Effects of Different Levels of NPK Fertilizer and Fulvic Acid on Morphogical Characteristics, Yield and Yield components of Basil as a Medicinal Plant (Ocimum basilicum L.)

بوم شناسی کشاورزی

Article 12, Volume 11, Issue 4 - Serial Number 42, December 2020, Pages 1375-1388   

Document Type: Scientific - Research

DOI: 10.22067/jag.v11i4.73422

Authors

Mahboobeh askarian¹; mohammad hossein aminifard^{* 2}; Mehdi Khayyat³; Mehdi jahani⁴

¹Birjand,

²birjand

³University of Birjand

⁴Birjand

Abstract

Introduction
Basil (Ocimum basilicum) is an herbaceous medicinal plant from the Lamiaceae family with a wide range of applications in culinary, cosmetic, food, perfumery and medical industries. The presence of more than 200 chemicals includes flavonoids, monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, triterpenes and aromatic compounds in basil oil have been identified. The main components of its oil are eugenol, methyleugenol, linalool, estragole and anethole, varying by chemotype. Basil is one of the most important medicinal plants in Iran, which is widely used in various industries including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, sanitary and food industries, and it is considered as an anti-fluff and appetizer in traditional medicine. Therefore, in order to maximize yield and increase the length of the basil production period, the appropriate management of this product is necessary. Among which the use of suitable nutritional elements is one of the useful ways to improve the performance of this plant. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of different levels of NPK fertilizer and fulvic acid, and their interaction on vegetative, reproductive growth and yield of Basil's medicinal plant.
 
Materials and Methods
In this study, the effects of applications of fulvic acid and NPK fertilizer on yield and growth characteristics of basil were evaluated under field conditions. Treatments were three levels of NPK fertilizer (0, 3 and 6 per thousand) and three levels of fulvic acid (0, 5 and 10 kg.ha-1). The experiment was designed as factorial arrangement based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the research station of Faculty of Agriculture University of Birjand during growing season of 2017. The measured indices including vegetative characteristics (plant height, laterals number.plant-1, plant weight (g.m-2), leaf weight(g), leaves No.plant-1) and reproductive characteristics (grain yield, 1000-seed weight, seed number, biological yield and harvest index). Finally, the experimental data were statistically analyzed using SAS program ver. 9.2 and means were separated Duncan multiple test at 5% probability level of probability.
Results and Discussion
The results showed that NPK fertilizer had a significant effect on vegetative characteristics (plant height, fresh and dry weight of plant (g.m-2), lateral number per plant and leaves No.plant-1), so that the highest plant height and biological yield (48.4 cm and 2.16 kg.m-2, respectively) were obtained with application of six per thousand of NPK fertilizer. The results showed that NPK fertilizer had significant effect on 1000-seed weight. The highest 1000-seed weight (1.6 g) was obtained at six per thousand of NPK fertilizer, and the lowest of 1000- seed weight, (1.4 g) was observed in the control. Fulvic acid affected vegetative characteristics (plant height and laterals number per plant), so that the highest plant height and laterals number.plant-1 (46.0 cm and 15.88 per plant) was obtained with the application of 10 kg.ha-1 fulvic acid treatment. Also, the results showed a significant effect of fulvic acid on reproductive characteristics (plant weight (g.m-2), 1000- seed weight (g)). The highest leaves No.plant-1 (129.5) and 1000- seed weight (1.5g) were obtained at 10 kg .ha-1 fulvic acid, and the lowest of plant weight, 1000-seed weight were observed in the control. The interactions showed that the highest biological yield (2.29 kg.m-2) and plant  dry weight (483.83 g.m-2) were obtained from treatment at six per thousand of  NPK fertilizer and 10 kg.ha-1 fulvic acid and the lowest amounts (1.44 kg.m-2 and 259.5 g.m-2) was obtained from control.
Conclusion
The results of this study showed that fulvic acid and NPK fertilizer had significant effect on yield and growth characteristics of basil. Thus, results showed that fulvic acid (10 kg.ha-1) and NPK fertilizer (six per thousand) had strong impact on yield and growth characteristics of basil under field conditions.
 Acknowledgements
Authors are grateful to Ebrahim Ebrahimabadi for their help with the field experiments.

Keywords

growth; Biological yield; seed number; Harvest index; Medicinal plant

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