Effect of water deficit on field performance and essence yield of basil cultivars
By: Mir Abdollah Mohammadi-Aghdam, Kazem Ghassemi-Golezani, Saeid Zehtab-Salmasi, Seyed Abolghasem Mohammadi
Key Words: Basil, Chlorophyll content, Essence, Grain yield, Plant height
J. Bio. Env. Sci. 9(6), 64-68, December 2016.
[Generate Certificate]Abstract
Two experiments were conducted in 2014 and 2015 to evaluate the effect of different irrigation intervals on field performance and essence yield of Ocimum basilicum (sweet basil) and Ocimum gratiss imum (African basil) species. Three cultivars ofsweet basil (Mobarekeh from Iran, Siam Queen from thailand and Italian basil) and a cultivar of African basil (Cinnamon) were grown under normal irrigation and mild, moderate and severe water stress conditions. Plant height, leaves per plant, chlorophyll content, flowering branches and grain and essence yields of basil cultivars were determined in both years. The results showed significant differences among cultivars as well as irrigation treatments in all these traits. The cultivar × irrigation interaction was also significant for most of the traits, except chlorophyll content and flowering branches. The plant height, leaves per plant, flowering branches and grain yield of all basil cultivars considerably decreased under moderate and severe water stresses. However, chlorophyll content index increased with decreasing water supply, and essence yield of all cultivars was higher under mild and moderate water deficits, compared with normal irrigation. The Iranian cultivar Mobarekeh produced the greatest essence yield under different irrigation intervals, which is directly related with the highest grain yield of this cultivar in various watering conditions.
