Effect of some Trichoderma and mycorrhizal fungal species on chlorophyll content and essential oil production of dill (Anethum graveolens L.) under greenhouse conditions

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Trichoderma species and mycorrhizal fungi on increasing yield, percentage and amount of dill essential oil in greenhouse conditions. For this purpose, a factorial experiment was conducted in the form of a randomized complete block design with three replications. For this experiment, the roots of two Anethum graveolens (Dill) species i.e. Tabriz local cultivar and Long Island of Mammoth, were treated with the inoculums of Trichoderma isolates (Trichoderma harzianum Na-1ac and T. longibrachiatum BZ4-4) and two species of Mycorrhizal fungi (Rhizophagus irregularis and Glomus verciform). The results obtained from this study showed that the highest chlorophyll index was related to T. harzianum with amount of 4.03 and the lowest was related to G. verciform with amount of 2.27. Also, the highest chlorophyll b was related to T. harzianum × local cultivar of Tabriz with amount of 11.28 µg/ml and the lowest was related to T. longibrachiatum × local cultivar of Tabriz with amount of 2.36 µg/ml. The highest percentage of colonization was related to the treatment of Long Island × R. irregularis cultivar (77%) and the lowest percentage was related to the local cultivar × G. verciform (29%). In terms of essential oil content, the highest percentage of essential oil was related to T. harzianum (2.39%) and the lowest was related to G. verciform fungus by 0.7%. Interactions (cultivar × fungus) were also significant on chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and carotenoids and increased them.