and, subsequent sprays at each harvest was more effective
in increasing the yield compared to Control.

Key words: Patchouli, pinching, cycocel, benzyl adenine, growth regulators

exogenous application of plant growth regulators. With this
background, a field study was conducted to ascertain the
effect of growth regulators on growth, herbage yield,
essential oil content and oil yield in patchouli.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The field experiment was conducted at Sanjeevani
Vatika, Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Section, Department
of Horticulture, University of Agricultural Sciences, GKVK,
Bangalore, during  2011- 2012 on a plot with sandy loam
soil of uniform fertility status. Treatments included (T1)
Control, (T2) pinching without spraying, (T3) pinching +
Cycocel (CCC) 2000ppm, (T4) pinching + CCC 2500ppm,
(T5) pinching + CCC 3000ppm, (T6) pinching + BA 200ppm,
(T7) pinching + BA 300ppm and (T8) pinching + BA 350ppm.
These eight treatments were tested in Randomized
Complete Block Design, with three replications. Forty five
day old rooted cuttings were transplanted in the main field
in the third week of July, at a spacing of 45cmx45cm.
Recommended dose of NPK (150:50:50kg ha-1) was applied,
full dose of P and K, along with one sixth of N was applied
before planting, and, the remaining N was top-dressed in
five splits at bimonthly intervals. Earthing-up was done
immediately after fertilizer application. The plots received
irrigation. Pinching operation was carried out 45 days after
transplant to the main field. On the same day, growth
regulators were sprayed in treatment plots while water was

1Department of Horticulture, UAS, GKVK, Bengaluru - 560 065, India

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Effect of growth regulators on patchouli

sprayed in the Control plot. The remaining two sprays
(second and third sprays) were applied after the first and
second harvests, respectively.

The first harvest was done after 135 days of planting;
the second and third harvests were done at 75 days’ interval
after the first harvest. Observations on various growth
parameters were recorded at harvest. Harvested branches,
along with leaves, were dried under shade for seven days.
Shade-dried leaves were than hydro-distilled, using
Clevenger’s apparatus, to estimate essential oil content.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Growth attributes of patchouli

Effects of pinching and application of growth
regulators on patchouli growth and yield are presented in
Tables 1 and 2. Control plants (T1) recorded significantly
higher plant height (78.71cm) compared to pinched plants
during the first harvest. However, plant height was maximum
in plants treated with pinching + BA 300ppm in subsequent
harvests, as BA continued to increase cell activity. Similar
results were obtained by (Rajashekar, 2010) in rose. In
general, plants were taller in the first harvest compared to
the second and third. This could be due to the longer harvest
interval (135 days) and favourable weather conditions
prevalant.

Plant height decreased in all the treatments compared
to Control. Maximum reduction was noticed in the treatment
of pinching + CCC @ 3000ppm. Similar results were
obtained by Bhat et al, (1989) in davana and Vasundhara
et al (1992) in marjoram. Reduction in plant height appears
to be due to slowing down of rate of cell division and
reduction in cell elongation. It has been suggested that
Cycocel has anti-gibberllin effect which prevents excessive
vegetative growth, increases chlorophyll synthesis and root

development, stimulates photosynthetic activity, prevents
lodging and increases yield (Moore, 1980).

The treatment on pinching + BA @ 300ppm (T7)
recorded significantly higher number of branches, number
of leaves and higher plant spread compared to Control (T1)
in all three harvests (Table 1).  Similar effect (axillary bud
development and further growth due to application of kinetin
or BA) was reported by Geeta and Hippalgaonkar (1993),
Bhaskar et al (1997) and Farooqi et al (1993) in patchouli
and davana.

Increase in number of branches and leaves may have
been due to the fact that cytokinins have the ability to induce
growth of secondary and tertiary branches and of reducing
senescence in plants, resulting in increased leaf retention.
Increased plant spread could be due to an increased number
of branches and number of leaves per plant.

