Yield Components and Qualitative and Quantitative Yield of Milk Thistle(Silybum marianum L.) Under Organic and Biological Inputs Application

This research was carried out to investigate the effect of organic and biological fertilizers application on yield, yield components, oil and silymarin percentage of milk thistle.  

The experiment was conducted as factorial based on randomized complete blocks design (RCBD) at the faculty of Agriculture, University of Maraghehin 2016. The first factor was included organic fertilizer in three levels as without application (control), application of 20 tons per hectare of farmyard manure and application of 15 tons per hectare of vermicompost, and the second factor was included the application methods of Supernitroplas as biological fertilizer in four levels including non-application (control), seed inoculation, fertigation (topdress application) and seed inoculation + fertigation  

The highest capitol and biological yield was obtained using farmyard manure.  The number of grain per capitols and 1000-kernal weight showed significant increases with application of both farmyard and vermicompost compared to control. The highest grain yield (160.2 g.m-2) and oil percentage (17.52%) were obtained with vermicompost application and the highest oil yield (27.9 g.m-2) obtained using farmyard manure that showed increases of 31, 7.8 and 39.7 % compared to control, respectively. All three methods of Supernitroplas application significantly increased the oil percentage compared to control. The maximum number of capitol and 1000-kernal weight were obtained by combined application of Supernitroplas (inoculation + fertigation). The highest grain yield (159.4 g.m-2), oil percentage (17.7%) and oil yield (28.7 g.m-2) were obtained by using the combined method without significant difference with topdress application and seed inoculation methods that showed increases of 24.9, 12.5 ​​and 41.9% compared to control, respectively. The highest percentage of silymarin was obtained with vermicompost application and Supernitroplas by different methods without significant difference (average: 6.2%), which showed an increase 79.8% on average compared to non-application of organic and biological fertilizers (control).  

The application of manure and vermicompost fertilizers and the application of Supernitroplas as seed inoculation or fertigation improve the yield components, grain yield, oil percentage and silymarin in milk thistle.