Abstract
The effects of soil incorporation of five rates of semi-decomposed chicken manure (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 t ha-1), with and without the addition of phosphorus (200 kg P2O5 ha-1) on biomass production and chemical composition of the essential oil from leaves of African blue basil were evaluated. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design in a 5 × 2 factorial scheme, with four replicates. The first cut of plants was performed at 70 days after transplanting (DAT) and the second at 140 DAT. The addition of 20 t ha-1 of chicken manure to the soil induced increase in plants height, fresh and dry mass production and yield of essential oil. The use of chicken manure induced an increase in camphor content and decreased content of 1,8 cineole. After regrowth, biomass production of African blue basil was higher when compared to the first cut.
Highlights
The genus Ocimum (Lamiaceae) consists of approximately 150 species (Bhattacharjya et al, 2019) and is geographically distributed through many tropical and subtropical regions (Caliskan et al, 2017)
This species is rich in essential oil, presenting different chemical composition when collected in different regions or grown on different substrates (Bansal et al, 2018)
Based on the foregoing, the objectives of the study were to assess the effects of adding chicken manure and phosphorus to the soil on biomass productivity and chemical composition of the essential oil from leaves of African blue basil
Summary
The genus Ocimum (Lamiaceae) consists of approximately 150 species (Bhattacharjya et al, 2019) and is geographically distributed through many tropical and subtropical regions (Caliskan et al, 2017). Leaves (infusion) of African blue basil has been used for the treatment of constipation, abdominal pain, cough, measles and diarrhoea (Agrawal, 2017) and several pharmacological and biological studies have been previously shown to include antimicrobial (Verma et al, 2011), larvicide and repellent activity (Narwal et al, 2011). This species is rich in essential oil, presenting different chemical composition when collected in different regions or grown on different substrates (Bansal et al, 2018)
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