INFLUENCE OF CHITOSAN AND MICRONUTRIENTS (FE + ZN) CONCENTRATIONS ON GROWTH, YIELD COMPONENTS AND VOLATILE OIL OF LAVENDER PLANT

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

Horticulture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Zagazig University, Egypt

Abstract

To study the influence of the two factors of chitosan concentration (0.0, 100, 200 and 400 ppm), micronutrients as FeSO4 + ZnSO4 (0.0, 50, 100 and 200 ppm) and their combination treatments on plant growth, yield components, volatile oil production, total carbohydrates % and total chlorophyll content (SPAD unit), two filed experiments were conducted on lavender (Lavandula officinalis, Chaix.) during the two summer consecutive  seasons of 2018 and 2019 at Agric. Res. Farm, Fac. Agric., Zagazig Univ., Egypt. The Experimental layout was split-plot design between the four chitosan concentrations as main plots and the four micronutrients concentration as sub-plots in randomized complete blocks design with 3 replicates. The obtained results referred to that using chitosan concentration of 400 ppm significantly increased growth parameters (plant height, number of branches/plant, fresh and dry weights of roots/plant as well as root number and length), yield components (total dry herb yield/plant and /feddan), volatile oil production (volatile oil percentage and volatile oil yield per plant) and chemical constituents (total chlorophyll content and total carbohydrates percentage) compared to control and the other levels under study. Furthermore, the highest values in these characters were noticed by micronutrients at 200 ppm treatment in both seasons, in most cases. In general, it is preferable to spray lavender plants with chitosan at 400 ppm combined with Fe + Zn at 200 ppm five times a season to increase the plant growth, yield components and plant pigments as well as volatile oil production of this important aromatic plant

Keywords

Main Subjects