Yield parameters in patchouli

The application of pinching + BA @ 300ppm (T7)
registered significantly higher fresh herbage yield (12.13,
10.81 and 9.77t/ha), dry herbage yield (2.52, 2.36 and 2.0t/
ha) and oil yield (47.19, 43.70 and 36.44 kg/ha) compared
to control in all three harvests, respectively. Higher herbage
and oil yield with application of PGRs may be due to
enhanced yield-contributing factors, viz., plant height, number
of leaves, number of branches and plant spread. Benzyl
adenine (BA) is known to modify growth of plants, as, it
promotes cell division, morphogenesis, lateral bud
development and delays senescence, leading to enhanced
leaf expansion which cause maintenance of more number
of green leaves.

This clearly shows that BA can induce robust growth,
resulting in increased herb yield compared to other
treatments under identical growing conditions. These

Table 1. Effect of growth regulators on growth parameters at three harvests in patchouli
Treatment Plant height (cm) No. of branches plant-1 No. of leaves plant-1 Plant spread (cm2)

H 1 H 2 H 3 H 1 H 2 H 3 H 1 H 2 H 3 H 1 H 2 H 3
T 1 78.71 56.86 55.97 23.45 24.52 20.48 385.49 367.75 331.83 42.11 39.71 36.31
T 2 74.04 55.75 55.63 29.49 26.86 22.53 437.95 396.88 354.16 47.02 42.85 39.68
T 3 71.10 54.33 51.70 33.22 31.72 30.47 519.44 487.75 452.11 59.78 56.20 52.74
T 4 69.98 53.74 50.91 32.09 30.33 29.39 498.59 475.05 435.25 58.61 53.85 50.48
T 5 69.11 52.31 49.44 30.26 29.60 27.92 490.54 466.01 413.87 56.82 51.48 48.61
T 6 73.91 56.50 55.84 34.95 32.74 31.19 540.65 491.65 462.75 61.37 58.40 53.61
T 7 77.35 60.84 59.58 39.14 35.86 34.33 578.70 535.54 493.04 64.72 62.75 57.25
T 8 76.52 58.30 58.30 36.52 34.28 31.78 553.21 507.39 474.21 62.92 60.03 55.38
F-Test * * * * * * * * * * * *
S.Em ± 1.40 1.05 1.14 1.43 1.20 1.16 10.35 9.53 10.14 1.19 1.52 1.26
CD (P=0.05) 4.26 3.17 3.45 4.32 3.63 3.52 31.40 28.91 30.75 3.61 4.60 3.83

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216

findings are in line with results of Geeta and Hippalgaonkar
(1993) also in patchouli who obtained higher fresh herbage
yield per plant with 0.5x10-4M kinetin and Farooqi et al
(2003) in Mentha arvensis and Farooqi et al (1993) in
davana.

Oil content (% v/w) did not vary substantially among
treatments. However, CCC @ 2000ppm and BA 300ppm
showed higher values (1.87%) at first harvest; but, during
the second and third harvests, BA at 300ppm showed
maximum oil content (1.85 and 1.82%, respectively). This
may be because of overall increase in leaf biomass under
the same treatment.

REFERENCES

Angadi, S. and Vasantha Kumar, T. 1995. Patchouli. In:
Advances in Horticulture - Medicinal and Aromatic
Plants, Chadha, K.L. and Gupta, R. (Eds.) Malhotra
Publishing House, New Delhi, India, p. 751-771

Bhaskar, S., Vasantha Kumar, T. and Srivastava, H.C. 1997.
Effect of growth regulators on production of herbage
and oil in patchouli (Pogostemon patchouli). Indian
Perfumer, 41:98-101

Bhat, P.B., Farooqi, A.A. and Subbaiah, T.K. 1989. Influence
of growth regulators on growth herbage and essential
oil yield in Davana (Artemisia pallens Wall.). Proc.
XI Int’l. Congress of Ess. Oils, Fragrance and
Flavour, 3:81-84

(MS Received 02 January 2013, Revised 11 September 2013, Accepted 15 October 2013)

