Abstract
Egyptian henbane (Hyoscyamus muticus L.) plants are rich sources of alkaloids used in pharmaceutical products. Recently, rising efforts have been devoted to reducing mineral fertilizer supply, production cost, and environmental pollution via decreasing the doses of nitrogenous fertilizers and adopting biofertilizer farming systems. Two field experiments were conducted to examine the potential role of N fixing bacteria Azotobacter spp. and Azospirillum spp. on the growth, mineral status, tropane alkaloids, leaf anatomy, and seed yield of Egyptian henbane grown with different levels of mineral nitrogen fertilizer, i.e., 25%, 50%, and 100% of the recommended dose, equal to 30, 60, and 120 kg N ha−1. N fertilizer improved growth, mineral elements, tropane alkaloids, seed yield, and yield components of Egyptian henbane, which showed a gradually rising trend as the rate of N fertilizer increased. High doses of N fertilizer presumably elicited favorable changes in the anatomical structure of Egyptian henbane leaves. The application of 50% N dose plus N fixing bacteria affected Egyptian henbane trials similarly to 100% of recommended N dose. In conclusion, the N fixing bacteria proved to be a sustainable tool for a two-fold reduction in the recommended dose of mineral N fertilizer and the sustainable management of Egyptian henbane nutrition.
Highlights
The family Solanaceae consists of about 85 genera and 2800 species of tropical and temperate distribution [1]
N fertilizer rate from 25% to 100% of recommended dose caused the increase of plant height by 22.4%
N fertilizer was similar to that induced by biofertilizer inoculation, which was generally effective in replacing half of the nitrogen fertilizer recommended dose
Summary
The family Solanaceae consists of about 85 genera and 2800 species of tropical and temperate distribution [1]. Tropane alkaloids are reported in 21 genera of the Solanaceae family, of which. (Egyptian henbane) is indigenous to desert regions in Egypt, Iran, Baluchistan, Sind, Western Punjab, and it has been introduced into Algeria and Southern California in the USA [3]. Both species are of high economic importance for their tropane alkaloids (hyoscyamine and hyoscine) which are widely used in medicine because of analgesic, anticholinergic, antispasmodic, mydriatic, and sedative activity [4].
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