The effect of nitrogen and cutting on the yield, quality and the composition of thyme essential oil (Thymus vulgaris L.)
Subject Areas : Medicinal Plants
Yasin Norouzi
1
(Razi University)
Mokhtar Ghobadi
2
(Razi University)
Mohsen Saeidi
3
(Razi University)
Hassan Rezadoost
4
(دانشگاه شهید بهشتی، پژوهشکده گیاهان و مواد اولیه دارویی)
Danial Kahrizi
5
(Razi University)
Hulya Dogan
6
(Department of Plant and Animal Production, Vocational School of Technical Science, Yozgat Bozok University, Yozgat, Turkey)
Keywords: Plant nutrition, Thymol, harvest time, medicinal plant, effective substance.,
Abstract :
The essential oil derived from thyme is very important due to its use in the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetic industries. Numerous factors including nutrition, harvest time and environmental conditions can influence both the quality and yield. In order to investigate the effect of nitrogen levels and harvest time on the quality and yield and chemical composition of thyme essential oil, a factorial experiment was conducted based on RCBD with three replications at Razi University over three years from 2018 to 2020. The first factor included amount of nitrogen fertilizer (0, 50 and 100 kg N ha-1) and the second factor included the time of harvest (mid-June and late September during flowering). The results showed that the quality and yield as well as chemical composition of essential oil were affected by nitrogen, cutting and year. Nitrogen enhanced several characteristics, including plant height, number of lateral branches, leaf, stem and total dry weights, stem diameter, percentage and yield of essential oil (p≤0.01). Also, the amount of these traits in the second cutting was higher than the first cutting. The highest value of all investigated traits was obtained in the interaction treatment of second cutting×100 kg N ha-1×the third year. The most chemical compounds of the essential oil include thymol (41 - 61.25%), γ-terpinene (11.10 - 23.60%), p-cymen (10.63 - 23.07%), carvacrol (3.40 - 4.63%), α-terpinene (1.42 - 3.06%), and α-Phellandrene (1.02 - 1.97%). Nitrogen increased all the chemical compounds of the essential oil. The concentration of carvacrol, α-terpinen and γ-terpinene, p-cymene and α-Phellandrene decreased with increasing nitrogen from 50 to 100 kg ha-1. Overall, the application of nitrogen in the second cutting had a significant effect on increasing the quality and yield. Also, the percentage of chemical compounds in essential oil changed according to the amount of nitrogen and harvest time during the three years.
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