Evaluation of organic, chemical, biological and amino acids application on ‎quantitative and qualitative characteristics of chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla ‎L.) at different harvesting

In order to investigate the effect of amino acids application on yield and essential oil of German chamomile under various levels of chemical, organic and biological fertilizers, an experiment was conducted as a factorial based on randomized complete block design with three replications at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Maragheh in 2017. The treatments were included application of chemical fertilizers, vermicompost, farmyard manure, poultry manure and mycorrhiza as the first factor and foliar application and non application of amino acids as the second factor. Results showed that the highest flower yield at the first harvest was obtained in poultry manure (225.4 g.m-2), chemical (204.6 g.m-2) and vermicompost (186.6 g.m-2) treatments, respectively. At the second, third, fourth and total harvests no significant differences were observed between the applications of different types of fertilizers. The highest essential oil percentage was obtained at the first (0.92 %), second (0.95 %) and total harvests (0.8 %) with vermicompost application without significant difference with farmyar and poultry manures. The highest total essential oil yield was obtained in poultry manure (4.6 g.m-2) and vermicompost (4.41 g.m-2) treatments. Application of amino acids led to significant increase in flower yield, essential oil percentage, essential oil yield and biological yield in all harvests as compared to non-application.