Nano-iron fertilizer effects on some plant traits of dragonhead (Dracocephalum moldavica L.) under different sowing densities

Saeed Yousefzadeh,Naser Sabaghnia

doi:10.14720/aas.2016.107.2.15

Abstract

evaluate the effects of iron nano-fertilizer rates (0, 1, 2 and 3 g l-1) and planting density levels (10, 15, 20 and 40 cm) on the fresh herb, essential oil content and other traits under the natural conditions. Traits such as number of flowering branches (NFB), height of first flowering branch (HFB), number of secondary branches (NSB), stem diameter (SD), essential oil content (EOC), dry mass (DM), essential oil yield (EOY), total anthocyanins (TA), chlorophyll a (CA), chlorophyll b (CB), flavonoid 270 nm (F270), flavonoid 300 nm (F300), and total flavonoid (TF) were measured. Results showed that the nano Fe treatment × trait (TT) biplot accounted 39 % and 25 % of total variation, respectively. The vertex treatments in polygon biplot were D2-N2 (15 cm density and 1 g l-1 nano-fertilizer) was the best in the EOC, DM and EOY, while D4-N3 (40 cm density and 2 g l-1 nano-fertilizer) was the best for TA, F270, F300 and TF. Sowing densities (10, 15 and 20 cm) with iron nano-fertilizer treatments (1 and 2 g l-1) were the best combinations of evaluated factors for all the measured traits of the dragonhead.

Highlights

The Dragonhead (Dracocephalum moldavica L.) is a perennial herbaceous plant up to 80 cm tall and grows at altitudes of up to 2700–3100 m above sea level; it is grown for its essential oil and for bees (Popova et al, 2008)
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of different concentrations of iron nano-chelate fertilizer and various sowing densities of Dracocephalum moldavica L. on yield and yield components, as well as the content of essential oils obtained from this plant
The plants were collected at full flowering stage in 24 July, and the following data were recorded for plant growth characters: number of flowering branches (NFB), height of first flowering branch (HFB), number of secondary branches (NSB), stem diameter (SD), essential oil content (EOC), dry mass (DM), essential oil yield (EOY), total anthocyanins (TA), chlorophyll a (CA), chlorophyll b (CB), flavonoid 270 nm (F270), flavonoid 300 nm (F300), and total flavonoid (TF)

Summary

Introduction

The Dragonhead (Dracocephalum moldavica L.) is a perennial herbaceous plant up to 80 cm tall and grows at altitudes of up to 2700–3100 m above sea level; it is grown for its essential oil and for bees (Popova et al, 2008). The leaves of the dragonhead are opposed, long and oval in shape on the long petioles and its flowers, on short pedicles, are blue-violet in color. It contains terpenoids and flavonoids and its extracts from the raw material have a multitude of pharmacological actions and the used material consisted of dragonhead herb are prepared at different growth phases of vegetative growth, flowering, and maturity (Nikitina et al, 2008). Plant density is one of the important factor which determines growth, development and yield of medicinal plants and its selection to allow for expression of maximum yield performance is a management practice that would make medicinal plants production more economical (Hussein et al, 2006). Low plant density results in high weeds population and low yield performance, while dense plant population on the other hand causes lodging, reduces photosynthetic production and drastically reduces the yield performance (Soroori et al, 2014)

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