| Abstrakt: |
Using plant nutrition systems, considering various climatic conditions and plant genotype characteristics can enhance the yield and quality of plant products, particularly medicinal plants. This research aimed to evaluate the effects of fertilizer sources on the yield, yield components, and some biochemical characteristics of two ecotypes of Bunium persicum Bioss (‘Sagafi’ and ‘Birjand’) during two agricultural years (2022-2023) at the Agricultural Research Center and Natural Resources of South Khorasan (Mohammadiyeh), Birjand, Iran. The experiment was conducted in a splitplot design within a randomized complete block design with three replications. The fertilizer treatments were composed of combinations of NPK1 (70-60-80), NPK2 (35-30-40), mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and vermicompost (VC) as the main factor (12 treatment combinations), and two ecotypes were tested as the sub-factor. Plant height, number of umbels per umbel, number of seeds, thousand-seed weight, seed yield, total chlorophyll content, essential oil content (by Clevenger method), and essential oil yield (the result of multiplying the percentage of essential oil by seed yield) were measured. The results showed that fertilizer treatments significantly influenced the studied traits, with the combined use of fertilizer system (NPK1+AMF+VC) leading to increased average traits in both experimental years. The ‘Birjand’ ecotype had 40.5% and 24.0%, higher than seed yields compared to the ‘Sagafi’ ecotype in the first and second years respectively. In both years, the application of the NPK1+AMF+VC treatment resulted in the highest seed yield (19.2 and 83.3 g plant-1, respectively). The highest total chlorophyll content was obtained in the combined treatment application in both ecotypes (24.83 and 26.55 µg g-1 FW, respectively). The application of NPK2+VC in the ‘Sagafi’ ecotype showed the highest essential oil content in both years (3.56% and 3.91%). Stepwise regression results showed that the number of umbels/ umbel, number of seeds per plant, thousand-seed weight, and total chlorophyll were influential traits on essential oil content. The combined use of chemical, organic, and biological fertilizers improved the quantitative and qualitative traits of B. persicum, with the ecotypes showing different responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
