Productivity, Essential Oil Components and Herbage Yield, of Sweet Basil as a Function of Biochar and Potassium-Nano Chelate

Abstract

In sustainable agriculture, the protection of the ecosystem and reduce chemical fertilizers is the main goal. Nowadays, sweet basil, one of the best general fragrant foliage, displays great industrial importance. This research greenhouse was conducted in order to assess the influence of biochar on yield and volatile components in basil. Aroma composites were recognized via gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometric (GC/MS). The experiment was arranged in a completely randomized factorial design with 9 treatments, namely control (without biochar and K-nano chelate), B0K1 (300 mg K kg-1 soil, without biochar), B0K2 (600 mg K kg-1 soil, without biochar), B1K0 (biochar 1.5 %, without K-nano chelate), B2K0 (biochar 3 %, without K-nano chelate), B1K1 (biochar 1.5 %, with 300 mg K kg-1 soil), B1K2 (biochar 1.5 %, with 600 mg K kg-1 soil), B2K1(biochar 3 %, with 300 mg K kg-1 soil), B2K2 (biochar 3 %, with 600 mg K kg-1 soil) and three replicates for each treatment. The highest essential oil content was obtained when the medium rate of potassium (300 mg K kg-1 soil) and biochar (1.5 %) were applied. The total numbers of 41 components were found in the essential oil extracted from the basil herb. We demonstrated that the content of monoterpenoids (geraninal, eugenol, β-cubebene, trans-α-bergamotene, germacrene D, methyl chavicol and (E)-caryophyllene) and sesquiterpenes (E)-γ-bisabolene) in sweet basil oil was influenced by biochar and potassium, significantly.