Study of the effect of water stress and different species of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi on ‎economic yield, essential oil ‎yield and photosynthetic pigments of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.)‎

‎‏ ‏Mycorrhiz species are factors that improve plant growth and yield. The ‎effects of these fungi are ‎exerted by altering some of the root properties and absorbing nutrients in the ‎host plants under water ‎stress conditions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quantitative and ‎qualitative yield of basil in ‎greenhouse conditions under the influence of different levels of soil ‎moisture and three species of ‎mycorrhiza on morphological or agronomic traits, plant pigments, ‎percentage and Essential oil function. ‎

Methods & Materials:

 The experiment was factorial with a randomized complete block design with ‎three replications in ‎‎greenhouse conditions. Experimental factors include soil moisture at four levels of ‎‎25 (severe stress), 50 ‎‎(moderate stress), 75 (mild stress) and 100 (no stress) percent of field capacity, ‎three species of ‎mycorrhiza fungi Clarodeoglomus etunicatum (Glomus etunicatum), Funneliformis ‎mosseae (Glomus mosseae), Rhizophagus irregularis (Glomus intraradices) and control treatment.‎

‎According to the results, increasing the level of water stress reduced the performance of the ‎aerial part ‎yield, as the economic performance of basil, but coexistence with mycorrhizae reduced the ‎destructive ‎effects of water stress. Different species of mycorrhiz had positive effects on increasing ‎plant ‎pigments. ‎

According to the experimental results, it can be said that F. mosseae‏ ‏compared to other ‎species had a greater effect in improving the adverse effects of dehydration stress in most of the ‎evaluated traits. While the effect of G. intraradicse on the percentage and yield of essential oil was ‎higher than F. mosseae.