Keivan Bahmani; Azam Akbari; Ali Izadi-Darbandi; Tahereh Ghamari
Abstract
Bitter fennel (Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare) is a commercial subspecies of fennel that is widely used in food, pharmaceutical, and perfume industries. Despite the economic importance of this crop and a growing demand for its products, most farmers cultivate local bitter fennel populations that are ...
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Bitter fennel (Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare) is a commercial subspecies of fennel that is widely used in food, pharmaceutical, and perfume industries. Despite the economic importance of this crop and a growing demand for its products, most farmers cultivate local bitter fennel populations that are not necessarily high-yielding. Genetic variation in bitter fennel and relevant heritability studies have suggested that selection can be an efficient breeding method to increase bitter fennel yield. This experiment was conducted in the College of Aburaihan, University of Tehran, Pakdasht, Iran, from 2010 to 2014. Fifty fennel populations from different parts of Iran were collected and assessed for their maturity habit, life span, seed yield, essential oil content, and essential oil yield in a five-year field experiment. Resultsshowed that these fennel populations, based on their maturity habits, comprised three distinctive groups of early, intermediate, and latematuring, requiring 120, 175, and 230 days from seedling emergence to seed harvest, respectively. The life span of the fennel populations ranged from three to four years. In general, fennel populations in arid regions with extreme temperatures in summer and winter were earlymaturing and had shorter life spans. Populations in humid or semihumid regions with a rather temperate climate were late- or intermediate-maturing and had longer life spans. These observations showed how the causes of growth limitation such as extreme seasonal temperature changes, water accessibility, and competition for sunlight have shaped the phenological features of these fennel populations. During the first three years of the study, considering the minimum life span of all populations, essential oil yield among the early maturing fennels ranged from 2.5 to 104.6 L ha-1 year-1 (average 26.1±0.1). The essential oil yield ranged from 10.1 to 152.2 L ha-1 year-1 (average 67.7± 1) in intermediate-maturing fennels and from 7.5 to 160.9 L ha-1 year-1 (average 46.4±0.2) in late-maturing fennels. Populations with four and five-year life spans had a dramatic decrease in yield after the third year, although they produced considerable amounts of green biomass. Regarding average values in three years, the highest essential oil yield a mong early-maturing fennels occurred in the Fasa population (51.4 L ha-1), among intermediate-maturing fennels in the Meshkin Shahr and Moqhan populations (140.5 and 124.9 L ha-1, respectively), and among late-maturing fennels in the Sari population (52.1 L ha-1). Identifying high-yielding early- and intermediate maturing populations provides a platform for further evaluations on high-yielding fennel populations with stable performance in future studies.
Borzou Yousefi; Armin Saed-Moucheshi; Mohamaad Gheitury
Abstract
White savory is a medicinal plant native to Iran. It is known for its tolerance to water-deficit conditions. A farm experiment evaluated cultivation in dryland conditions while describing interactions among organic fertilizers (O. F.). Planting densities affected essential oil (EO) and yield-related ...
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White savory is a medicinal plant native to Iran. It is known for its tolerance to water-deficit conditions. A farm experiment evaluated cultivation in dryland conditions while describing interactions among organic fertilizers (O. F.). Planting densities affected essential oil (EO) and yield-related traits in white savory under dryland farming. This experiment was conducted in the Mehregan Research Station, Kermanshah, by a split-plot design based on RCBD with three replications, and three fertilizer treatments, i.e., cow manure (30 tons ha-1), wheat straw enriched with sulfate ammonium (10 tons ha -1), and farm soil. There were three planting densities, i.e., low-density (2.66), medium-density (4), and high-density (8 plant m-2) during the 2017- 2018 and 2018-2019 crop years. The highest two-year average of fresh yield (3149.90 kg ha-1) and dry yield (1611.70 kg ha-1) occurred in response to rotten cow manure × high-density treatment. The highest two-year average of EO percentage (2.19%) resulted from using rotten cow manure × low-density planting. The highest EO yield (32.60 kg ha-1) resulted from enriched straw × high-density planting. The highest plant fresh yield (3434.02 kg×ha-1), plant dry yield (1231.98 kg ha-1), and EO yield (24.68 kg ha-1) resulted from the second year of harvest. We recommend dry farming S. mutica in a modified substrate using 30 tons ha-1 rotten cow manure and a row spacing of 50 × 25 cm in mountainous regions, where annual rainfall is more than 450 mm on average.
Lida Ganbari Torkamany; Hassan Mahdavikia; Esmaeil Rezaei-Chiyaneh; Mohsen Barin; Martin Leonardo Battaglia
Abstract
To determine effects of different fertilizer sources on the yield and quality parameters of Moldavian balm (MB) in intercropping with Fenugreek (FG), two factors were analyzed. The first one included three cropping patterns: MB pure stand, FG pure stand, and intercropping of two rows of MB with two rows ...
