Density-dependence Influences the Agronomical Indices and Chemical Profile of Artemisia scoparia Waldst. et Kit

Abstract

Artemisia scoparia Waldst. et Kit. is a member of the Asteraceae family that spread widely throughout the world, especially, in Southwest Asia and Central Europe. Terpenoids are members of interesting components in this plant. The current study was carried out to evaluate the morphological, agronomical, and phytochemical traits of A. scoparia in different plant densities. The essential oil was extracted by Clevenger and its components were identified by GC/MS. The results were shown, the morphological, agronomical, and phytochemical indices, include plant height, lateral branching, fresh and dry weight of the aerial part, essential oil content (% v/w), essential oil yield (ml/m2), and essential oil composition enhanced by plant density and showed significant differences between different levels of plant densities. The highest essential oil content (2 ml/100g dry matter) and essential oil yield (10.19 ml/m2) was observed in 30×30 cm and 30×40 cm plant densities, respectively. Investigation of essential oil composition showed that the different plant density has an impact on the quality of essential oil with influenced the content of important compound groups such as oxygenated monoterpenes (1,8-cineole, artemisia ketone, artemisia alcohol, and camphor), monoterpene hydrocarbons (α-pinene, camphene, β-pinene, and myrcene), and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (1,3,8-ρ-menthatriene, and β-selinene) by 63.53 to 68.08 %, 22.48 to 28.81 %, and 5.0 to 6.39 %, respectively. According to the results, we can generally say that 30×40 cm density is considered as the most suitable density due to a higher essential oil yield of the species studied (A. scoparia).