The Effect of Vermicompost and Biological Fertilizer Application on Seed Yield and Yield Components of Basil (Ocimum basilicum L.)

To study the effect of vermicompost and biological fertilizers on seed yield and yield components of basil, an experiment based on complete randomized block design with three replications was conducted in Mashhad during cropping season of 2009-2010.The treatments were: vermicompost, nitroxin (Azotobacter and Azospirillum), bio phosphorus(Pseudomonas and Bacillus), vermicompost nitroxin, vermicompost bio phosphorus, nitroxin bio phosphorus, vermicompost nitroxin bio phosphorus, chemical fertilizer (N.P.K), and control (no fertilizer). The results showed that the highest of plant height (57.66cm), lateral branch in plant (17.6 branch), number of flower per plant (38 flower), number of flower cycle per plant (231.6 cycle), number of seed per flower cycle (16 seed), 1000 seed weight (1.89 g) and seed weight per plant (10.22 g) were obtained with vermicompost nitroxin treatment. But, the difference of this treatment with vermicompost nitroxin bio phosphorus treatment, except lateral branch per plant, was not significant. The highest of seed yield (1939.1 kg/ha) and biological yield (15183.3 kg/ha) obtained by using vermicompost nitroxin bio phosphorus treatment. This study showed that the effect of biological fertilizer combined with vermicompost on seed yield and yield components of basil was higher than chemical fertilizer and control (no fertilizer).