Productivity and quality of Cymbopogon martinii (Roxb.) Wats. as influenced by harvesting at different phenological stages

Palmarosa [Cymbopogon martinii (Roxb.) Wats.] is a perennial grass and commercialized for its high value and industrially important essential oil dominated by geraniol and geranyl acetate. The aim of this study is to optimize the harvesting stage for getting higher yields of essential oil, geraniol, geranyl acetate and maximum monitory returns. The fields experiment spanning over two years (May 2017–June 2019) were conducted at the research farm of CSIR-Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Lucknow, India. The experiment consisted harvesting of the crop at five stages of crop growth, i.e., (i) late jointing, (ii) bolting, (iii) 50% flowering, (iv) 100% flowering, and (v) seed filling stage, and two popular varieties, i.e., (i) CIM Harsh and (ii) PRC1 was planned. The research findings revealed that the survival % was 81.5% and 80.5% when harvesting was done at the late jointing and bolting stage, respectively, which was highest among different harvesting stages irrespective of varieties. Harvesting at bolting stage recorded highest herbage yield (74.2 t ha‐1), oil yield (420.1 L ha‐1), geraniol yield (314.3 L ha‐1), and geranyl acetate yield (79.0 L ha‐1) in 11 harvests taken during a period of two years. The modified practice of harvesting resulted 12.1% higher essential oil yield over present practice of harvest i.e., harvesting at 100% flowering stage (five harvests taken in a period of two years). After taking an integrated view of the experimental results, it is recommended that palmarosa crop should be harvest at the bolting stage for obtaining better yields and higher survival % and present practice of harvesting i.e., at 100% flowering should be discontinued. [Display omitted] •Cymbopogon martinii (Roxb.) Wats. is a high value aromatic oil yielding plant.•Geraniol and Geranyl acetate are main chemical constituents of essential oil.•Harvesting stage optimized for higher yields of essential oil and its constituents.•Survival % has also been maximized by harvesting at proper crop growth stage.