Mahsa Aghhavani Shajari; Parviz Rezvani Moghaddam; Reza Ghorbani; Mahdi Nasiri Mahalati
Abstract
Introduction: Medicinal plants were one of the main natural resources of Iran from ancient times. Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is from Apiaceae family that it has cultivated extensively in the world. Management and environmental factors such as nutritional management has a significant impact on ...
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Introduction: Medicinal plants were one of the main natural resources of Iran from ancient times. Coriander (Coriandrum sativum L.) is from Apiaceae family that it has cultivated extensively in the world. Management and environmental factors such as nutritional management has a significant impact on the quantity and quality of plants. Application of organic fertilizers in conventional farming systems is not common and most of the nutritional need of plants supply through chemical fertilizers for short period. Excessive and unbalanced use of fertilizers in the long period, reduce crop yield and soil biological activity, accumulation of nitrates and heavy metals, and finally cause negative environmental effects and increase the cost of production. The use of bio-fertilizers and organic matter are taken into consideration to reduce the use of chemical fertilizers and increase the quality of most crops. Stability and soil fertility through the use of organic fertilizers are important due to having most of the elements required by plants and beneficial effects on physical, chemical, biological and soil fertility. Therefore, the aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of organic, biological and chemical fertilizers on quality and quantity characteristics of coriander.
Materials and Methods: In order to study the effects of single and combined applications of organic, biological and chemical fertilizers on quantitative and qualitative characteristics of Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), an experiment was conducted based on a randomized complete block design with three replications and 12 treatments at Research Station, Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, in - 2011. Treatments included: (1) mycorrhizae (Glomus mosseae) (2) biosulfur (Thiobacillus sp.), (3) chemical fertilizer (NPK), (4) cow manure, )5( vermin compost, )6( mycorrhizae + chemical fertilizer, )7( mycorrhizae + cow manure, )8( mycorrhizae + vermicompost, )9( biosulfur + chemical fertilizer, )10( biosulfur + cow manure, )11( biosulfur + vermin compost and )12( control. Glomus mosseae was used at -2 cm depth below the seed. Chemical fertilizer, vermicompost (17 t. ha-1) and cow manure (60 t.ha-1) were used at 30 cm depth . Coriander was planted through furrow in mid-March 2010. The distance between rows was 60 cm and irrigation was done once a week. The common cultivation practices used for this plant and no pesticides or herbicides were used during the growing season. Coriander harvested in early July 2011 when the plants became yellow. Then, plant indices were measured in laboratory which included plant height, the number of lateral branch, the number of umbels per plant, the number of seed per umbels and plant, hundred seed weight, biological and economical yield, harvest index, essential oil percentage and essential oil yield. Statistical analysis of the data was performed by SAS 9.1and means comparison were compared by Duncan’s multiple range (P < 0.05).
Results and Discussion: The results showed that the highest number of lateral branch per plant (6.6) was obtained in biosulfur + cow manure treatment. Also, the highest number of umbel per plant (19) and number of umbelet per umbel (5) were observed in mycorrhizae treatment. Mycorrhizae by improving the nutritional status of plants, soil microbial community strengthening and protecting plants against pathogens increases plant growth and development. The highest number of seeds per umbel (21.6), the number of seeds per plant (366), seed yield (1468 kg,ha-1) and harvest index (55%) were obtained in mycorrhizae + chemical fertilizer treatment. Combined application of biosulfur with chemical fertilizer had a noticeable effect on 100-seed weights and biological yield indices. Ali et al., (2009) concluded that application of intermediate levels of nitrogen fertilizer and mycorrhizae increased biological yield of coriander, they reported that the use of nitrogen fertilizer will speed up the establishment of mycorrhizae. Studies showed that the combined use of chemical fertilizer and manure improved crop yield by increasing the efficiency ofnutrient absorption for plants. The highest essential oil percentage and essential oil yield were observed in mycorrhizae and mycorrhizae with chemical fertilizer treatments, respectively (0.2% and 2602 g.ha-1). Also, the essential oil yield was 7 times more in mycorrhizae+chemical fertilizer than biosulphur treatment. Combined application of cow manure and chemical fertilizer increased quality of indices of Ajowan. It seems that combined application of organic and bio fertilizers and cow manure improve soil physical and chemical properties, increase the availability of nutrients and finallyincrease the yield and quality of plants.
Conclusions: Overall, results of this experiment showed that application of biological fertilizer especially mycorrhizae had a significant effect on improving quantitative and qualitative yield of Coriander. Furthermore, the combined application of mycorrhizae with organic and chemical fertilizer had better effects than their single application.
Moslem Jaberi; Reza Baradaran; Seyyed Gholamreza Mousavi; Mahsa Aghhavani Shajari
Abstract
Introduction Drought is one of the most important factors whichdecrease crop production in arid and semi-arid regions of the world (1, 20). Appropriate nutritional management has an effective role in the resistance to environmental stresses on crops (7). An important issue about sustainability of food ...