Farooqi, A.A., Devaiah, K.A. and Vasundhara, M. 1993.
Effect of some growth regulators and pinching on
growth, yield and essential oil content of Davana
(Artemisia pallens Wall.). Indian Perfumer,
37:19-23

Farooqi, A.H.A., Khan, A. and Sharma, S. 2003. Effect of
kinetin and Chlormequat chloride on growth, leaf
abscission and essential oil yield in Mentha arvensis.
Indian Perfumer, 47:359-363

Geeta, S. and Hippalgaonkar, 1993. Influence of foliar
applied kinetin on growth and essential oil content of
patchouli (Pogostemon cablin Benth.). Indian
Perfumer, 37:167-170

Jadhav, S.G., Jadhav, B.B. and Apte, U.B. 2002. Influence
of growth regulators on growth and oil content of
patchouli (Pogostemon cablin Benth.). Indian
Perfumer, 46:287-289

Moore, T.C. 1980. Biochemistry and physiology of plant
hormones. Narsoja Publishing House, New Delhi,
India, pp. 107-131

Rajashekhar, M. 2010. Regulation of growth and quality in
greenhouse rose using growth regulators. Gaurav
Soc. Agril. Res. Info. Centre, 11: 370-372

Vasundhara, M., Farooqi, A.A., Devaiah, K.A. and
Shridharayya. 1992. Influence of some growth
regulators on growth, herbage and oil yield in
Marjoram (Majorana hortensis Moench). Indian
Perfumer, 36:171-174

Table 2. Effect of growth regulators on yield parameters at three harvests in patchouli
Fresh herbage Dry herbage Oil content Oil yield

Treatment  yield(t ha-1) Pooled  yield (t ha-1) Pooled  (%) (kg ha-1) Pooled
H 1 H 2 H 3 H 1 H 2 H 3 H 1 H 2 H 3 H 1 H 2 H 3

T 1 7.19 7.02 6.42 18.38 1.59 1.54 1.37 4.01 1.83 1.80 1.77 29.35 27.65 24.28 81.28
T 2 8.34 7.30 6.47 22.11 1.81 1.70 1.39 4.90 1.83 1.81 1.77 33.08 30.81 24.58 88.48
T 3 10.37 9.82 8.67 28.86 2.08 2.03 1.76 5.87 1.87 1.83 1.80 38.90 37.14 31.64 107.69
T 4 9.88 9.44 8.45 27.76 1.92 1.92 1.73 5.57 1.85 1.83 1.77 35.51 35.28 30.56 101.35
T 5 9.60 8.83 8.18 26.61 1.87 1.87 1.65 5.38 1.83 1.80 1.78 34.35 33.41 29.35 97.11
T 6 11.14 10.15 9.27 30.56 2.28 2.14 1.90 6.32 1.83 1.83 1.80 41.94 39.23 34.14 115.31
T 7 12.13 10.81 9.77 32.70 2.52 2.36 2.00 6.89 1.87 1.85 1.82 47.19 43.70 36.44 127.33
T 8 11.69 10.42 9.55 31.66 2.39 2.25 1.97 6.61 1.85 1.81 1.80 44.39 40.90 35.54 120.83
F-Test * * * * * * * * NS NS NS * * * *
S.Em ± 0.34 0.30 0.35 0.91 0.12 0.10 0.07 0.21 0.05 0.04 0.04 2.65 1.85 1.44 4.31
CD (P=0.05) 1.04 0.92 1.05 2.77 0.35 0.31 0.22 0.62 - - - 8.05 5.61 4.35 13.08
* Significant at 5% level
T 1 : Control T 5 : Pinching + CCC 3000ppm
T 2 : Pinching without spraying T 6 : Pinching + BA 200ppm
T 3 : Pinching + CCC 2000ppm T 7 : Pinching + BA 300ppm
T 4 : Pinching + CCC 2500ppm T 8 : Pinching + BA 350ppm
H1- first harvest, H2- second harvest, H3- third harvest

Honnappa Asangi and Vasundhara

J. Hortl. Sci.
Vol. 8(2):214-216, 2013