ISSN 2756-3863
International Journal of Manures and Fertilizers Vol. 1 (1), pp. 006-008, January, 2012. © International Scholars Journals
Short Communication
Nitrogenous fertilizer effects on quantity and quality standards of balm (Melissa officinalis L.)
Rez E. Na, Payam R. Babak and Minoo S. Nejaddehghan
Faculty of Agriculture, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran.
Accepted 29 November, 2011
Abstract
An experiment was carried out using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications to study the nitrogenous fertilizer influence on quantity and quality values of balm (Melissa officinalis L.) at Iran Research Institute of Forest and Rangelands during 2005. The factor studied included nitrogenous fertilizer of ourea (0, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 kg ha-1). The analysis of variance showed that N fertilizer had significant effect on biological yield, essential oil percentage, essetial oil content, plant height and tiller number (P 0.01). Highest biological yield (6788 kg ha-1) and plant height (61.63 cm) were produced by application of 90 kg N ha-1 and highest tiller number (32.6 tiller/plant), essetial oil percentage (0.2577%) and essetial oil content (16.05 kg ha-1) were obtained under application of 60 kg N ha-1. The results showed that optimal application of N fertilizer increased quantity and quality values of balm, but application of inordinate N fertilizer reduced all plant values. Consequently, our finding may give applicable advice to farmers and medicinal and aromatic plants researches for management and proper use of N fertilizer in farming of balm.
Key words: Nitrogenous fertilizer, biological yield, essetial oil percentage, essetial oil content and Melissa officinalis L.