Effect of Vermicompost and Humic Acid on Growth Chracteristics and Essential Oil Composition of Myrtus communis L.

One of the important requirements in agronomic planning is the use of various non-chemical plant systems. In order to investigate the effects of vermicompost and humic acid on Myrtus communis, an experiment was conducted in a factorial experiment in a randomized complete block design with 16 treatments and 3 replications at the Alborz Research Station, Research Institute of Forests and Rangelands of Iran. Treatments included vermicompost (9, 18, 27, 36 and 45 t/ha), Hiumic acid (5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 and 15 l/ha), five combinations of them (V9+H15, V18+H12.5, V27+H10, V27+H7.5) and control. There was significant diference between treatments in shoot, leaf, essential oil yields and essential oil percentage. The highest leaf yield (356 kg ha-1), shoot yield (773kg/ha) essential oil percent (1.86%) and essential oil yield (14kg/ha) acheaved in treatment of 45 tons per hectare vermicompost. The main components of the essential oil were α-pinene (5.63-48.5%), limonene (3.4-22.6%), 1.8-cineole (2.2-18.7%), linalool (7.96-26.7%), myrtenol (2.1-19.2%), trans- carveol (0.1-2.5%) and α-terpinyl acetate (1.8-7.7%) .