Measuring Plant Metabolite Abundance in Spearmint (<i>Mentha spicata</i> L.) with Raman Spectra to Determine Optimal Harvest Time

A fast field-deployable method utilizing Raman spectroscopy to determine the optimal harvest time of plants extract highest abundance target metabolites is presented. Rosmarinic acid a metabolite extracted from spearmint (Mentha spicata L.). Leaves commercial “Native” and proprietary clonal line “KI110” were measured as function cell type age rosmarinic abundance. linear regression model with leave-one-out cross-validation (R2CV = 0.61, RMSECV 11.1 mg/g) was developed between selected peak areas concentrations determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). principal component analysis (PCA) also The may be suited many agriculturally relevant plant species distinct peaks.