Abstract

A field experiment was conducted during 2006–2007 at Hyderabad, India on sulfur-deficient alfic ustochrept soil on aromatic crop palmarosa [Cymbopogon martinii (Roxb.) Wats. var. motia Burk.] with five rates of sulfur (S) application (0, 10, 20, 30, and 40 kg ha−1). Four harvests were performed between August 2006 and August 2007 at 90-day intervals. A fifth harvest was taken in November 2007 to study the residual effect of S. Five constituents accounting for 87.4–98.7% of the essential oil were identified by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) and gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) analyses. The results revealed that 40 kg S ha−1 produced the highest total (total of four harvests) biomass yield (71.5 t ha−1), and total essential oil yield (382.3 kg ha−1). The highest contents of essential oil components cis-β-ocimene (2.5%), linalool (2.9%), geraniol (84.9%), geranyl acetate (9.8%), and geranyl hexanoate (2.6%) were observed in 40 kg S ha−1 treatment. Sulfur exhibited no residual effect, therefore application is recommended to each harvest.

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