Investigation of physiological characteristics of Matricaria chamomilla L. under water stress conditions and different fertilizer sources

management of water consumption and fertilizer resources are one of the important factors in the success of cultivation of medicinal plants. So, identification of fertilizers compatible with nature and suitable for plants can have favorable effects on quantitative and qualitative indicators of plants. The Matricaria chamomilla L. is one of the medicinal plants that its use dates back to ancient Roman civilization. In order to investigate the effect of some chemical, biological and animal fertilizers on the physiological characteristics of Matricaria chamomilla under water stress, an experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications in the research farm of the Faculty of Agriculture, Urmia University.

Experimental treatments include different levels of irrigation (I) as the first factor at three levels: irrigation after 40 mm evaporation from pan (I1), irrigation after 80 mm evaporation from pan (I2) and irrigation after 120 mm Evaporation meter from pan (I3) and soil fertilizers (F) as the second factor in five levels: no fertilizer (F0), chemical fertilizer (F1), biofertilizer (F2), animal manure (F3) and poultry manure (F4) were. Measured physiological properties included photosynthetic pigment content, relative moisture content, total soluble carbohydrates, percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, content of antioxidant compounds, percentage and yield of essential oil and yield of dried flowers, each by standard method was measured.

The results showed that with a delay in irrigation the percentage of nitrogen and phosphorus decreased, while the application of low water stress increased the amount of essential oil and the highest amount of essential oil and essential oil yield were observed in moderate stress conditions. Meanwhile, the highest percentage of nitrogen, phosphorus and the amount of essential oil and essential oil yield were obtained in the application of poultry manure. Application of different fertilizer sources in comparison with the control showed a significant effect on increasing the content of photosynthetic pigments, relative moisture content of leaves, water-soluble carbohydrates and potassium uptake in each irrigation condition. The content of total phenol, flavonoids, percentage of radical inhibition of DPPH and dry yield of Matricaria chamomilla flowers increased by 36, 25, 35 and 24% in optimal irrigation conditions and 30, 19, 30 and 20% in moderate stress conditions and 20, 11, 13% and 17% were observed in severely water stress conditions in plants treated with poultry manure compared to the control treatment respectively.

Based on the results, it can be concloude that in each of the water stress levels, the use of organic fertilizer is more effective in improving the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Matricaria chamomilla and it is better to increase the efficiency of agricultural products from organic and biological inputs instead of use chemical fertilizers with the aim of reducing pollution and achieve sustainable agriculture.