Enhancing essential oil feedstocks and high-value products from Mentha species for local Ugandan economies.

几种具有高商业价值的芳香油化合物（精油）是由薄荷植物（薄荷）的叶子自然产生的。薄荷油提取物因其对健康有益而被推广，并被用于调味饮料、冰淇淋、口香糖，以及化妆品和个人护理产品，如牙膏和沐浴露。薄荷醇是薄荷精油的关键成分，尤其是从薄荷薄荷中分离出来的薄荷，每年的国际市场价值约为8亿美元。另一种化学成分，薄荷内酯，一种通常在猫薄荷中发现的强效天然驱虫剂，最近在菠萝薄荷物种薄荷中被发现。作为先前合作项目的一部分，已经探索了薄荷作为乌干达农民的非粮食作物的潜力，在坎帕拉附近建立了一个薄荷园，其中有精选的品种，并建造了中试规模的蒸馏设备，用于从收获的薄荷作物中提取油。这表明，在乌干达大规模商业化种植薄荷作物可能是具有全球竞争力的薄荷精油生产的可行资源。这个项目的目的是开发新的薄荷品种，以便在乌干达种植，以生产高产量的含有薄荷醇或nepetalactone的精油，这些精油将用于开发当地生产的产品，以造福乌干达农村经济。这项应用涉及卡迪夫大学（威尔士）和马凯雷雷大学（乌干达）之间的合作伙伴关系，旨在利用两种平行的策略最大限度地提高选定精油的产量。首先，我们将筛选一系列薄荷品种，通过提取精油的生化分析（色谱法）来鉴定天然薄荷醇或nepetalactone产量高的品种，以及通过叶片表面的显微分析来鉴定含油腺叶毛（毛状体）丰度最高的品种。第二种策略是操纵叶子中参与精油生物合成的关键基因，通过上调薄荷醇的产量来创造新的“精英”薄荷品种。由于最近对薄荷油中产生薄荷醇的生化途径的科学理解取得了进展，这种遗传修饰是可行的。将选择最有希望的薄荷品种进行随后的田间试验，以确定它们在乌干达三个地区潜在的水分供应、遮阳和土壤类型条件下的生长能力。与我们在乌干达的合作伙伴一起，我们将创建当地的社区企业（CE）小组，向农民宣传和分发植物材料，并提供必要的培训，以种植/收获作物，确保最佳农业实践。反过来，这将改善当地的农业生产、收获和提取技术系统，并使当地农村人口的技能得到实质性提高。此外，我们将设计薄荷作物生产的农业经济模式，并制定商业计划和营销策略，以指导新兴的地方企业。该项目将确保可持续的经济效益主要由乌干达的当地社区获得，通过设立的种植、收获和开发新的薄荷作物的环保组织。该项目将探索与当地合作伙伴合作开发销售产品，使乌干达农村人口能够可持续地受益于以科学为基础的薄荷精油增产。

Several aromatic oil compounds (essential oils) of high commercial value are produced naturally by the leaves of mint plants (Mentha). Mint oil extracts are promoted for their health benefits and are used to flavour drinks, ice cream, chewing gum, as well as in cosmetics and personal care products such as toothpaste and shower gel. Menthol is a key component of mint essential oils, particularly those isolated from peppermint Mentha x piperita, and has a large international market with a value of around $800m p.a. Another chemical component, nepetalactone, a potent natural insect repellent normally found in catnip, has recently been identified in the pineapple mint species Mentha suaveolens. As part of a previous collaborative project, the potential for mint as a non-food crop for Ugandan farmers has been explored, a mint garden with selected varieties established near Kampala, and pilot-scale distillation equipment constructed to extract oil from a harvested spearmint crop. This suggests that wide-scale commercial cultivation of mint crops in Uganda could represent a viable resource for globally competitive production of mint essential oils. This project aims to develop novel mint varieties for cultivation in Uganda to produce high yields of essential oils containing menthol or nepetalactone which will be used to develop locally-produced products for the benefit of the rural Ugandan economy.This application, involving partnerships between Cardiff (Wales) and Makerere (Uganda) Universities, seeks to maximise the production of selected essential oils using two parallel strategies. Firstly, we will screen a range of mint varieties to identify those with naturally high yields of menthol or nepetalactone using biochemical analysis (chromatography) of extracted oils, and those with the largest abundance of oil-bearing glandular leaf hairs (trichomes) by microscopic analysis of the leaf surface. The second strategy will be to manipulate key genes involved in the biosynthesis of essential oils in the leaf, with the aim of creating new 'elite' mint varieties by up-regulating the production of menthol. Such genetic modifications are feasible, due to recent advances in scientific understanding of the biochemical pathway leading to menthol production in mint oil. The most promising mint varieties will be selected for subsequent field trials to determine their viability for growth under potentially conditions of water availability, shading and soil type, in three regions of Uganda.Together with our partners in Uganda, we will create local Community Enterprise (CE) groups to propagate and distribute plant material to farmers, and provide the necessary training to cultivate/harvest the crop, ensuring agricultural best practice. In turn, this will improve local systems of agricultural production, harvesting and extraction technology and result in substantive up-skilling of the local rural population. In addition, we will devise agro-economic models of mint crop production, and develop business plans and marketing strategies to guide emerging local business ventures. This project will ensure that sustainable financial benefits accrue principally to local communities in Uganda, via CE groups set up to grow, harvest and exploit new mint crops. The project will explore the development of products for sale in collaboration with local-based partners, enabling rural populations in Uganda to benefit sustainably from science-based enhanced production of mint essential oils.