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Introduction Drought is one of the most important factors whichdecrease crop production in arid and semi-arid regions of the world (1, 20). Appropriate nutritional management has an effective role in the resistance to environmental stresses on crops (7). An important issue about sustainability of food production is the maintenance of soil fertility through the use of organic matter and biofertilizers. One option to increase agricultural production is the use of beneficial soil microorganisms such as PGPR and fungi (45). This group of bacteria through biological fixation of nitrogen, increase phosphorus and potassium solubility, an increasethe availability of mineral elements in the soil, inhibits pathogen appearance and producehormones that regulate the growth of plants to affect crop yield (18, 47). Mycorrhiza enablesymbiosis with the roots of most crop plants, through the availability of phosphorus, nitrogen and other nutrients and thus increases water absorption and produces plant hormones, increases resistance to pathogens and environmental stresses, strengthens the soil microbial community and induces improving the growth and performance of plants in agricultural systems (5, 32, 37, 40).Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum- graecum L.)is an annual herbaceous plant that reaches a height of 50 cm (14). Since limited water is at very critical level now, the importance of further research in this area is felt. So, the study of medicinal plants considring water management and organic food is very important. Therefore, the aim of this research is to evaluate the effect of organic and biofertilizers and irrigation on yield and yield components of fenugreek in Birjand.
Materials and Methods In order to study the effects of irrigation intervals and biofertilizers on quantitative traits and yield of fenugreek, an experiment was carried out in a split plot based on a complete randomized block design with 3replications at the research station, Faculty of Agriculture, Azad University, Birjand, Iran, during 2010-2011. Experimental treatments were irrigation intervals in three levels (every 6, 9 and 12 days) and biofertilizer in five levels (nitroxin, biophosphorus, and micorhyza fungi G. mosseae, G. intraradices and control-no fertilizer). Fenugreek was planted through furrow in mid-April 2010. The distance between rows and between plants was 30 and 10 cm, respectively. Seeds were covered by Nitroxin (including: Azotobacterchroococcum, Azospirillum lipoferum and Azospirillum brasilense) and biophosphrous (including: Pseudomonas fluorescens) and then were cultured.They were used at a depth of 2cm below the seed from Glomusintraradiceand Glomus mosseae. Fenugreek was harvested in early July when the plants became yellow and at least 80% of the pods were reached. Statistical analysis of the data was performed using SAS 9.1 and MSTATC. Mean comparison were compared by the Duncan test at 1% and 5% level of probability.
Results and Discussion: Results of statistical analysis showed that irrigation treatments and biofertilizers had significant effect on most indices. Interaction effect of irrigation and biofertilizer were significant on seed and leaf yield (p
Parviz Rezvani Moghaddam; Ali Asghar Mohammad Abadi; Hamid Reza Falahi; Mahsa Aghhavani Shajari
Abstract
In order to understand the effects of different organic and chemical fertilizer on stigma yield, corm characterstics and leaf dry matter yield (as a forage) of saffron (Crocus sativus L.), an experiment was conducted in the Research Station of Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, ...
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In order to understand the effects of different organic and chemical fertilizer on stigma yield, corm characterstics and leaf dry matter yield (as a forage) of saffron (Crocus sativus L.), an experiment was conducted in the Research Station of Faculty of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran, in 2005-2009; as a Randomized Complete Block Design with 12 treatments and three replications. Experimental treatments included of: different levels of chemical fertilizers (250 kg Triple Superphosphate + 50 kg Urea/ha; 250 kg Triple Superphosphate +100 kg Urea/ha; 250 kg Triple Superphosphate + 300 kg Urea/ha), cow manure (20, 40 and 60 t/ha), sheep manure (20, 30 and 40 t/ha) and hen manure (5, 10 and 15 t/ha). Results showed that the highest fresh flower (315 kg/ha) and dry stigma yield (3.8 kg/ha) were obtained from chemical fertilizer (300-250 kg/ha Urea- Triple Superphosphate) and the highest dry forage yield (3410 kg/ha) and the highest mother and replacement corm per clump were obtained in sheep manure (40 t/ha). However, the highest corm weight per clump (119 g), average corm diameter (1.6 cm) and average number of bud per corm (6.5) were observed in 300 kg/ha Urea, the maximum average weight of corm (2.4 g) and total number of bud per clump (410) were obtained in 100 kg/ha Urea and 30 t/ha sheep manure, respectively. Most of growth indices and yield of saffron were improved by increasing in levels of sheep manure and chemical fertilizer but most of that charachteristics had a decreasing trend by increasing in levels of cow and hen manure. Generally, the highest amounts of most studied indices were obtained in chemical fertilizer and sheep manure and the lowest amounts of those studied indices were observed in hen manure.
