Effect of Biological Fertilizers of Biosulfur, Nitroxin and Super Absorbent Polymer on Growth, Yield and Essential Oil Content of Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.)

Sweet Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) is one of the most popular medicinal plants that containing essential oil. Essential oil of this plant has been utilized extensively in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industries. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of biological fertilizers of biosulfur, nitroxin and super absorbent polymer and their interactions on the growth and essential oil content of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) in the randomized complete block design (RCBD). Aerial parts of plants were harvested at full bloom and evaluated their yield index. All material were air-dried in the shade and subjected to hydrodistillation by Clevenger type apparatus. The results of this study showed that there was a significant difference among the treatments in terms of dry herbage weight at 1% level. The highest yield was obtained in (biosulfur+nitroxin+super absorbent). There was no significant difference in essential oil content according to v/w, but there was the significant difference between treatments in terms of w/w. The highest oil content (w/w) was observed in biosulfur+nitroxin treatment. These differences are probably due to variation in the constituents and specific gravity of the oils.