Research Article - International Journal of Pure and Applied Zoology (2017) Volume 5, Issue 2

INVESTIGATION OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND PHYTOCHEMICAL CHANGES AND TOLERANCE THRESHOLD OF CHAMOMILE UNDER DROUGHT STRESS CONDITIONS

In order to investigate the effect of different levels of cattle manure under drought stress on yield and yield components of German chamomile a field experiment was conducted as a split-plot based on a randomized complete block design with three replications. Treatments were included five levels of drought stress as irrigation after of (50 (S1), 80 (S2), 110 (S3), 140 (S4) and 170 (S5) mm evaporation from evaporation pan) as main plot and three levels of cattle manure (0 (V1), 5 (V2) and 10 ton ha-1 (V3)) as sub plot. The results indicated that the main effect of drought stress and cattle manure was significant on all measured characteristics. Also the interaction of drought stress and cattle manure was significant on plant height, biological yield, essential oil content and essential oil yield. The highest flower yield (277.61 kg ha-1) was achieved from treatments of 50 mm evaporation from evaporation pan (among the main effects of drought stress), while the highest flower yield (223.66 kg ha- 1) from treatments of 10 ton ha-1 among the cattle manure levels. Also the most essential oil content (0.945%) was observed at the interaction of 10 ton ha-1 cattle manure and 170 mm evaporation from evaporation pan. Based on the above, using of cattle manure under drought stress led to improving of morphological and phytochemical characteristics of chamomile.

Author(s): Parisa Sharifi, Mahdi Seyedsalehi, Ombretta Paladino, George Z. Kyzas

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