Effect of Nitrogen Fertilizer and Plant Density on Seed Yield, Essential Oil and Oil Content of Coriandrum sativum L.

In order to study the effect of nitrogen levels and plant density on seed yield, essential oil and oil content of Coriander seeds, an experiment was conducted in agricultural station of Qazvin and natural resources research center in 2005. The experiment was laid out by adopting split plot design with four replications, main plots were nitrogen: 30, 60 and 90 kg/ha and subplots were plant density including: 20, 30, 40 and 50 plant/m2. Seed yield, essential oil, oil content and yield were determined. Results showed nitrogen and plant density effected on Seed yield, essential oil, fatty acids. With increasing of nitrogen to 60 kg/ha, there was a significant increase in seed yield. The seed yield was decreased with more nitrogen. But the highest essential oil content and fatty acids were obtained with 90 kg nitrogen /ha. With increasing of plant density, seed yield and oil content had a significant decrease. Seed yield and oil content were higher in 30 plant/m2, while essential oil was higher in 40 plant/m2 that there was no difference with 30 plant/m2 in this respect. Comparing of treatments showed that the highest seed yield and essential oil yield were obtained by using 60 kg nitrogen/ha while there was the highest essential oil content, content and yield of oil with the application of 90kg nitrogen/ha with 30 plant/m2.