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To determine effects of different fertilizer sources on the yield and quality parameters of Moldavian balm (MB) in intercropping with Fenugreek (FG), two factors were analyzed. The first one included three cropping patterns: MB pure stand, FG pure stand, and intercropping of two rows of MB with two rows of FG (2FG:2MB); the second factor was fertilizer sources: control plants, 100% chemical fertilizer (NPK), 100% bacterial biofertilizers + 25% synthetic fertilizer (BF+25NPK), 75% humic acid (HA)+ 25% synthetic fertilizer (75HA+25NPK), and 75% vermicompost (V)+ 25% synthetic fertilizer (75V+25NPK). Results showed that the highest basic microbial respiration , substrate induced respiration and microbial biomass carbon was observed in intercropping of 2FG:2MB fertilized with 75V+25NPK. This treatment also increased the seed yield of FG and dry matter yield of MB by 54% and 80%, respectively, and resulted in the maximum essential oil (EO) content of MB (0.77%) and oil content of FG (14.2%). In addition, the intercrop of 2FG:2MB fertilized with 75V+25NPK improved the EO quality of MB plants by increasing its geranyl acetate and geranial concentration, and also improved the oil quality in FG by maximizing its unsaturated fatty acids content such as oleic and linoleic acids. Overall, we conclude that intercropping of 2MB:2FG fertilized with a fertilizer mix composed of vermicompost (75%) and synthetic NPK fertilizer (25%) can be suggested to farmers as an eco-friendly and sustainable system practice for improving EO and oil content as well as quality of FG and MB plants, respectively.
Ali Saebi; Saeid Minaei; Ali Reza Mahdavian; Mohammad-Taghi Ebadi
Abstract
The amount of active compounds of medicinal plants (e.g. essential oil) varies in different plant parts. Thus, it is important to harvest those parts containing the highest levels of active compounds. In the present study the effect of harvest height on quantity and quality of Hyssopus officinalis was ...
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The amount of active compounds of medicinal plants (e.g. essential oil) varies in different plant parts. Thus, it is important to harvest those parts containing the highest levels of active compounds. In the present study the effect of harvest height on quantity and quality of Hyssopus officinalis was investigated based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments included four harvest heights including 15, 25, 35, and 45 cm (in basipetal order) and the residual stalks. After measuring the essential oil, the component values analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Regarding essential oil content (% v/w), yield and dry matter of different heights, the 15 cm height had the highest amount of essential oil (1.02±0.01%) and the lowest yield (2.17±0.13 g/m2) and dry matter (213.72±15.32 g/m2). On the contrary, the 45 cm height had the lowest amount of essential oil (0.75±0.01%) and the highest yield (5.7±0.57 g/m2) and dry matter (757.52±63.5 g/m2). For all harvest heights, cis-pinocamphone (53.93-44.6%), β-pinene (15.33-12.5%) and trans-pinocamphone (12.2-8.17%) had the highest levels among the compounds of the essential oil. The findings obtained from present study revealed that, if the quality is the matter, the essential oil extracted from the top 15 cm had the highest quality and purity although it was less in quantity.
Karim Farmanpour-Kalalagh; Mehdi Mohebodini; Naser Sabaghnia
Abstract
In this study, the variability of essential oil composition in different parts of summer savory was investigated. Extraction of essential oils from air-dried leaves and healthy seeds was done using water-distillation in Clevenger-type apparatus for 4 h. In total, 23 and 24 components were identified ...
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In this study, the variability of essential oil composition in different parts of summer savory was investigated. Extraction of essential oils from air-dried leaves and healthy seeds was done using water-distillation in Clevenger-type apparatus for 4 h. In total, 23 and 24 components were identified in the leaves and seeds of summer savory, respectively. Carvacrol (46.023%), Estragole (Methyl Chavicol) (6.257%), Caryophyllene (4.753%), and E-Caryophyllene (4.753%) were the major constituents in the seeds and Carvacrol (56.537%), γ-Terpinene (21.377%), and p-Cymene (8.587%) were the major constituents in the leaves. Among all constituents, Carvacrol, Caryophyllene, E-Caryophyllene, β-Bisabolene, cis-α-Bisabolene, Caryophyllene oxide, Z-Citral, E-Citral, γ-Terpinene, and δ-3-Carene were present in both of leaves and seeds. Significant positive and negative correlations were detected between constituents for the investigated parts of summer savory. In addition, the correlation analysis of same volatile constituents in seeds and leaves indicated that some constituents in one part of summer savory have a significant correlation with another part. Also, γ-Terpinene in leaves has a negative significant correlation with γ-Terpinene in the seeds.
Abbas Fallah; S-Zahra Hosseini Cici
Abstract
Sustainable agriculture can increase the efficiency of resource utilization, provide longer productivity and create a balance in the environment. A field experiment was conducted to study the use of organic and chemical fertilizers on biomass, essential oil content and essential oil yield as well as ...
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Sustainable agriculture can increase the efficiency of resource utilization, provide longer productivity and create a balance in the environment. A field experiment was conducted to study the use of organic and chemical fertilizers on biomass, essential oil content and essential oil yield as well as chemical compositions of Dracocephalum polychaetum Burnm in the first and second cutting. The treatments were: broiler litter (1700 kg ha-1), cow manure (2500 kg ha-1), sheep manure (1700 kg ha-1), chemical fertilizer (110 kg ha-1) and control (no fertilizer) in three replications. The results showed that D. polychaetum was most responsive to application of broiler litter as compared with the other treatments. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis indicated that neral, geranial, geranyl acetate and α-pinene were the major chemical compounds of D. polychaetum in the both cuttings. In the first cutting the plants treated with sheep manure had the highest neral content (28.24%). The highest geranial content (26.85%) in the first cutting was recorded in plants amended with chemical fertilizer, without significant difference with broiler litter (26.36%). In the first cutting the greatest α-pinene (15.52%) content was observed in the control treatment without significant difference with broiler litter (15.09%). Unlike the first cutting, plant amended with cow manure had the maximum neral (23.89%) and geranial (29.27%) contents in the second cutting. The present study demonstrated that the application of organic manure improved essential oil content and quality and aroma profile of D. polychaetum.
