Effect of Organic Matter Fertilizers on the Composition of Volatiles, Morphometrical and Anatomical Parameters of Essential Oil-Bearing Thymus × citriodorus Cultivated in an Open Field Conditions

Abstract

Thymus × citriodorus (Lamiaceae) is medicinal, essential oil-bearing hybrid, synthesizing significant amounts of geraniol. This hybrid is suitable for cultivation in an open ground in the Baltic region; therefore, increasing the yield and amounts of bioactive compounds by organic matter fertilization during organic farming is realized. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of fertilization with liquid cattle dung and humus on the quantitative and qualitative composition of essential oils as well as on biomass for some morphometrical and anatomical parameters of Thymus × citriodorus that were grown in open ground for two years. Each fertilization treatment was carried out on four replications, and four separate experimental plots were used as control plots. For anatomical investigations, the impress method and light microscopy were used. The essential oils were isolated by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC-FID and GC-MS. The results showed somewhat different effects of liquid cattle dung and humus on the investigated parameters of hybrid in the first (warmer and drier) and second (rainier and cooler) experimental years. Liquid cattle dung had positive effects on biomass, height and the area covered by plants and on the number and length of inflorescences as well as on the density of stomata in the lower epidermis in the first year, but in the second experimental year, effects were observed on the length of inflorescences only. The effect of humus on the density of glandular trichomes in the upper epidermis of leaves was positive in the first year, but negative in the second experimental year. Moreover, in the second experimental year, humus affected negatively the height of plants and the percentage of the essential oil. The conclusion was that although it is fertilized with the same organic fertilizers, different climatic conditions in different years can influence chemical, anatomical and morphometrical parameters of plants growing in an open ground.