The effect of the salinity stress on the yield, morphological characteristics, essential oil and RWC of Satureja hortensis (case study: Khoramabad, Iran)

Considering the state of water resources in Iran, using unconventional water for irrigation is inevitable. Investigating the regional plants response to salinity is essential. an experiment was conducted on the research farm of the Agriculture Faculty, Lorestan University. Mini lysimeters (pots) with a diameter of 25 and a height of 30 cm were used. In this research, irrigation schedule was based on weighing method. The research was carried out using five quality treatments of irrigation water including S0: Water of the region (control treatment), S1: EC= 2 dS/m, S2: EC=4 dS/m, S3: EC=6 dS/m and S4: EC=8 dS/m. NaCl was used to make saline water. The growth period of Satureja hortensis was 100 days. The amount of accumulated potential and reference evapotranspiration were obtained 758.68 and 884.26 mm. The results showed that the effect of salinity stress on morphological characteristics such as plant height, stem diameter, as well as dry leaf weight and flowering branch, root and stem in Satureja hortensis was significant at the probability level of one percent. The morphological characteristics decreased as salinity stress increased. The yield of Satureja hortensis in S0, S1, S2, S3 and S4 treatments was 1732, 1598, 1412, 1328 and 1230 kg / ha, respectively. The essential oil content increased significantly as salinity stress increased. These values during different experimental treatments were obtained 1.08%, 1.2%, 1.5%, 1.58% and 1.8%, respectively.