Effect of Vermicompost on Some Growth and Biochemical Characteristic of Dracocephalum moldavica L. under Water Salinity Stress

Salinity is one of the most important abiotic stresses which has several negative effect on plant growth. The high levels of sodium which is toxic to most varieties of plants species, and more importantly affect plant growth and limit the plants yield cappcity. In order to investigate the effect of vermicompost and salinity stress on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of (Dracocephalum moldavica L) the greenhouse experiment was conducted in 2016 at research greenhouse, agricultural sciences of University Maragheh. The study was conducted in a completely randomized block design. Experimental factors comprised salinity levels (0,50, 100 and 150 mM NaCl) and vermicompost (0, 5, 10 and 15 %(v/v)) with four replications per treatment. The results showed that application of vermicompost increased plant height, leaf number, chlorophyll content index, dry weight per plant, fresh weight per plant and protein content. Most soluble carbohydrates were found at the 150 mM salinity and 15% vermicompost. Furthermore, the lowest amount of proline (1/444 μ g/wt) related to the control plants and 15 %(v/v) vermicompost. The results showed that all studied traits were affected by different fertilizer treatments. Therefore, using vermicompost can be a suitable method for reducing the effects of high sodium chloride concentration on growth of this plant in saline soils.