PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF MYCORRHIZAE ON GROWTH, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, OIL YIELD AND ITS COMPONENTS OF OCIMUM BASILICUM (L.) PLANTS GROWING UNDER DIFFERENT LEVELS OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZATION

Document Type : Research articles.

Authors

1 Agricultural Botany Department, Plant Physiology, Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University, Giza, Egypt

2 Central Laboratory for Agriculture Climate (CLAC), Agricultural Research Centre, Dokki Giza, Egypt

Abstract

Two pot experiments were carried out at the Central Laboratory
for Agriculture Climate (CLAC), Agricultural Research Centre, Dokki,
Giza, Egypt, during 2012 and 2013 summer seasons. The objective of this
work was to study the effect of Mycorrhizae on vegetative growth, oil
production and chemical characters of basil plant. Treatments were
arranged in complete randomized design (CRD) with three replicates in
both seasons. As the NPK level was increased vegetative growth
characters (plant height, number of branches, leaf area and leaves
number) of basil plant were significantly increased in both seasons. In
addition, they significantly increased as a result of the applied
mycorrhizae when compared to un-treated plants in both seasons. The
highest values for growth characters were obtained when treated with the
combination of NPK recommended dose with mycorrhizae. Application
of NPK fertilization tended to increase mineral concentration including N,
P, K, Ca, Fe, Zn, Mn as well as protein, total carbohydrates and oil yield
as well as major ingredients of essential oil of basil plants. Also
mycorrhizae treatments tended to increase the same attributes when
compare with un-treated plants. Similar trend was obtained for N, P, K,
Ca, Fe, Zn, Mn as well as protein and total carbohydrates in both herb and
roots of plants. Generally, the maximum herb fresh and dry yield and
essential oil yield were obtained with the integrated application of
mycorrhizae and recommended dose of NPK. As well as, treatment of
inoculated basil plants with mycorrhizae with half dose of NPK was
significantly higher than treatment in which plants fertilized only with
100% of NPK. It might be concluded that applying mycorrhizae might
improve nutritional status of basil plants leading to higher plant
productivity.

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