Medicinal plants are considered as one of the genetic reserves of Iran. Among these, mint scientifically named Mentha of the Lamiaceae family, is one of the most economically and medicinally important plants and widely distributed throughout the world, especially in the Mediterranean region. Mint is naturally open-pollinated; however, production of self-pollinated seeds can have many advantages in terms of economic and breeding benefits. This research was conducted in order to investigate seedling production from selfed seeds of two successive generations of S2 and S3, production of open and self-pollinated seeds from inbred seedlings, as well as eva‎luation of traits related to the growth and seeds of these populations. In this regard, 4 preliminary mint populations collected from Ahvaz, Lorestan, Karaj and Hamadan regions were used. Ahvaz and Lorestan populations were from the M. spicata species, Hamedan and Karaj populations were from the M. longifolia species, that were self-pollinated for two generations. Populations were cultivated in a randomized complete block design with three replications in Chah Anari research farm of Isfahan University of Technology and this research was conducted during the years 1400-1401. All the plants in each population were first divided into two parts; one part was covered with envelope and net before flowering and the other part was left to be freely open pollinated. After collecting the seeds derived from open and self-pollinated plants, populations belonging to M. spicata (Ahvaz-Lorestan) and populations belonging to. M longifolia (Karaj-Hamadan) were eva‎luated. Based on the results of traits related to growth, between S2 and S3 generations, populations belonging to two M. spicata and M. longifolia species, a significant difference was shown in the context of all traits (fresh weight, dry weight, fresh weight to dry weight ratio, percentage of essential oil and performance of essential oil), which indicated the existence of differences between the two species in terms of the mentioned traits. In populations of Ahvaz and Lorestan belonging to M. spicata, successive self-pollination caused a significant improvement in the average traits of fresh and dry weight, especially in Lorestan population. On the other hand, in the M. longifolia species, successive self-pollination caused a significant decrease in fresh and dry weight of Hamadan population plants. In the following, the traits of plant total seed weight, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and antioxidant capacity (according to IC50) were measured in open and self-pollinated seeds of M. spicata and M. longifolia. The S2 and S3 generations of the studied populations showed no difference in phenolic and flavonoid content, but Hamedan population showed a significant decrease in antioxidant capacity due to successive self-pollination. In general, the seeds obtained from self-pollination compared to the seeds obtained from open-pollination in all studied populations showed a lower total content of phenolic compounds, flavonoids and antioxidant capacity, especially the Karaj populations, which showed a significant decrease in phenolic content. In this regard, the population of Lorestan showed a more favorable situation in terms of seed traits compared to the other populations. Finally, according to the results of HPLC analysis, a total of five phenolic acid compounds, including chlorogenic acid, rosmarinic acid, gallic acid, p-coumaric acid and ferulic acid, two flavonoid compounds, rutin and apigenin were identified in the seed extracts of the two studied species. The highest peaks were related to two compounds of rosmarinic acid and rutin. The population of Lorestan had the highest amount of phenolic and flavonoid compounds. According to the amount and type of phenolic and flavonoid compounds of seed extracts, it can be concluded that mint seeds have medicinal properties and can be used in food industry.

قدرت اله سعيدي , مريم حقيقي

قدرت اله سعيدي

قدرت اله سعيدي , مريم حقيقي