Effect of NPK, Fe and Zn fertilizer with super absorbent on Agave marginata growth and metabolite production

Subject Areas : Journal of Plant Ecophysiology

Ali mohammad Rahimi ¹ , mehrab Yadegari ² , Mohammad Mehdi Alizadeh Moghaddam ³

1 - Azad University, Shahrekord branch, PhD student, horticultural sciences (medicinal plants)
2 - Shahrekord University
3 - Doctoral student of jurisprudence and fundamentals of Imam Khomeini's law and thoughts (Quds Sareh), Khomein Branch, Islamic Azad University, Khomein, Iran.

Received: 2023-07-16 Accepted : 2023-11-17 Published : 2024-10-15

Keywords:

Abstract :

This research was carried out in a completely randomized as potted experiment with eight treatments in order to investigate the effect of different fertilizers and super absorbent polymer on the growth of agave plant. Experimental treatments included two types of iron chelate fertilizer (foreign and Iranian), zinc chelate, complete fertilizer 20-20-20, complete fertilizer 15-5-30, complete fertilizer 12-12-36, super absorbent polymer and control. The results showed that the highest concentration of saponin was observed in the treatment of 12-12-36 (with an amount of 19756 ppm) and the lowest concentration was observed in the control treatment (10681 ppm). In terms of the amount of chlorophyll a, b and total chlorophyll, the 20-20-20 fertilizer treatment produced the highest amount, while the dry weight in the zinc fertilizer treatment was more than the other treatments. Although all fertilizer treatments increased dry weight compared to the control, no significant difference was observed between these treatments. According to the test results, it is recommended to use complete fertilizers as well as iron and zinc chelates in order to increase the amount of agave medicinal plant metabolites (especially saponin and hecogenin).