The effect of spraying of organic fertilizers extracts on morphological traits and quantitative and qualitative yields of six Moldavian balm(Dracocephalum Moldavica L.) ecotypes

ntroduction:Moldavian balm is an herbaceous annual plant belonging to the Lamiacea family (Gholizadeh et al., 2010). The whole body of this Plant contains essence, however, the flowers, leaves and young stems contain the highest amount of essence. Essence contains Geranial, Neral, Geranyl acetate and Geraniol. An essential element of sustainable agriculture is the use of organic fertilizers in crop ecosystems with the aim of eliminating applications Chemical fertilizers. Organic fertilizers provide human health and the environment. Spraying improves nutrint deficiency in shorter time than the soil application. In this method, nutrients are directly absorbed and there is no problem of sediment accumulation in soil and its ability to use. (Yongzhen et al., 2017). In order to investigate the effect of spraying organic fertilizers extracts on morphological traits and quantitative and qualitative yield of six Moldavian balm ecotypes, a factorial experiment was conducted Based on randomized complete block design with three replications and 30 treatments at Research Farm, Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University in 2015 and 2016 was cultivated in spring. Ecotypes included (Urmia, Salmas, Ajabshir, Tehran, Isfahan and Shiraz) and spraying treatments (control, cow manure, poultry manure, vermicompost and compost). Sowing of seeds was carried out on April 15th. The dimensions of the plots were 2 × 2 meters. The blocks were spaced one and a half meters apart. The plots were irrigated regularly until the germination of one day in between. weed control was carried out manually and mechanically during the growing season in two stages.Sampling was done at the end of flowering stage in August. the purpose of extraction of the essence with a clevenger apparatus. MSTAT-C statistical software was used to analyze the data. To compare the means, LSD test was used at the 5% probability level. Excel software were used to draw charts. The results of combined analysis of variance showed that application of spraying treatments on plant height,the number of flowers, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, yield and essence percentage were significant at 1% probability level. The effect of ecotype on plant height, the number of flowers, leaf length, leaf width, leaf area, yield and essence percentage were significant at 1% probability level. The interactions of ecotype in spraying on leaf length and leaf area were significant at 1% probability level and on yield and essence percentage at 5% probability level. The interaction of ecotype in spraying on plant height, leaf number and leaf width was not significant. The highest percentage of essence was obtained from Urmia ecotype treatment and spraying of chicken manure with an average of 0.99%, followed by Urmia ecotype and spraying of vermicompost extract with an average of 0.95%. Finally, according to the results of this experiment, the application of spraying of chicken manure and vermicompost and ecotype of Urmia in fodder plant is recommended. The results of this study showed that spraying of organic fertilizers extracts had a significant effect on the growth parameters of Moldavian balm. Spraying of chicken manure increased plant height by 79% compared to control. Spraying with chicken manure and vermicompost fertilizer resulted in 45% increase in the number of flowers and 9% increase in leaf length compared to control. Given that the native ecotype (Urmia), the top ecotype was introduced, the cultivation of native ecotypes of the Moldavian balm in each region is recommended. In general, it can be stated that spraying of organic fertilizers extract, in addition to reducing the nutrient and fertilizer losses and reducing environmental pollution, due to fast absorption of leaf, improves plant traits.
Keywords: Foliar feeding, Essence percentage, Medicinal herb, Secondary metabolites.
References
Gholizadeh, A., Amin, M. S. M., Anuar, A. R., Esfahani, M., and Saberioon, M. M. 2010. The study on the effect of different levels of zeolit and water stress on growth, development and essential oil content of Dracocephalum moldavica L. American Journal of Applied Science. 7 (1): 33 - 37.
Yongzhen, D., Yongjiu, W., Xiangqun ,Zh., Weimin, Ch., Rongguang. Sh., Renwei, F. 2017. Effects of foliar dressing of selenite and silicate alone or combined with different soil ameliorants on the accumulation of As and Cd and antioxidant system in Brassica campestris. Volume 142, Pages 207-215