Question

Mentha crop is commercially raised through:

• A. Seed
• B. Root cutting
• C. Stolons
• D. Leaflets

Hint:

Think about which part of the plant is heterozygous by seed and hence must be multiplied vegetatively.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is C

This question is about how mint (Mentha) is multiplied for commercial oil production.

1. Seed: Mentha is highly heterozygous, so seed grown plants segregate and do not keep the parent's menthol content and yield, which makes seed propagation unreliable for commercial fields.
2. Root cutting: Mentha does not naturally regenerate from cut root pieces, so this is not the standard commercial method.
3. Stolons: Mentha produces creeping stem like stolons (locally called suckers) that root at every node. Farmers lift these from an old field, cut them into node bearing segments, and plant them directly, which reliably reproduces the same clone.
4. Leaflets: A single leaflet cannot regenerate a complete new mentha plant on its own under field conditions, so this is not a commercial propagation method.

Because stolons carry nodes that root and shoot readily and keep the clone genetically identical to the parent, they are used as the standard commercial planting material for mentha.

Let's summarize:

• Mentha is propagated vegetatively, not through true seed, to preserve oil quality.
• Stolons (creeping stem cuttings with nodes) are the practical, field level propagating unit.

So mentha crop is commercially raised through stolons.