INFLUENCE OF AQUEOUS LICORICE AND ETHANOL MORINGA EXTRACTS ON THE ESSENTIAL OIL PRODUCTION, AND CHEMICAL CONSTITUENTS OF AJWAIN (TRACHYSPERMUM AMMI) PLANTS UNDER SANDY SOIL CONDITION

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

1 Horticulture Dept., Fac. Agric., Benha University, Egypt

2 Medicinal and Aromatic Plants Dept., Desert Research Center, El-Matariya, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

Two field experiments were conducted in 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 cropping season, at the Experimental Farm of Heliopolis Univ., El-Sharqea Governorate, Egypt, in cooperation with the Department of Horticulture, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University to study the influence of licorice aqueous extract at 0, 10, 20, and 40 g/l concentrations and Moringa ethanol extract at 0, 50, and 100 g/l concentrations and their interaction on essential oil content, essential oil composition, and chemical constituents of ajwain (Trachyspermum ammi) under sandy soil conditions, in a split plots design of 12 treatments with three replications for each treatment. The main plots were the concentrations of licorice aqueous extract, the subplots were the concentrations of Moringa ethanol extract. The results demonstrated that treating ajwain plants by spraying with the licorice aqueous extract at 40 g/l and Moringa ethanol extract at 100 g/l (L3 × M2) scored the highest values of the essential oil percent, oil yield/plant, and oil yield/fed. The same treatment (L3 × M2) was recorded the greatest values of the content of the pigment (chlorophyll a, b, total chlorophyll, and carotenoid), also treating ajwain plants by the same treatment was given the highest carbohydrate in the two seasons. However, ajwain plants sprayed with licorice aqueous extract at 0.0 g/l or Moringa ethanol extract at 0.0 g/l (L0 × M0) lead to the lowest values ​​of all the above-mentioned traits.  In general, the main chemical constituents of ajwain essential oil were γ-terpinene, followed by thymol and p-cymene, along with α- and β-pinenes, α-thujene, myrcene, and Limonene

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