The physiological and phenotypic response of Salvia aethiopis L. to herbicides

•The physiological and growth response of Salvia aethiopis to five selected herbicides, at a variety of doses is presented.•Herbicide application was shown to affect crop performance in this species and the level of response was dependent upon the specific herbicide and the dose applied.•These data indicate that of the herbicides tested, bentazon should be the used for broad leafed weed control, for the commercial production of Salvia aethiopis. Salvia aethiopis is an aromatic species within the Lamiaceae family, used both as a herb and as an ornamental plant, the yield and quality of which, when cultivated on a commercial basis, is frequently affected by weed infestation. Therefore, the application of herbicide is often required for the commercial production of this species. Considering which, for the current study, a pot experiment based upon a completely randomized design, with three replications, was conducted to evaluate the physiological and growth response of S. aethiopis to five commonly used herbicides (bentazon, phenmedipham/desmedipham, metribuzin, oxyfluorfen and oxadiargyl). These herbicides were applied at three concentrations (0.75X, 1X and 1.25X where X is equal to the recommended dose of herbicide). The data obtained from this study, demonstrated that herbicide application led to an increase in crop damage, minimum fluorescence (F0) and malondialdehyde content (MDA) and a concomitant decrease in the maximum quantum efficiency of PSΙΙ (FV/FM), maximum fluorescence (FM), SPAD value, relative water content (RWC), plant height and shoot and root dry weight as compared to the control. However, the level of response/tolerance was dependent upon the specific herbicide and the dose applied. Of the selected herbicides, S.aethiopis has shown to display the most tolerance to bentazon. As such, these data indicate that of the herbicides tested, bentazon should be the preferred herbicide used for broad leafed weed control, during the commercial production of this species.