Effects of phosphorus and zinc on yield and yield components of Plantago ovata Forsk

In order to study the effects of phosphorus and zinc on the yield and the amount of active ingredients of Plantagoovata Forsk., an experiment was performed in the Bam city. In this experiment, the effects of phosphorus at four levels:(0, 40, 80 and 120 kg/ha) and zinc at three levels (0, 20, and 40kg/ha) were studied on seed yield, thousand seed weight, plant height, number of leaves per plant, spike length, number of flowers per plant, seed swelling and the percentage of mucilage, in a factorial experiment based on a completely randomized blocks design with three replications. The effects of different levels of zinc and phosphorus on the seed yield of Plantago ovata were significant at 1% level of significance. The seed yield increased by increasing zinc and phosphorus up to 40 kg/ha and 80 kg/ha, respectively. However, phosphorus at a level of 120 kg per hectare had no statistically significant difference compared to phosphorus at 80 kg/ha. The effects of different levels of zinc and phosphorus on the thousand seed weight were not significant. The effects of different levels of zinc and phosphorus on the mucilage percentage of “Plantago ovata” seeds were significant at 1% level of significance. Increasing zinc up to 40 kg/ha and phosphorus up to 120 kg/ha caused an increased seed mucilage percentage. In addition, the effects of different levels of phosphorus and zinc on other traits (number of leaves per plant, number of flowers per plant, spike length, plant height, and seed swelling) were significant. According to the results, the use of zinc at 40 kg/ha and phosphorus at 80 kg/ha showed the best effect in increasing the growth and yield of Plantago ovata as well as increased mucilage production.