Evaluation of peppermint – Mentha piperita L. аccessions for valuable economic traits

Goal. To study new mint accessions, to identify reference accessions and sources of valuable traits, to form and enrich the collection, to involve valuable specimens of the mint gene pool in breeding and use collections in educational activities. Results and Discussion. Results on peppermint working collection accessions are presented. The collection includes 30 accessions from 8 countries: Ukraine – 11, Bulgaria – 7, Hungary – 4, Russia – 3, France – 2, and 1 accession each from Poland, Germany, and India. We have identified reference accessions and sources of economically valuable traits: high dry herb productivity: UG0600212 (94g), UG0600357 (87g), and UG0600006 (75g); high dry leaf productivity: UG0600357 (34g), UG0600006 (25g), UG0600186 (20g); high fresh rhizome productivity: UG0600212 (365g), UG0600357 (340g), UG0600006 (335g); large bush diameter: UG0600357 (94cm), UG0600221 (84cm), UG0600212 (80cm); large rhizome diameter: UG0600450 (7.7mm), UG0600357 (6.7mm), UG0600006 (6.5mm), UG0600186 (6.3mm), UG0600048 (6.2mm); great plant height: UG0600357 (73cm), UG0600451 (71cm), UG0600006 (70cm); high resistance (9 points) to anthracnose: UG0600048, UG0600226, UG0600006, UG0600012, UG0600186, UG0600012, UG0600221, UG0600357, UG0600225; high resistance (9 points) to powdery mildew: UG0600226, UG0600006, UG0600012, UG0600357, UG0600451; and high resistance (9 points) rust: UG0600048, UG0600226, UG0600012, UG0600212, UG0600221. Valuable accessions combining high yields of raw material, excellent biometric parameters, and high resistance to major diseases and pests have been identified: UG0600006, UG0600012, UG0600186, UG0600357, UG0600451, and UG0600450. Conclusions. As a result of studying collection peppermint accessions, the working collection comprising 30 accessions from 8 countries worldwide has been built up. Having investigated this collection, we identified sources of valuable economic traits, thereby increasing the effectiveness of breeding efforts aimed at creating cultivars for various economic purposes. Valuable accessions combining high yields of raw materials, excellent biometric parameters, and resistance to major diseases and pests have been selected: UG0600006, UG0600012, UG0600186, UG0600357, UG0600451, and UG0600450.