Effects of manure and chemical fertilizers on some of the agronomic traits and quality characteristics of Garlic (Allium sativum L.)

Plant nutrition various methods, are the most important factor which positively affects the plant growth and crop productivity. In order to evaluate effects of different levels of animal and chemical fertilizers on quality and quantity characteristics of Garlic in Hamadan climatic conditions, an experiment was conducted in the growing seasons of successive years of 2011- 2012 at the agronomical farms of Hamadan. The experiment was performed as split plot layout based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. The main factor was the four levels of animal fertilizer (0,10,20 and 30 ton per ha) and sub factor was four levels of nitrogen fertilizer (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg in ha). The agronomic traits that studied in this research consisted of yield and yield components, total bulb diameter and clovlet number. Then, the quality characteristics of garlic such as total pyrovic acid, texture hardness and essential oil percentage were measured and investigated. Results showed that the intermediate treatment of 30 ton per hectare, of manure mixed with 150 kg nitrogen per ha, produced the highest amount of bulb yields with 13290 kilo per hectare. Also, the experiment showed that the intermediate treatment with 10 ton per hectare, of animal fertilizer mixed with 100 kg nitrogen per ha of chemical fertilizers produced the highest amount of total pyrovic acid with 114 (micro mol/gr) and essential oil of 2/97 percent.